Southeast Rising

For the last few seasons, the league’s worst division has been owned by one club (Washington). In fact… outside of the Capitals, only one other team from this division has made the playoffs in the previous three postseasons (Carolina in 2009). Gazing into the future, though, the outlook is bright for the Southeast Division.

One of the reasons why the division has been weak recently is the two Florida teams. The Lightning have been near the bottom of the conference in each of the last three seasons as they’ve had trouble adapting to the front office turnover. And while the Panthers did come close to making the playoffs in 2009, the last time they actually qualified was when Pavel Bure led the team in points, and Mike Vernon was the team’s top netminder; if you’re thinking that was back in 2000, you are correct.

Yet both teams are on the path back to being playoff-caliber.

Tampa Bay’s struggles have turned into high draft picks that should eventually pay dividends. Steven Stamkos co-won the Rocket Richard Trophy this past season with 51 goals; Victor Hedman is considered one of best young defensemen in the NHL; and recently-selected Brett Connolly has the potential to be Stamkos’ go-to-guy for years to come.

Other than those three young studs, the Bolts have two veterans in Martin St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier that can still produce at a fairly high level. Also, rookie GM Steve Yzerman promises to excel in his new position after being under the wing of Red Wings GM Ken Holland – the best in the business. Yzerman has already done a great job re-tooling the defense with the signings of Pavel Kubina and Brett Clark.

Another general manager that has made an immediate impact resides 250 miles southeast of Tampa. Dale Tallon was the architect of the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks, and is looking to accomplish something similar with these Florida Panthers.

Before he arrived in Sunrise, the Panthers already had an abundance of future talent – Jacob Markstrom, Michael Frolik, Keaton Ellerby, etc. But Tallon started to put his stamp on the franchise when he made five picks in the first 36 selections at last month’s draft… one of whom was Erik Gudbranson, who is expected to be the future cornerstone of the Panthers blueline.

There is also some new blood in Atlanta, where the experienced Rick Dudley (GM) and Craig Ramsay (coach) look to steer the Kovalchuk-less Thrashers in the right direction. A lot of people forget that this team was still very much alive in the playoff race when the calendar flipped to April, even without their Russian superstar.

Ramsay is a great teacher with young talent, and that’s exactly what the Thrashers possess. Between Zach Bogosian, Evander Kane, and Niclas Bergfors (among others), Ramsay already has some tools to work with. There is reason for optimism in Atlanta, especially now that they have traded for half of the Blackhawks’ Cup-winning roster!

One team that goes virtually unnoticed is the fourth of this ‘Southeast Rising’ equation – Carolina.

The 2009/10 campaign was a rarity in Raleigh, as you don’t see the Hurricanes lingering in the cellar of the Eastern Conference too often. Once Eric Staal took over the captaincy, though, the team changed for the better. The Hurricanes went 21-10-3 down the stretch after Staal donned the ‘C’, and even crept back into the playoff picture.

For their sake, hopefully they can carryover some of that end-of-season momentum they established. You can always count on Carolina to be in the thick of the playoff race, and I expect things to return to normal for them in 2010/11.

Although they didn’t have the ‘luxury’ of drafting Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin, Carolina was still able to add Jeffrey Skinner to an already-promising group of up-and-coming forwards.

And then you have the Capitals – the three-time defending division champions. Even though they flamed out early in the postseason, then opted not to dip into free agency to improve the blueline, the Caps will still be a dominant regular season team. I mean, how can they not be with Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Green on board?!

But they also have some youngsters that will contribute in the coming years. GM George McPhee has stated that the club is going with the tandem of Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth between the pipes (which is a wise choice if you ask me). They’ll also have future stars John Carlson and Karl Alzner playing more on the back end this season.

Until their division crown is taken away, they are the kings of this Southeast Division.

When I look at this division as a whole, it kind of reminds me of the Central Division just a few years ago… one or two teams heads-above-shoulders the rest of the division. The Capitals are similar to the Red Wings (division dominance-wise), the Hurricanes to the Preds (hard-working club that is always competitive), and the Panthers, Lightning, and Thrashers to the Blackhawks, Blues, and Blue Jackets (circa 2006-07).

With a lot of future pieces in place, those last three teams mentioned from the Southeast can get out of their rut sooner than later – a la those three Central bottom-feeders from just three-to-four years ago.

A lot of hockey fans poke fun at the Southeast Division – especially those who believe over half of the five teams should find new homes in Canada. But with the talent these teams have continually gathered, it’s a matter of time before the Southeast’s ‘laughing stocks’ will rise from the ashes and become playoff contenders once again.

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