With the puck finally dropping Friday night, it's time to predict what your favorite team (and not so favorite teams) will do this season. I brought the subject up around the time of training camp openings, but with the final rosters being settled, time to really stick your neck out.

Atlanta Thrashers: Picked by most to finish among the bottom of the league, the first month will determine how much longer Curt Fraser will remain head coach. If the exhibition games are anything to go by, it could get ugly (they were blown out by TB TWICE in exhibition play). If the Thrashers are not playing around .500 by the end of October, look to see the fire under Curt Fraser's chair get cranked up. The off-season acquistions are decent, but there are many questions concerning their health and ability (Kozlov, Krupp, Smehlik, McEachern are either coming off of sub-par years or injuries). With Hnilicka and Nurminen as the #1 and #2 goalies, the Thrashers have a fairly decent goalie tandem. If they struggle, look to see Cassivi get the call. Offensively, Kovalchuk and Heatley have to avoid the sophomore slump, because they are essentially Atlanta's offense. Patrik Stefan must finally perform to the hype surrounding him back in '99 as the #1 pick after being among the top scorer in the IHL the season before being drafted. Tomi Kallio needs to return to the form of his rookie year, so to take some pressure off of Kovalchuk and Heatley. Defense has been the biggest problem for the Thrashers, and it's not looking too well for them this year either. Chris Tamer is one of the few players left from the very first game three years ago. They do have some big guys in the minors right now, but until those players are ready, defense may remain a problem. As long as the goalies keep them in the game, the defense may not be as big of a problem. Francis Lessard, Andy Sutton, and the offseason acquistions of Uwe Krupp and Richard Smehlik are going to have to keep the biscuit away from the goalies if the team wants to actually compete. With the team's minor league affliates winning championships the last two seasons (IHL 00-01, AHL 01-02, ECHL 01-02), the expectations are high for the Thrashers as well. If Curt Fraser and Don Waddell can't get this team going in the right direction, they maybe having to update their resumes. With four drafts under his belt, only two of Waddell's first round picks have made an impact. Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk has so far lived up to billing, while Patrik Stefan has not, and this year's pick Kari Lehtonen is staying in Finland this season (to serve his military time) and may not come until next season. If Fraser gets canned, look to see someone like Ted Nolan getting the job (Maybe the can get Boom Boom Geoffrion to come out of retirement, hey he lives in Atlanta, as do several ex-Flames).

Carolina Hurricanes:

Last year's squad is back in full, with the exception of Martin Gelinas (Free Agency to Calgary, spot filled using players from farm system) Many star players are on the squad, including Arturs Irbe, who is a very effective goalie, Ron Francis, the dependable veteran, Jeff O'Neill, who is on the verge of superstardom, Bret Hedican, Glen Wesley, Sean Hill lead a great defense, and the always great BBC line is still intact.
Can they duplicate last year's Stanley Cup run? Absolutely. Will they? Probably not. Last year everything went right, everything until they met Detroit. If the 'Canes have another spectacular playoff run where everything goes right, then by all means they can be Eastern Conference or even Stanley Cup Champions. But nobody has that luck. Everything won't go right again. All of the players are there, the coach is there, they will use the same gameplan that they did last year, but other teams have definately improved. Combine that with the fact that everything that could have gone wrong didn't last year, it would have to be another spectacular run. No longer will it be a cakewalk through the Southleast division. Washington looks to be much improved over last year, but the 'Canes will still pull through. I see them making it to the second or third round of the playoffs, bowing out in a hard fought 7 game series.

Easy: Chicago Blackhawks Baby!!!!! The way I see it they are already in the Stanley Cup.

UALrampORD

MONTREAL CANADIENS
Habs 4 Life
Koivu, Zednik, Markov, Czerkawski, Audette, Guilmor, Perrault and of course
JOSE THEODORE

I'm still all about the Blackhawks!!!  

New York Islanders:

Character can get you places in the NHL and this team has plenty of it. But it all starts from the top with the coach, Peter Laviolette, he has the guys motivated every night and expects nothing less than 100% from his troops, whether it be Alexei Yashin or Arron Asham. If you dont perform on this team you will be sitting on the bench or eating popcorn in the press box. If you dont have heart, you will be traded, hence the departure of Mariusz Czerkawski in the off-season. He never uses the trap and utilizes a very aggressive style of play, this led to the Islanders scoring a league high 17 shorthanded goals last season.That being said the Islanders are an extremely fast team with guys like Shawn Bates, Mark Parrish, Alexei Yashin, Oleg Kvasha manning the top two lines. With the NHL supposedly really cracking down on interference and obstruction this year the Islanders will be lethal while forechecking and on the rush. A guy like Alexei Yashin, who usually had two guys draped around him will really be helped with the new rules this season and will score between 45-50 goals.

As for defense, the Islanders have one of the best top sixes in the league with Jonsson, Hamrlik, Aucoin, Martinek, Cairns, and Timander. They are all extremely sound defensemen, with the top four all able to contribute offensively. We also have a great goaltending duo of Osgood and Snow, with DiPietro waiting in the minors.

This team has the heart of a lion, and the 3rd and 4th liners are the center of the heart...guys like Dave Scatchard, Jason Weimer, Steve Webb, Jason Blake, and Claude Lapointe are all tenacious and will knock down a wall in order to win a hockey game. Michael Peca is expected back in early December from the cheap hit delivered by Darcy Tucker, and will only add to the great chemistry on the club.

I fully expect the Islanders to be legitimate contenders for the cup this season. Sports writers who dont follow the team, cant really appreciate the chemsitry between the guys in the locker room and the work ethic that this team has. It is a totally "lunch pail" mentality. This team plays as one...unlike the guys across the river. The loudest arena in the league certainly helps things also.

I cant wait, I am flying up from Dallas on Friday night to see opening night on Saturday...I am psyched.

I don't think my Team the Boston Bruins are going to be as good but I think they will be better than what people are giving them credit for. Yes the lose Biily Guerin and Byron Dafoe is gone but Glen Murry had as many goals as Guerin and Dafoe is not that great. Joe Thorton, Sergi Samsonov, Brian Rolston and all very good player we now that the One Eyed Bandit on Defence(Bryan Berard). Should be an interesting season.

I think the leafs and hope the leafs take a down turn. They lost their best player.

Redwings finish 2nd in division

Redwings win the cup again.