As
part of our ongoing series covering every division in the NHL for the upcoming
2012/2013 season, it is time to turn our attention south. The following is a
brief look at all five teams in the Eastern Conference’s Southeast Division
along with their currents odds to win the Stanley Cup as provided by Bovada.
Carolina Hurricanes 22/1
Considering
that Carolina finished at the bottom of the division last season with 82 points
and an overall record of 33-33-16, it may be hard to imagine a
worst-to-first turnaround this year. Perhaps a trade with Pittsburgh for center
Jordan Staal and the addition of free-agent forward Alexander Semin has
attracted the betting public’s interest. The Hurricanes also did an excellent
job at re-signing a number of key players that were already on their roster and
now have a solid nucleus of talent that should keep them more than competitive
all season long.
Washington Capitals 25/1
Washington
has to be happy with last season’s playoff run all the way to the conference
semifinals as the eighth-seed in the East, but this continues to be a team that
continually fails to live up to expectations given the level of talent on the
roster. The Capitals squeaked into the playoffs last year with 92 points after
going 42-32-8. They could be hard pressed to improve upon these numbers this
season given no significant improvements to the roster. Couple this with the
loss of centers’ Jeff Halpern and Keith Aucoin as well as Semin in free agency, and it could spell a step backwards in 2012/2013.
Tampa Bay Lightning 28/1
Tampa Bay
fell out of the playoffs last season after an exciting run all the way to the
conference finals in 2010/2011. It ended the year with 84 points and an overall
record of 38-36-8. To try and right the ship for this upcoming campaign, the
Lightning focused their offseason efforts on improving a defense that ranked
dead-last in the league with a goals-against-average of 3.39. They added
defensemen Matt Carle from Philadelphia and Sami Salo from Vancouver as well as
former Nashville back-up goalie Anders Lindback to compete for the No.1 spot on
the roster.
Florida Panthers 40/1
Florida won
the Southeast Division this past season with 94 points behind an overall record
of 38-26-18, but its stay in the playoffs did not last past the first round in
a seven-game loss to New Jersey. NHL odds makers apparently believe that last
year’s success was just a fluke and that a return to mediocrity is in the cards
for this season. One of the reasons is a loss of several key free agents from
last year’s roster, including forward Mikael Samuelsson to Detroit and defenseman
Jason Garrison to Vancouver. Despite these losses, the Panthers still have
enough talent on this team to compete for another Southeast title, considering
the lack of a dominant team in the division.
Winnipeg Jets 60/1
The former Atlanta franchise is stuck in the
Southeast for at least one more season after the NHL put its realignment plans
on hold for now. Despite being at a significant disadvantage when it came to
travel time, the Jets managed to stay extremely competitive for a good part of
last season. They finished tied with Tampa Bay for fourth-place with 84 points
and had an overall record of 37-35-10. Winnipeg appears to be content to
continue to try and build from within with an increased effort at re-signing
its younger players and cultivating tomorrow’s stars in its minor league
program.
The Jets did go out and add center Olli Jokinen as a free-agent from
Calgary to provide an immediate boost to their offense.