Number beside each team is their rank in terms of points in the conference.
WEST:
Central
1. Dallas Stars (2)
Even though they didn't make the playoffs last season, they were a better team than they were two years ago when they did make the playoffs. They have one of the best center duos in the league with Tyler Seguin (who was having an MVP type year before getting injured) and Jason Spezza. Art Ross winner Jamie Benn played hurt all year but still dominated. He's one of the top four wingers in the league, and Seguin arguably a top five center. They've added Patrick Sharp from the Blackhawks to their top six, which will keep one of the most high powered offenses in the league buzzing. The difference this year will be on defense. Johnny Oduya also came over from the Blackhawks and will provide grit on the second pair, along with Patrik Nemeth, who missed all of last season. The biggest difference will be Kari Lehtonen, who had an awful year last year. This writer expect's him to bounce back and now they have a competent backup in Antti Niemi. The first two years of the central a team rose from the bottom to first or second in the Central (Colorado in 2013-14 and Nashville last season), and the Stars are primed to do that this season.
2. Nashville Predators (3)
This team is very good. They scored more than anyone thought they would with Peter Laviolette taking over as head coach last season and they have arguably the best defensive group in the league. Shea Weber is arguably the top defenseman in the league, and Seth Jones and Roman Josi seem to be joining him sooner rather than later. Adding Barrett Jackman was interesting, because he leaves St. Louis where he was for so long and will provide veteran leadership for this young unit. It comes down to one thing, determining how good they can be--can Mike Fisher and Mike Ribiero produce on a level similar to last season? If so, they should have no problems finishing near the top of the central again. While not having a dynamic winger anywhere on their top six, they have enough productive players to get it done offensively. Pekka Rinne is so good in goal that he can cover for many of the other deficiencies of this team.
3. St. Louis Blues (4)
They are among the deepest teams in the league. But their depth is almost their enemy. They don't have any spectacular players on their top six other than Vladimir Tarasenko. T.J. Oshie was also another solid scorer, but now he's gone in favor of Troy Brouwer, yet another grinder. Paul Stastny looks like a free agent bust, and Jori Lehtera will likely get a lot of time on the top six. The bottom line is they need another guy to step up. In each of their playoff losses over the last two years, in their final game they only managed one goal. Ken Hitchcock is a capable coach, who won a Stanley Cup in Dallas. The defense is solid with Alex Pietrangelo leading the way, but they need to decide if Jake Allen is their number one guy or not. Going with him in the playoffs after Brian Elliot had been their top guy all year was an odd move.
4. Chicago Blackhawks* (5)
You wonder how much longer they can keep purging players and still play at a high level. Of course, when you have Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane just about anything seems possible. Even though they won their third Stanley Cup in six years last season, they were actually only a few points away from not even qualifying for the postseason. Part of that was because of the injury to Kane, who was having an MVP type season before getting hurt. Now with his legal situation, who knows what's going happen to him this season. Gone are Patrick Sharp, Johnny Oduya, Kris Versteeg, Brandon Saad and others. Is this going to look like the season after they won the cup in 2010, when they had to sneak in as the eighth seed? Time will tell but they could have their struggles. Corey Crawford does not get much credit because the defense is so good, but he really was one of the best goalies in the league last season. They will still be really difficult to score on.
5. Minnesota Wild* (7)
This team looked dead in the water at the start of last season, but a midseason trade for Devan Dubnyk turned their year around. He was absolutely amazing last season, and even more impressively he started 39 straight games for this team after being acquired in January. Unfortunately, this group will be hard pressed to keep that success going. Still, with Thomas Vanek, Zach Parise and others, they should be able to get back into the postseason. They are a good puck possession team, and excellent defensively, led by Ryan Suter. This team doesn't play the most exciting brand of hockey, but it should be effective enough to get them back into the postseason.
6. Winnipeg Jets (9)
The Jets made a surprising run to the playoffs last season, where they were quickly shown the door by the Ducks. The future is bright, but they are primed to take a step back this season. Their goaltenders played out of their minds last year, and Ondrej Pavalec and Michael Hutchinson will be hard pressed to repeat the numbers they had last year. They are solid defensively, led by Tyler Myers who they got from the Sabres in the Evander Kane trade, as well as Jacob Trouba, Tobias Enstrom and Dustin Byflugien. The real burden is on Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler and the top six to provide enough offense to hang around in this division.
7. Colorado Avalanche (11)
In all honesty, this is likely one of the top 15 teams in the league. Unfortunately, they play in an absolute murderer's row of a division, which keeps them out of the playoffs and will diminish how many points they get. They have a lot of young talent on their top six, but after that there is much to be desired. Seymon Varlamov is a skilled goalie, but he cannot stay healthy. If he does manage to stay healthy this season, this team could easily finish outside of the cellar. Picking up Francois Beauchemin was a nice move, but he alone cannot fix their defense. Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie are decent, but they simply need more help back there. However, if Nathan MacKinnon can play out of his mind like he did his rookie year and the rest of the top six falls in line, they could make things interesting.
Pacific
1. Anaheim Ducks (1)
The Ducks will win this division without much resistance. They have finished with the most points in the west each of the last two seasons and will do so again because there is simply not another team on their level. All of the rest of the teams in this division have major questions while the Ducks just kept getting better. The acquisition of Carl Hagelin seemed to be a pure "beat the Blackhawks" pickup. He's smaller and faster than the player they gave up (Emerson Etem), which will help them in a potential playoff match up with Chicago. Frederik Andersen is the key, because if he can take that next step they may be unstoppable in the west. Ryan Kesler was a great addition last offseason with his defensive abilities as a number two center, pair him with Ryan Getzlaf and they have a very good 1-2 punch at center. Corey Perry is also a possible 50 goal scorer. This team is absolutely loaded and ready to atone for last year's blown chance to reach the finals.
2. Los Angeles Kings (6)
They were the first Stanley Cup champion since the 2006-07 Hurricanes to miss the playoffs the next season. The drama with Slava Voynov took a ton on them and bad contracts to guys like Mike Richards took a toll. But this team still has a good amount of talent, and became even more gritty with the addition of Milan Lucic. Anze Kopitar is one of the most underrated centers in the league, he makes plays (though he doesn't score many goals) and is a very good two-way player. It comes down to Jonathan Quick, he didn't play anywhere close to the caliber he can play last season. He was one of the most used goaltenders in the league, and Jhonas Enroth was brought in to back him up. All in all, this team will bounce back and return to the postseason. They have too much talent not to.
3. Edmonton Oilers (8)
Surprise! This is the big-leap-forward team of 2015-16. It's not just about Connor McDavid, who is the most highly regarded prospect since Sidney Crosby, but more about Todd McClellan. After the Sharks decided they no longer wanted him, the Oilers snatched him up. He's not a great coach and doesn't have a great track record of playoff success, but he's more than capable of getting this team to play to their potential. There is so much talent with so many high draft picks they have accumulated over the years from McDavid to Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Nail Yakupov and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The defense is still a concern, it's one of the worst units in the league. Cam Talbot though, he's intriguing. He outplayed Henrik Lundqvist when the King was injured last season, but how will he adjust to being a full time starter? He should be fine and allow the Oilers to get to their first postseason since 2005-06.
4. Calgary Flames (10)
This team was a surprise last season, coming out of nowhere to win a playoff series, but this writer doesn't think the good times will continue to roll for this team. They were not a very good puck possession team and Jonas Hiller was really good last season, but he tends to decline as the years go by wherever he goes. They also can't take anyone by surprise this season because of how well they did last season. Make no mistake, the future is bright with Sam Bennett and Johnny Gaudreau leading the way, but this team will be good for years to come and will be in the thick of it this season.
5. San Jose Sharks (12)
Peter DeBoer may believe in this team this writer doesn't. This team needs to be blown up. Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and others need to be traded. If they start the season poorly, it wouldn't be a shocking if one of those guys were shipped to Edmonton to reunite with Todd McClellan. Back to this year's team, they have Joe Pavelski who is arguably a top 10 center, and Logan Couture who is the future of this team. Tomas Hertl is another solid player who can really help them if he can stay healthy. Their goalie situation is a head scratcher. They traded a lot to get former LA backup Martin Jones, after he was traded to Boston. Alex Stalock is the backup and he was not very good last season. It would be hard pressed to see them contending with either of those guys in net. But this division should be wide open, so who knows.
6. Vancouver Canucks (13)
This team looks like a disaster waiting to happen. Ryan Miller is finished as he was awful last season. Jakob Markstrom has not played well at the NHL level, though he dominated the AHL enough that they were willing to deal Eddie Lack. The Sedin twins are getting older and older, and aren't capable to carry this team anymore. Radim Vbrata is a nice complementary player, but why Vancouver gave up so much for Brandon Sutter is a huge question. He wasn't anything special in Pittsburgh. Maybe if things get bad early on they will start shipping people away, which would make sense because this team's window has closed.
7. Arizona Coyotes (14)
Arizona doesn't look like they have any hopes of winning this season. They sure didn't try last year. They should let Shane Doan go and let him try to win a championship elsewhere. Really though, the whole team belongs somewhere other than the Valley of the Sun. This drama has played out long enough, they need to be moved. Anyway, after failing to get McDavid or Eichel in the draft, they continue their rebuild. Dave Tippett is too good of a coach to be bad for this long, but this team is not a winning situation. They got Antoine Vermette and Zbynek Michaelek back after they spent the second half of last season in Chicago and St. Louis, respectively. Goalie is another problem area, where Mike Smith has not been good since 2011-12 and Andres Lindback is awful.
EAST:
Atlantic
1. Tampa Bay Lightning (1) (President's Trophy winner)
Yours truly saw this team's rise coming last season as shown by predicting them to win the East. The last few years, often the team that loses in the Cup finals wins the President's Trophy the next season (the Rangers did it last season, the Bruins before that, the Canucks did it in 2011-12, the list goes on), and the bolts can do it this year as well. They were the highest scoring offense in the league last year and have so many guys who can score. Steven Stamkos, who is likely to be mostly a wing this year, Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson are their best, followed by Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn and Ryan Callahan, among others. Their defense is also very good led by Victor Hedman, Anton Stralman and Jason Garrison, among others. They have so much young talent it's not even fair. This team will be good for a long time. Their potential Achilles heel is Ben Bishop, who is okay in net but not great. He gave up a lot of rebounds in last year's playoffs and wasn't great in save percentage despite his immense number of wins.
2. Florida Panthers (5)
This team is going to break out this year. Last year this division was really crowded at the top and choked out the improvements this team made last season. But with a much weaker division this year, this team will rise. The Senators went on a ridiculous streak they won't repeat in the second half of last season, Carey Price was unbelievable for the Habs and the Red Wings and Bruins were both solid. But this team has a lot of young talent between Alex Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad and others. It comes down to Roberto Luongo, who showed last season he still has it. This is a good defensive team who will shut you down and with Jaromir Jagr for a full season, they will score more and get to the postseason for the first time since 2012.
3. Detroit Red Wings (7)
All they do is make the playoffs. Even though Mike Babcock left, Jeff Blashill comes into a great situation. This team is used to winning and they have plenty of veteran experience in Pavel Datsuyk, Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyqvist, Brad Richards and more. Adding Mike Green on defense gives them a scoring threat from the blueline that they have been missing recently. But the fate of their season hinges on Jimmy Howard. He was terrible last season, and looked in no way worthy of the contract they gave him. Petr Mrazek is a viable backup, and Howard will rebound and the Wings get back to the playoffs once again.
4. Montreal Canadiens* (8)
This is lower than some would expect, but honestly this team isn't spectacular outside of Carey Price. He covered up so many of their flaws last season. His historic year carried them to the second round of the playoffs, but he is going to be hard pressed to repeat that same level of success. They go as he goes. Picking up Alex Semin for cheap is a nice move, but he's going to struggle without a really good center to play alongside. They have moved Alex Galchenyuk in to play center full time, which hopefully will help them because it's a better use of his abilities. Despite being the best goalie in the league by a longshot last season, Price was also among the most shot at. The defense is going to have to really play well this season for the Habs to be good, because he will not repeat his performance last season.
5. Boston Bruins (10)
This writer is very confused by some of the moves this team has made. Do they know if they want to sell and rebuild or if they are trying to add some guys to contend with the guys they have left? It's just unclear. Tuukka Rask is a very good goalie, but they can't afford to play him in almost every game again. They are building their roster for the way the game used to be--big, hulking guys without a lot of speed going around and mashing people. They don't have a lot of skill offensively, other than Patrice Bergeron. Their defense has been their calling card for years, and now those guys are getting old. Zdeno Chara doesn't stay on the ice and has no speed anymore, Dennis Seidenberg is now hurt and in the most perplexing move of the offseason they traded Dougie Hamilton for very little. They changed GMs, but did the position change for the better? It does not look good at this point. Rask can only carry them so far.
6. Ottawa Senators (11)
This team went on a tear during the second half of last season, led by the incredible hot streak of Andrew Hammond. He and Craig Anderson both had outstanding years, even though the defense is not very good and allowed opponents a ton of shots. They still have some good forwards in Bobby Ryan, Mark Stone, Kyle Turris and more. But for the first part of last season they were among the bottom teams in the east. That is more telling of who this team really is than the run they had last season and they step back.
7. Buffalo Sabres (14)
At the very least, this team will be interesting to watch because they will be in a lot of high scoring games. Jack Eichel out there with Ryan O'Reilly and Evander Kane sets them up well to play a fast paced game. Still, this team has a lot of holes. Robin Lehner is net is a huge gamble after the year he had in Ottawa last season, and do you think a division rival would have traded a goalie to another team in the division if they thought he could play? Dan Bylsma is a good hire who will get this team to play hard and put the puck in the net. But they have a lot of holes on defense and little depth at forward, so while they will undoubtedly be better this season, it will be a long road back to contention.
8. Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
Mike Babcock has a long rebuild ahead. Phil Kessel is gone, and their only dynamic scoring threat is James Van Riemsdyk, and that is a bit of a stretch. He's playing on their top line with Nazem Kadri and Brad Boyes. Kadri is decent but Boyes is a bottom six guy. Their second line features the overpaid Tyler Bozak, Shawn Matthias and Joffery Lopul. There is little depth up front and the defense is not very good. Dion Phaneuf is not a top level defenseman but Morgan Reilly could be good. It doesn't help that their goalies are not very good. It'll be another long year.
Metropolitan
1. Pittsburgh Penguins (2)
For all the talk about how Sidney Crosby needs a great winger, here you go. Phil Kessel is now in the fold, and they could be an electric duo. Good enough to propel them back to the top of this division. They got demonstrably better while the Rangers likely will not have the same success they had a year ago and neither the Capitals or the Islanders improved more than the Pens, who were just three points behind those two. For all the flak Marc-Andre Fleury gets, he actually had a pretty good year last year. The defense around him is not that great, and dealing Simon Desperes was not a good choice, particularly considering all they got back was Ben Lovejoy. They need overhaul on defense in order to contend again. As well as Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to both stay healthy.
2. Washington Capitals (3)
This team did not make huge changes, but they picked up some good players this offseason. T.J. Oshie is a shootout master, and Justin Williams is a gritty guy who carries the load in big games, something this team has been missing. Of course Alex Ovechkin is a scoring machine and Niklas Backstrom had one of his best years last year. Young guys like Andre Burakovsky and Evgeny Kuznetsov played fairly well last year and should only get better. This is a really solid team, but it depends on Braden Holtby. He was very good last season and he's a young player who came into his own last year and will continue to be good. Barry Trotz was exactly what this team needed, and he'll get the most out of them once again this season.
3. New York Rangers (4)
While they won't be what they were last year, they will still be good. Rick Nash had one of the best years of his career last year, and he could have another year in which he contends for the lead in goals scored. They also added Jarrett Stoll and Viktor Stalberg to the bottom six, which gives them just more depth. They are an incredibly fast team and they will cause matchup problems for opponents. Their defense pretty much remains the same from last season and Henrik Lundqvist is still between the pipes. Cam Talbot is gone but Antti Raanta is now the backup, the former Blackhawk had a good year in limited action, so they should be in good hands back there once again.
4. New York Islanders* (6)
John Tavares is an absolute monster. He is arguably the best center in the game already, producing some of the best numbers in the game every year without great line mates. This team is ever so close to really making a deep run in the playoffs. They have an experienced goalie in Jaroslav Halak and the additions of Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy both worked wonders for them. They do need to fill out the rest of their blue line, and they have a mix of veterans like Calvin de Haan and Travis Hamonic as well as young guys like Scott Mayfield. They need to be able to find depth scoring as well, they can't just rely on Tavares' line to produce all the offense if they are to make a deep run in the postseason.
5. Columbus Blue Jackets (9)
Yours truly really wants to put this team in the playoffs, but some part is reluctant because of one reason--the health of Sergei Bobrovsky. He has missed time over the last few years and this team has really suffered without him. Otherwise, this team is solid. Ryan Johansen is a very good center and improving every year. He and Brandon Saad could become a very formidable duo over the years. The blue line outside of Jack Johnson is somewhat of a question as well, and that will be one of the biggest factors in determining of they can make the playoffs this season. This team has talent, it's a matter of staying healthy and getting it all to come together for this team.
6. Carolina Hurricanes (12)
This team is better than most give them credit for. They were pretty good on defense last season, and actually outshot their opponents. They were bad in net, which is why they went out and got Eddie Lack from Vancouver. He was easily the best of the three goalies that saw significant time in Vancouver last season. He should be the primary starter as they replace Cam Ward, who has been sliding for a while now. They do need to trade Eric Staal as he's a veteran who is past his prime and they need to rebuild around young guys like Elias Lindholm, Jeff Skinner and others. Their defense other than Justin Faulk is not spectacular, but they were able to be effective last season. This team will be much better this season, but they're still another year away.
7. Philadelphia Flyers (13)
This team has a long way to go. Other than Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek, there is not much to be desired among their forwards. Vincent LeCavalier is just a name now, and Sean Couterier has not lived up to his draft selection. They are going to have to find some more offense outside of those two guys. While they have quite a few good young defensemen, they are not ready yet. Either they are too young or too old back there, because Mark Streit is one of a few blueliners they have whose time has come and gone. It really stinks for them because Steve Mason was amazing last season, even though he saw among the most shots in the league because of the lack of defense. Dave Hakstol has a long rebuild ahead.
8. New Jersey Devils (16)
This team is going to be awful. They do have a top level goalie in Corey Schneider, but that's just about it. They signed castoffs in Jiri Tlusty and Michael Cammalleri to play on their top line with Travis Zajac. Adam Henrique, the 2012 playoff star, is on the second line now, playing with more old guys. They signed old wingers to try to fix their scoring issues and it's not going to work. Bryce Salvador retired this offseason, and he leaves a mixed bag of defensemen, who are going to be in a certain amount of discord. Schneider will keep them in some games, but they are going to have a long rebuild ahead of them.
PLAYOFFS:
West; Round one:
Dallas over Chicago- This will be an interesting series with two crucial players that helped Chicago win multiple cups playing on the other side. The Stars have matched up well with the Blackhawks recently because they have the speed to compete with Chicago. This is a young and hungry group in Dallas and Chicago will be trying to establish depth this season. Behind improved goaltending, the Stars pull off the upset.
Nashville over St. Louis- Oh, this will be fun. This will be some old time hockey, just a black and blue slugfest. These are two physical teams that don't like each other much and have developed a real hatred in recent years. Go with the team with the better netminder, and that's Nashville.
Anaheim over Minnesota- The Ducks are going to make easy work of a punchless Wild offense and be able to score on Devan Dubnyk, who will really have no chance against a hungry Ducks team that just simply has more firepower.
Los Angeles over Edmonton- While the Kings return to the playoffs after a surprising one year hiatus, they will easily overpower the upstart Oilers. Todd McClellan will do all he can but the young Oilers will just be overwhelmed by the grit and goaltending of the Kings.
Round two:
Nashville over Dallas- Nashville has given Dallas all sorts of problems in recent years, and Dallas has been almost unable to win on the road in this series. The high flying offense of the Stars will struggle in this series and the Predators advance to their first Western Finals in team history.
Anaheim over Los Angeles- This will be a tight series between two teams that despise one another, but this time the Ducks will take the battle for LA after blowing a 3-2 lead against the Kings in the 2014 playoffs. These Kings just don’t have the depth that the Ducks do and that will be the difference.
Finals:
Anaheim over Nashville- The Predators make their first ever conference finals this season, but they will not go any further. The Ducks are just a more complete team all around and they are hungry to make up for last year's disappointment.
East; Round one:
Tampa Bay over Montreal- The Lightning got to Carey Price in the second round last season, and they will do so again. They have met in the postseason each of the last two years, and they've both won once. The Lightning get the edge as they shut down Montreal and pelt Price with shots.
Detroit over Florida- The upstart Panthers face a much more experienced playoff team in the Red Wings, and the inexperience of the Panthers will show in this one. Jimmy Howard shuts down the Panthers and bad Roberto Luongo comes out and the Red Wings win their first series since moving to the east.
New York Islanders over Pittsburgh- The Islanders get their first playoff series win in over 20 years as they stun the Pens. They have the ingredients to pull an upset--a tested goalie, good defense and an elite center. Mike Johnston will come under real fire after this series.
Washington over New York Rangers- The Capitals get revenge on their arch rivals as they defeat the Rangers this time behind an outstanding performance from Braden Holtby. He is a star in the making and they will get plenty of goals from new additions T.J. Oshie and Justin Williams.
Round two:
Tampa Bay over Detroit- The Red Wings pushed the Lightning to the limit last season, and once again they will give them a run for their money. But in the end the Lightning are just a better team and it will show in this series. Jon Cooper will also have an advantage on new Wings coach Jeff Blashill in this series.
Washington over New York Islanders- Once again, the Capitals emerge victorious over the Islanders as Holtby steals the show and the new offensive additions make the difference as the New York blueliners just don't have the depth to contain them.
Finals:
Washington over Tampa Bay- Though Tampa Bay will be favored in this one, the Capitals pull off the upset. Finally getting past the second round will be a monkey off the back over Ovie and the rest of the team, allowing them to just go out and play against the reigning east champions, who will feel the pressure in this series and allow Washington to win their first east title since 1998.
Stanley Cup Finals:
Anaheim over Washington
Bruce Boudreau will see his old team in his first Stanley Cup finals appearance as a head coach. The duo of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry will be too much for the Capitals blue liners and Ryan Kesler will contain the scoring from the Ovie-Backstrom-Oshie line and Frederik Andersen levels out his play in this series after being erratic in last season’s playoffs. After alternating between LA and Chicago the last four years, the cup goes back to LA, but to the other team in the area. One of the most underrated players in the game, Getzlaf, will win the Conn Smythe.