Winnipeg Jets - Preview

The Jet's return to Winnipeg has not yielded a play-off appearance as yet, but for a team that finished bottom of the tough Central Division, only four players have departed, with Mathieu Perrault arriving from Anaheim via free-agency to replace Olli Jokinen at center. All six of their division rivals improving their rosters, the Jets have stood by and done very little. TJ Galiardi also arrived, from Calgary, to boost theit bottom-six forwards. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff believes the team doesnt need a major over-haul just an improvement on their fitness and physical conditioning. Paul Maurice replaced Claude Noel as coach on Jan. 12 and led the Jets to nine victories in the following eleven games, to position the team into playoff contention. Only a succession of injuries in March eliminated their playoff hopes.

The best news for the Jets is keeping Franchise Player Evander Kane, who was much-sought after over the summer. Kane will likely line-up on the second line with Mark Scheifele centering and Blake Wheeler down the right. Wheeler lead the team in scoring last season with 28 goals and 69 points. Jets captain Andrew Ladd will line-up down the left, alongside Bryan Little and Michael Frolik on the top line. Frolik has signed a new one-year deal but Winnipeg could run the risk of losing him to free-agency next summer. Perreault's arrival should see him centering the third line with converted defenseman Dustin Byfuglien.

With Byfuglien moving to forward, the Jets will struggle in the puck-possession department. Jacob Trouba, who had a decent rookie season last time out is looking like he could be a future leader on the team. Grant Clitsome and Paul Postma, both had injury problems last season, but if they can both find fitness, will deliver some much-needed depth. Adam Pardy didn't get a great deal of ice time, but had is most productive season since his time in Calgary in 2010. Joshua Morrissey is looking good as a prospect.

Over the last three seasons Ondrej Pavelec has a .904 save percentage, the worst in the league. Although the Jet's defense is not great, not all the blame can be placed there. In short Pavelec just hasnt been good enough. If the Jets want to make the post season for the first time since they were known as the Atlanta Thrashers, they need a huge improvement between the pipes. Michael Hutchinson did well in the AHL Calder Cup playoffs and is liekly to play back-up this years. Eric Comrie and Connor Hellebuyck are both talented but at this stage too young and in-experienced.

Ladd – Little – Frolik

Kane – Scheifele – Wheeler

Klingberg – Perreault – Byfuglien

Tangradi – Slater – Halischuk

Galiardi – Thorburn

Enstrom – Bogosian

Stuart – Trouba

Pardy – Postma

Clitsome

Minnesota Wild - Preview

Minnesota had missed the playoffs for several years before Mike Yeo's arrival. Then the summer of 2012 brought big name signings, mainly Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, and when the be-lated start of the 2013 NHL seaosn got underway the Wild capped it off with a return to the post-season. Last year they managed to win a series for the first time since reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2003, and give the defending Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks a huge fright.

The Wild iced five different goalies last season and it appears they will have four to call upon this year. Josh Harding, Niklas Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper will be fighting over the starting position while John Curry is expected to drop back down to the AHL-affiliate in Iowa, and Ilya Bryzgalov has gone via free-agency. Harding went 18-7-3 with a 1.65 GAA, but didnt play a single game in 2014 as he had to contend with M.S. Backstrom struggled but barely played after mid-january as he required season-ending surgery. Kuemper was called in from Minors and with a 12-8-4 record and 2.43 GAA helped lead the team to the playoffs. Bryzgalov arrived via a trade in early March, and recorded 7 wins in 10 games, posting a 2.12 GAA.

Minnesota, lacked some offensive power last year but the signing of Thomas Vanek should help remedy that. Vanek is a proven goal-scorer and will hopefully help improve the team's perfomance on the power-play. It's rumoured he turned down at least one bigger contract offer in the league before signing a three-year deal for the Wild. The top-six spots will be covered by veterans but a lot of youngsters are available to step up and help out. Charlie Coyle, Mikael Granlund, Nino Niederreiter and Erik Haula all played key offensive roles last season.

Jonas Brodin became the perfect foil for Ryan Suter on the top blue-line last season. Suter lead with eight goals and 43 points and along with Brodin forms one of the best pairings in the league. Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella are a solid second line pair, but with Nate Prosser and Clayton Stoner lost to free-agency, it's time for Matt Dumba to step up and helpout. Dumba, was the Wild's top 2013 draft pick, and started the season before gaining more ice-time at the Portland Winterhawks of the WHL.

Parise – Koivu – Coyle

Vanek – Granlund – Pominville

Cooke – Haula – Niederreiter

Zucker – Brodziak – Fontaine

Almond – Veilleux

Suter – Brodin

Scandella – Spurgeon

Ballard – Folin

Falk

Colorado Avalanche - Preview

Colorado will face much higher expectations this season, following their first playoff appearance in four seasons. They also surprisingly claimed the Central Division ahead of the highly fancied St Louis Blues, and defending champion Chicago Blackhawks. However their post season ended no sooner than it had began with a 7 game series against the tough Minnesota Wild. Despite that early exit a lot of positives can be taken from a revamped franchise following the Summer 2013 arrivals of former players Joe Sakic (Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations) and Patrick Roy (Vice President of Hockey Operations & Coach). A lot of the Avs success was put down to the partnership Roy enjoyed with his players, posting a 52-22-8 record for 112 points. It was enough to land Roy the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. Curiosly, this was Colorado's first Division Title since 2003, Roy's last season as a player.

Jarome Iginla and defenseman Brad Stuart arrived over the summer. Iginla with a three-year, $16 million contract adds more depth to the forward lines, along with center Jesse Winchester on a two-year deal. Stuart comes in via San Jose for a couple of future draft picks, while fellow defenseman Zach Redmond was acquired on a two-year contract. Paul Stastny left for St Louis, after eight seasons in Denver, as an unrestricted free-agent. Defenseman Andre Benoit signed a one-year deal with Buffalo, while P.A. Parenteau was trade to Montreal in exchange for center Daniel Briere. Veteran back-up goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere and defenseman Cory Sarich both retired.

Colorado will be lead by a whole host of players again this season. Matt Duchene, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Ryan O'Reilly. With Duchene gone a lot will be expected of sophomore MacKinnon, to lead from his new posotion at center. MacKinnon played most of last season at right-wing on a line with Stastny and Landeskog. O'Reilly can play down the middle but he had a very productive year last time out on Duchene's line. The liklihood is Iginla and Alex Tanguay will line-up on the right wing of the top two lines. Having Tanguay back this season, having suffered lengthy hip and knee injuries last year, will be like signing a new player, and with his playmaking ability, makes him a valuable asset. Parenteau and McGinn stepped up in his absence but with the former gone and the latter likely to go back to the thrid line with John Mitchell and Maxime Talbot, it seems Tanguay will get the nod.

The bottom-six looks much stronger this year, and they will need to be, to improve their puck possession. Briere and Winchester have been added and will be expected to create an additional 20 goals from there. Cody McLeod, Patrick Bordeleau, Marc-Andre Clich and rookie Joey Hishon are also options to consider.

The defense was a weak point last season, but the signing of Stuart, gives a much-needed physical presence. He'll be paired with Erik Johnson, whohit 39 points from the blue-line last year. Zach Redmond signed with a lot of promise, while Nick Holden, had a break-out year in 2013-14, cementing a top-four slot with a physical style of play. Tyson Barrie is another option, assuming he recovers from his knee injury he sustained during last years playoffs. The Avs have up to eight D-men they can call upon on any given game night.

Semyon Varlamov improved massively last season and has been tied-down to a new five-year $29.5 million contract extension. Reto Berra replaces the now-retired Giguere as Varlamov's back-up, having arrived in March from Calgary.

Landeskog – MacKinnon – Iginla

Tanguay – Duchene – O'Reilly

McGinn – Mitchell – Briere

McLeod – Clich – Talbot

Winchester – Bordeleau

Hejda – Johnson

Stuart – Barrie

Holden – Guenin

Wilson

Dallas Stars - Preview

Last season Dallas made the playoffs against the odds. Not many so called experts predicted they would make the post-season for the first time in six seasons, and depsite the inconsistency at times, were able to match up with Anaheim at Phoenix's expense who imploded several times between December and April after once time leading their division. This season with coach Lindy Ruff and GM Jim Nill continuing their re-build, they will be expected to make a playoff berth. That will be tough though, the Stars finished fifth in the division behind Colorado, St Louis, Chicago & Minnesota. All have improved since last season and the Stars have to as well, although they did go 12-10-6 against thoose four teams in 2013-14.

Nill's rebuild started last year with Tyler Seguin and Shawn Horcoff coming in at center. Seguin, despite his streaky tendency, lead the team with 84 points and developed a great understanding with line-mate and captain Jamie Benn who was second on the scoring chart with 79 points. Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky (via free-agency) both come in from Ottawa with Alex Chiasson going the other way. Both combined for 37 points in 20 games playing together for the Senators and that chemistry could be vital on both of the top lines for the Stars this year. They are liekly to be joined by Erik Cole, while Valeri Nichushkin did great as a rookie last time out playing on Seguin's line. Cody Eakin is versatile enough to play on the wing on eithe rof those lines, and is accustomed to playing on the power play and penalty kill, but is likely to continue centering the 'REG' line along with Antoine Roussel and Ryan Garbutt. Last season's second line will now be pushed down to the third with the arrivals of Spezza and Hemsky, but their shut-down roles will remain and are probably better suited to being on the third line in a 'grinding' style than as a second scoring line. One thing is for sure, they will be one of the best third line units in the league. Colton Sceviour and highly-rated prospect Brett Ritchie could force their way into the team, but the liklihood is, Vern Fiddler will go from a dedcent third-line center to an above average fourth-liner. Rich Peverley is still expecting to feature at some stage this season, although its unclear when. He is currently working hard to get back after collapsing with a heart-attack on the bench last March and then receiving heart surgery.

Dallas' AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, won the Calder Cup last season and were lead by defensive players, Patrik Nemeth, Jamie Oleksiak and Cameron Gaunce, who along with Kevin Connauton will be hoping to stake a claim for a roster spot. Brenden Dillon is still unsigned as a restricted free agent, but will be part of a core group of five along with Alex Goligoski, Trevor Daley, Jordie Benn, and Sergei Gonchar. Last season Daley and Goligoski found chemistry as a pair, they were solid and underrated, while Dillon is one of the better young, physical defenseman in the league, his hits per game did reduce last season, due to the Stars playing with better puck-possession. Benn and Nemeth improved too last time out and are solid-depth players, but the Stars top-three defenseman are no match for those at Chicago, Los Angeles and St Louis. Gonchar looks like the sands of time are starting to cath up with him, but his experience could still be vital, albeit in a reduced capacity.

Like most teams the Stars need to improve their power play and penalty kill in the season ahead. The power play should improve with Spezza and Hemsky in the ranks. Spezza's arrival could even see Eakin's role reduced so he can focus on becoming and elite penalty killer. He is popular with both Nill and Ruff due to his versatility.

Kari Lehtonen now has competition with Anders Lindback and Jussi Rynnas arriving, but according to Nill, is an Elite goalie. The worry is, Lehtonen has only played 8 playoff games and can be inconsistent. In his four years in Dallas Lehtonen has a .918 save percentage which puts him alongside Jonathan Quick, Semyon Varlamov and Mike Smith, but he has played more games and faced a lot more shots to produce the same save percentage.

Ja. Benn – Seguin – Nichushkin

Cole – Spezza – Hemsky

Roussel – Eakin – Garbutt

Horcoff – Fiddler – Sceviour

Eaves – Peverley

Goligoski – Daley

Dillon – Jo. Benn

Gonchar – Oleksiak

Connauton

Chicago Blackhawks - Preview

Kings defenseman Alec Martinez, scored an OT goal in Game 7 of the conference final to end the Hawks chances of being the first team to win back-to-back Stanley Cups since Detroit in 1997 & 1998. It also denied them a chance at a third Cup in five seasons and watching the Kings skate off with the trophy only served to make the Hawks hungrier ahead of this season. Jonathan Toews even admitted to watching the L.A. players celebrate as they hoisted up the cup, taking it all in and realising just how close they actually came. The Hawks were impressive against Pacific Division opponents last season, going 14-1-6, while they also performed well against teams in the East, but in their own Central Division they struggled against St Louis and Colorado and went 13-13-3. With a Central Division that has got a lot stronger over the summer, Chicago have only made subtle changes, but the best news they could have was tying Toews and Patrick Kane down to long term deals.
Veteran center, Michal Handzus has gone but in his place has come Brad Richards, who was a compliance buyout from New York. Richards, who is a highly-skilled and experienced center himself, will fit nicely on the second line with Brandon Saad and Kane. It also allows 19-year-old Finnish wonder-kid Teuvo Teravainen time to develop in the AHL. The Kings ultimately won the series against the Hawks by their strength down the middle. By adding Richards and possibly Teravainen, it should help with scoring depth, but signing Richards, has put the team over the $69 million salary-cap and that means a star such as Patrick Sharp or Johnny Oduya may get moved on to balance the books. Sharp has been re-assured by his agent that he wont be traded, while Oduya will be an UFA next summer, and seems the more likely to be traded. Other names mentioned were veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival, and forwards Kris Versteeg and Bryan Bickell. Richards' arrival means Joel Quenneville can roll out four lines in much the way he did in the championship winning years of 2010 and 2013. Behind Toews and Richards are Andrew Shaw and Marcus Kruger, while Peter Regin and Ben Smith can be utilised at center too. Joakim Nordstrom is another prospect breaking though who could possibly play there too.

If Versteeg stays, he will be hoping for a much better output than last season's tally of 12+24 in 81 games. Much of that was down to and injury sustained the season before and spending much of last year playing catch up rehabbing his knee rather than doing normal conditioning and training. Shaw linked up well with Brandon Saad and Kane during the playoffs and could get to play on that line again if Quenneville wants to mix his lines up. Bryan Bickell didn't deliver a vast amount of goals or points but was able to showcase his strong-possession skills, and on occasion can play on the top line with Toews and Hossa.

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook are one of the best defensive pairings in the league, but often Quenneville likes to allow their offensive abilities to flourish so will use Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya to shut down opposing team's top lines. Nick Leddy was frozen out of the playoffs for the last two seasons but will be hoping to make a name for himself during the year ahead. Corey Crawford needs to improve his .914 save percentage this season and start living up to his $6 million-a-year contract.

Sharp – Toews – Hossa

Saad – Richards – Kane
Bickell – Shaw – Morin
Regin – Kruger – Smith
Nordstrom – Teravainen - Versteeg

Keith – Seabrook

Oduya – Hjalmarsson
Leddy – Rozsival
Rundblad

St. Louis Blues - Preview

There have been a lot of strong teams in the Western Conference since the dawn of the salary-cap era, but no team in the West has won more regular season games over the past three seasons than St Louis. Only Boston and Pittsburgh have won more in the NHL. Last season the Blues were named favorites to land their first ever Stanley Cup with a month of the regular season remaining, and having been strong all season, the Blues decided to make themselves stronger by trading big for Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller. Then the playoffs started and for the second successive year they were eliminated by the reigning champions after taking a 2-0 series lead. Strangely, on both occasions the team that eliminated the Blues, would go on to lose to the eventual Stanley Cup champions at the Western Conference Final stage. During the post-season of those three years the Blues have been eliminated by the Kings twice and the Hawks once.

GM Doug Armstrong was busy trying to re-group his roster this summer, in the hope of closing the gap to the Hawks and Kings. Paul Stastny was the top center on the UFA market and Armstrong landed him to give an upgrade down the middle. Stastny arrives on a four year $28 million contract with the task of being the number one playmaking center. The chance to return to the place where he grew up was another factor to join a team that is a major cup contender.

Jori Lehtera who was actually drafted by the Blues back in 2008 has finally signed with the team giving them three quality players down the middle. Joakim Lindstrom and Peter Mueller also arrived to compliment the likes of David Backes, Patrik Berglund, Steve Ott and Maxim Lapierre. Sadly Vladimir Sobotka wont be a part of the team this year as he departed for the KHL, however the Blues have retained his NHL rights so hopefully in the not too distant future he could return. Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko could be rwuired for bigger roles this season. Both arrived during the first-round of the 2010 draft, and made their presence felt throughout last season, posting impressive points returns in their sophomore years. Schwartz hit 25 goals and 56 points in 81 games while Tarasenko scored 21 goals and 43 points in just 64 games.

The original plan was to play Stastny and Lehtera at center on the top two lines with Sobotka anchoring the third line, pushing the top twoc centers from last season (David Backes and Patrik Berglund) to the wing. Steve Ott was re-signed as soon as it was clear Sobotka wouldnt be returning, and so now the line-up has been altered. Schwartz and Tarasenko flanked Berglund successfully last season, but with Backes likely to go to the wing, one of Schwartz, Tarasenko, T.J. Oshie or Alexander Steen would end up on the third-line. While that is all possible, the most likely out-come is to keep the top four wings in place, with Backes staying down the middle. This would work well as he is strong on faceoffs, and having two younger players either side of him, will help cover for the lack of typical, No. 1 center-type playmaking in his game. There are a lot of options on the bottom six as well. Mueller and Lindstrom return to North America after playing in Europe, while top prospects Dmitrij Jaskin and Ty Rattie will be hoping to get a chance too.

The biggest trade involving St Louis was on the blue-line and saw physical defenseman Roman Polak head to Toronto for a more puck-moving player in Carl Gunnarsson. This move will also open up more ice-time for Ian Cole but the major reason was to move away from a physical back-line with a more conventional puck-moving style and in-turn be better transitionally. Chris Butler and Nate Prosser also arrived to add depth to a group that contains Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Boumeester and Kevin Shattenkirk. Throw in the more rugged Barret Jackman and Jordan Leopold and the Blues have a strong-mix of talent. Pietrangelo has been voted in the top-five for the Norris Trophy in each of the last two seasons, while Shattenkirk was regularly deployed in an offensive role, which lead to him leading the team in scoring during the playoffs. Along with Bouwmeester, the Blues have a top-three equally as good as Chicago and Los Angeles.

With most teams in the West loading up on talent, coach Ken Hitchcock feels the changes made were just in keeping pace with the other teams, who have more depth. 'Chicago got better, L.A.'s gotten better because they got those young guys that are going to get full-time service. Anaheim's better, Dallas is better, Nashville's better, Colorado's a top team. This is to keep pace.'

Assistant coaches Gary Agnew and Corey Hirsch have been replaced by former Carolina coach Kirk Muller and former Buffalo goalie coach Jim Corsi, who has 16 seasons worth of experience to call upon. But its in goal where most questions remain. The Blues allwoed Miller to leave as an UFA but kept Brian Elliott, who signed a new three-year, $7.5 million contract. Elliott has been great over the last three seasons posting a 55-24-7 record with a 1.86 GAA and .932 save percentage. Jake Allen spent last season with the Blues AHL-affiliate team the Chicago Wolves, but does have some experience of NHL action from the 2012-13 season, going 9-4-0 with a 2.46 GAA and .905 save percentage.

Steen – Stastny – Oshie

Schwartz – Backes – Tarasenko

Paajarvi – Lehtera – Berglund

Mueller – Ott – Lapierre

Lindstrom – Reaves

Pietrangelo – Bouwmeester

Jackman – Shattenkirk

Cole – Gunnarsson

Leopold

Western Conference - Preview

Los Angeles - With most teams trying to improve their roster's Kings GM Dean Lombardi was trying to keep what he had. If it ain't broke why fix it? Less than two weeks after claiming their second Stanley Cup in three seasons, LA announced they had tied down Marian Gaborik to a seven-year $34.125 million contract. With his arrival the Kings offense improved massively going from 2.42 goals per game to 3.38. His 14 playoff goals was one short of Wayne Gretzky's franchise record from 1993 and his deceptive speed down the left wing and instant chemistry with Anze Kopitar was another factor. It also allowed the Kings to move Justin Williams and Mike Richards to the third and fourth lines respectively. With the way Gaborik's contract is structured means Dwight King and Matt Greene were able to re-sign with the team. However with the salary cap almost at the limit, it meant there was no room to retain veteran defenseman Willie Mitchell who moved to Florida. Dont expect the Kings to claim a President's trophy, they have finished 8^th, 5^th and 6^th the last three regular seasons, but no team has played as many playoff games during that period either at 64. Dustin Brown needs to have a bounce back season, while Jeff Carter looked awesome once he centered a line flanked by Pearson and Toffoli as they terrorized opponents. Darryl Sutter often used Kopitar's and Stoll's line to shut down opponents leaving Carter's unit to run amok against weaker depth. Mike Richards will be hoping for a better season too, but one thing is for sure, he must be the best fourth-line center in the league. Adam Cracknell arrived from St Louis as rugged depth forward who fits the 'sneaky-strong at puck-possession' profile well. Drew Doughty is one of the best D-men in the league and alongside him, Jake Muzzin is almost as good. Along with Slava Voynov and the Kings have possible the best defensive-trio in the league. Alec Martinez popped up with some important OT winners against the Hawks and Rangers and his offense from the blue-line could be valuable once again. Robyn Regehr and Matt Greene are great leaders on the ice and work hard on the pemalty kill, but possibly not the best when it comes to puck-possession. Although Jonathan Quick didn't hit the heights that he achieved in 2012, he will be hoping to find as bit more consistancy than he has delivered over the last two seasons.

Gaborik – Kopitar – Brown

Pearson – Carter – Toffoli

King – Stoll – Williams

Clifford – Richards – Lewis

Cracknell – Nolan

Muzzin – Doughty

Regehr – Voynov

Martinez – Greene

Schultz

Anaheim - Despite finishing last season with 116 points, the Ducks came unstuck in the Playoffs. Their power play let them down, a lack of depth at center was cruelly exposed against the heavily-stacked Kings and what once looked like an unpenetrable defense and goaltending cracked. GM Bob Murray addressed part of that problem by trading big for Ryan Kesler from Vancouver, giving the Ducks a 1-2 punch down the middle. Fellow center, Nick Bonino departed as part of the deal, while veterans Saku Koivu and Mathieu Perreault were surprisingly not re-signed. Nate Thomspon did arrive from Tampa Bay to fill the third center spot. Both Kesler and Thompson arrive to boost the Ducks poor perforances at Faceoffs. Kelser along with another new signing, Dany Heatley should help the mis-firing powerplay that was ranked 22^nd last season and went 0 for 11 against the Stars during the playoffs. The Kings destroyed Anaheim's defense in game 7. Justin Williams backhanded the puck in from the slot and Jeff Carter flew passed Hampus Lindholm, who along with Sami Vatanen were great during the regular season, but the Ducks need bigger, physical shut-down types for play-off hockey. Clayton Stoner's arrival from Minnesota should help to address that. John Gibson and fellow rookie Frederik Andersen helped bring about the end of Jonas Hiller but both lack playoff experience. Jason LaBarbera's arrival should help down the stretch. With Teemu Selanne retiring it brings about the end of an era and he will be missed for sure. Also the dismantlement of what was a very productive third line for the Ducks remains a mystery.

Smith-Pelly – Getzlaf – Perry

Maroon – Kelser – Palmieri

Cogliano – Rakell – Silfverberg

Beleskey – Thompson – Heatley

Fowler – Lovejoy

Beauchemin – Vatanen

Lindholm – Stoner

Allen – Fistric

Vancouver - The Canucks were the busiest team over the summer, with Ryan Kesler leaving for Anaheim, Nick Bonino arrived in his place. Luca Sbisa also arrived on defense. Jason Garrison joined him on the blue line from Tampa Bay while Linden Vey helps the forward depth from Los Angeles. Ryan Miller is a strong addition at goaltending while Radim Vrbata is a perfect foil for the Sedins while also weakening a major opponent in Phoenix. A lot depends on Henrik and Daniel Sedin re-finding their form from 3 years ago while an improvement on the power play is needed too. A return to puck-possession style hockey should be achieved with Tortarella's departure. Alexandre Burrows needs to improve his offensive output, while Bonino and Matthias will line up at second and third line center respectively.

D. Sedin – H. Sedin – Vrbata

Higgins – Bonino – Kassian
Burrows – Matthias – Hansen
Dorsett – Richardson - Vey

Edler – Bieksa

Hamhuis – Tanev
Sbisa – Stantan
Weber

Edmonton - Craig Mactavish was busy over the summer bringing in more physical Wings Benoit Pouliot and Teddy Purcell, while also improving his defense with Keith Aulie, Mark Fayne and Nikita Nikitin. Ben Scrivens and Viktor Fasth were added to help improve goaltending too. For so long now, the Oilers have had a lot of young talent but the problem has been in trying to find a good supporting cats for the likes of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, Jordan Eberle and Justin Schultz. In what is now the fourth year of the re-build the Oilers still seem to be miles away from competing for a playoff spot. Leon Draisaitl was the latest arrival via the draft this summer, while trading away Sam Gagner has left a large hole to fill at second line center.

Hall – Nugent-Hopkins – Eberle

Perron – Draisaitl – Yakupov
Pouliot – Arcobello – Purcell
Joensuu – Gordon – Hendricks

Marincin – Petry

Nikitin – Fayne
Ference - Schultz

Calgary - Sean Monahan was an integral piece in the Calgary puzzle last season. Selected 6^th at the 2013 draft the 18 year old hit 22 goals and 34 points. A lot more will be expected of him this season with Mike Cammalleri, TJ Galiardi and Chris Butler all gone. However he will be helped by the arrivals of Mason Raymond, Deryk Engelland and Jonas Hiller who all came in via free agency. Brandon Bollig arrived via a trade with the Chicago Blackhawks and will add a lot more toughness to the bottom six. Mark Giordano had a career year in his first season as captain. Mikael Backlund and Joe Colborne are also available and need to step up this year.

Glencross – Backlund – Hudler

Gaudreau – Monahan – Setoguchi
Raymond – Stajan – Jones
Bollig – Colborne – Bouma

Brodie – Giordano

Smid – Wideman
Russell - Engelland

Nashville - With Barry Trotz gone a scoach, a new philosophy has arrived, that will generate more offense. Mike Fisher will be out injured for anytime between November and January, while new signings Volchenkov, Ribeiro, Jokinen and Roy are all the wrong side of 30. Ribeiro was a disgrace to himself and his teammates in Glendale last season and any repeat of those same issues and the Predators will have major problems. This biggest trade saw Patrick Hornqvist and Nick Spaling leave for Pittsburgh with James Neal going the other way. Neal has scored 88 goals in 179 games over the last three seasons and will be paired with his former Dallas line-mate Ribeiro this season. Craig Smith is an option to join them on the top line. Defense will be lead by Roman Josi and Shea Weber who is coming off a career year. A fully fit Pekka Rinne will be like signing a new player too.

Wilson – Ribeiro – Neal

Cullen – Jokinen – Forsberg
Bourque – Jarnkrok – Smith
Stalberg – Gaustad – Nystrom
Roy – Clune

Josi – Weber

Ekholm – Jones
Volchenkov - Ellis

Phoenix Coyotes - Preview

The Coyotes have had to spend the summer filling the gaps left by some surprise departures. Former Edmonton Center Sam Gagner has arrived with the task of replacing Radim Vrbata and Mike Ribeiro. Vrbata was second highest scorer with 51 points last season but has optwd to join vancouver, while Ribeiro was bought out of an expensive contract due to alcohol problems that created tension in the camp last season. Mikkel Boedker was one player who was a good offensive force last season while youngsters Max Domi (son of Tie) and Lucas Lessio are hoping to feature.

A young puck-moving defense is lead by Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but with youngsters Connor Murphy and Brandon Gormley ready to step up, the loss of Derek Morris to free agency will be softened. To be fair he was a liability at times last season. Yandle and Ekman-Larsson are two of the best defenseman in the league at providing offense from the blue line and they will really need to step again to make up for the loss of offense.

To make the playoffs this season, the Coyotes will need to improve their defense and penalty kill. As was so bluntly pointed out by some dumb-ass Blackhawks fans last November 'the Yotes cant hand a 2PP' If the Penalty Kill struggled last seaosn Phoneix finished fourth on the Power Play and that will have to stay the same if they want to challenge. With the additions of physical forwards Joe Vitale and B.J. Crombeen on the fourth line as well as Antoine Vermette dropping down to the third line where he can exploit his faceoff and forecheck abilities, means the Coyotes are much stronger in the bottom six forwards. Mike Smith also needs to rediscover his form from 2012 and stop messing about making pointless pizza comercials.

Having started strongly last season, Phoenix fell apart down the stretch only winning one of their final eight games. The year before they lost eight of their last nine. That ultimaltely proved their undoing, I have to say I am worried for the season ahead. I am not sad to see the back of Mike Ribeiro who was a huge disapointment, but losing Vrbata is a huge loss to a team already short on offense. I really cant see this Coyotes team going anywhere near as close as they did last year.

Boedker – Vermette – Doan

Korpikoski – Domi – Gagner

Erat – Hanzal – Moss

McMillan – Vitale – Chipchura

Klinkhammer – Crombeen

Ekman-Larsson – Michalek

Yandle – Stone

Gormley - Schlemko

San Jose Sharks - Preview

The Sharks were just 60 minutes away from eliminating the eventual Stanley Cup Champion L.A. Kings last spring, before their world came crashing in. Sharks GM Doug Wilson was still feeling the pain in June when he announced the franchise's intention to start rebuilding, and feeling the pain that goes with that, putting an eleventh straight season in the playoffs, in doubt. Thankfully things havent been that drastic and only three major players have moved on. Marty Havlat's contract was bought out, while Brad Stuart was traded to Colorado and Dan Boyle's to the Islanders, before later signing with the Rangers. By August Wilson had changed his stance slightly, admitting that the Sharks remain committed to rebuilding through the draft, and giving their prospects every opportunity of ice time, but did back-track on his warnings of short-term pain. He expects the Sharks will be very competitive this season and likened this team to the one in 2003-04, his first as GM. We all know what happened that eyar too, as the Sharks went on to have one of their best seasons in franchise history, making the Western Conference finals.

"The only player we really added in '03-04 was Scotty Parker to bring that sheriff, that physicality and deterrent, so the young players could play, and we went to the third round and had 104 points. You can have a very good young team, be going through this phase and still compete in this League, and that's our belief."

What is more important than losing three key players, is keeping everybody else. Veterans Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau were at risk of getting traded away but the fact both remain is the best news Sharks fans could have heard. It's hard to believe that neither has won a Stanley Cup, while both really deserve to land one especially given the team's skill-laden, puck-possession ways. However both have been stripped of the captaincy and alternate captaincy respectively. Joe Pavelski is coming off the best season of his career and if he hits anywhere near that kind of form again this year then, the Sharks can be considered a contender once again. Pavelski's place in the line-up is still a mystery. He spent most of his time last season on the left wing of the top line with Thornton and Burns, but he also centered the third line to give the team more depth. With Burns back on defense and Hertl likely to be on the top line, Pavelski could line up on the right wing. The Sharks would be stonger with him at center, especially against deep teams like the Kings, but without Burns, there will be a lack of depth on the wings. Either way Mr Versatile will give his all in any position he is asked to fill.

Logan Couture suffered an injury-plagued season last time out, with him requiring hand surgery in january. He only managed 23 goals so will be expecting a bigger output for 2014-15. Tomas Hertl was a revelation last season. He scored six goals in his first three NHL games, scored four times in a single game against the New York Rangers, which included a between-the-legs shot. Hertl (rhymes with Turtle) had amassed 17 goals and 28 points in just 39 games before injuring his right knee on Dec. 19 after a collison with L.A. Forward Dustin Brown. The injury was so bad he required surgery to repair two ligaments and didnt ice again until the last two regular games of the season.

Raffi Torres, has suffered a recurrence of his ACL injury and requires a second operation to repair it, which will rule him out for much of the season. That means the Sharks are down another forward, but that could prove useful to Tyler Kennedy who was somewhat surprisingly left out of the line-up towards the end of last season and will fancy his chances of more involvement in the line up now. Freddie Hamilton and Eriah Hayes made their mark on the team last season and both will be looking to gain a more regular spot this time around. Tye McGinn, who arrived from Philadelphia is another candidate as is 2012 second-round draft pick Chris Tierney. John Scott formerly of Buffalo, is the only major arrival and will prove a hulking physical presence.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic is considered one of the top defenseman in the NHL and with Boyle and Stuart gone from defense, will be needed to lead from the back. Brent Burns returns to the blue-line after nearly two seasons icing as a forward, and will help top fill the void. Burns will certainly add some much needed skill and offense to the blue line as well as a huge physical presence that can deal with the dirty plyers in Anaheim such as Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Jason Demers and Justin Braun are solid, but could do with stepping up. Scott Hannan was brought back and could see more minutes with Stuart gone. Matt Irwin stepped in last season, while 2013 top draft pick Mirco Mueller, Taylor Doherty and Matt Tennyson will all be pushing to make the line-up.

Alex Stalock out-performed Antti Niemi last season and will give the 2010 Stanley Cup winner a run for the starting spot. Niemi got off to a great start in 2013-14 but slowly fell away, while Stalock grew as the season went on, gaining more playing time towards the end of the regular season and then started game 6 of the Kings series after Niemi had been pulled in consecutive games.

Hertl – Thornton – Pavelski

Nieto – Couture – Marleau

Wingels – Sheppard – Hamilton

Brown – Desjardins – Kennedy

Scott – McGinn

Vlasic – Demers

Braun – Burns

Hannan – Irwin

Tennyson

Atlantic Division - Preview

Detroit - With the veterans well since departed Detroit, coach Mike Babcock relied on 'kids' last season to secure a 23^rd consecutive playoff appearance. Once there, they didnt last long, dispatched by the Bruins in just five games. There were some plus points though, Gustav Nyquist scored 28 goals, while the line of Riley Sheahan, Tomas Tatar and Tomas Jurco formed an effective scoring unit. Luke Glendening did well as a checking center, while Danny DeKeyser showed he could line up as a second-pair defenseman. Detroit really needed the younger players last season after veterans Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall all suffered injury problems. Zetterberg and Datsyuk each missed half the season, but are feeling as good as they have in a number of years. For the season ahead, Johan Franzen, Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader will be relied upon production and possesion, while Jonathan Ericsson and Kyle Quincey will help Kornwall on the Blue line. Two signings last season, Stephen Weiss and Daniel Alfredsson were hit by serious injury and that hampered Detroit further. Weiss, still recovering from double surgery will be looked at, to produce 50 points, while the Wings will re-sign Alfredsson if he can prove his back is up to it. Jimmy Howard will need to get over his injuries and inconsistent play that affected his game last season to give the wings some Elite goaltending.
Zetterberg – Datsyuk – Nyquist
Tatar – Weiss – Franzen
Abdelkader – Helm – Jurco
Sheahan – Andersson – Miller

Kronwall – Ericsson

Smith – DeKeyser
Quincey – Kindl
Boston - After winning the President's trophy last season the Bruins were humbled by their arch-rival Montreal Canadiens over seven games in the second round of the playoffs. They then lost joint-top scorer Jarome Iginla to Colorado over the summer, and questions remain as to who will replace the replacement for Nathan Horton. Loui Eriksson, despite injury concerns and Reilly Smith will hope to land that top-line spot. Despite the loss of Iginla, the majority of the team remains intact. The defense is certainly a strong point, with anyone of nine players laying claims to a starting six berth. Veterans Zdeno Chara, Johnny Boychuk and Dennis Seidenberg, who is returning from a lenghty injury lay-off, are all guarenteed to start. Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug had strong seasons in the top fout last year, while Adam McQuaid, Matt Bartkowski and Kevan Miller are all available for selection, and prospect David Warsofsky is well thought of by GM Peter Chiarelli.

Marchand – Bergeron – Smith

Lucic – Krejci – Eriksson
Spooner – Soderberg – Kelly
Paille – Campbell – Caron

Chara – Hamilton

Seidenberg – Boychuk
Krug – Bartkowski
Toronto - With Brendan Shanahan arriving as president this summer, it didnt take long for him to set about overhauling the team. Roman Polak and Stephane Robidas have arrived to help Dion Phaneuf in defense, while Jake Gardiner has signed a new five-year, $20.25 million contract. Both Matt Frattin and Leo Komarov have returned for a second stint in Toronto, while David Booth, Petri Kontiola, Mike Santorelli and penalty-killing specialist Daniel Winnik have also arrived. Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk, struck up a great partnership last year and combined for 67 goals and 111 assists. Joffrey Lupul and Nazem Kadri both hit 20 goals, and Tyler Bozak scored 19 as he anchored the top line. Jonathan Bernier will once again share goaltending duties with James Reimer who has just signed a new two-year $4.6 million contract.

Van Riemsdyk – Bozak – Kessel

Lupul – Kadri – Clarkson
Komarov – Kontiola – Booth
Winnik – Santorelli – Frattin

Phaneuf – Robidas

Gardiner – Franson
Rielly – Polak
Tampa Bay – After an eventful 2013-14 season which included losing their star player for 4 months and trading away their captain, not to mention their goalie getting hurt 3 games before the start of the playoffs. GM Steve Yzerman set about re-stocking the roster with veterans. Defenseman Jason Garrison arrived from Vancouver, while fellow blue-liner Anton Stralman joins him. Brian Boyle (Rangers) and Brenden Morrow (St Louis) add experience to the forward lines. Evgeni Nabokov arrives to strengthen the goal-tending while Ryan Callahan, who came in as part of the Marty St. Louis trade signed a new six-year, $34.8 million contract. Nabokov might have a tough job trying to usurp Ben Bishop given the latter's performances last season. Jonathan Drouin could help to make up for the loss of St. Louis, on Stamkos' line. Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat will be looking for top-six forward spots.

Drouin – Stamkos – Johnson

Palat – Filppula – Callahan
Killorn – Boyle – Brown
Morrow – Connolly – Kucherov

Hedman – Stralman

Carle – Gudas
Garrison – Brewer
Sustr - Barberio

Buffalo - The Sabres, impatient at the thought of a five-year re-build, were busy signing big-name players over the summer. Rochester native Brian Gionta arrives from Montreal on a three-year, $12.75 million contract, while two players who left for the Minnesota Wild at the trade deadline have returned. Matt Moulson (five years, $25 million) and Cody McCormick (three years, $4.5 million) didn't work out in the State of Hockey and are back on familiar ice. Fellow forward Marcus Foligno has re-signed on a two-year $3.75 million deal, while Andrej Meszaros (one year $4.125 million) and Josh Gorges from Montreal will add depth to the blue line. Star center Tyler Ennis later signed a new five-year $23 million and defenseman Andre Benoit for a one-year $800,000 deal.

Moulson – Hodgson – Stafford

Ennis – Reinhart – Stewart
Foligno – Girgensons – Gionta
Ellis – Flynn – Mitchell

Gorges – Myers

Weber – Ristolainen
Meszaros - Pysyk
Ottawa - A slow start and inconsistent play left the Sens reeling, as they missed out on the playoffs for the third time in six seasons. If the team wants to return to the post-season they will have to do it without their captain, as Jason Spezza was traded to Dallas for Alex Chiasson. David Legwand arrived to help give the team more depth from center. It is most likely that Kyle Turris' line will be the placed first this season. Alongside Clarke MacArthur and Bobby Ryan, Turris' line was the most productive last year and it makes sense to keep that unit together. With both Spezza and Hensky gone, Milan Michalek will be looking for new line mates. Mika Zibanejad and Chiasson are most likely to join him. The tough third line of Colin Greening, Zack Smith and Chris Neil would be in keeping with the idea of continuity.

MacArthur – Turris – Ryan

Michalek – Zibanejad – Chiasson
Greening – Smith – Neil
Hoffman – Legwand – Stone

Methot – Karlsson

Cowen – Ceci
Phillips - Wiercioch

Montreal Canadiens - Preview

The Canadiens went further in the playoffs last season then they have been since they last won the Stanley Cup in 1993. The team are built around three young stars, goaltender Carey Price 27, left wing Max Pacioretty 25 and defenseman P.K. Subban 25, who signed the most expensive contract in franchise history over the summer, at eight years and $72 million. It also makes Subban the highest paid player in the league right now.

Most of the veterans were shipped away during the summer. Captain Brian Gionta, and his understudy Josh Gorges, both huge influences in the Habs dressing room have re-located to Buffalo. Douglas Murray and hard man George Parros have also left, while Daniel Briere was traded to Colorado for P.A. Parenteau. Francis Bouillon is an unrestricted free agent who could still re-sign with the team. If it sounds drastic to lose so many seasoned stars, GM Marc Bergevin claims it is to fast-track the maturing process of his younger stars who he feels are ready to lead the team.

There are still plenty of the core of last season remaining. Defensemen Andrei Markov signed a new three year deal, while Alexei Emelin has one for four. Centers Lars Eller (4 years) and David Desharnais (3 years) are also still around.

Michel Therrien likes to play with three forward lines, but with the departure of Brian Gionta, there is an open spot on the right wing. It's safe to assume Brendan Gallagher will fill one of the spots along with new signing Parenteau, but who will take the third spot? Czech free signing Jiri Sekac, 22, arrives from the KHL and will be favorite despite preferring to operate down the left wing. Sophomore Michael Bournival could be tasked with more ice-time next season, while prospects Sven Andrighetto and Jacob De La Rose maybe considered during training camp. Alex Galchenyuk's long term future could well be at center but for now he is needed on the wing. Desharnais usually lines up with the Habs top scorer, Max Pacioretty, while Tomas Plekanec is the team's undisputed first line center in ice time and importance. Manny Malhotra looks good to fill the fourth-line center.

With Josh Gorges gone, it allows Therrien to move Alexei Emelin to his natural left side, but not with his regular partner Markov who likes to play there too. Instead Markov will line up with Subban, who was his best defense partner last year, improvin Subban's possession stats along the way. Pairing these two together will increase the Canadiens' offensive zone time against top opposition on a more regular basis. With Murray gone and the possibility Bouillon might not return, means there is gap to the left of Mike Weaver. Nathan Beaulieu, Tom Gilbert and Jarred Tinordi are all in the frame, but the former is probably better suited as he played well down the stretch last season, and he has the ability to move the puck, which makes him a better fit for the more defensive Weaver.

Galchenyuk – Plekanec – Parenteau

Pacioretty – Desharnais – Gallagher

Bourque – Eller – Bournival

Weise – Malhotra – Prust

Sekac – Moen

Markov – Subban

Emelin – Gilbert

Beaulieu – Weaver

Florida Panthers - Season Preview

Florida have a strategy, draft high and sign experienced veterans with championship winning quality, and then make the playoffs come April, for what would be only the second time since 2000 and the days of Pavel Bure. Aaron Ekblad arrived in the first round of the 2014 Draft to improve their blue-line while the Panthers were very busy during free-agency just days later. Six players arrived on July 1, with three of them having won the Stanley twice each. Center Dave Bolland won with Chicago in 2010 and 2013 before movin go to Toronto; defenseman Willie Mitchell won the Los Angeles in 2012 and 2014; and rent-a-goon wing, Shawn Thornton won with Anaheim in 2007 and Boston in 2011. Roberto Luongo, who re-joined the franchise during last season's trade deadline from Vancouver is perhaps the most vital signing of all. In his 14 games with the Panthers last season, Luongo posted a .924 save percentage.

To compliment all those veterans, the Panthers have plenty of young talent able to step and help share the load. Nick Bjugstad led the team in scoring during his rookie year, last season, while 2013 second pick, Alexander Barkov showed an all-round game well beyond his years. Jonathan Huberdeau had a disapointing second year, but if he can re-find his form, could be another vital piece of the puzzle. The Panthers hierachy would have liked to have added a high-scoring verteran forward to lead the team, but having been unable to, will be relying heavily on the three young guns.

Ekblad is joined on a youthful looking defense with Dmitry Kulikov and Erik Gudbranson, and all three will be hoping to tighten up at the back and improve the 29^th rank of Goals against. With a new coach in place that of course is possible, as is the possibilty of improving their special teams.

Jokinen – Barkov – Boyes

Huberdeau – Bjugstad – Upshall

Fleischmann – Bolland – Bergenheim

Kopecky – Pirri – Hayes

Campbell – Kulikov

Mitchell – Gudbranson

Olsen – Ekblad

Metropolitan Division Season Preview

Columbus – Having secured only their second play-off berth last year and also recording their first post-season victories, pushing Pittsburgh all the way, are building on that success. Brandon Dubinsky signed a new six-year contract while Scott Hartnell arrived from Philadelphia in exchange for R.J. Umberger. Ryan Johansen had a break out year but has yet to sign a new deal ahead of this season. Nathan Horton needs to show he has fully recovered from two lots of surgery and start proving he is worth the seven-year $37.1 million contract. The BJ's fourth-line will be much changed this season. Matt Frattin, Derek MacKenzie, Blake Comeau and Jack Skille have gone from the checking line, however Corey Tropp has re-signed, with Jeremy D'Amigo and Brian Gibbons arriving. Jared Boll and Mark Letestu are also in the frame. Nikita Nikitin's departure from defense is somewhat of a loss though. In what is a highly competitive division, Columbus need to avoid the slow starts that blighted their previous two campaigns to make sure of matching a franchise record 93 points. There is plenty to be excited about in Ohio this season though and with Sergei Bobrovsky between the pipes, Jack Johnson patrolling the blue-line and forwards Ryan Johansen, Brandon Dubinsky and Scott Hartnell, not to mention sophomore's Ryan Murray and Boone Jenner, there is every reason to believe a top-four finish is within their grasp.

Hartnell – Johansen – Horton

Calvert – Dubinsky – Atkinson

Foligno – Anisimov – Jenner

Hjamarsson – Letestu – Tropp

Murray – Wisniewski

Johnson – Tyutin

Erixon - Savard

NY Rangers – A lot has happened to the Rangers since their surprise trip to the Stanley Cup finals in June. Free-agency, trades and a compliance buyout has seen five regular players depart. Top-four defenseman Anton Stralman, checking center Brian Boyle, scoring winger Benoit Pouliot, and most notably of all Brad Richards have all moved on. Dan Boyle arrives from San Jose to replace Stralman, while Lee Stempniak, Matthew Lombardi, Tanner Glass and Chris Mueller have been brought in to fill out the bottom-six forward spots. Alain Vigneault will be hoping to roll out four lines once again. Next summer could also see a similar set of departures unless Marc Staal, Martin St. Louis, Derek Stepan and Carl Hagelin can be tied down. Rangers third-line will certainly miss Pouliot given his good possesion game, and the chemistry he enjoyed with Brassard and Zuccarello, and it remains to be seen who will take his place. Rick Nash also needs to start living up to his hefty wage-bill by delivering more goals.

Nash – Stepan – Kreider

Hagelin – Brassard – St. Louis

Zuccarello – J.T. Miller – Stempiak

Lombardi – Moore – Fast

McDonagh – Girardi

Staal – Boyle

Moore - Klein

Carolina – It's all change at the Canes as Jim Rutherford left as GM to be replaced by Ron Francis, who in turn fired Kirk Muller as coach, replacing him with Bill Peters. Jiri Tlusty, Nathan Gerbe, Ron Hainsey and Brett Bellemore have all re-signed with tough-guy Brad Malone (Colorado) and veteran Jay McClement (Toronto) have came in. Other than that not many personnel changes have improved the team that finished 13^th in the eastern conference for the past two seasons. If Carolina want to make the playoffs they need to improve a power-play ranked 28^th last year, while also trying to wipe out their slow starts to games. With a defensive-minded coach, Peters may struggle to get the best out of an aging blue-line, but their top two forward lines are still among the best in the league with a lot of high-end talent. Goaltending needs to improve too, Cam Ward was injured for much of last season and Anton Khudobin missed 32 games with an ankle sprain.

Tlusty – E. Staal – Semin

Skinner – J. Staal – Lindholm

Gerbe – McClement – Dwyer

Boychuk – Nash – Malone

Sekera – Faulk

Hainsey – Murphy

Liles – Harrison

New York Islanders – After a strong post-season in 2013 much was expected of the Islanders last season, however they cold only manage 13 wins on home ice all year, finished in the bottom five of the NHL standings for the sixth time in seven seasons. Starting Goalie Evgeni Nabokov was injured in November, after the Isles already lost veteran defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky for three months. Over the summer goalie Jaroslav Halak arrived via Washington on a four-year $18 million contract. Forwards Cory Conacher, Mikhail Grabovski (four years $20 million) and Nikolai Kulemin (four years $16.75 million) also arrived to boost the chances of the Nassau Coliseum seeing play-off action one last time. Griffin Reinhart picked 4^th overall by the Isles at this years draft could well see some ice team.although there are several young forwards fighting for a place. It will be interesting to see who will join John Tavares and Kyle Okposo on the top line with Thomas Vanek leaving for Montreal, it is likely Brock Nelson will continue. Calvin de Haan is a useful young defenseman. Any one of 8 players could start on the second or third lines. Grabovski and Kulemin are liekly to start together, with either one of Grabner, Bailey, Strome, Conacher or Lee alongside them. Nielsen will be one of the best third-line centers in the East.

Nelson – Tavares – Okposo

Grabner – Grabovski – Kulemin

Bailey – Nielsen – Strome

Martin – Cizikas – Clutterbuck

de Haan – Hamonic

Visnovsky – Hickey

Donovan – Carkner

New Jersey – The team still seem to be missing forwards Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk and a distinct lack of goals would back that up. They havent qualified for the play-offs since losing to the Kings in the 2012 Finals. Mike Cammalleri and Marty Havlat will help them improve on that and will add depth to three strong centers in Travis Zajac, Patrik Elias and Adam Henrique. Cammalleri is a natural center but can play on the left wing and is likely to line up with Zajac and Jagr. Havlat could form a Czech partnership with Elias. Cory Schneider will prove a hard goaltender to score on although replacing Martin Brodeur is no mean feat, while the veteran Jaromir Jagr shows no sign of slowing down. He played in all 82 games last season scoring 24 goals, 67 points for a plus-16 rating, not bad for a 42-year old eh? Jon Merrill, Eric Gelinas and Adam Larsson are all showing promise on defense, but the team really needs to improve its shootout performance.

Cammalleri – Zajac – Jagr

Elias – Henrique – Ryder

Havlat – Zubrus – Brunner

Clowe – Gionta – Ruutu

Greene – Larsson

Merrill – Zidlicky

Gelinas – Salvador

Washington Crapitals – Barry Trotz arrives as coach and started work by improving Ovechkin's game. He noted there was a lot of glide in the over-rated one's game, while his 5-on-5 production has to improve. 24 of the captain's 51 goals came on the power-play last season. Trotz needs to get a good relationship going with his captian for it to be a successfuls season. To help take some scoring burden off Ovechkin, Trotz will deploy an offensive defense. With Nicklas Backstrom on the top line, the speedy Marcus Johansson, creative Evgeny Kuznetsov and youngster Andre Burakovsky will fight over the 2^nd and 3^rd center spots. Brooks Laich or Troy Brouwer will likely join Ovechkin on the top line's other wing. Eric Fehr, last season's third-line center between Jason Chimera and Joel Ward, is likely to move to the wing. Alzner and Carlson will be joined by Orpik and Niskanen on the blue line, giving them a combination of back end offense, physical play, sturdiness in the defensive zobe, skating, passing and puckhandling.

Laich – Backstrom – Ovechkin

Fehr – Kuznetsov – Brouwer

Chimera – Johansson – Ward

Volpatti – Beagle – Wilson

Orpik – Carlson

Alzner – Niskanen

Orlov – Green

Philadelphia – With the team budget close to the Salary cap limit not many changes were made over the summer. Scott Hartnell did depart for Columbus with R.J. Umberger arriving to take his place on the top line with Giroux and Voracek. Kimmo Timonen's hospital treatment to remove blood clots in his right leg and both lungs, along with Chris Pronger's absence, leaves a huge space to fill on defense. The arrival of Michael Del Zotto will help to fill the ice-time but being so close to the salary cap is a huge problem to solve. As the season rolls on dont be surprised to see some of the younger players given a chance while Steve Mason will be relied upon to pull off heroics in the Flyers goal.

Raffl – Giroux – Voracek

Akeson – B. Schenn – Simmonds

Umberger – Couturier – Read

Bellemare – Lecavalier – Rinaldo

Timonen – Coburn

MacDonald – L. Schenn

Grossman - Streit