Eastern Edge

Miller finishes up his look at the East playoff race, with Isles, Sabres, Flyers and Jets 

With the regular season rapidly winding down, only three Eastern Conference teams can say with much certainty that they will make the playoffs - Pittsburgh, Montreal and Boston.  Conversely, only three teams have all but mathematically eliminated themselves from playoff contention - Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida.

This week (in two parts - you can take a look at the first part here), we'll take a closer look at which of the remaining nine Eastern Conference teams have a real shot at punching one of the five available tickets to the post-season dance or are just pretenders this year. Below is a table of the Eastern Conference standings. I've added games remaining because I hate to do math - simple subtraction drives me to distraction.

Miller takes a deep look at the Eastern Conference playoff contenders

With the regular season rapidly winding down, only three Eastern Conference teams can say with much certainty that they will make the playoffs - Pittsburgh, Montreal and Boston.  Conversely, only three teams have all but mathematically eliminated themselves from playoff contention - Carolina, Tampa Bay and Florida.

This week (in two parts - the second part is out later today), we'll take a closer look at which of the remaining nine Eastern Conference teams have a real shot at punching one of the five available tickets to the post-season dance or are just pretenders this year. Below is a table of the Eastern Conference standings. I've added games remaining because I hate to do math - simple subtraction drives me to distraction.

Russ Miller takes a look at young Rangers' forward Derek Stepan.

Lame title aside, Derek Stepan is playing some inspired hockey of late. He's been the Rangers best Centre and is only three points and one goal behind "superstar" Rick Nash's team leading 30 points and 13 goals respectively.  In most fantasy leagues, Brad Richards and Rick Nash went many rounds ahead of Stepan, yet here we are about to enter the home stretch of this abbreviated season and Stepan is playing the best hockey of his career.

A revival of the classic Crosby vs. Ovechkin debate - Miller takes a look at the Capitals' turnaround and the Penguins' surge

Over the Capitals last five games, they have four wins and a respectable 2-1 loss to the surging Penguins. In those four victories, Washington has scored 18 goals. So have they turned an imaginary corner or is this just a brief illusion of past scoring success?

Where to begin with this year's version of the Florida Panthers?

Only seven wins and 20 points speaks volumes about this season's lack of success. The next worst team has 10 wins.  I could mention their Goals For/Goals Against ratio of minus-39, or as I like to call it, Winnipeg in January. By a wide margin, Florida sports the leagues worst goals-against average of 3.72, the next worst are the Islanders sitting at 3.25. This was a team that won their division last season.

Miller discusses the Hurricanes, the Tavares line, Subban and more...

Last season, the Carolina Hurricanes finished last in arguably the weakest division in the NHL. They were aggressive during the summer and went out and got Jordan Staal, sending promising Center Brandon Sutter to Pittsburgh, plus they also signed unrestricted free agent Alexander Semin.  The Hurricanes took a large financial risk signing the enigmatic and oft-injured Russian to a one year, $7-million contract, but it is paying off handsomely for both parties involved.

Russ Miller takes a look at the impact rookies of the Eastern Conference

Here we are at the halfway point of the season already. It has been a long time since I remember as many first year players having this type of impact for their respective teams as there have been this season.  The Eastern Edge looks at some first year players from the Eastern Conference that are having an impact in their inaugural campaigns.

Buy, Sell or Hold - looking at Kadri, Ladd, Voracek, Moulson and more...

In less than two weeks, this condensed season will at the mid-point. If you are still hanging on to some traditional top performers who are not giving you the returns you thought or are debating dropping one for a seemingly lesser-like who may be having a good run, this week is dedicated to you. All of the verdicts below are based on one year leagues only. Keeper league value can be a whole other kettle of fish. This article will cover a dozen players from only the Eastern Conference.

Russ Miller takes a look at the Southeast Division.

After only a dozen or so games, it is clear to this author that there are only two teams that are going to compete for the title of division winner in what has perennially been the worst division in the NHL. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Carolina Hurricanes, aka the Natural Disasters, will battle it out all season to see who will snag that third seed in the East. The rest of the teams in this division are simply disasters.

Tampa Bay has lost four in a row and are a single point behind Carolina for first in the division. The Lightning struck early and often in winning six of their first seven games, recording 37 goals for (5.28 per game) and only 15 goals against (2.14 per game).

Unfortunately, in their last four games, Tampa has scored only six goals (1.5 per game) while allowing 14 goals against (3.50 per game).  Anders Lindback and Mathieu Garon have combined for a 0.876 save percentage in the last four contests. Clearly, that's not good enough, but it doesn't all fall on the goaltenders. If you can only muster a mere 1.5 goals per contest, you aren't going to win very many games, unless you play airtight defensively.

When Brian Burke makes deadline trades, they are often smaller fish. For example, in 2007, while teams were targeting names like Peter Forsberg, Keith Tkachuk, Gary Roberts, and Todd Bertuzzi, Burke made one move – he sent goalie prospect Michael Wall to the Colorado Avalanche for Brad May. That year, Burke’s Anaheim Ducks would win the Stanley Cup.