By David Alter 10) Toronto Maple Leafs With how old and slow the team was last year, the Leafs have got younger and better. With the addition of puck moving forward Michael Peca and young talent stepping up, Toronto will be exciting to watch. 9) Pittsburgh Penguins With new ownership and a lot of young talent on this team, this team will be an absolute treat to watch. With Evgeni Malkin and a young squad, this team is destined to improve on their poor and disappointing result last season. 8) New Jersey Devils How lucky is Lou Lamarello? Spending so much against the cap and the man still managed to free up the $7.1million that was tied up between Vladimir Malakhov and Alexander Mogilny. All of the pieces of the puzzle are back for the Devils and now they are even better with the space they freed up. 7) Calgary Flames The Flames had a great year last year following up what they were able to accomplish the year before. Mikka Kiprusoff is arguably the top goaltender in the league. After adding Alex Tanguay, the 1-2 punch of Iginla and Tanguay could be too much to handle for most opponents. 6) Detroit Red Wings The Wings will be great, but their goaltending will be in serious trouble. We all saw what happened in Ottawa when you anchored your goaltending behind a 40+ star. The departure of Brendan Shanahan also hurts. This shouldn?t hurt them too much in the regular season and look for Detroit to be consistent. 5) Buffalo Sabres Despite losing some of their young talent, the nucleus they have developed with speedy young players and top notch defense makes them a serious threat for this season. Don?t forget, this team would pretty much have gone on to the cup finals had it not been for their numerous injuries on defense. With some rest and the new questionable looking logo, this team will be a success again. 4) Nashville Predators This is the year the Predators win the Central division. Nashville has steadily improved since their first playoff appearance in 2003-4, this team got faster in stronger. When the NHL revamped their rules prior to the start of last season, I remember thinking to myself how much a Steve Sullivan would benefit from it. With Solid young talent, this team is primed for a run in the playoffs. 3) Ottawa Senators The Senators addressed their goaltending situation in a big way by signing Martin Gerber in the off-season. Despite his early playoff woes, he shined in the regular season and played solid when called upon later in the post-season. With a backup like Ray Emery, this team is set. Despite losing Martin Havlat and Zdeno Chara, Ottawa?s young guns will pick up the slack. 2) Anaheim Ducks Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer on the same team is dangerous to everyone in the league. With great depth in young forwards like Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, Leadership by example with Teemu Selanne, and goaltending with J.S.Giguere and Ilya Bryzgalov in goal, the Ducks are for real. 1) San Jose Sharks. Ever since the Sharks were able to steal Joe Thornton from the Boston Bruins last season, San Jose has been on the up. Their core of young forwards and defensemen maturing at the right time as well as their depth in goal with Vesa Toskala and Evengni Nabokov, this team will be hard to beat.