Welcome to the FanIQ NHL Season Previews. We'll be doing these division predictions all week. First was the Atlantic Division; now we move on to the Northeast.


The Montreal Canadiens were the victors of the Eastern Conference last season, taking home the Prince of Wales, and show no signs of letting go. With Ottawa reconstructing half the team in the off season and the Maple Leafs still in rebuild phase, look for Buffalo to move up and the Bruins to move forward into this post-season.

One of the biggest NHL mysteries of the summer was the Mats Sundin saga. Using the word “they” when discussing the team for which he once wore the C, and watching team camp from afar (Sweden), it’s become clear that he won’t be returning to Toronto. Contemplating retirement, declining the sizeable offer from Vancouver of $20m for 2 years, and dragging his feet with Montreal after they obtained exclusive negotiating rights until July 1, Sundin most likely isn’t going to return to the ice with any team wanting to lock him up for more than one year, and he certainly won’t consider signing with a club not in the immediate Cup run. While we still may see Mats move from the worst to the first, further solidifying each team in its previous place, there’s a whole lot of movin’ and shakin’ going on in the middle.


5th Place Toronto Maple Leafs
Looking just less than pathetic for a team in the middle of a rebuild, unfortunately for all you fans hoping to earn a 1st round draft pick the Leafs should finish about where they did last year; toward the bottom of the conference, but not quite last.  Ranked third in career wins among active NHL coaches, Ron Wilson and his 518 victories will help tremendously but not immediately. Wilson has a questionable at best record in the post season, but no matter; the Leafs won’t need to worry about that this year. Severing ties with Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe results in a lot less grit both up front and on the blue line, but it’ll also make a lot more room under the cap for improvement.

One thing the Leafs have working for them on offense is their peppering of the league goalies; their 31 average shots per game ranked 5th in the league last year. If Nik Antropov can improve on his meager 56 points last season with the supporting cast of Alex Ponikarovsky, Alex Steen, and newly acquired Niklas Hagman; Sundin’s dignity saving 78 points won’t be as dearly missed.

The expensive acquisition of the quick youngster Jeff Finger from the Avs, along with the return of veterans Tomas Kaberle and Pavel Kubina, should improve the Leafs blue line performance. With one of the league’s top goalies in Vesla Toskala and the return of 41-year old veteran Curtis Joseph to the team, at least solid netminding remains.


4th Place Ottawa Senators
Many changes lead to a much different squad in Ottawa as they lose four defensemen, parting ways with Mike Commodore, Andrej Meszaros, Wade Redden, and Luke Richardson. Redden will assuredly be the most missed, having provided the Sens with a multidimensional blue liner for 11 seasons. So missed that Bryan Murray felt he needed two replacements, Jason Smith and Filip Kuba, to fill the void left by the D-man and toughening up the blue line in the process. Topping off the defensive changes, Murray also signed Alexandre Picard and veteran Alex Auld, and severed ties with goalie Ray Emery.

With all of the defensive modifications, the Senators kept their impressive offense pretty much intact, with the exception of the addition of Jarkko Ruutu. One thing that may shake things up on offense though is new head coach Craig Hartsburg’s plan to mix up the lines to promote more balanced scoring, placing Spezza, Heatley, and Alfredsson all on separate lines. While they will no doubt continue to get plenty on net, with that rebuilt D they will need to rebuild team chemistry on the blue line and that may cost them some wins this season.


3rd Place Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres showed last season that they didn’t need Chris Drury and Daniel Briere, as they proved to be an offensive force to be reckoned with and ranked 4th in the league in goals scored. Nothing has changed this year; with the return of Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, Jason Pomminville, and a healthy Maxim Afinogenov, they should remain a top offensive team.

However, the acquisition of Craig Rivet is but a small improvement to the lackluster defense that hindered Buffalo’s chances at an extended season last year. The inking of Ryan Miller was a smart and necessary move to long term team success and Patrick Lalime is a solid backup gain, but strength between the pipes only goes so far when blue line support is subpar. The Sabres need to focus on strengthening the defense a little more than just re-signing Teppo Numminen for another year if they want to make a serious run deep in the playoffs.


2nd Boston Bruins
Why they’re moving up? Last year was injury ridden, and the key players are all returning at full strength. After losing Patrice Bergeron to a season ending concussion 10 games into the season last year, Boston still stood their ground and gave juggernaut Montreal more trouble than expected in the playoffs. While they made no considerable improvements throughout the offseason, they did nothing to take away from the team either. They did get rid of Glen Murray and picked up Stephane Yelle, but these changes shouldn’t make huge waves. The return of Marc Savard and Marco Sturm with Bergeron and the addition of Yelle should help the unproductive offense from last year to bounce back…and defense wins games in hockey too. With Captain Zdeno Chara at the helm, this phrase will undeniably ring true once again for the Bruins this season.

Staying healthy and maintaining their success at defense will hold key for Boston. Also, the continued improvement from youngsters, who towed the line last year during the injury laden season, should only solidify a team on the way up. If Tim Thomas plays as well as he did last year and Manny Fernandez plays to his potential, the Bruins will surprise the east again this year.


1st Place Montréal Canadiens
The team that didn’t have a whole lot of improvements to make made a whole lot of improvements over the course of the offseason, seeking to skate into their 100^th season in 2009 as Stanley Cup Defenders.  The only thing missing from the dominating Habs last year was grit…and they went and got plenty of it when they added Georges Laraque, Robert Lang, and Alex Tanguay. The re-pairing of Kovalev and Lang will definitely result in an even more explosive offense.

It is common for young netminders to perform less impressively their first full season after a remarkable debut. The play of 20-year old Carey Price in the post season suggested that may be the case; but the Canadiens obviously planned for that risk when they brought in solid veteran Marc Denis as a possible backup, pending the fate of Jaroslav Halak. Having no stone left unturned, Montreal is definitely ready to defend their conference title.


While my predictions have the Bruins and Sabres knocking the Senators down a couple of pegs, FanIQ thinks the Sabres will outplay the Bruins this year;
Candiens
Senators
Sabres
Bruins
Leafs