2002 Atlantic Division
By Bob Grove

With the exception of the New York Islanders, who improved by a whopping 44 points, the Atlantic Division was home to a lot of misery last season. None of its teams got past the first round of the playoffs, and four of them fired coaches during or after the season. Here's what to expect this season:

PHILADELPHIA

Ken Hitchcock, who led Dallas to the 1999 Stanley Cup, is the new Flyers coach and will bring his defense-first approach to a team that has lost in the first round of the playoffs in four of the last five seasons.

"To me, the key is that all the teams with all the offense are teams where all the players are in the proper position defensively. Whether it's in the offensive zone, the neutral zone or the defensive zone, the teams that play good positionally create all the scoring chances," Hitchcock told the Philadelphia Daily News.

The potential problem is that veterans like Mark Recchi, Jeremy Roenick and Keith Primeau may have trouble adapting to Hitchcock's philosophy. Management, however, has made it clear players who have a problem with him will be given new addresses.

"There (will be) days where we don't like him," Primeau told the Daily News. "But get past it."

The Flyers' recent underachievement should be motivation enough. If John LeClair recovers from another herniated disc, and if Recchi rebounds from a forgettable season, the Flyers could be on their way to bigger things. Simon Gagne is very good and getting better, Michal Handzus improves the checking and a healthy Eric Desjardins will make the defense even better.

The power play ranked 28th last season and must improve dramatically, and goaltender Roman Cechmanek's on-ice tirade against teammates last spring won't be forgotten–or his play in the first-round loss to Carolina.

NEW YORK RANGERS

It wasn't just the money GM Glen Sather spent this summer that will improve the Rangers. It's how he spent it: adding some grit in the form of center Bobby Holik and defenseman Darius Kasparaitis.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out how those new additions will help us," Eric Lindros told the Toronto Sun. "With those two on the squad, we're certainly an improved team. (Holik) is a great two-way center. I like the way we look. It's exciting."

In the end, it might be the addition of coach Bryan Trottier to the equation that matters most. He has to transform the Rangers from a free-wheeling, we'll-play-defense-later outfit into a team with responsibility and pride in its special teams. Only Atlanta allowed more goals or had worse special teams last season.

Tomas Kloucek and Kasparaitis will give the defense a physical bent while Brian Leetch, Tom Poti and Vladimir Malakhov handle the finesse game. In goal are veteran Mike Richter and Dan Blackburn, a good combination as long as Richter stays healthy.

It's difficult to imagine Pavel Bure having anything but a huge season. He scored 12 goals in 12 games last season after being acquired from Florida, and he and Lindros will be difficult to defend. Mark Messier is back along with a healthy Radek Dvorak, but don't be surprised if Petr Nedved is dealt to bring some help on left wing.

NEW JERSEY

Devils' GM Lou Lamoriello changes coaches for a hobby, and thus it surprised no one when Pat Burns was hired to replace Kevin Constantine. Burns is famous for getting results in a hurry in Toronto and Boston, but that shouldn't be as difficult this time given the talent already present.

"There are teams that need a certain thing at a certain time. He's the perfect person for this team right now because of where we're at," Lamoriello told the Newark Star-Ledger. "He's had his success, and he's been away from the game, but he's energized now."

Burns inherits a team that isn't as big up front without Jason Arnott and Bobby Holik but which has plenty of speed and creativity elsewhere.

Center Joe Nieuwendyk figures to play with Patrik Elias, and Scott Gomez is likely to be paired with left wing Jeff Friesen on the second line as the Devils search for consistent sources of offense – a sore spot last season. Right wing Brian Gionta might join Jamie Langenbrunner among the top six forwards.

Where the Devils really shine is on defense. The aging Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko are joined by Colin White and a trio of quick, creative players that will be central to New Jersey's success: Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rafalski and Oleg Tverdovsky, who came over from Anaheim with Friesen in the deal that sent Petr Sykora to the Ducks.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS

After years of off-season personnel juggling, the Islanders were very quiet this past summer, adding only defenseman Mattias Timander and role players Jason Wiemer and Arron Asham.

"We didn't do a lot," GM Mike Milbury told Newsday, "but we did get tougher. We got deeper on the blue line. The question mark for us is, are we going to be able to pick up enough offense from other sources? I think we'll find it."

Brad Isbister and Oleg Kvasha might be those other sources, and Milbury says he's "pretty confident they're both going to have good years." With Michael Peca expected to be out of the lineup until December while recovering from shoulder and knee surgeries, more consistent production from those two will be critical to keeping checkers from swamping Alexei Yashin and Mark Parrish.

We're still waiting for Rick DiPietro to make an impact at the NHL level, and he will likely back up Chris Osgood in goal. A healthy Radek Martinek will help a defense that features Adrian Aucoin, Kenny Jonsson and Roman Hamrlik. The Islanders might also want to avoid becoming overconfident, as crazy as that sounds.

"We better not take anything for granted," says Milbury. "People will be ready for us. There will be no more surprises."