The Red Wings always have a reasonable shot at winning the President's Trophy...before the inevitable post-season collapse.

Call me insane, but I think this is Toronto's year. (And no, I have absolutely nothing to back that claim up.)

BTW, what's up with Nashville? They looked pretty good last season, although they got beat down in the first round of the playoffs. What sort of difficulties does the ownership there have?

While anything can happen, one could be fairly confident in thinking that Toronto is not coming out of the East. Too slow and they'll need Toskala to play over his head.

As for Nashville, on the ice they lost some key players and leaders like Kariya, Timmonen, Hartnell and Vokoun. Like Toronto, goaltending is a question mark. Still lots of talent there. Lots.

Off the ice, the local ownership was thought to be settled but it turns out the new group could not secure government involvement and this apparently has put them back to square one. Not good.

Just got back from London where the Mrs and I caught the second Ducks v Kings match-up. The fans were into it.

I think my Sabres will be rebuilding because I don't yet know how they are going to replace those goals.

I am so bored with hearing about Pitts until they accomplish something.

Rangers now with Drury would be my pick to watch in the East, but Ottawa getting so close should be even more driven.

I am curious who is going to step up as leaders now for the Ducks. I know repeating isn't likely, but I haven't seen any off season moves that impress me by anyone else, so I'll stick with them coming out of the West.

El Bicho, you're tired of all the talk about the Pens but are willing to give the nudge to the Rangers? As for the Pens, two words: Sidney Crosby.

But I agree, with Tom Renney as coach and with the additions of Gomez and Drury the Rangers are a threat. Above Lundqvist in nets is big time.

In the west, San Jose is expected to challenge. Even though they lost Toskala and Hannan. Minnesota and Calgary are legitimate contenders in my eyes and of course Detroit. Colorado is probably going to surprise. Many questions surround the Ducks but given his performance in the playoffs Getzlaf may be the player to step up.

I think the west will be marked by the rise of the young teams like the Kings and Blackhawks.

Did you go to London specifically for the game?

"above all" Lundqvist is in nets I meant to say.

"you're tired of all the talk about the Pens but are willing to give the nudge to the Rangers?"

Yup. Are they mutually exclusive? I don't hear as much talk about the Rangers, and at least they have players who have already accomplished something. I am more a fan of the actual as opposed to the potential. Much like the pre-anointing of LeBron. I hadn't heard about Gomez. I might put $ down on the Rangers to win it all when I go to Vegas at the end of the month.

I think the Kings will be cursed for years because of the fan's treatment of Gretzky when he left.

We have always wanted to go back to London because we only passed through last time. The game was the catalyst, but after we started our planning and with the exchange rate, we considered selling our tickets, but had a good time.

The Habs will kick their sorry Rangers asses!

"at least they have players who have already accomplished something."

that means absolutely NOTHING. gomez and drury's postseason successes would only be meaningful in the context of discussing the rangers, if they had the success with the rangers. which they hadnt.

the rangers HAD to have either gomez or drury just to cancel out nylander and cullen leaving. the fact that they signed both is nice, but it doesn't mean anything other than the fact they still think they can buy a good team. which they haven't quite done yet.

philly could be really good or really awful, depending on how quickly their young players develop and if they reach all of the potential they have available.

the devils don't look so great, but they can never be ruled out (at least not until they start getting dominated during the season).

the islanders will probably suck, but the atlantic should still be the most competitive division this season.

"that means absolutely NOTHING."

you might want to amend that to read "that means absolutely NOTHING to you" because you aren't comprehending what I have written. Previous accomplishments absolutely mean something to me. It's not like I claimed it was a guarantee of the Rangers success this year.

However, if I have to hear talking heads blather on with their meaningless predictions, I am more willing to listen to them talk about players like Gomez, Drury, et al, who have accomplished something over guys like Crosby, who could very well be the next Gretzky, but hasn't accomplished anything yet. All Crosby, all the time is not yet warranted nor fair to those who have actually had accomplishments in the league.

Forget Drury, Gomez, Crosby. The Rangers have Lundqvist and an argument can be made that he's better than Marc-Andre Fleury. The Rangers are a legitimate threat. They also have Tom Remmey who's an under rated coach. However, this year the Pens can make noise. They made some last year.

*possible* loss of Neidermayer and Selanne. I think Scotty is just hanging out so that they can ding his salary enough to get under the salary cap -- otherwise, why wouldn't he just have said he's not coming back yet? I think Selanne might be waiting on him to come back... His kids are enrolled in school in OC still... Hopefully they'll come back. Jet lag is a valid excuse, but they played horribly tonight. We need Nieds and Teemu and Jiggy back in the net.

Yes, *possible* loss. I heard the earliest Niedermayer is coming back is January.