A year ago, the Atlantic Division stood head and shoulders above the NHL’s other three divisions. Remarkably, that was the consensus before the Boston Bruins produced the greatest regular season in league history.
Aside from people who use the Stanley Cup as their only metric, just about everyone would agree that the Atlantic was the cream of the crop.
Heading into the 2023-24 NHL season, choosing the best division is a much tougher nut to crack.
There’s room to argue for each and every division as the NHL’s best. Blame parity, perhaps, as just about every group boasts at least two credible Stanley Cup contenders, a mix of flawed-but-dangerous teams and then some gangly cellar-dwellers. You won’t mistake these days as a clone of the Washington Capitals running roughshod over the hapless Southeast Division.
Here’s how I rank the NHL’s four divisions from strongest to weakest, even if I sometimes needed to split hairs.
1. Metropolitan Division
Curse my lunch if you’d like, but I’m going with my gut here: the Metropolitan Division is the best of the four.
Most prominently, there’s the two-headed dragon of the Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils. Wisely or not, these two teams are my “gun-to-my-head” choices as the best 1-2 contending bunch of any divisional duo.
When it comes to running their teams, the Devils and Hurricanes boast a lot in common. While traditional “hockey men” act as figureheads with more prominent titles, both franchises clearly treasure their analytics departments. Such focus helps the teams master the salary cap where others succumb to it.
Yet, on the ice, Carolina and New Jersey take wildly different approaches. The Hurricanes play like a modern remix of the classics, as they’re relentless and surprisingly eager to play dump-and-chase. Meanwhile, the Devils feel boldly modern, overwhelming opponents with speed and skill.
Neither team is necessarily perfect, yet both stand a real chance to break through and win it all. It’s also easier to imagine these great teams getting even better because their front offices appear cutting edge.
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The Metro’s strengths extend beyond the Devils and Hurricanes. With Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shesterkin, the New York Islanders and New York Rangers each have all-too-rare elite goalies who are also in the meat of their primes. The Rangers seem better-positioned to put a more balanced support system around their star goalie, but both roll out top-5 netminders in this league.
Throw in the wild-card addition of Erik Karlsson to the Pittsburgh Penguins and it feels like the Metropolitan Division has the highest ceiling of any division. There’s even a lane for the Columbus Blue Jackets to be a threat.
Don’t expect too much from the Philadelphia Flyers, whose ceiling appears to be “John Tortorella messes up their tanking bid by squeezing out a lot of overtime points.”
2. Atlantic Division
When all is said and done, the Atlantic Division may still reign supreme. Just consider the quantity of potentially strong teams: it really only feels appropriate to disregard the rebuilding Montreal Canadiens outright.
That said, many of the up-and-comers may still rank as works in progress. Can the Buffalo Sabres grow beyond last year’s flawed pleasant surprise? Are the Ottawa Senators loading up on eight-year, $8-million players only to miss the playoffs all the same? Are the Detroit Red Wings spending a ton of money just to stay in puck purgatory, too?
If one or more of those younger teams makes a big jump, the Atlantic Division could remain the NHL’s best. If not, slippage from already-established teams could change the view of this group of teams pretty quickly.
Most prominently, the Boston Bruins go from strong down the middle to hoping that their larger structure can prop up a center group that lost Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Losing Taylor Hall and rentals such as Dmitry Orlov and Tyler Bertuzzi won’t help, either.
If annual salary cap losses didn’t rain on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s parade enough already, now they must endure a few months without Andrei Vasilevskiy, a goalie they lean on immensely.
Injuries are also a concern for the Florida Panthers, as they’ll need to get through significant chunks of the season with Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour on the mend.
From changing their GM to seeing noteworthy roster changes, the Toronto Maple Leafs also experienced plenty of upheaval.
Top Atlantic Division teams generally have great track records and still roll out plenty of talent. Still, it feels like their very best teams are being pulled down by gravity, while the Metro’s best are skyrocketing. Maybe the Atlantic’s younger teams make leaps instead of steps, but the Metro gets my vote.
3. Pacific Division
It wasn’t easy to pick between the West’s Pacific vs. Central. When in doubt, go with the reigning Stanley Cup champions who didn’t lose much (Vegas Golden Knights) and the best player in the world (Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers).
No doubt, age is a concern for the Golden Knights. Just about every important Vegas player not named Jack Eichel is in an epic battle with Father Time. Here’s a vote for them winning that battle more often than not this year, especially since they’re guided by quality head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Oilers management probably won’t ever build a team with the skill to match McDavid or Leon Draisaitl, but they’re at least getting out of the way more often lately.
The Oilers and Golden Knights rank as the top Pacific teams, although the Los Angeles Kings are at least trying to make that a three-team race. By adding Pierre-Luc Dubois, the Kings continue to try to inject more offense into a team distinguished by its defense. They’re not quite there yet (especially with shaky goaltending), but are capable of giving contenders headaches.
On the bubble tier, there’s a competent team that got a bit lucky (Seattle Kraken) and one that lacked many positive bounces (Calgary Flames). Both are capable of being scrappy, especially if last season’s brutal goaltending merely trends toward league average.
As lost as the Vancouver Canucks often seem, they’re also determined to make the playoffs. Their best pieces such as Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes might drag them just far enough to at least stay in the conversation.
Now, if you put a lot of weight in the doldrums of a division, then the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks are about as grim as it gets. That said, it seemed like the Arizona Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks would be last season’s most miserable teams, yet the Ducks and Sharks were even worse. For the most part, the worst of the worst kind of blend together.
4. Central Division
Few would be shocked if the Colorado Avalanche end up winning their second Stanley Cup in three seasons. It’s worth noting, too, that the Dallas Stars landed a truly rare first-day free-agent bargain in Matt Duchene.
In the end, though, the Central Division’s top teams lag a bit behind other division’s dynamic duos.
Others may have greater belief in Ryan Johansen but it looks like the Avs still lack a suitable Nazem Kadri replacement. And while it’s nice that the Stars aren’t as top-heavy on offense, their defense still seems like Miro Heiskanen and a bunch of guys.
With two more seasons of the $14.74-million Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts, it seems like the Minnesota Wild will still lack that “extra gear.”
The Winnipeg Jets should probably be more proactive about contract-year situations, but if they stubbornly cling to Connor Hellebuyck, he may once again hoist them up to the bubble.
Ideally, teams like the Jets and Nashville Predators would do some soul-searching and build for a brighter future. If they lose in this waiting game, they might feel stuck like the rather grim-looking St. Louis Blues.
With Logan Cooley and Connor Bedard, respectively, the Coyotes and Blackhawks figure to be more fun in 2023-24. It’s not outrageous to imagine “more fun” nonetheless translating to nearly identical results in the standings, however.
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Plenty of factors can change all of this. Older teams may seem more susceptible to injuries, yet random chance can strike even the youngest and sturdiest. As Sabres star Tage Thompson taught us, players can take quantum leaps out of nowhere.
It’s also possible that a cold streak or a contract dispute could lead to trades that could shake the foundations of a division.
Delightfully, every division should generate plenty of surprises, drama and intrigue. The burning question really might be: which second versus third seed series will get the most fans complaining this year?
