[JohnnySkittles]

Pacific Division

1. Anaheim

Lost: Beleskey, Fleischmann, Beauchemin, Etem.
Gained: Hagelin, Bieksa, Khudobin, Horcoff.

Losing Beauchemin and adding Bieksa will hurt the most. But they solidified the goaltending, got a big upgrade on Etem to Hagelin, and along with their young players continuing to get better I expect them to again win the Pacific.

2. LA

Lost: Williams, Richards, Sekera, Regehr, Martin, Stoll.
Gained: Lucic, Enroth.

Losing Richards and Stoll is addition by subtraction, Williams might hurt a bit, but I'm expecting a big bounce back year from Lucic and their forward group in general. As of now their defense is pretty thin, but as long is Doughty is Doughty then I think they'll be okay. Expecting a big rebound year for the Kings.

3. Calgary

Lost: Nobody
Gained: Hamilton, Frolik

Hamilton will bolster the already deep defense and Frolik will add a very solid 2 way game who's capable for ~40 points. As long as the young guys continue to grow and get better we should be in a good spot for the future. However could also see next season being an up and down one considering how many young key pieces we have, 50/50 for playoffs.

4. Vancouver- Like SJ and 2010 Calgary, needs to rebuild. Benning is taking this team towards an ugly future.
5. Edmonton - improved both on and off the ice for sure, not a playoff team yet.
6. San Jose - The 2010 version of Calgary, needs to rebuild/big retool.
7. Arizona - Matthews Sweepstakes.


Central Division

1. St. Louis

Lost: Oshie, Michalek, Goc, Butler, Jackman.
Gained: Benoit, Brouwer, Brodziak

Central this year will be really hard to predict, by far the best division but a lot of teams have made big moves. All their moves thus far offset themselves pretty well, with Oshie potentially being a loss, but he was a bit of a playoff dud. Really expecting their young stars to really take over this season, Tarasenko, Schwartz, Jaskin, Pietro, Shattenkirk is a fantastic core. Will need Stastny to rebound.

2. Winnipeg

Lost: Frolik, Stempniak, Tlusty, Slater
Gained: Burmistrov

Such a big, solid young team. Losing Frolik will definitely hurt but getting Burmistrov back could turn out to be a fantastic replacement, lots of potential still with him. Similar to Calgary in that they have lots of youth they will be depending on, arguably the best prospect pool in hockey. having a full season of Myers will also be huge. Dark horse to win the Central.

3. Minnesota

Lost: Stewart, Bergenheim, Brodziak.
Gained: Reilly, Fedotenko.

Solid all around team lead by Parise and Suter, Koivu seems to be losing a step but they have the forward depth that it isn't a huge issue yet. Won the Reilly sweepstakes, didn't really lose anything important this offseason, managed to get a very fair long term deal for Dubynk. Lots of solid young talent.


Wildcard

1. Chicago

Lost: Sharp, Saad, Richards, Vermette, Rozisval, Timmonen, Carcillo, Regin, *Oduya
Gained: *Daley, Garbutt, Anisomov, Tikhonov, Dano, Panarin

Huge turnover in Chicago, losing Saad is a big loss, Sharp was on the decline but the return they got for him was very underwhelming, especially including solid prospect Johns. Anisomov is that long term #2 that they've been needing for awhile. Dano, Panarin, Tikhonov have good potential to offset their losses. Garbutt and Daley are good top 9/ okay top 4 players. Pokka could be the key to potentially losing Oduya.

*Beside Oduya and Daley because Oduya may be back, and there is speculation that they'll flip Daley and then re-sign Oduya.

2. Colorado

Lost: O'Reilly, Briere, Hejda, Wilson
Gained: Beauchemin, Comeau, Soderberg, Zadorov, Grigorenko, Compher

Revamped their defense to respectability with Beachemin and Zadorov, who has tons of potential. They'll miss ROR but replaced him with a cheaper option in Soderberg and have more depth then they did before. With a full year of Johnson , a bounce-back Duchene season, and continued progress of MacKinnon, Barrie, Everberg, Zadorov and their young players I expect them to be a playoff team. Having the ROR distraction gone will also help imo.


6. Nashville - Rinne stood on his head, Riberio your #1C, I see a Colorado like regression
7. Dallas - Unreal top 6, arguably the worst defence in the league. Chance of Playoffs if Lehtonen has a bounce back season and stands on his head, has the potential to.