Western Conference Predictions

1) Anaheim Ducks

2) Vancouver Canucks

3) Detroit Red Wings

4) San Jose Sharks

5) Chicago Blackhawks

6) Calgary Flames

7) Columbus Blue Jackets

8) Dallas Stars

9) St. Louis Blues

10) L.A Kings

11) Edmonton Oilers

12) Minnesota Wild

13) Nashville Predators

14) Phoenix Coyotes

15) Colorado Avalanche

Northwest

1) Vancouver Canucks

Last year's division winner went out and improved in all areas. With Roberto Luongo locked down long term, and the Sedin's under contract for 5 more years, the nucleus of this team is intact, and GM Mike Gillis went out and improved the depth of this team to complement the stars. The pain of last year's disappointing playoff exit, combined with the hunger to meet and exceed high expectations should make for an exciting season for Canuck fans.

Daniel and Henrik Sedin are in the best shape of their lives and hitting close to 100 points is realistic. Ryan Kesler should improve once again on a career year offensively, while continuing to be one of the best defensive players in the game. Sergei Shirokov is a youngster to look out for as are Steve Bernier, Kyle Wellwood and Mason Raymond.

Expect another battle with Calgary for the division lead.

2) Calgary Flames

They gained Jay Bouwmeester which will improve an already solid backend but they also lost quite a bit of scoring depth. Their biggest move this off-season - getting coach Brent Sutter. The Flames should be better coached and in turn have a better season.

Jarome Iginla is one of the deadliest snipers in the game. Coming off an off-year (for him), expect over 90 points. Iginla is expected to play with Olli Jokinen for much of the year, increasing Jokinen's value tremendously. Dion Phaneuf should bounce back from his awful year, and the aforementioned Jay Bouwmeester could excel playing for a better team.

With little big name depth on the squad, look for players like David Moss, Dustin Boyd and Nigel Dawes to produce decent numbers. As usual, they should be neck and neck with the Canucks at the end of the year.

3) Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton hasn't improved enough to become a Stanley Cup contender, but with the addition of Nikolai Khabibulin in net, they have become a playoff contender. They are too small up front and aren't an overly tough team to play against. With no clear offensive leader, this team is going to have to rely heavily on two defensemen to contribute - Sheldon Souray and Lubomir Visnovsky. Ales Hemsky is very skilled, but can't seem to get passed the 70 point mark and has injury issues. Youngsters Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner could breakout this year, and might be relied upon to get some excitement in this hockey-crazed city again.

With new coach Pat Quinn and Tom Renney behind the bench this year, expect a different style of play from the Oilers, but another 9th-12th place finish is probably in the cards.

4) Minnesota Wild

Minnesota has taken a step back this year by losing their only marquee player, the oft-injured Marian Gaborik, and replacing him with the also oft-injured Martin Havlat. Granted, Havlat actually played a full season last year for the first time in years. With Niklas Backstrom in net, they will always be tough to score against, but with a new coach we have no idea what kind of a system they'll play. Regardless, they just aren't talented enough to compete in a tough Western Conference.

If Havlat can stay healthy, another 70-80 point year could be realistic. P.M Bouchard and Mikko Koivu will also be relied upon to contribute offensively with young guns James Sheppard and Benoit Pouliot needing to finally step up their play. A full year from Brent Burns would help this team tremendously.

5) Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche are in a rebuilding phase that hockey fans in Denver have never seen before. With longtime face of the franchise Joe Sakic retiring in the off-season, and a lack of free agent signings, it's evident this team is going in a new direction. With arguably the worst goaltending in the league, and a team full of young NHLers, look for the Avs to sink near the bottom of the the Western Conference Seas.

A healthy Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk will be huge if these guys have any chance of competing. Youngster Matt Duchene should contribute right away and could be a contender for the Calder trophy for the league's rookie of the year. A solid, veteran laden blueline should keep these guys from getting lit up like a christmas tree every night, but it will certainly be a long year for Colorado.

Pacific

1) Anaheim Ducks

The loss of Chris Pronger will undoubtedly be a big one for the Ducks, but the off-season additions definitely outweigh their losses this year. Saku Koivu's arrival to a new team should certainly revive his career, especially alongside countrymen Teemu Selanne. Expect some nice chemistry with these two. Joffrey Lupul could pot 30 goals playing with the two Fins. Anaheim also boasts maybe the best line in hockey. Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry could absolutely tear up the league this year, and should pose problems for opposing d-men and goalies alike.

Scott Niedermeyer is an anchor on defense, and your Ryan Whitney might finally breakout now that Pronger is gone. Some good off-season defenseman signings in Nick Boynton and Steve Eminger, along with young Luca Sbisa, the Ducks actually have a solid backend. Throw in two capable goalies and you have yourself a Stanley Cup contender.

2) San Jose Sharks

An already deadly team just added one of the top snipers in the game. A Joe Thornton - Dany Heatley combo is just plain scary. I expect Heatley to get over 50 goals, and Thornton to assist on about 40 of them. San Jose's top six is out of this world, and once again they should compete for the top of the Western Conference. But is this the year they can finally generate some playoff success?

Dan Boyle and Rob Blake will once again anchor the SJ defense, and they will need a few youngsters to step up and play solid defensively. Evgeni Nabokov is one of the best goalies in the game, and should have another solid year.

3) Dallas Stars

Not many people are giving the Stars a chance this year and looking at them on paper, there's a reason for it. The Stars lack the depth necessary to be considered a contender, but with Marc Crawford as their new coach, I think they will be a tough team to play against. A full year from Brenden Morrow will do wonders for Dallas, and if Loui Erikkson can repeat his 36 goal season from last year and guys like Mike Ribeiro and Mike Modano can contribute, these guys might just battle for a playoff spot.

Marty Turco should rebound from a poor season, and a young up and coming D corps might surprise some people resulting in a decent season for the guys from big D.

4) L.A Kings

Every year people say, "In three years the Kings will be unreal!" Well about five years have passed since they were first saying that and they certainly aren't unreal yet. Sure they are an exciting young team who could do some damage this year, but until they get some more proven talent, especially in goal, they will continue to start golfing early.

Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown are a great young nucleus, but the Kings need more than just that. Drew Doughty could be an all-star this year and Jack Johnson could finally breakout for L.A on the backend. This should be an exciting team to watch, but a team who will finish out of the playoffs once again.

5) Phoenix Coyotes

Not much good to say about this team and franchise in general. After an off-season of off-ice distractions, not much has been done to improve the on-ice product. Robert Lang and Taylor Pyatt are the only noticeable additions, which says something about their improvement. The 'Yotes have a great young nucleus in Peter Mueller, Mikkel Boedker, Martin Hanzal and Viktor Tikhnov and veteran Shane Doan is always the anchor, but an overall lack of depth and experience will cost this team yet another playoff berth.

Also, Wayne Gretzky has stepped down as coach in Phoenix, and we are unsure how Dave Tippett will deal with all the youngsters and all of the drama in the desert.

Central

1) Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings will always be a contender, at least that's how it seems. With a nucleus of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Lidstrom and Johan Franzen all locked up for the near future, expect a team at or near the top of the Conference standings. Throw in Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall and depth untouched by any other organization and you have a recipe for success. Oh yeah, they also have the best coach, GM and scouting in the game.

As long as Chris Osgood can play decent, this team will vie for the Cup.

2) Chicago Blackhawks

No team save for Phoenix is looking forward to puck-drop more than Chicago. A crazy off-season which saw them screw up on their restriced free agent offers (which never ended up affecting anything), their star player getting arrested for allegedly assaulting a cab driver and replacing their General Manager, the start of the season is a welcome sight for this organization. With a promising young nucleus of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Cam Barker and the off-season addition of Marian Hossa, the Hawks look to improve on their Conference Final appearance of a year ago.

The only question mark might be in net where they are relying on Cristobal Huet as their full-time tender. Expectations are high in the Windy City, and deservedly so. This team is a Stanley Cup contender.

3) Columbus Blue Jackets

A year after making their first ever playoff appearance, the Jackets actually have high expectations for the first time in franchise history. Rick Nash is a cornerstone player, and Steve Mason a cornerstone goalie. Having those two guys as franchise players is certainly an exciting thing for hockey fans in Ohio.

A full year from Derrick Brassard, and a bigger, better Jakub Voracek should allow this team to make another run at a playoff berth, and maybe even improve on their first round exit of last season.

4) St. Louis Blues

A young, exciting team that made a crazy end of the season run to earn a playoff spot last year, the Blues are expecting a lot this season. Paul Kariya, Eric Brewer and Erik Johnson are back after missing all or the majority of last year with injuries. Youngsters Patrick Berglund, T.J Oshie and David Perron should all improve on their already impressive 2008'09 stats, and Chris Mason has proved himself as a good starting goalie in the NHL.

Some think this team overachieved last season, but we will soon find out. They should definitely compete for a playoff spot.

5) Nashville Predators

The Preds have maybe the best young defense in the NHL, but their lack of offense will hinder them from making the playoffs once again. Jason Arnott, J.P Dumont and Martin Erat will lead the offense once again, while Ryan Suter, Shea Weber and Dan Hamhuis will run the backend. Pekka Rinne stepped up as the number one goalie last year and should continue with the solid stats that he ended up with last year.

Nashville will be a tough team to play against, but will probably end up on the outside looking in once again.