Is someone buying a house?  Who the hell is this Dan character and when did he get here?  Finally a race for the Division!

The Atlantic Division finally gets a little boost from one of it's former tankers, giving Greg and Steve someone to play with.  Bipolar Garrett is back up again and actually gives this division a playoff race.  It looks as though there will be 4 teams competing for a playoff spot this year, if Garrett decides to go for it.  The rest of the division will still be in tank mode and will make it easy for the others to get some wins.  The top of this division is stacked!

BOSTON BRUINS - After Greg plays in the Cup Finals, he will have some work to do if he wants to win the East again.  His path will be much more difficult with the the Isles, Red Wings, and the Habs getting much better.  GM Greg had made a great trade at the beginning of this year getting stud goalie Saros, so he will not have to join in the goalie shitshow this year.  His wingers are top notch, but needs at least 1 quality center from free agency.  The Bruins will need the most work on the backend.  After Josi, all he will have are DF only dmen, that can't move the puck.  He may want to do a sign and trade of Hampus Lindholm as he will command $6+mil on a max extension.  I don't think he is worth that, but he may not have a choice with the very few dmen available in FA.  There are plenty out there to be acquired in trade, but we will see if he does anything.  

Estimated Cap Room - $10+mil

WWJD - 1. trade Lindholm (sign & trade)2. buyout Bonino 3. trade for dman 4. get center in FA

2022-2023 Cup Chance: Very Good

2023 Roster Depth Chart

MONTREAL CANADIENS - The Habs are the deepest team on offense going into next year...except they are over the cap by about $17+mil.  He will have to make several moves to be cap compliant, which will weaken his team  significantly.  GM Steve's defense is subpar and it will take a miracle to get good defensemen rated well at very little cost.  This team is a wildcard, as much will have to be done.  The big question is what he will do at the goalie position?  He has 3 goalies that will need to be protected, yet none are really good enough to play, let alone get them to the Cup Finals.  He has the assets to trade for a goalie, but will anyone give one up?  Let's see which direction he goes and any contender needing forwards, should be contacting him.  Regardless, he will have a great team and will be one of the few teams that will be able to keep up with the Bruins.

Estimated Cap Room - -$17+mil

WWJD - 1. buyout Alec Martinez 2. trade 2 of Backstrom, Oshie, Hertl 3. trade for goalie 4. trade for defense

2022-2023 Cup Chance: Excellent

2023 Roster Depth Chart

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS - GM Garrett is now back to being a decent team after a down year.  His team was at .500 most of this year and still made he playoffs due to the terrible competition.  Next year he has a decent top 6 and his defense is better than the average roster.  He just needs a goalie.  This seems to be a similar theme throughout the league.  There will only be about a dozen or so decent goalies.  The Leafs will have about $24+mil to work with, so they could go after the 3 goalies with usable rates, but let's see if he does.  I think GM Garrett has more fun tanking and drafting, over trying to win a title.  Let's see what kind of mood he is in during FA.

Estimated Cap Room - $21+mil

WWJD - (Screnario 1) 1. get a goalie 2. add a top forward 3. trade Josh Anderson (sign & trade)

      (Scenario 2) 1. trade Kuz, Hall, Skjei, Bogosian, Barabanov, Josh Anderson (sign & trade) 2. buy to sell at deadline

2022-2023 Cup Chance: Depends

2023 Roster Depth Chart

FLORIDA PANTHERS - Florida will have some players to trade this off season, as they will not be anywhere close to the playoffs.  He should be accumulating assets to sell at the deadline and trade anything they can in the offseason.  GM Sober Tyler does have a coveted asset in Ghost and Keith, as many will be looking for a defeseman.  After that he will have a couple forwards to trade as well.  It will be another year of tanking for this team.

Estimated Cap Room - $33+mil

WWJD - 1. trade Stastny, Ghost, Keith, Hinostroza (sign & trade) 2. buy to sell at deadline

2022-2023 Cup Chance: Zero

2023 Roster Depth Chart

OTTAWA SENATORS - Ottawa has 6 decent forwards, but that's about it.  He does have a few trade chips that he should trade off to accelerate the rebuild.  GM Steph is not shy and will buy during FA to sell off.  Not a whole lot here as it will be another year of being at the bottom of the league.  Let's see how much he sells.  Eichel anyone?

Estimated Cap Room - $29+mil

WWJD - 1. trade Johansson, Jarnkrok, Ritchie, Tanev, Savard, Staal, Cousins 2. buy to sell at deadline

2022-2023 Cup Chance: Zero

2023 Roster Depth Chart

DETROIT RED WINGS - Damn!  This is how you rebuild a team.  When all the GMs think about rebuilding, this is how you draem it will look like.  This team has a ton of scoring, not much defense though.  We will see how that will affect this teams performance next year.  Huge issue is going to be the lack of goaltending.  I am not sure if GM Dan understands that his goalies will be the bottom half of the leage, if they don't hit the minimum games.  Either way, he will see the ratings before FA and could easily work out a deal with someone.  As I already said, his defense could use a little upgrading and that will only come from trading as well, but all in all he is stacked.  I can't wait to see where he goes this offseason!  Could he take over the East?

Estimated Cap Room - $20+mil

WWJD - 1. trade forwards for GOALIE!!! 2. trade for a defenseman

2022-2023 Cup Chance: Excellent

2023 Roster Depth Chart

BUFFALO SABRES - The Sabres have a lot of up and coming talent.  They are hoping to look like the Red Wings in the future.  Nothing too much to see here as Buffalo doens't have anything to sell at this point, unless if he wants to give up Bailey with the 4 years remaining or sell Dadonov cheap.  Love where the defense going.  GM Jared just needs to keep being patient until his players start showing up.

Estimated Cap Room - $41+mil

WWJD - 1. trade Bailey, Dadonov 2. buy to sell at the deadline

2022-2023 Cup Chance: Zero

2023 Roster Depth Chart

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING - This team has 2 absolute studs in Terry and Barzal to go along with a few up and coming guys.  GM Eric is headed in the right direction with him team, but is still a few years away from being playoff relevant.  He has a few pieces that he can sell off to go along with some FA to sign and trade.  I think Tyson Barrie is available.

Estimated Cap Room - $28+mil

WWJD - 1. trade Johansen, Galchenyuk, Rask, Barrie, Rutta 2. buy to sell at the deadline

2022-2023 Cup Chance: Zero

2023 Roster Depth Chart