The 2009-10 NHL season is now finished. The Chicago Blackhawks had been waiting for their turn to hoist the Cup for 49 years, and that drought was finally brought to an end after an exciting series against the Philadelphia Flyers.
This six part series will consist of brief summaries of every team’s performance this season, starting with the Atlantic Division.
New Jersey Devils
Final standings: 48W, 27L, 7OTL, 103 points, 1st Atlantic, 2nd Eastern Conference, 6th NHL
Despite some changes to coaching staff, with the Devils hiring Jacques Lemaire to replace Brent Sutter as head coach, New Jersey followed up their 2008-09 campaign with another good year all around, aside from a bumpy January and February. One notable event to take place this year was a home game against Tampa Bay, on January 8th, being left unfinished because of lighting problems with 9:12 left to go: the Bolts were 3-0 up, but the game was resumed two nights later with Tampa Bay winning 4-2. New Jersey later made it to the playoffs for the 13th straight season, however for the third year in a row; they were out in the first round, losing in five games to division rivals Philadelphia.
New York Islanders
Final standings: 33W, 37L, 11OTL, 79 points, 5th Atlantic, 13th EC, 26th NHL
Nope. The Isles haven’t changed much since last year. Well… OK, they made a few trades and named Doug Weight as the new team captain, but the mismanagement of this team continues as they only finished with a slightly better record than last season, winning seven more games and moving up to a slightly higher place in the standings. Overall attendance figures were down from last year, totalling an average of about 12,735 for all their home games. But hey, at least they did better than Phoenix.
New York Rangers
Final standings: 38W, 33L, 11OTL, 87 points, 4th Atlantic, 9th EC, 21st NHL
The Rangers appeared to be on a roll during October, but following that was a disappointing 5-8-0 record for November, and from there the Blueshirts went downhill into a fairly mediocre season. Come Winter Olympic time, they contributed five players to the tournament, yet as soon as it finished the Rangers made a final surge through March and April in hopes of making it to the postseason. However, in the final game their playoffs hopes were smashed to pieces as they lost in overtime to the Flyers, and in turn lost the eighth seed to the Montreal Canadiens by just one point, making it the first time in five years that the Rangers failed to qualify for the postseason.
Philadelphia Flyers
Final standings: 41W, 35L, 6OTL, 88 points, 3rd Atlantic, 7th EC, 18th NHL
During the offseason, the Flyers made some huge changes such as letting goalies Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki go in favour of bringing in Ray Emery and Brian Boucher. They also acquired the big bad Chris Pronger from Anaheim, in exchange for Lucas Sbisa, some draft picks, and ironically enough, Joffrey Lupul. As the regular season started, Philadelpia got off to a good start in October and early November, but from there went into a huge 17 game slump that saw the Flyers go 3-13-1. During this time head coach John Stevens was fired in favour of Peter Laviolette, and after the slump ended the team looked to improve its then horrendous record. From there, everything went smoothly for the Flyers until they hit another slump of 9-10-3 after the Olympic break, eventually clinching the 7th spot in the East. In the playoffs, they made quick work of New Jersey in just 5 games, but their second round matchup against Winter Classic opponents Boston was perhaps one of the most significant of the whole tournament: after falling to the Bruins in the first three games, the Flyers then went ahead and miraculously won the next four, making them only the third NHL team in history to do so. They then brushed the Montreal Canadiens aside in the Conference Finals and then, meeting expectations from even before the season started, the Flyers were a Cup contender, meeting with the Chicago Blackhawks in the Finals and making it this far for the first time since 1997. The Flyers were now the underdogs in this series, and unfortunately for them their Cinderella run was brought to an end in six games.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Final standings: 47W, 28L, 7OTL, 101 points, 2nd Atlantic, 4th EC, 8th NHL
This was a significant year in Pittsburgh Penguins history, as not only were they the defending Stanley Cup Champions, but it was also their final season in the Mellon Arena, aka “The Igloo” from which the team derived its name from, after playing there for their entire 43-year existence (minus the lockout), as the brand new Consol Energy Center will be ready for next season. The Pens looked to make this final year in the Igloo one to remember as they went an impressive 11-3-0 over October, followed by only a few minor slumps before the Olympic Break, after which they improved their record and ended up finishing in the exact same standings positions as last year. Come playoff time, the Penguins won in six games against the Ottawa Senators. However, Sidney Crosby’s Championship reign was brought to an end as he and his Pens were upset by 8th-place Montreal in seven.
Stay tuned for Part 2 as the Northeast Division will be covered.
