1. Boston Bruins - Divisional play will mean a lot, that is why the Bruins will be on top despite maybe being the 4th best team in the conference after the 3 Atlantic powerhouses

2. Pittsburgh Penguins – Probably the East’s best, but 10 tough games against NYR and Phi eat away at some of the points in the standings.

3. Tampa Bay Lightning – Even adequate goaltending should get Tampa back to the playoffs in a close Southeast

4. Philadelphia Flyers – Tough sets with NYR and Pit

5. New York Rangers – Cannibalistic Atlantic division where Pens, Flyers and Rangers duke it out

6. Washington Capitals – Oates takes the leash off Ovie and company

7. Ottawa Senators – The captain’s possible last hurrah, but blue line questions

8.  Buffalo Sabres – Good goaltending and some shrewd moves, but Ville Leino?

Crosby and Giroux lead two of the Eastern Conference’s Elite Clubs. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

9. Carolina Hurricanes – 2 Staals are better than 1

10. Florida Panthers - Cinderella loses a step with the improvement of the Canes, Lightning and Caps.

11. New Jersey Devils – 81 years of goalie catches up with them, Parise’s leadership missed

12. Toronto Maple Leafs – No #1 centre and no #1 goalie…yet

13. Winnipeg Jets – Almost but not quite ready

14. New York Islanders – Building a young core, a couple of years away

15. Montreal Canadiens – Expecting Galchenyuk and Gionta’s return to be the difference is wishful thinking for Habs fans and management.

Essentially this conference comes down to the battle in the Atlantic Division between the Flyers, Penguins and Rangers.  Each of those teams could lay claim to being the best in the conference, and along with the Bruins are clearly the top 4.  After that, like the West, there is a jumble of teams that could be factors in the playoff race. Boston will get the edge over the other three in the standings because they play the Leafs and Habs so many times and they don’t have to face two elite teams 4 or 5 times each in the regular season.

However, unlike the West where I could only state that one team is out of the running before the puck even drops, there are 4 in the East that will be looking toward next year.  The Leafs, Jets, Islanders and Canadiens will flounder for most of the season.  The Leafs have an asterisk if they do address the goaltending issue before the season gets too old.  If they add Luongo in the first 10 games then they have to be in the mix for a playoff spot on that basis alone.

Saying Goodbye – Chris Mason, Randy Jones,  Tanner Glass

Saying Hello – Alexei Ponikarovsky, Olli Jokinen, Al Montoya

Ready to Step In – Mark Scheifele is the Jets top prospect and started the season in Winnipeg as an 18 year old. Although not physically strong enough for NHL rigours, his offensive talents might keep him around this season.

Evander Kane needs to do his talking on the ice for the Winnipeg Jets. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

Look For A Bounce-back Season From – Ondrej Pavelec‘s numbers weren’t exactly stellar, which is where people have expected him to be.  A GAA nearing 3.oo is not good enough for a team in front of him that has problems scoring goals.

Hardware Hopefuls – Scheifele, Calder

Upside – The love affair of the fans will continue and there isn’t much pressure on the team to make the playoffs…yet.  Should they accomplish that goal this year, they would be treated as even bigger heroes than they are now.

Downside -  This is still a team that will work hard, but on many nights will have trouble scoring goals consistently.  Without a true game-breaker (and Scheifele could eventually develop into one) the Jets will continue to try and score by committee.

2013 Prognosis – This year the Jets might take a step forward, but not likely into the playoffs.  Just when they get settled into the race this year, they could find themselves staring into an even deeper chasm in the Western Conference in 2012-14.