NHL Team Summaries: Southeast

Atlanta Thrashers

What's wrong here? Hossa's hurt, and that's part of it. The goalie isn't posting good numbers, but that's not all of it. Part of the problem may be that the other four teams on this list have improved markedly. I'm not dropping Zhitnik yet, however.


Carolina Hurricanes

This team has rediscovered its Stanley Cup form. The team isn't quite as fast as it was in the postseason of its Stanley Cup year, but the fans are behind it and the team believes. Brind'Amour is a solid leader, Cole and Staal are playing very well, and the second line is as good as most other teams' first lines.

There may be some weakness on defence, but most of the time, so far, Cam Ward, the closest thing this league has to Brodeur after the man himself, is making up for any problems.

Many of these players have injury histories, and we'll have to see how they last as the season continues.


Florida Panthers

I expected this team to be better. I have Nathan Horton. I expected Horton and Weiss to be doing more. To date, this team remains the Olli Jokinen show (although tonight it's the Olesz show),

Vokoun has had a bad season but is playing well tonight. If he's not playing through injury (you never know), he'll be up and down the whole season. The rest of the team is very good. The Panthers are one of the few teams in the NHL with a defence I find adequate. Bouwmeester and Van Ryn are good (Bouwmeeter's overrated but he's still good). Ruslan Salei is one of the most gratuitously nasty players in the NHL, which is useful on D, although I suspect he'll be suspended at some point. I don't know the rest of the Panthers D, but any lineup that cannot find space for Montador and Mezei is impressive.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Vincent Lecavalier -- will history see him as better than Crosby? With the retirement of Teemu Selanne and the return to mediocrity of Jaromir Jagr and the perplexing underperformance of Crosby (and Thornton too), Lecavalier is the best player in the NHL (although Stastny has more points).

This team has won games without their star defenceman, Boyle, who was injured in one of the most bizarre sports incidents I've ever heard of.

I don't understand why the goalie is doing better. I don't know why teams aren't scoring on Tampa Bay. With everyone else so much stronger, I expected this team to start the season with a letdown.

That has not happened.


Washington Capitals


Ovechkin has a sadness and cynicism to him that makes me wonder about his philosophy. This is the guy who tried to destroy Briere last year, who has failed to wor k well with teammates for years, whose puck selfishness is evident in that he usually leads the league in shots.

Olaf Kolzig is a similarly troubled individual, nicknamed "Godzilla" for his temper, famous for breaking golf clubs in the offseason. . .

but the team is winning.

The stats seem to say that Viktor Kozlov deserves much of the credit, but I suspect an upgraded defence featuring Tom Poti is part of the answer. The O may get the credit but the key is the D.