The Southeast Division is dead. All we have to remember it by are a whole bunch of banners in the Verizon Center rafters and this nifty t-shirt I’m wearing above (25 bucks from the NHL store!). In its wake comes the Metropolitan Division, a bloated version of the old Patrick Division from your youth– unless you’re not old like me.

It’s a double-edged sword. The Caps won’t have the Panthers and Thrashers to beat up on anymore, but they’ll be that much closer to the rivalries that built this team’s legend in the first place. That buzzing feeling in the back of your skull you get when the Caps play the Penguins or the Flyers? It will be coming around a lot more often now. The competition will be much stiffer, but in time that’ll benefit the Caps on-ice product and off-ice reputation. Long Live the Patrick Plus.