With the season underway in the NHL, and through the offseason, NHLRumors.com brought you different series most recently looking at the surprising teams in the East and West. Now we are going to look at the disappointing teams in both the Eastern and Western Conferences.
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In Part Two of a two-part series, we head back East. First in the series was the Western Conference. Now we go out East, looking at the Ottawa Senators, Buffalo Sabres, and Pittsburgh Penguins
Eastern Conference Disappointing Teams
Ottawa Senators
Let’s start North of the Border in the Canadian Capitol. The Ottawa Senators are a train wreck on and off the ice. We know the issues off the ice with Shane Pinto, Pierre Dorion leaving, and the loss of a first-round draft pick for the Evgenii Dadonov trade. But on the ice frustration is mounting.
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After starting off the year so well, the Senators have come back to Earth real quick. Losers of two straight and five of their last six, the players are hearing the fans on the ice and that is not a good thing. Injuries are starting to mount as well for the Senators. Again it does not help when Shane Pinto is not signed and has been suspended 41 games.
It feels like DJ Smith’s time in Ottawa is running out. The performances have not been at all, especially between the pipes. While Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk, Jake Sanderson, Claude Giroux and Jakob Chychrun have performed, the Senators are not playing complete games. And their slide began against their divisional rivals the Detroit Red Wings.
A team everyone thought we get to the playoffs this season and expected to with the division being so wide open, could see themselves on the outside looking in yet again.
Buffalo Sabres
What can we say about the Buffalo Sabres that has not already been said? The Sabres are sixth in the Atlantic Division and 10th in the Eastern Conference. Not where anyone expected this team to be.
Like the Senators, the Sabres were another sexy pick to make the playoffs this season out of the Atlantic. Slow starts to games have plagued this team. Just looking at their poor showing against Philadelphia last weekend. Though they did bounce back nicely against Toronto. However, the Sabres need to do more.
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Buffalo has talent with Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Jeff Skinner, JJ Peterka, Rasmus Dahlin, and Dylan Cozens, but like most teams, the Sabres have not played a complete game at all this season. Not to mention Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen might not be the answers between the pipes.
Levi is good, but the Sabres needed a veteran in there as well. Hard for two young guys to carry a team to the playoffs. Let’s see if they can turn around. If they can’t it will be another disappointing year in Buffalo and their fans.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Look we all know the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to be a bubble playoff team as it was going into this season. However, the start was not what everyone expected when Kyle Dubas took over as President of Hockey Operations and GM. It just goes to show that if he had stayed in Toronto, he probably runs it back again with that roster.
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Trading for Erik Karlsson was the big splash for Dubas in the offseason. He has been fine. Again how much puck is there for everyone on the power play with guys like Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Jake Guentzel out there? And those have been good especially 87. But this team is one of the oldest teams in the league with Washington.
And you can see it on the ice. Not to mention they are not getting any depth scoring whatsoever. Add in the fact that Tristan Jarry again is not playing well and here the Penguins sit last in the Metro Division and tied for last in the Conference. Your goalie can’t have a .897 save percentage when you are paying him $5.375 million a season to stop the puck.
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The reason Pittsburgh misses is goaltending. Jarry was heading out of town and Dubas signed him to this deal. Something needs to change. Remember when Ron Hextall and Brian Burke were the problem?
That does it for the Eastern Conference NHL Disappointing Teams. Check Part One of the series where we look at the Western Conference NHL Disappointing Teams.