NHL Atlantic Division: Each team’s breakout candidate
The Atlantic Division is home to some of the NHL’s best rivalries and the young talent continues to grow. Here is a look at the top breakout candidates for each team.
While the Atlantic Division may not house the most elite talent in the NHL, their share of stars continues to grow. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander lead the Toronto Maple Leafs into the new era while the Montreal Canadiens continue to find their footing with players like Brendan Gallagher and Carey Price hoping for change.
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The Boston Bruins continue to find talent and David Pastrnak is one of the NHL’s best young stars. The Tampa Lightning continue to boast elite players with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov, but have players like Brayden Point and Yanni Gourde joining the ranks.
For the Buffalo Sabres, Jack Eichel is the big man on campus, but there is plenty of room for new faces. With the Florida Panthers ready to kickoff the Aleksander Barkov era, their depth and defense look ready for the next level.
The Ottawa Senators, who are now officially in rebuild mode, can still rely on Matt Duchene and Mark Stone to generate some offense.
Even with all the big names in the Atlantic Division, this could be a big year for several up and coming players as they transition to full-time NHL roles. With significant young talent in the Atlantic division, it is fairly difficult to pick a single player from each team to breakout in 2018-19.
While some are looking to improve in a big way, others are unproven but with plenty of opportunity to succeed. On top of that, their past success at other levels of hockey suggest big things to come.