Before the season, I was extremely excited to see what the playoff picture looked like in the Eastern Conference. Would the Toronto Maple Leafs bounce back? How would the Ottawa Senators fare without Brady Tkachuk? Would the Buffalo Sabres make it back to the playoffs?
Through around 10 games of play, we’ve gotten a grasp on what these teams should be throughout the next 74 games. So, with some game tape now available to us, here is a concern for each Eastern Conference team.
Boston Bruins
Biggest Concern: They’re bound to come back to earth
The Boston Bruins have admittedly shocked me to start the year, now sitting atop the Atlantic Division 12 games into their season with a 9-2-1 record.
They’re getting great goaltending from Jeremy Swayman and Michael DiPietro, and goal scoring is spread throughout the lineup, although David Pastrnak has seven goals already.
While it looks great right now, the Bruins goals for percentage (GF%) is sitting at 71.7 per cent while their expected goals for percentage (xGF%) is just 55.4 per cent.
55.4 per cent xGF% is still good; for reference, the Colorado Avalanche lead the league in this category with 57.8 per cent.
The Bruins are playing well, but the numbers show they’re bound to allow more goals. Their goals against per 60 (GA/60) is sitting at 1.33 while their expected goals against per 60 (xGA/60) is 2.5.
While I think it’s reasonable to expect the Bruins to outperform their xGA/60 numbers because of their great tandem, it’s not reasonable to expect them to outperform it this much.
The team is playing well, but they’ve allowed the least amount of goals in the NHL while sitting around the middle of the pack in xGA/60. These numbers typically have a way of evening out.
Buffalo Sabres
Biggest Concern: Goaltending
There are certain people who are going to disagree with this point because last season the Buffalo Sabres ‘ three-goalie rotation worked well for them. They ranked ninth in the league in team save percentage (SV%), which led them to break their playoff drought.
All of last year, I was waiting for the fall-off of the three-goalie rotation because I don’t particularly believe that much in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, Colten Ellis or Alex Lyon.
Lyon is the best of the three, and he hasn’t played so far this season due to injury, but they still need more.
They’re currently sitting last in the league in SV%, and Luukkonen has posted a -5.41 goals saved above average (GSAA) as well as a -2.05 goals saved above expected (GSAx). Ellis hasn’t been much better with a -1.67 GSAA and a 0.11 GSAx.
I don’t think they’re as bad as they’ve shown this season, or as good as they showed last season, but the middle ground isn’t good enough for their roster.
General manager (GM) Jarmo Kekäläinen missed out on Connor Helleybuck, and now I’m not quite sure where they go from here.
Carolina Hurricanes
Biggest Concern: Goaltending
I’m far less concerned about the Hurricanes than I am with the Sabres with this because the Hurricanes just dominate teams, but so far their goaltending has been a bit less than average.
Brandon Bussi has mainly been the issue of the tandem with Pyotr Kochetkov putting up adequate numbers.
I don’t want to spend too much on this because I don’t really think this is something that can sink them.
Columbus Blue Jackets
Biggest Concern: Rick Bowness has lost the room
This is the first team where I’m turning to the coach because there is so much wrong with this team outside of the goaltending.
They don’t rank out well in most statistics, and when you watch them, they seem stale, and I can’t help but think about how many times Bowness has called them out.
At the end of last season, after a loss in game 82, he told our very own Mark Schieg, “All you gotta do is look at the stat sheet. Three hits, 23 giveaways. I don’t know if I’m back, but if I’m back, I’m changing this culture. These guys, they don’t care. Losing is not important enough to them. It doesn’t bother them.”
Fast forward to training camp this season, and he called out a couple of players for being out of shape: “Most of the guys are in great shape. There are a couple of guys that I’m not happy with, and right now they’re protected by the three-hour rule. When the three-hour rule is up, then we’ll take some steps to correct that.”
Fast forward once again to this season, after a 5-3 loss to the St.Louis Blues, he ripped into the team again, saying, “So you have to hope, you’ve got to believe, that that performance tonight will embarrass them enough to stop this, right? Because if they’re not embarrassed by that, we don’t want them on the team. It’s as simple as that.”
You can only rip into a team so many times before the players stop responding to you and stop listening to you. To me, this is where the Blue Jackets are at.
Detroit Red Wings
Biggest Concern: What is the package for Dylan Larkin?
If you read my previous article on this exact topic but for each of the Western Conference teams I used a similar point for the Minnesota Wild with Quinn Hughes.
To me this trade decides the direction of the franchise and they’ve been okay on the ice, but if they trade him for futures the reality is they’re most likely looking to tank. However if they trade him for pieces that help now, their issues on the ice may change which makes it difficult for me to decide.
Florida Panthers
Biggest Concern: Age of the roster
This roster looked stacked before the season started, and to be frank, it was, but we’re seeing the limitations that could hurt them with their injuries.
Injuries can and do happen to every team, but typically older teams are more susceptible to facing an injury crisis.
Right now, they’re dealing with the fact that Aleksander Barkov, Brad Marchand, Jacob Markstrom and Jonah Gadjovich are all on long-term injury reserve or injury reserve.
This team is a Cup contender, but are they one without Barkov and Marchand? I don’t think so. Injuries are going to play a role in this entire season for the Panthers.
Montreal Canadiens
Biggest Concern: Who is playing second line centre in the playoffs?
The Montreal Canadiens are in a spot that every NHL team wishes they were in. They have a young goalie who is probably the Calder favourite, and if his play is maintained, he could be the Vezina winner in Jacob Fowler.
They have their young core locked up to great contracts, and they’ve already managed to make the Eastern Conference Final last season. My biggest issue with the roster is the gaping hole at second line centre, and I think the organization sees it too.
Oliver Kapanen is young but not good enough to fill that role, so how do they fill it? The obvious answer is Dylan Larkin, whom the Bell Centre literally chanted for.
It has been reported that Montreal is still on his no trade list so unless something changes there, GM Kent Hughes is going to need to find an alternative.
New Jersey Devils
Biggest Concern: Can Jack Hughes stay healthy?
The New Jersey Devils have most likely solved the biggest issue they had after trading for Connor Hellebuyck. Their next biggest issue is the health of Jack Hughes.
Hughes hasn’t played more than 62 games since the 2022-23 season and they’re a completely different team with him in the lineup.
New York Islanders
Biggest Concern: Buying at the deadline last year for a mid team
The New York Islanders spending a first-round and third-round pick plus roster players for a 34-year-old Brayden Schenn made no sense. Last season, they were a fine team riding a Vezina-level season from Ilya Sorokin that also fired their head coach, Patrick Roy, with four games to go.
Now we’re seeing this team as what they probably should’ve been last season. They’re a team that can’t score, and they’re using Matthew Schaefer at an absurd rate. Through 12 games, he’s averaging 26:43 time on ice (TOI), which ranks fourth in the NHL.
I know he’s young, but when you’re throwing that many minutes on him, I get a little concerned about potential future injuries.
I think the Isles are going to be a lottery team this season, and last season may have set them back in their rebuild.
New York Rangers
Biggest Concern: Can their goaltending hold up?
The Rangers have been a pleasent surprise after a nightmare last season. The vibes to start were unbelievable with the results being there and Igor Shesterkin doing everything including scoring goals.
Then Shesterkin suffered a season-ending lower-body injury, and with Joonas Korpisalo out long-term, they’ve had to turn to Dylan Garand to start.
So far, Garand has impressed me. When you take into account expectations you had for him before the season, putting up a 1.68 GSAA, 1.97 GSAx, and a .899 SV% is pretty good. I just don’t know if it’ll be enough to get them into the playoffs.
Hellebuyck was never an option for them with Shesterkin locked up long-term, but I wonder where GM Chris Drury will turn to make a move, if he does so at all.
Ottawa Senators
Biggest Concern: Power play
The Ottawa Senators’ power play was a borderline top-10 unit over the last two seasons, but this season they’re sitting at 28th in the league in power play percentage (PP%).
It could be an adjustment period without Brady Tkachuk, and William Eklund has only played four games because of injury.
It feels like there is too much talent here to be this bad, so I have faith that it will turn around, but they still need to do it.
Philadelphia Flyers
Biggest Concern: Rick Tocchet’s system isn’t working
If I wrote this article about two weeks ago, I wouldn’t know where to start with this Philadelphia Flyers team.
Their season started with nine straight losses, including a 7-0 thumping to their state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Since the 0-6-3 start, they’ve looked better beating the Senators, Sabres and Colorado Avalanche. That being said, there are major red flags about how Rick Tocchet is coaching this team.
The whole point of Tocchet’s system is suppressing shots against and playing ‘low-event hockey.’ We saw them do that to a T last season with the fourth-lowest shots against per 60 minutes (SA/60) in the NHL.
This season they now allow the fifth most SA/60, and are being killed off the rush without generating many rush chances of their own.
I think Tocchet’s systems have a limit to how long a single team can do them, and he’s run his course in Philly already.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Biggest Concern: Goaltending
The Pittsburgh Penguins were a huge surprise playoff team last season. After trading Tristan Jarry to the Edmonton Oilers, they went through their season with Stuart Skinner and Arturs Silovs.
This season they’re still running Silovs out, but they’ve handed the backup role to 22-year-old Sergei Murashov. He played five games for the Penguins last season, and his numbers weren’t bad. This season he has started better, but each of these guys hasn’t been good enough for the roster head coach Dan Muse is working with.
They currently rank 28th in the league in five-on-five SV%, which will be tough for this roster to outscore. I don’t see the Pens being a playoff team this season with some of the Metropolitan Division improving.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Biggest Concern: Special teams
The Tampa Bay Lightning have gotten off to a pretty hot start despite both their special teams units ranking in the bottom 12 of the league.
Last season, they had the third-best PK% in the league, ranking behind just the Chicago Blackhawks and Colorado Avalanche. Through 11 games played this season, it sits at 20th in the league, and so far it seems goaltending has been a big difference.
During the 2025-26 season, the Lightning were eighth in the league in shorthanded SV%, while they’ve plummeted down to 20th this season.
Their power play has been ice cold this season as well, sitting 27th in PP% in comparison to their 17th place finish last season. I’ll admit 17th is lower than I expected, but there’s still been a significant drop-off in that area.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Biggest Concern: Defending the rush
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been fun and pleasantly surprising to start this season, but a glaring issue is how much they allow off the rush.
They’ve allowed the third-most rush goals against per 60 minutes in the league, only ahead of both Alberta teams.
It’s evident they struggle when teams are able to control the puck through the neutral zone, and it feels like a personnel issue right now. The problem is they’re so tight up against the cap because of the NHL’s salary-tagging rule; they need to move significant money out to make a big acquisition.
Washington Capitals
Biggest Concern: What do you do with Alexander Ovechkin?
The Washington Capitals have looked good to start the season, but one of the weird situations they’re dealing with is the final season of a franchise icon in Alexander Ovechkin.
The Caps made a lot of moves this offseason to rejig their forwards, bringing in Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou to help offensively. The additions have produced for the Capitals, but now Ovi is in a position he’s never been in during his long career.
He is now 17th in TOI on his own team and played a career-low 11:43 in their game against the Buffalo Sabres.
You can’t trust Ovi to play a bottom-six role because his mobility is so limited, but he’s obviously still such a threat on the power play.
I know the organization is stuck in this situation, but I don’t know how it’s going to look in the playoffs when the stakes are so much higher.
Each team in the league have their own flaws and I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out during this season.
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