I feel good about the East (for us) post-deadline. I like the fact the Flyers did nothing, and potentially added another shaky goaltender. I was worried they'd do something huge, and they stood pat. Good.
I am not worried about the Rangers at all. They still will have trouble scoring, though I guess they kinda had to deal Gaborik (if he isn't playing LW, and Nash isn't playing LW, and Callahan isn't playing LW, then that's a terrible roster situation). Brassard should help but overall they didn't do enough, or don't have enough. They may not even make it in.
I am glad the Islanders didn't do anything. They're getting better by the day.
The Devils got Sullivan, but he's not going to help them that much. If they don't make the playoffs, that would be great for us.
Montreal didn't get better. That's good. Toronto added O'Byrne and he helps them. But they didn't get Luongo, which is good. Toronto would have been a tough out for us with a veteran goalie, imo. They always play us very tightly.
Ottawa is a concern, mainly because of who will be coming back into their lineup. Adding Conacher should also help. They'll be tough come playoff time.
Washington was already playing much much better, and now they got better with Erat. We have handled them pretty well this season, but they always scare me. No guarantees they make it in, but they'd be a bad 1-8 first-round match-up for us (not necessarily because we would lose but it would be a much tougher out than a lot of other match-ups).
Everybody else looks like a good match-up for us in the first round...until we square off against Boston. The Bergeron loss may be huge. Redden could add something to that PP, but it's all about Jagr there and the impact he may have. Also, their goaltending is suddenly shaky.
So yeah, overall I like our chances of making it out of the East. Still going to be tough to beat LA, Chicago or Anaheim if we get there, but let's worry about that when we get there, if we get there.