Making Noise In The Atlantic

By : Mike Rifkin

The Ottawa Senators have been a mess for a lot of reasons since losing in Game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017. The Detroit Red Wings had made the playoffs for 25 consecutive seasons until 2016. After finishing sixth and seventh in the Atlantic respectively they decided to rebuild their franchise but on the first day of free agency both Ottawa and Detroit have made moves in hopes of making noise in the Atlantic Division. 

Let’s start with Ottawa who got started last week before the first round of the NHL draft when they acquired 40 goal scorer Alex Debrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for draft picks. Debrincat can be a Restricted Free Agent after the season, but at 24 years old I expect the Senators to sign him to a long term contract. Pierre Dorion then traded goaltender Matt Murray who they signed to a six year contract to the Toronto Maple Leafs with draft picks for future considerations. To replace Murray they traded for Cam Talbot from the Minnesota Wild. Last season Talbot went 32-12-4 with a 2.76 Goals Against Average and a .911 save percentage with 3 shutouts. Murray was 5-12-2 with a 3.05 Goals Against Average and .906 save percentage. The biggest difference between the two goalies is availability Murray the past few years has been limited due to injury including last season only playing in 20 games, while Talbot played in 49 starting in 48 of those. Dorion struck again today by signing former Flyers captain Claude Giroux to a three year contract. The Hearst Ontario native has played over 1,000 games in the NHL posting 294 goals and 923 points. Giroux also brings a ton of playoff experience to a team looking to get into the playoffs. Adding Giroux to a forward core that includes Brady Tkachuk, Drake Batherson, Tim Stuzle gives Ottawa a deep lineup. The Senators have also been rumored to want to add a top four defenseman. 

Steve Yzerman didn’t mess around before free agency he traded for goalie Ville Husso from the Blues and gave him a three year deal. Husso went 25-7-6 with a 2.56 Goals Against Average, .919 save percentage and two shutouts. Husso will pair with Alex Nedeljkovic, who was acquired from the Hurricanes prior to last season. Nedeljkovic went 20-24-9 with a 3.31 goals against average, .901 save percentage and four shutouts. That will give the Red Wings a solid 1-2 punch in the net. The Red Wings started today by adding Michigan native Andrew Copp on a five year contract. Copp last year had a career high in goals (21), assists (32) and points (53) with the Jets and Rangers. Copp can be a top 6 player for the Wings as well as help the special teams as well. The Wings also added Dominik Kubalik and David Perron up front. Kubalik has had 30,15,17 goals in his three seasons with the Blackhawks. Perron has scored at least 20 goals in three of the last four seasons. He has also been a big time performer in the playoffs for the Blues. Perron and Kubalik both should help a Red Wings Power Play that was 16.3 percent last season. Perron is third in the NHL over the last three seasons in power play points per 60 minutes and Kubalik has 11 career Power Play goals. Adding these three forwards to a group centered around Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Jakub Vrana gives the Wings a deep forward group. On the backend the Wings signed Ben Chiarot to a four year contract. Chiarot is more of a defensive defenseman who has 31 career goals in 489 games. Chiarot along with reigning Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider gives the Wings a nice pair on the Blue line. Do I think Yzerman is done? No, I wouldn’t be surprised if Detroit looks to add another defenseman. 

It’s been a while for both of these teams since they made the playoffs. Now they are adding to groups that they are very confident in. Whether they make it this year or not both teams are building for big futures and taking their shot now.