NHL betting fans have enjoyed a long and busy offseason as their favorite clubs look to improve in order to hoist Lord Stanley’s mug. Today we are looking at the Atlantic Division and how each team faired both last season and this offseason and where we see them landing this year. Sports betting on the NHL’s Atlantic Division has become more enjoyable over the last few years with the vast improvement of each team.

• New Jersey Devils

How They Fared Last Season:

The Devils under the influence of hall of famer Jacques Lemaire were able to win the Atlantic Division with 103 points just barely edging out arch rival Pittsburgh Penguins. This team is quite popular among the sports gambling community.

Midway through the season, the Devils acquired disgruntled Atlanta Thrasher sniper Ilya Kovalchuk in an attempt to put them over the top. However, they would fall in the first round of the playoffs to fellow Atlantic Division team the Philadelphia Flyers.

What They Did This Offseason:

This offseason saw Lemaire retire after one season with the Devils and be replaced by Devils legend John Maclean. As well the Devils went out and bolstered their blue line adding Toni Lydman from the Sabres and Anton Volchenkov from the Senators. Currently they are in a battle with the NHL over the structure of Ilya Kovalchuk’s contract extension of $102 million over 17 years.

Where They’ll End Up:

If the Devils can get Kovalchuk under contract, we see them finishing sixth overall and losing in the second round.

• Pittsburgh Penguins

How They Fared Last Season:

Last season’s defending Stanley Cup Champion looked far from a defending champ after bowing out to eighth seed Montreal Canadians in round two of the playoffs. The Penguins picked up Leafs stalwart winger Alexi Ponikarovsky believing he could provide some secondary scoring. When he didn’t the Penguins suffered greatly.

What They Did This Offseason:

The Penguins said goodbye to long time power play quarterback Sergei Gonchar who went to the Ottawa Senators. They would then replace him with Paul Martin and Zbyenek Michalek from the Devils and Coyotes.

Where They’ll End Up:

Last season Mark Andre Fleury looked far from impressive all throughout the season. If he can have a career year again, we see the Penguins as a viable contender to the Stanley Cup.

• Philadelphia Flyers

How They Fared Last Season:

After being projected by many hockey newspapers as the Stanley Cup Champion for the 2009 / 2010 season on the back of goalie Ray Emery, the Flyers finished as runner ups to the Chicago Blackhawks. They did this on the back of career AHL goalie Michael Leighton who took over when Brian Boucher got injured in round two against the Bruins.

What They Did This Offseason:

This offseason saw the Flyers get rid of fan favorites Simon Gagne and Riley Cote and replace them with Matt Walker, Andre Mezaros, Sean O’Donnell and Nikolai Zherdev. However instead of going out and signing perennial goalies Evgeni Nabokov or Antti Niemi, the Flyers decided to resign Leighton as their number one goalie.

Where They’ll End UP:

We feel that the Flyers have a good enough team to contend again this year with all of the offseason movement. Nevertheless we don’t see them back in the finals because Michael Leighton is Michael Leighton. Until the Flyers go out and sign Antti Niemi or bring back a healthy Ray Emery we don’t see them having as big of a playoff run as last season.

• New York Rangers and New York Islanders

We put the two New York team’s together as neither really did that much to improve over the summer. Last season the Rangers missed the playoffs on the last day against the rival Flyers. Conversely the Islanders were out of the playoff hunt by December. Both teams have a lot of trouble scoring and this is no different after the offseason. We see both ending up in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference this season.