Carolina Hurricanes Additions: Tomas Kaberle, Brian Boucher, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Anthony Stewart Losses: Erik Cole, Joe Corvo, Cory Stillman The Hurricanes are coming off of a decent year, headlined by Calder Trophy winner Jeff Skinner, who was also the youngest player to ever play in the All-Star Game (18-years-old). Skinner looks poised to be a perennial 30-goal scorer, supporting captain Eric Staal very nicely. And though they bring back those two All-Stars, along with star goalie (and former Conn Smythe winner) Cam Ward, it is hard to envision them making the jump from a bubble team to a playoff team, due to the simple fact that so many other Eastern Conference squads (Toronto, Buffalo, Florida, the Rangers) have improved their rosters more than Carolina has. The trade-off of Cole and Stillman exiting and Ponikarovsky and Stewart replacing them is likely to be a loss of production, while the addition of Kaberle is barely an upgrade over Joe Corvo at this point in his career. One piece of good news is the addition of Brian Boucher, who should be able to give Ward more rest so that he doesn’t get injured or fatigued. With a more competitive division this year, and more competitive Conference, it doesn’t appear as though Carolina will be playing in the playoffs. Last season: 3rd in the division, 9th in the East. Prediction: 4th in the division, 12th in the East. Florida Panthers Additions: Brian Campbell, Tomas Fleischmann, Ed Jovanovski, Scottie Upshall, Kris Versteeg, Jose Theodore, Sean Bergenheim, Tomas Kopecky, Marcel Goc, Eric Gudbranson, Matt Bradley Losses: Tomas Vokoun, Rostislav Olesz, Niclas Bergfors, Marty Reasoner GM Dale Tallon and the Florida Panthers spent a huge amount of money in free agency, handing out multi-million dollar, multi-year deals to Jovanovski, Upshall, Fleischmann, and Bergenheim, while taking on the big contract of Campbell. Let’s be realistic, none of the players acquired are stars, but the end result is a roster that is much more balanced with many players capable of potting 20+ goals. Campbell and Jovanovski will help to stabilize a leaky defense that has been known to give up shots by the truckload, and will also provide leadership to the youngsters like Dmitri Kulikov and former 3rd overall pick Gudbranson. Losing Tomas Vokoun looks to be a very underrated loss, as he routinely placed in the top-10 in saves. Jose Theodore had some quality seasons in Washington before taking a backup job in Minnesota where he faired decently; however the former Hart and Vezina winner looks to be a downgrade in net, and is likely just keeping the crease warm for top prospect Jakob Markstrom. It doesn’t look like a playoff team in the much-improved Eastern Conference, but Florida definitely looks like a team on the right track (finally), and with another $20M in cap room next offseason, they may be able to continue building toward a return to the playoffs; but not this year. Last season: 5th in the division, 15th in the East. Prediction: 3rd in the division, 10th in the East. Tampa Bay Lightning Additions: Mathieu Garon, Ryan Shannon Losses: Simon Gagne, Sean Bergenheim, Randy Jones, Mike Smith Tampa exceeded all expectations last year under first-year head coach Guy Boucher and first-year GM Steve Yzerman. Both leaders got their stars and role players to effectively buy into a new system and were able to overcome some key injuries to supporting players throughout the year. The Lightning didn’t do anything splashy this offseason, keeping their core of Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier intact, as well as emerging defender Victor Hedman. While Tampa lost some secondary scoring in the offseason, they hope that Stamkos avoids a second-half swoon (he only had seven goals after the All-Star break), while Lecavalier gives them a full season of the solid production he showed in the second half (31 points in 30 games). Getting a full season out of defenseman Eric Brewer and goalie Dwayne Roloson should benefit the back-end greatly over the course of a full season, as their one glaring weakness appears to be depth on the blueline. The lack of depth they may have can be masked by Boucher’s defensive system, and barring any catastrophic injuries the Lightning brass and players look poised to make another appearance in the playoffs, where they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals last year. Last season: 2nd in the division, 5th in the East. Prediction: 2nd in the division, 6th in the East. Washington Capitals Additions: Tomas Vokoun, Joel Ward, Roman Hamrlik, Troy Brouwer, Jeff Halpern Losses: Semyon Varlamov, Jason Arnott, Scott Hannan, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon, Marco Sturm, Matt Bradley Despite coming off of their fourth consecutive Division title, the Capitals’ season has to be seen as a failure because of their inability to get beyond the second round of the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. After their first round flameout in 2010 to Montreal after a President’s Trophy-winning season, the Caps changed their style from a high-flying offensive juggernaut to a hard-nosed defensive team. While this allowed them to dispatch of the Rangers in the first round last year, their inability to score haunted them in the second round vs. Tampa. What do we expect this season? Expect Alexander Ovechkin to return to his 55-goal/110-point ways after a “down year” (32-53-85), and expect the newcomers to help greatly in the playoffs. Last year Jason Arnott was supposed to be the calming veteran presence to help them get over the hump, but he didn’t contribute much at all. This year GM George McPhee brought in Joel Ward from Nashville, who had 7-6-13 in 12 playoff games as a third-liner, Troy Brouwer from Chicago, where he won a Stanley Cup in 2010, and veterans Hamrlik and Halpern from Montreal, where they were a big part of a successful defensive system. The addition of Vokoun is icing on the cake, especially for the paltry sum of $1M, as he should be able to effectively split time with Michal Neuvirth, giving Washington the best goaltending situation they have had in years. Not only is Washington my pick for the regular season, but I think they will finally get over the hump and face the Sharks in the Stanley Cup Finals. Last season: 1st in the division, 1st in the East. Prediction: 1st in the division, 1st in the East. Winnipeg Jets Additions: Randy Jones, Eric Fehr, Tanner Glass, Derek Meech, Kyle Wellwood Losses: Radek Dvorak, Anthony Stewart Last season started out so well for Atlanta; they looked like a playoff team through the first two months only to fall rapidly toward the basement. They didn’t have enough goal scoring up front, and didn’t have stability in net, which typically leads to an unsuccessful season for any team. Lack of scoring depth at forward beyond captain Andrew Ladd (who led the team with 29-30-59) was a problem and it doesn’t look solved with the offseason shuffling. True, most of the time spent this offseason revolved around physically moving the franchise from Atlanta to Winnipeg, but the new brass didn’t upgrade the roster whatsoever, instead focusing on signing players with previous ties to Winnipeg or Mantoba. While that may help the landscape of the franchise in future seasons, it isn’t likely to help the product on the ice. Evander Kane could, and should, be able to step up and be a 60-point player, but aside from Kane and Ladd most of their offense will continue to come from the blueline tandem of Dustin Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom. Sure, they can hope for Bryan Little to regain his 30-goal touch (doubtful), or Nik Antropov to once again score twenty times (more likely), but they lack the firepower of a true number one scoring line, and without that it will be tough for them to overcome the inconsistent goaltending and spotty team defense. It can’t be forgotten, too, that are forced to stay in the Southeast Division despite the move to Winnipeg, and all of those extra travel miles will surely take their toll over the course of a season. Last season: 4th in the division, 12th in the East. Predicition: 5th n the division, 14th in the East. Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email [email protected] or on twitter @NickObergan