New ESPN power rankings because......its the off season
http://espn.go.com/nhl/powerrankings
For the West, based on rosters now, I'd project final Western regular season standings to be:
1. Chicago - adding a 2nd line Center is huge for them
2. Anahiem - Speaking of huge 2nd line Center adds....
3. San Jose - They are getting no love for lousy FA additions, but still 2 great scoring lines
4. Los Angeles - Probably another slow Stanley Cup hangover early on, and then tear it up late
5. St. Louis - Another West Coast team adds a solid 2nd line center, I'd be worried about the goaltending though
6. Dallas - hmm seeing a trend of 2nd line Center adds in the West Coast. Defense is still shaky though
7. Colorado - Varlamov made the young team look better then they were, I don't think Varlamov will be as good this year
8. Vancouver - Yeah yeah, they are "rebuilding." They landed an excellent coach, Nick Bonino is a solid play, and Ryan Miller is still excellent in net. Minnesota and Nashville have better teams, but Vancouver plays in the easier division with gimme games against Calgary and Edmonton. The Central Division is the toughest in the NHL so I think 4 teams from Pacific will make it this year.
[ Edited by SunDevilNiner79 on Jul 8, 2014 at 10:33 AM ]