Answering key NHL Atlantic Division questions: Can a new team make a playoff

Over the past several seasons, the Atlantic Division has been neatly divided into two halves.

The upper echelon has included perennial Stanley Cup contenders in the Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins have made the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons and are coming off a record-shattering 135-point season in 2022-23. Over the past two seasons, the Panthers have captured a Presidents’ Trophy of their own, while also reaching a Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning have established themselves as one of the most dominant teams of the salary cap era, punctuated by three consecutive trips to the Stanley Cup Final from 2020-2022. And while postseason success has eluded them, the Maple Leafs have qualified for the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons — tied with the Bruins for the longest active streak in the league.

Meanwhile, the bottom half of the division has been occupied by teams in various states of rebuilding. The Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators have the three longest active playoff droughts in the NHL. And while the Montreal Canadiens had a miraculous run to the Stanley Cup Final during the COVID-shortened season in 2020-21, they have not qualified for the playoffs in a full season in the Atlantic Division since 2016-17.

At some point, this balance of power will inevitably shift within the division, allowing at least one of these teams to climb the ladder and secure a playoff berth. Could this be the season it happens?

“We do have an overly competitive division, or uber-competitive, and I don’t think that’s going to change here in the near future. I think it has been for some time, if you really look at it, for a period of years you had Tampa, Boston and Toronto — it’s not like any of those teams are going anywhere,” Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes said Tuesday. “And now we’ve got the Buffalos and Detroits and Ottawas and Montreals all trying to knock the door down here and climb into a top-3 spot in the division. Do I think we’re ready? I think on paper the answer is no. But I think I said it last year at the start of the season, I’m an optimist and we’re going to let things play out and there’s a reason they play the games. I think we’re a better team this year than we were last year, but we’ve got a lot of work to do to become the team that I think we need to be.”

To help answer this question, we’ve assembled a panel of writers who cover the four non-playoff teams in the Atlantic Division: Matt Fairburn (Buffalo), Max Bultman (Detroit), Arpon Basu (Montreal) and Ian Mendes (Ottawa). We’ll discuss the offseason moves each club has made, the expectations within each market and whether or not it’s realistic to expect them to rise up and challenge for a playoff spot in the ultra-competitive Atlantic Division.

What key additions/subtractions have there been from the roster this offseason?

Mendes: The Senators have…