NHL Eastern Conference Report

March 10, 2009 11:09am CDT

Following the player movement at the trade deadline, we will look at how the Eastern Conference teams have changed as we head into the final quarter of the regular season.

Some of the old faces in new places have already had an impact. Find out who else is making waves at this key juncture of the season.

Atlanta - As expected in this space last week, the Thrashers sent veteran defender Niclas Havelid to the Devils for a minor-league prospect, and they also moved forward Erik Christensen to Anaheim for minor-league forward Eric O'Dell. These moves are designed to clear cap space and get younger in Atlanta. The Thrashers are fairly deep on the top two lines, taking their lead from Ilya Kovalchuk, who chipped in five points in three games. On defense, they have a maturing talent in Tobias Enstrom and a reliable veteran in Ron Hainsey, who contributed two points apiece on the week.

Boston - The Bruins have been struggled recently but made two solid moves as they bolstered their offense with the acquisition of Mark Recchi (who had a two-goal effort in his second game with the B's), from Tampa and they improved defensively as veteran stay-at-home defenseman Steve Montador came over in another move. Montador is questionable to start the week as he is battling the flu bug. Still the Bruins need to capitalize on a weak schedule to rebound from their 1-3 week.

Buffalo - The Sabres' big news came off the ice as they opened the purse strings to re-sign Tim Connolly for two more years and $9M. Many pundits feel they had to do this because of the recent exodus of other big names. They also shored up their goaltending depth by getting Mikael Tellqvist from Phoenix for a fourth-round draft pick. He will share the load with Patrick Lalime for most of the remaining regular season. They also moved out veteran winger Ales Kotalik, who has underperformed as a skill player in Buffalo and may be better suited to the speed game in Edmonton.

Carolina - Eric Staal led all shooters last week with nine points and has to be thrilled with the 'Canes trade that brought back his good friend and former linemate Erik Cole, who tallied five points in his first two games back in the fold. The cost to re-acquire the speedy winger was Justin Williams, formerly another sniper here, who has had an injury-plagued couple of seasons and looks for a fresh start in L.A. Defender Anton Babchuk continues an unprecedented scoring binge with four goals and an assist in his last six games.

Florida - The Panthers swallowed hard and decided to hold on to pending free-agent Jay Bouwmeester at the deadline and are pushing hard for their first playoff appearance in several years. They are 10 games over .500 in the new year. They boast 11 players with at least 10 goals and leaned heavily on Tomas Vokoun, who was right on top of his game until most recently when he has slipped a bit, allowing three goals or more in four of his last five starts. Veterans Corey Stillman and Richard Zednik have been a solid complement to a group of young guns who all seem to be meshing together right now.

Montreal - The Habs did not make a move at the deadline, but seem to have righted this listing ship. The best news was from the last two games where Carey Price played outstanding, allowing only two goals on 58 shots and looking like his strong early-season form. Tomas Plekanec has rediscovered his offensive spark, by scoring six points in six games. Defensive depth with the recent addition of Mathieu Schneider, who has helped reignite a moribund power-play and the steady work of underrated veteran Roman Hamrlik - two assists and (+2) rating last week - as well as the stellar play of Andrei Markov, label the defense as the strength of this team right now.

New Jersey - A healthy lineup, with a good mix of skill and size on defense, was bolstered by the arrival of solid veteran Niclas Havelid at the deadline. Up front, the top scoring veterans Jamie Langenbrunner and Patrik Elias are both in line for their best seasons since the lockout year. Even Brian Gionta snapped out of personal funk with two goals ad three assists in his last four games. Despite the absence of a top offensive defenseman to run the power play, both Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya have poured in five points in their last five games.

NY Islanders - The Islanders' auditions continue as they went 3-1 last week, during a stretch that saw them outscore opponents 16-11.Yann Danis was in for three appearances and now sports a surprisingly low 2.44 goals against average in his 21 games played, which is way better than the other goalies who have played for the Isles this season. Sean Bergenheim recorded a hat trick and has now scored six of his season total 14 goals inn his last six games. Trent Hunter, who was having a decent year with 31 points in 55 games, went scoreless in his last six outings before breaking his ankle, taking him out of the Isles' lineup for the rest of the year.

NY Rangers - The Rangers pulled off one expected move by reacquiring the troubled winger Sean Avery, hoping that he will rediscover the form of his last go-around on Broadway. They didn't stop there, though. Nik Antropov comes over from the Leafs to add a scoring touch from a big body up front. He has already come up with three points in his first two games with New York. The final move at the deadline brought an experienced puck-moving defenseman, as Derek Morris looks to turn around one of the worst seasons of his career.

Ottawa - The Sens made a trade to acquire their next goalie of the future as Pascal Leclaire will make his Ottawa debut next fall. The former number one in Columbus lost that role and also broke his ankle, to slide right out of that picture. The Sens are clearly hoping that he will return to the level of his 2007-08 season (nine shutouts, 2.25 GAA). This move cost them speedy winger Antoine Vermette, but Nick Foligno has stepped into a top-six forward role and responded with three goals and an assist in three games. The other good news at the deadline was the signing of Filip Kuba, an excellent passing blueliner, to a four-year extension.

Philadelphia - The Flyers added truculent winger Daniel Carcillo at the deadline to add more muscle and combativeness to a team that has long been characterized that way. The Flyers also sandwiched two impressive wins around a blowout loss last week. This deep offense was led by the flashy Simon Gagne, who notched two goals and three assists last week. Philadelphia still has question marks on defense and, as always (it seems), in goal, as they are not getting consistent efforts from Antero Niittymaki or Martin Biron, although he finished the week strongly by turning aside 52-of-54 shots in his two appearances.

Pittsburgh - The Pens made a good pickup at the deadline by bringing big, experienced winger Bill Guerin into the mix. He immediately moved onto Sidney Crosby's line along with another recent addition (in Chris Kunitz). Guerin has already produced four points in two starts with his new club. Penguins fans are thrilled with Sergei Gonchar's play as he already tallied eight points in his first 10 games played in addition to taking on the heavy workload of almost 25 minutes per game. Now that Gonchar is deemed fit, young Alex Goligoski, a young offensively gifted defenseman, has been sent to the minors to hone other skills.

Tampa Bay - The Bolts parlayed Mark Recchi into two younger assets, former first-round pick, defenseman Matt Lashoff, and former second-round choice, forward Martins Karsums, in the hope that at least one of them might amount to something. In addition, they flipped the recently acquired Steve Eminger for defender Noah Welch and a third-round pick. They also dumped salaries to the Leafs in exchange to Toronto, in order to qualify as a recipient of equalization payments from the league. This cash-strapped franchise may be forced to deal one of it marquee veterans (Vincent Lecavalier) in order to ease that current burden. The continued development of Steve Stamkos, who has 13 points in his last 16 games, is a necessary element to ease the pain in Tampa.

Toronto - GM Brian Burke made good on his promise to replace previously traded draft picks and sent a couple of veteran potential big-ticket items packing (Dominic Moore to Buffalo as well as the afore-mentioned Antropov to the Rangers). John Mitchell has taken advantage of increased minutes, scoring five points in six games. In another move, goalie Martin Gerber was brought in to shoulder the load as starter Vesa Toskala was shut down for the season with hip and groin surgeries. The nightmarish injury-plagued season of Mike Van Ryn has ended abruptly following his torn knee ligaments in last Saturday's tilt with the Oilers.

Washington - Though they appear to be cruising to a division title, the club is mired in a four-game losing slide, the longest in coach Bruce Boudreau's tenure here. If you exclude Alexander Semin, who has goals in six straight games, offensive production is surprisingly an issue. Flashy young winger Tomas Fleischmann's single point in his last six outings is more indicative of the team-wide lack of firepower at this time. There is a bit of a lack of physicality among the top-six forwards, creating an opportunity for Brooks Laich to see more scoring line minutes as we turn for home and he has responded nicely with five points in his last six games.