- Chicago Blackhawks
- Boston Bruins
- New Jersey Devils
- Anaheim Ducks
- Vancouver Canucks
- Carolina Hurricanes
- San Jose Sharks
- Nashville Predators
- Toronto Maple Leafs
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Ottawa Senators
- Detroit Red Wings
- Montreal Canadiens
- New York Rangers
- Dallas Stars
- Phoenix Coyotes
- St. Louis Blues
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- Edmonton Oilers
- Minnesota Wild
- Winnipeg Jets
- Los Angeles Kings
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Florida Panthers
- Calgary Flames
- Buffalo Sabres
- Colorado Avalanche
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- New York Islanders
- Washington Capitals
Here is a quick breakdown of each division:
Atlantic:
New Jersey is surprising people by being at the top of the division despite a 41 year old goalie and the loss of Zach Parise. Pittsburgh and New York are off to slow starts but still doing solid. The Flyers are struggling to keep the puck out of their net and the Islanders are doing what everyone expected. Outside of New Jersey no surprises here.
Northeast:
Boston has looked dominant and Toronto is playing tough hockey under new coach Randy Carlyle. Toronto looks talented and looks mean despite Phil Kessel not putting up sick numbers. Toronto is surprising people early, but stay tuned. Ottawa is staying the coarse and looking to be a low seed playoff team while Montreal is relying on Carey Price to throw the team on his back. They showed signs of offense early but are already back to looking talentless, and needing Carey to win every game for them. Buffalo looks flat out awful outside of Vanek and Pominville. They should strongly consider dishing Ryan Miller, as it seems his best days are behind him.
Southeast:
Like usual, Washington is on top of the division. Just kidding, they are pathetic and will not make playoffs. Oates will be fired and everyone in Washington should feel shame for the horrible season they are about to go through. Carolina is doing well with the addition of Semin and Staal, despite Cam Ward's numbers being mediocre. Tampa Bay is inconsistent but could be dangerous. They dropped 5 straight games after a 6-1 start. Winnipeg is hanging in there but the travel of only having east conference games will catch up to them eventually. Florida is coming back to earth after an exciting season last year.
Central:
Chicago is the cream of the crop. They are undefeated in regulation through 13 games and only 3 of those were home games. 8-0-2 on the road is absolutely incredible. There are no shootouts in the playoffs, so this team is looking indestructible. We will see how long they can keep it up, especially with Corey Crawford overachieving in net. Nashville had a bizarre start to the year. They had a blowout win, 2 shutout losses, and 5 games that went into shootouts. They really are back to playing defense first hockey and Rinne is showing why they paid him 49 million dollars. Detroit and St. Louis have surprised me, mostly because of their games against one another. They meet for the 4th time tonight, and Detroit surprisingly has won 2 of the 3 games so far. This defensive team in St. Louis should be better with Halak back in net while Detroit is overcoming their bad defense thanks to Zetterberg and Howard winning games by themselves. As for Columbus, the good news is GM Scott Howson is finally canned. Better luck next year.
Northwest:
Vancouver is on top again in this division. It would be a miracle if someone else were to win this division. The young Oilers are looking solid in second while Minnesota is also playing mediocre enough to be kind of in the mix. Calgary sucks and needs to trade Iginla and Kipprusoff in order to rebuild and become relevant again. Colorado still has not signed RFA Ryan O'Reilly, and are struggling because of it.
Pacific:
Anaheim is a huge surprise on top. Never underestimate the power of a contract year. Perry and Getzlaf are both about to be unrestricted free agents so expect them to have a big year and get a big pay day when it is over. Teemu is making his last years count and Viktor Fasth is on the verge of stealing the starting job in net from Jonas Hiller. The ducks could be a sneaky team come the end of the year. San Jose started 7-0 looking invincible, only to go 0-3-3 in the next 6. Which Sharks team will show up on any given night? Who knows. Dallas is doing alright and they will only get better with Benn signed and Roy back from offseason surgery. Phoenix is winning by keeping the puck out of the net, but they need more goals to make playoffs. LA has been a disappointment early, but Anze is not 100% yet and Quick is coming off of back surgery (from throwing the team on his back all last season). Stay tuned to see if the Kings can bounce back from a slow start to make playoffs.
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