The National Hockey League season starts this Friday, and this could be a weird year. In fact, it already is because the league has gone to three divisions in each conference as opposed to the two divisions that were part of the foundation of the game.

Today, I will preview the Eastern Conference and its three divisions: the Northeast, Atlantic and Southeast.

The Northeast

With the Toronto Maple Leafs recent addition to this division, it features four teams who played in the first half of this century (the Ottawa Senators went defunct in the 1930s and re-emerged as an expansion team in 1992). The Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres will compete here as both are clearly the best teams because of either talent (the Bruins) or goaltending (the Sabres).

The Best of the Rest:

The Toronto Maple Leafs are rebuilding after two poor years in a row. A change from conferences could help, but goaltending is the key. Curtis Joseph was signed to help them there, and he has playoff experience. So does head coach Pat Quinn, who went to the finals in ’94 with the Vancouver Canucks. Still, they need more than Mats Sundin to score or they will suffer some more.

The Ottawa Senators look either very good or very bad. They made the playoffs for the first time two years ago but fell last year. There is no depth after Alexei Yashin (six guys scored double-figures in goals last year — third worst in the league). If they get goaltending figured out, they could compete, but probably not this year.

The Montreal Canadians are a middle-of-the-pack team. With inexperienced goalies and scorers who are getting old, this could be a tough year. The expectations are always high, as demonstrated by 23 Stanley Cups. They better start winning at home too because if they don’t, it will indeed be a difficult season.

The Atlantic

The New Jersey Devils, with a great goalie in Martin Brodeur, and the Philadelphia Flyers with Eric Lindros, John LeClair and a physically gigantic team will butt heads in this division; everyone else is mediocre to poor.

The Best of the Rest:

The New York Islanders are a ship that’s sinking fast. They are lacking almost everywhere. When about a quarter of the team’s goals comes from one person (Zigmund Palffy), depth is a factor. If they can’t find some other player of great talent, they won’t even be close to winning anything for a couple of years. They also need goaltending (who doesn’t), but a scoring forward could be the most pressing need.

The New York Rangers are not a really good team. They have good talent in a decaying Wayne Gretzky and star forward Brian Leetch, but after that it dips. They have a whopping 13 players over 30 years old, so if they will compete, this year or next will have to be the year. They might make the playoffs — but it could be a struggle — so they should probably rebuild so they can have a great future.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were crushed by the Ron Francis move. They lost a bulk of their scoring in Francis. Now it is just Jaromir Jagr against the world. There is little depth after him, but they have gotten better defensively. The better defense could make them a low seed in the playoffs, but don’t bank on it.

The Southeast

The Washington Capitals, a Stanley Cup finalist last year, will probably win here. They have the most talent and a great blend of youngsters and old guys. However, they can’t look past an improving Carolina Hurricanes team with newly-acquired Ron Francis and Al Iafrate. This could be a fight to the finish. Other than that, this is the worst division in the league.

The Best of the Rest:

It doesn’t get much more pathetic than the Florida Panthers. Just a surprise Stanley Cup finalist in ’96, they look terrible. They have no offense, their best goalie in John Vanbiesbrouck is now gone, and they are in bad shape. They finished second-to-last in the league last year and will compete for that spot with fellow division-mate the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Lightning is just as bad. The were dead last in the league last season and scored a nauseating 1.8 goals per game. It’s very easy to mention improvement in some area because everything needs help, but defensive scoring was horrible. The leading scorer on defense had 14 points. Also, they had no plus players (plus is good, minus is bad). Paul Ysebaert of all people was the leading scorer with 40 points but had a horrible -43 rating. Clearly they are a non-playoff team