1. Boston - Still the best team in the East - for now. The B's benefit from a very mediocre division, but the situation around Kessel and his 36 goals he brings will determine what kind of team this is next year.
2. Washington - Nice pickup of Knuble, but the question is around their goaltending. Varlamov looked solid at times, and shaky at others, but their awesome talent up front and development on the blueline will keep this team elite.
3. Pittsburgh - Losing Gill and Scuderi will hurt (alright, maybe not Gill), but McKee was a good pickup, and their young team keeps getting better. Their tough division will keep them out of the top 2 spots.
4. Philadelphia - They may have sold the future to get him, but Pronger is a great fit for the reincarnation of the Broad Street Bullies. Perhaps Ryan Kesler should sit out this game. If this team can avoid getting too undisciplined, they'll challenge the Pens for the division.
5. Carolina Hurricanes - About the same as last year.
6. New York Rangers - About the same as last year, plus Gaborik. If he stays healthy, he could top 100 points.
7. New Jersey - Lemaire and New Jersey are such a great fit. Finally, the league re-condenses its most boring pieces back into one organization. Zack Parise must be thrilled about the possibility of a 70 point season.
8. Montreal - I didn't give the Canadiens' FA signings very favorable reviews, but they still have a quality second line in the Kostitsyn brothers, Markov on the back end, and I'm convinced that Carey Price will limit himself to one cigarette at a time and have a bounce-back year. If this team finds some chemistry amid their fantasy-draft style team, they could be a solid playoff team.
9. Atlanta - I'm going big on this one. The Thrashers actually have a very solid top 4 defensemen in Bogosian, Enstrom, Kubina and Hainsey, and have some scorers in Little, Kozlov, Todd White (owner of the quietest 73 point season ever) and of course, Kovalchuk. If they get some solid goaltending out of Lehtonen or top prospect Pavelec, this team could contend for a playoff spot.
10. Buffalo - This team has talent, but refuses to make the next steps to become a contender. They've finished 10th the last two years. Make it 3.
11. Toronto - Terry Frei thinks Toronto is a playoff team. In other news, Terry Frei should not be writing for ESPN. How many goals is Jason Blake expected to score? According to this thread, quite a bit. Quite a good read; I smell some challenges for Frei's job. Oh, and don't forget about losing Antropov up front, along with one of their five assistant captains in Dominic Moore. In all seriousness, I believe it was Ken Holland who once said that if you're going to spend a lot of money on free agent defensemen, you better be sure they can score. Beauchemin (in 07-08, his last full year) and Komisarek (08-09) combined for 4 goals. But hey, what does this Holland character know anyways?
12. Florida - This team chose a unique strategy and used an interim, part-time GM for one of the most crucial periods in their short (not short enough, for many) history. They lost their franchise cornerstone in Bouwmeester, and replaced him with a rent-a-player and a 3rd round pick. This team has a good young coach and a few pieces of talent, but time would be better spent drawing up relocation plans than drawing 10,000 people per game. Hint: when trying to market the team, perhaps picking one of the most hated men involved in professional football (a sport a few seem to care about down there) was not a wise choice.
13. Ottawa - This team might get better depending on how the Heatley situation unfolds, but while "Mad" Mike Milbury earned his nickname and takes the cake for the worst asset-management in recent NHL history, Bryan Murray is a close second.. What other team has been in such turmoil just 2 years (!) after making it to the Cup Final? He chose Redden over Chara, then let Redden walk for nothing, traded away a 1st round pick in a rebuilding year for Comrie, a UFA, just committed $8 million over the next 4 years for a 10 point thug, and can't even trade a 2-time 50 goal scorer and Canadian Olympic lock Dany Heatley. This team recovered from the Daigle era to become a respectable team, and Murray has let it fall back into a joke of an organization.
14. Tampa Bay - Unfortunately, they probably won't lose their top 5 pick to the Canucks for tampering, but a top 5 pick it will be. This team is building pieces, but expect a playoff team come 2010-11.
15. New York Islanders - Slow and steady. Kansas City will have a great looking team in a couple years.
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