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All Atlantic team

July 20, 2019, 11:30 AM ET [93 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Yesterday, I decided to try create an all star team from each division. The Metropolitan Division can be found here. Today I will be focusing on the Atlantic Division.

My parameters are that you can only take one player from each team in the division.

You need to have a regular starting lineup with a center, right wing, left wing, right defense, left defense, and goalie.

There will be two bench positions for an eight team division. I’m going to take one forward and one defenseman.

I am using cap friendly to guide me on the positions.

The Atlantic Division offered me a lot better flexibility than the Metropolitan Division did. I like today’s team a lot better than yesterday. Here is the All Atlantic team:


Aleksander Barkov, Center


Auston Matthews is one of my favorite players in the league. He is unreal. I am not picking Barkov because I think he is better than Matthews. I am picking him because I think the value I get with Barkov when combined with my other selections is going to work much better for the team. Jack Eichel is another candidate I could have easily picked here.

Barkov is somebody who can be thrown incredibly tough usage and still put up offense



Brad Marchand, Left Wing


He’s an elite goal scoring left winger. He is among the best at his position in the sport. He’s shown the ability to play with just about anybody and that included his ultra impressive run with Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron at the World cup a few years back. He isn’t going to have any trouble gelling with Barkov and this next winger

Nikita Kucherov, Right Wing


The reigning Hart Trophy winner. He plays with great centers like Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point. Barkov is plenty good enough to keep that trend going here. What Kucherov is normally lacking is somebody as offensively explosive on the opposite wing. I love what this forward line can do.

Rasmus Dahlin, Left Defense

Dahlin was great in his rookie year and that was even with him being held back by his own coach. Phil Housley’s grasp of how to deploy his players was laughable and he deserved his fate of being fired. Put Dahlin in an elevated role and with a better quality of teammate and he is going to take off even more. He is the perfect defenseman for what I am trying to build with this team.

Tyson Barrie, Right Defense

When I looked at all the options for right defenseman in the division I think the best value is taking the newest guy in the division. Auston Matthews was a struggle to pass up, but with Dahlin and Barrie on the back end I don’t think the forwards are going to have much trouble filling the net. I don’t think my five man unit would have tied together this nicely if I had taken Matthews.

Carey Price, Goalie

Price is a nice option to have in net for this hypothetical team. I don’t think I’m leaving off anybody significant from the Montreal roster when compared to my other selections. After a sluggish 2017-18 where he posted an all-situations save percentage of .900 he bounced back to post a .918. Plenty good enough for this team.

Dylan Larkin, Forward Reserve

The only choice to be had from Detroit. That team is a mess right now. Larkin had a great 2018-19 putting up 32 goals and 73 points, both career highs.

Thomas Chabot, Defense Reserve


This kid is excellent. In a sea of misery he stands out. His 1.48 points per 60 at 5v5 was sixth best among regular defenseman in the NHL. He’s a tremendous player to have as depth on a team like this. He will be one of the premier defenseman in the league who is able to create moving forward. Bright future.


Marchand-Barkov-Kucherov
Dahlin-Barrie
Price

Chabot
Larkin

I think this team beats the Metropolitan team I made yesterday.

Thanks for reading!
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