2022-2023 NHL Season Preview: Atlantic Division

The NHL season is almost here, and the Atlantic Division is loaded with potential playoff teams.

In the 2021-2022 season, the Atlantic was paced by the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Florida Panthers. The Cats posted a 58-18-6 record (122 points) to claim the division by seven points over the 54-21-7 Toronto Maple Leafs (115 points).

Five points behind the Leafs were the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning at 51-23-8 (110 points). The Boston Bruins rounded out the Atlantic playoff field with 51 wins of their own and 107 points.

Which Atlantic Division teams are in line to make the playoffs?

From there, like the Metro, the competitiveness in the Atlantic fell off in a big way. The Buffalo Sabres came in fifth place, 32 points behind the Bruins (32-39-11).

The Detroit Red Wings (32-40-10, 74 points) and Ottawa Senators (33-42-7, 73 points) finished closely behind.

Bringing up the rear last season was the Montreal Canadiens, as they managed only 22 wins and 55 points a year after reaching the Stanley Cup Final.

Fast forward to this season, and the future looks bright for many of the teams in the Atlantic Division.

Detroit and Ottawa completely revamped their rosters, as the Wings added an army of players in free agency, headlined by Andrew Copp, and the Sens added Claude Giroux, among others, to their talented team.

There were some major departures in the division too, as Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar were dealt by the Panthers, Ondrej Palat and Ryan McDonagh are no longer with the Lightning, and Bruce Cassidy is out as the coach in Boston.

Of course, that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the rapidly changing landscape in the Atlantic.

When looking at this division, I see a clear top two, followed by four teams that have a great shot at making the playoffs and two teams that don’t really stand a chance.

With that, here is the 2022-2023 Atlantic Division preview.