In the coming weeks the most exciting time in the NHL year will begin, and everyone will be offering their own predictions and insight. But what makes this year difficult to choose a favorite is the amount of teams that have the personnel to be considered Stanley Cup contenders. You can bank on one thing, though. It will be a guarantee that someone from the West will win the coveted prize, but that?s only if they don?t get too severely beaten up in the process. East There is no ?real? favorite in the East, but the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers are my picks. Penguins The Pens? have one of the best, if not the best, offensive line-ups in the league. When Sidney Crosby went down, Evgeni Malkin proved he can be a bona fide leader and has, almost single handily, won the Eastern Conference title for his team. Trade deadline pickup Marian Hossa will add offensive potential, but he has been less than stellar in the playoff setting (See last year?s playoffs when Hossa had one measly assist in a playoff sweep against the Rangers). On the backend, the Pens? have decent pairings. Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Kris Letang, Hal Gill, Brooks Orpik, and Darryl Sydor will all need to make huge contributions if the Pens want to capture Lord Stanley. The big question for the Pens' will come in goal. Does the goaltending duo of Marc-Andre Fleury and Ty Conklin have enough to lead the Pens'? I?m not sure they do, but if they can be anything like they have been in the regular season, the Pens' have a serious shot. Rangers The Rangers have been on a tear of late going 11-2-4 in their last 17 games, putting them within one point for fourth in the conference. The Rangers will be led by Henrik Lundqvist who has been spectacular going 35-23-8 while posting a 2.27 goals against average and a .911 save percentage. Up fron,t the Rangers have the potential to be a very scary team with the likes of Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Brendan Shanahan, Jaromir Jagr, and Martin Straka. Defensively, the Rangers will need solid efforts from Michal Rosival, Marc Staal, Dan Girardi, Fedor Tyutin, Christian Backman, and Paul Mara, as defense proves so essential in the playoffs. The Caps The dark horse in the East will be the Washington Capitals, but that?s only if they make the playoffs first. Alexander Ovechkin has been downright dominant this season, and the work by Caps? General Manager George McPhee for picking up Cristobal Huet, Sergei Fedorov, and Matt Cooke should be commended. McPhee figured his team was good enough to make a playoff run and instead of being a ?seller? at the deadline he was a buyer, and it paid off. West There are plenty of solid teams in the Western Conference, but the favourites have to be the Anaheim Ducks and the San Jose Sharks. If these two teams meet in the conference final, or earlier, they may wear themselves down as both are powerhouses. Ducks The Ducks have the best defense in the NHL, hands down. How can you plan to compete with Mathieu Schneider, Chris Pronger, Scott Neidermayer, and Francois Beauchmin in a seven-game series? The simple answer: you can?t. Each one of the four can log 25 plus minutes, and although I?m no mathematician, the odds of lining up against someone other than those four is slim to none. And, the Ducks' forwards are a scary bunch too. Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Kunitz, Teemu Selanne, Corey Perry, Todd Bertuzzi, and Doug Weight give the Ducks plenty of options up front. Jean-Sebastien Giguere is one of the best goalies in the league and will give the Ducks a chance to win, when and if, their defense ever falls asleep. Sharks Brian Campbell has been the most significant trade deadline pick up as the Sharks have gone 15-0-2 in the last 17 games. Campbell has added an offensive threat from the backend and is the Sharks' power-play quarterback. Campbell joins an already decent defensive corps with the likes of Craig Rivet, Christian Ehrhoff, Matt Carle, Kyle McLaren, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. With the departure of Vesa Toskala, Evgeni Nabokov has played more and has been one of the leagues' best. Nabokov has played in 74 of the team's 79 games and has gone 45-20-8 with a 2.14 goals against average and six shutouts. He will get serious consideration for the Vezina Trophy this year and may even win it. The big question for the Sharks will be their play from their forwards. Joe Thornton leads the team with 93 points, which are 40 more than the next top scoring forward on the team. Jonathan Cheechoo has been scoring more since the All-Star break but is currently mirrored in a seven game goalless drought. If the Sharks can somehow get secondary scoring, they will be a serious threat. Colorado When the Colorado Avalanche were able to pick up Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote, it got me wondering if Patrick Roy would come out of retirement just for old time's sake. The Avs may be the most underrated team in the Western Conference and may do some damage if they get solid goaltending from Jose Theodore. Their offense is good enough to win with the likes of Joe Sakic, Paul Stastny, Milan Hedjuk, Andew Brunette, and Wojtek Wolski. The bulk of the Avs' playoff hopes will rely on the play of Forsberg, Sakic, and Theodore. One thing is a guarantee, though. This year?s playoffs will be one of the best in recent memory.