Pretenders, contenders litter NHL East

[Habsfan84]

If you were mapping the fortunes of the NHL's Eastern Conference teams from week to week, the results would resemble a crazy stock market chart, with sharp climbs and rapid crashes all over the place.
Consider the evidence of the past two weeks, heading into games last night:
- The Ottawa Senators had lost four of five games, plummeting from first to fifth in the standings.
- The Canadiens jumped from fifth to first and then to second.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins went from fifth to fourth and then overtook the Canadiens this week for top spot.
- The Buffalo Sabres have slipped from sixth to ninth.
- The Boston Bruins went on an 8-0-1 roll to rocket up the standings to sixth. Since then, they've dropped two straight, including a 10-2 pasting by the Washington Capitals on Monday.
- The once-slumping New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers are back in the thick of the race. The Rangers have gone a month without suffering a regulation loss, while the Flyers were able to stay in the hunt despite a 10-game losing streak in February.
With four weeks remaining in the regular season, only 10 points separated first from ninth in the conference. The eighth-place Flyers were only six points clear of the Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers, deadlocked for the 12th and 13th spots.
What complicates matters is the fact that the Southeast Division leader is guaranteed the third seed in the playoffs, even if it doesn't have one of the best eight records in the conference. That means Washington was four points shy of the Flyers for eighth, but only three points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for third.
In this environment, trying to handicap the Eastern Conference playoffs is a next-to-impossible task. Unlike the Western Conference, where at least five teams - the Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild - can be considered to have a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup, there is no powerhouse in the East.
The once-impressive Senators have become like every other team in the East, a team with its share of strengths (starting with the high-scoring top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza) and well-documented weaknesses (beginning with the goaltending of Ray Emery and Martin Gerber).
Here's a look at the teams, other than the Senators, who have a shot at eventually being embarrassed by the Western Conference champions in the Stanley Cup final, breaking them up into two categories: legitimate contenders and longshots.
Legitimate Contenders
Boston Bruins: Okay, raise your hands, all three of you, who thought the Bruins had any chance whatsoever of making the playoffs when star centre Patrice Bergeron was cross-checked, head-first, into the boards by the Flyers' Randy Jones on Oct. 28?
Somehow, the Bruins have survived, with Marc Savard and journeyman Glen Metropolit acting as the top two centres. Claude Julien's strict, defence-first philosophy is working. Goaltender Tim Thomas's unorthodox style is baffling opponents. Defenceman Zdeno Chara has re-established himself as a Norris Trophy candidate, stopping big lines by himself.
The test will come against a team with multiple scoring lines, putting pressure on a second tier of defencemen and Thomas, who looked vulnerable in the ugly loss to Washington.
Canadiens: Do you remember the fuss Canadiens captain Saku Koivu caused in the preseason, suggesting his team wasn't good enough to be considered a Stanley Cup contender? At the time, Koivu was in line with the majority of fans, who figured Alexei Kovalev was too uninspired to make a difference, that the team's power-play unit wouldn't survive the loss of free agent defenceman Sheldon Souray and that the organization's prospects weren't ready to shine.
Guess again. Kovalev and defenceman Andrei Markov have led an explosive power play, and there's plenty of scoring balance at even strength. Markov, the physical Mike Komisarek and veteran Roman Hamrlik have been solid on defence. The biggest question stems around 20-year-old rookie goalie Carey Price. If the Price is right in the playoffs, general manager Bob Gainey will be toasted as a great hockey genius for dealing away Cristobal Huet. If Price stumbles, Gainey should be roasted.

New Jersey Devils: This time, Lou Lamoriello won't be stepping in for his coach in the final week of the season. Lamoriello sees eye-to-eye with coach Brent Sutter, who is dressing a dependable, hard-working, unspectacular squad every night.
The lack of star power - Travis Zajac and Zach Parise are solid front-line players, but Patrik Elias's offence has dwindled - doesn't sell tickets in Newark, but it's successful. Ultimately, though, any long-term success boils down to goaltender Martin Brodeur, who will eventually own all major goaltending records. After a weak performance against the Senators in the second round of the playoffs last spring, Brodeur will be out to prove that Father Time hasn't caught up to him.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby returned from his ankle injury Tuesday. Marian Hossa will soon be back from his knee injury, finally giving the Penguins a taste of their potential to overpower playoff opponents
offensively.
A possible Crosby-Hossa duo, coupled with the tandem of Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora, could cause a pick-your-poison scenario for the rest of the conference: concentrate your efforts on stopping Crosby, and Malkin - who took over the NHL scoring lead in Crosby's absence - can embarrass you. However, the Penguins' defence is atrocious and the goaltending of Marc-André Fleury and Ty Conklin is certainly questionable. They are far short of a complete team, but they should be the most fun to watch.
Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin gets the headlines, for good reason, but the Capitals are a solid four-line team. Rookie Niklas Backstrom is challenging for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, Alexander Semin takes some scoring pressure off Ovechkin, defenceman Mike Green has emerged as an offensive threat and the addition of Sergei Fedorov partly offsets the loss of Michael Nylander to a shoulder injury. Huet has also given the Capitals some depth at goaltending.

So far, however, their 24-14-7 record since Bruce Boudreau
replaced the fired Glen Hanlon as coach hasn't yet been good enough to catch Carolina.
Longshots

Buffalo Sabres: Maybe, just maybe, goaltender Ryan Miller is good enough to carry the Sabres into the playoffs on his back. But the Sabres boast far too many inconsistent forwards to be considered a serious
playoff contender and the dealing away of all-star defenceman Brian Campbell at the trade deadline took away life from the power play.
Carolina Hurricanes: With the Capitals breathing down their necks, the Hurricanes have gone on an impressive 7-2-1 stretch in 10 games before last night. It's especially remarkable considering the Hurricanes have done it without injured captain Rod Brind'Amour. The defence, however, would appear to be far too shaky for the more defensively oriented style of the postseason, and goaltender Cam Ward, the 2006 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, is too ordinary on too many nights.
Florida Panthers: Who the heck is Craig Anderson? All he has done in the past two games is post back-to-back shutouts over the New York Islanders and Boston, stopping 93 shots in the process and giving at least some hope that the Panthers have a chance of seeing the postseason. Don't hold your breath. The balloon will burst soon enough.
New York Islanders: A spot in the postseason might just earn Ted Nolan a chance at coach-of-the-year honours, but the Islanders' collection of journeymen simply doesn't have enough scoring punch to seriously threaten the rest of the conference.
New York Rangers: With superpest Sean Avery in the lineup, the Rangers boast a record of 25-11-4. Perhaps Avery, who has broken off contract talks with the club, has a sound case in arguing for a bigger share of the pie in the Big Apple. The true test of his agitating style will come in the playoffs - if and when the Rangers make it there - to see if he can create room for the scoring stars Jaromir Jagr, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez to break out. When goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is on his game, he's one of the league's best, deserving of his new six-year, $41.25-million U.S. contract.
Philadelphia Flyers: Marquee free-agent pickup Daniel Brière has had a disappointing season as Philadelphia's top centre. Brière checks in with a plus/minus rating of minus-23, struggling badly against top forward lines and big defencemen. There's more to the Flyers, of course, but the group looked so dysfunctional during their 10-game slide, it's hard to imagine them challenging throughout the playoffs. Goalie Martin Biron is unproven in the post-season after years as an understudy to Dominik Hasek and Ryan Miller in Buffalo.