1. Ottawa Senators Your Eastern Conference champions have not changed that much since their battles with the Ducks in June. However, this will be their last chance with the current core to win a Stanley Cup. Next off-season, Dany Heatley and Wade Redden are unrestricted free agents while Jason Spezza will be a restricted one. All 3 will expect to get paid and they can?t pay all of them due to the salary cap. Their season really depends on if Ray Emery can duplicate the success he had last season to further his place as an elite NHL goalie. Also if Martin Gerber can bounce back from his horrible season last year, the Sens might be able to get that extra piece to put them over the top. 2. New York Rangers The new and improved Rangers squad are going by the old theory that strength down the middle is what leads to success. The newly acquired centres, Scott Gomez and Chris Drury, will create what is one of the most dominant top two lines in hockey. One of the two centres will have a selection of wingers to choose from including Jagr, Shanahan, Prucha, Avery, etc. which will make the Rangers and offensively gifted team. They are just as good between the pipes with Henrik Lundqvist, who is playing for a contract this year after coming to a one year agreement right before his arbitration hearing. The Rangers? weak spot is their defense where they really have no big names to solidify it. Look for rookie Marc Staal to have a prominent role in that department. 3. Atlanta Thrashers This was a tough choice for a division winner because I believe the southeast will be tougher than a lot of people expect. The Thrashers pretty much remained the same from last year but I think this young team will continue to get better. In goal Kari Lethonen struggled in the playoffs against the Rangers, but it was a learning experience for him, just like the year before Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist had the same type of experience. Up front they still have the dynamic duo of Hossa and Kovalchuck who will carry most of the load offensively, to go along with Kozlov, who had a great year last year. Defensively, like the Rangers they don?t have the big name, but have a bunch of steady d-men led by Alexei Zhitnik. 4. Pittsburgh Penguins The Penguins will be battling it out with the Rangers for the division all year. Offensively ?Mr. MVP?, Sydney Crosby, leads them with his supporting cast of Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Gary Roberts, and Mark Recchi. They will be a fast high-powered team with those types of players up front. On the backend, Ryan Whitney leads that young defense along with Sergei Gonchar. They added a more defensive presence by the acquisition of Daryl Sydor, who is a 17-year vet and Stanley Cup champ multiple times. The question mark for the Penguins will be in goal with Marc-Andre Fleury. He has been inconsistent at times last year. However, what needs to be understood about young goalies is most of the time they need more time to develop than in any other position. So this could be a breakthrough season for the young goalie. 5. Carolina Hurricanes The Hurricanes had a Stanley Cup hangover throughout all of last year which in turn caused them to miss the playoffs. Also last year, losing Frantisek Kaberle for 3 quarters of the year and Aaron Ward to the Rangers via free agency decimated their defense. It caused the to make a hasty decision to move blue chip defenseman Jack Johnson, because he wouldn?t come out of college early to sign with them, to Los Angeles for Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger as an attempt to stop the bleeding. However, this year Kaberle is healthy and the hangover is over. Look for Eric Staal to make up for his poor showing last year by bouncing back this year to go along with guys like Erik Cole and Justin Williams. The real key for them will be in net where Cam Ward still resides. There are still questions if he can still play a full season consistently due to the fact he didn?t play many games during the regular season in their Stanley Cup year and was hot and cold last year. This year will really determine his place in the hierarchy of goaltenders. 6. Buffalo Sabres Last year?s President Trophey winners took a few blows this offseason. They lost their two best players and captains in Daniel Brier and Chris Drury, and almost lost their 3rd best player in Thomas Vanek to the Oilers through restricted free agencies. On top of that, the lost Danius Zubrus as well to the Devils, which means they will really have to rely on their minor league system. The good thing for them is that that they have a great core of young players coming up, led by Drew Stafford. Ryan Miller will still be solid between the pipes and Brian Campbell will lead the defense core. Again, the Sabres also lost defense Teppo Numminen for what seems to be the season, and possibly his career, due to the fact he needs to have open-heart surgery. The two questions will be if size will matter with this team because that was the major difference between them and Ottawa in the playoffs and how they will cope with the loss of leadership from both of their captains. It might be a tough year for Buffalo. 7. Toronto Maple Leafs The Leafs are always the hardest team for me to judge. At different points of the season they are either very good or very bad, which in the end adds up to mediocrity. Just like last year, a lot rides on their newly acquired goalie, Vesa Toskala. Toskala is more of a proven product than Raycroft was last year due to the fact that he has won the #1 job over some top quality goalies in San Jose. The only reason he lost it was due to injury, which will not happen here unless Raycroft suddenly turns into the goalie we saw in 2004. Up front we have the constant Mats Sundin down the middle and the newly acquired speedy winger, Jason Blake. The top line to start the season will also add Nik Antropov to the duo adding them a big presence in front of the net. However, in order for the Leafs to succeed they need their younger players to succeed like Alex Steen, Matt Stajan, and Kyle Wellwood (who needs to stay healthy). On defense, they are probably the deepest in the league due to all the injuries they?ve had over the years. The young D-men have matured to the point where almost everyone of them could make the team. Thomas Kaberle and Bryan McCabe will lead it with Pavel Kubina and Hal Gill solidifying the back end of the pairings. But look for guys like Carlo Coliacovo, Ian White, and Andy Woznieuski to fight for more prominent roles. The big issue for the Leafs is consistency; if they can gain some then they should be in the playoffs. 8. Philadelphia Flyers I originally had them out of the playoffs but I?ve warmed up to them. Paul Holmgren has done a remarkable job of turning what was the worst team in the league to what could be the most exciting team in the league this year. Up front the Flyers added Daniel Brier to go with Simon Gagne and Mike Kunble, which could equal to one of the best front lines in the league. Going farther down the depth chart they have young guns Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, Joffrey Lupul who are all due to rebound after a bad Sophomore season. While they have guys like Scottie Upshall and Scott Hartnell who fit into their system perfectly. On the backend they added Predators former captain Kimmo Timonen who adds leadership and is a great puck moving defenseman as well as the Oilers former captian, Jason Smith, who is a huge presence defensively and adds a ton of grit. In goal, Marty Biron finally solidifies Philly?s goaltending tandem, which has been in disarray for many years. Biron is a proven #1 guy who was stuck behind allstar Ryan Miller in Buffalo. So why do I have them barely making the playoffs? The fact is they have too many new faces, it will take awhile for them to get used to each other and get the chemistry going. But once it does? watch out! 9. New Jersey Devils This has always been the team that always finds a way to make it. However, against my better judgement, I believe this cat has run out of lives. Over the past 3 years, the Devils defense has been raided which led to them losing 3 all-star defensemen in Scott Stevens to retirement, Scott Neidermayer to the Anaheim Ducks, and Brian Rafalski to the Detroit Red Wings. Now young Paul Martin, who is more of a stay at home guy, leads the defense. Up front, the Devils lost Scott Gomez to the Rangers. However, they have young Zach Parise and Travis Zajac to help fill the void. They will be playing with Brian Gionta and captain Patrick Elias. Both of these two young hockey players are more than capable of filling the hole but it?s been my experience that a team shouldn?t fully rely on that. If one of them falters the Devils have no backup plan. 10. Tampa Bay Lightning If the Lightning are going to succeed, it will be using their powerful offense. Vincent Lecavalier, who is the glue and heart of this Lightning team, leads this team. He is the one that gets former Hart Trophy going, while being the main threat on this team. The Bolts defense is normally led by Dan Boyle, but after a freak accident in the dressing room, he will be out 4-6 weeks. So look for Paul Ranger to get more time, but don?t look for the Lightning to be an extremely defensive team. In goal, Marc Denis and Johan Holmqvist will split the time. Both of goalies are decent goalies with a proper defense, but it?s looking like they won?t have that. So if they are going to win, they?re going to have to give the opportunity for the offense to outscore their opponents. 11. Florida Panthers The Panthers are turning into a better-rounded team every year. After losing Luongo last year in what turned out to be a once sided trade to Vancouver, they re-solidified their goaltending situation by the acquisition of Thomas Vokuun. Vokuun has had injury problems past couple of years, but he is a definite #1 goalie who has the ability to take any team to the next level. If Florida is to succeed this year, they need their young players to finally mature. That means guys like Jay Boumeester, Nathan Horton and Steve Weiss need to start showing off their potential and start to become the superstars they are supposed to be. This team will still give up a lot of shots on goal, but they will be competitive and fun to watch. 12. Montreal Canadiens The Canadiens are pretty much the same team as last year. The only problem is that all the other teams in the east have improved. The Habs had a ton of cap room going into last offseason, but no one of significance signed with them. In the end they lost power play specialist defenseman Sheldon Souray and replaced him with Roman Hamerlik. For the Canadiens to succeed, they need Alexei Kovalev to wake up and use his talents to win. In goal, most likely to start the season Christobal Huet will be the #1 goaltender. But if he falters to start the season, look for Jaroslav Halak or even star minor league goalie Carey Price to take over. 13. Washington Capitals The Caps offense will be greatly improved this year adding Michael Nylander to centre Alexander Ovechkin. Also look for rookie Nicklas Backstrom to make waves in the Rookie of the Year race. Their defense is still shaky though it is starting to take shape, adding guys like Tom Poti to the mix. But it will still be a strain on old Olaf Kolzig to bail out their D and backstop them to some wins. The Capitals are an up and coming team that will a tough, and hard working. But it will still be a season or two for them to make the playoffs. 14. Boston Bruins The Bruins are a fickle team, just like the Leafs. At first glance they should have all the tools to make a playoff run, but there?s always something that holds them back. Up front they have guys like Patrice Bergeron, Glenn Murray, Marc Savard and Phil Kessle who are all capable of scoring and being allstars in this league. On defense they have the ?big bad? Chara, but not much else there. They think they?ve rectified their goaltending problems by trading for Jennings winner Manny Fernandez (who shared the trophy with Niklas Backstrom). If new coach Claude Julien is able to bring this team together, they should be fighting for a spot. But multiple coaches already have had trouble doing it, so believing it now will be hard. 15. New York Islanders Now this is exactly where I put them last year and got burned for it when they made the playoffs. This year though, in a very competitive eastern conference they will have trouble competing, especially with the Atlantic division being as strong as it is. This past off-season, like the Canadiens, they had a ton of money to spend, yet no top free agent chose that location. That caused them to sign some lower tier free agents to a little more expensive contracts than projected like Mike Comrie and Bill Guerin. They lost Jason Blake to the Leafs, which was a lot of their offense, so they will be relying on the guys they just signed as well as guys like Mike Sillinger and Miroslav Satan. The young Marc-Andre Bergeron and the veteran Brendan Witt will lead the defense. However, the key to their success will rely on Rick DiPietro?s goaltending. If he can steal a few games for the Isles then they will have a shot at the playoffs yet.