Dallas Stars - This is an interesting team and I think they may be one of the best in the league. Dallas is very deep up front with players like Mike Modano, Brendan Morrow, Brad Richards and Mike Ribeiro. They added super pest Sean Avery and highly touted Swedish forward Fabian Brunnstrom. With great goaltending by Marty Turco and a solid defense led by Sergei Zubov, the Stars look prepared to take a run in the West. Dallas will be disappointed if they don’t win there division and at least make in to the conference final.

Detroit Red Wings – Defending champs and perennial favorites, the Red Wings seemed poised to have another great season. They added Marian Hossa to play on the top two lines and will team up with Datsyuk and Zetterberg to score a lot of goals. They have a  great defense headlined by Nik Lidstrom and solid goaltending from Osgood. If this team stays healthy, its hard to say that aren’t the Cup favorites this year, anything less then the Stanley Cup will be a disappointment.

Edmonton Oilers - Goals, goals and more goals, Edmonton is an offensive power house this year. They are deep and young up front with players like Ales Hemsky, Eric Cole, Shawn Horcoff and Sam Gagner. They also have a solid defense, and goaltending. The key is Mathieu Garon in net, if he is good the Oilers should be a playoff team.

Florida Panthers – This team has been selling potential for years and soon they will have to live up to that potential. They lost there best player in Jokinen in the off season, but made a trade for Brian McCabe who should fit in nicely with Boumeester. They have solid goaltending and some good young forwards, but I still don’t see them as a playoff team.

Los Angeles Kings – Sorry Kings fans, but they are horrible again. They have some good pieces up front with Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Frolov. Still have a lack a defense and no goaltending, the Kings look like they will finish last in the West.

Minnesota Wild - Hard team to explain this year, they have been close a few times, but didn’t do much to improve there team. They are solid and play a good defensive game, but may not score enough goals. They still have dynamic forward Marian Gaborik for at least this year, but they might trade him if they are not fighting for a playoff spot. I don’t think they are a playoff team this year.

Montreal Canadiens - The Canadiens are good and I think East favorites this year, Strong forward lines with players like Kovalev, Tanguay, Lang and Higgins. The key to there success will be whether or not young goalie Carey Price can be as good as they think he is. If Price is good and the defense holds up, look for Montreal to have a great year. Anything less then an appearance in the East final will be a failure.

Nashville Predators – The Preds are having a lot of financial problems, and continue to have low player salaries. They are not as good as they were last year, but still have some good players in Arnott, Erat, Dumont and Hamhuis. They might be a surprise team this year and fight for a playoff spot.

New Jersey Devils - One of the most consistent franchises in the NHL, the Devils will be much of the same this year. As long as Brodeur is with this team, they will be contenders. They are not great, but they are good enough to compete in the East with players like Elias, Gionta and Rolston. Solid defense will be the way they win, the same old boring Devils team.

New York Islanders – Well not much to say here, they are not good. Not much to talk about they have very little talent and won’t compete in the Eastern Conference. They have a good goalie in Dipietro, but ultimately that won’t be enough.

New York Rangers – The Rangers expect to compete in the East this year. Led by great goaltending by Henrik Lundqvist and a solid group of forwards with Drury, Gomez and Naslund. Defense is the way they are going to win hockey games, they will play a solid team game. They need good years out of guys like Prucha and Zherdev to add secondary scoring and balance to the line up. Look for the Rangers to be near the top of the Eastern Conference and compete for the East title.

Ottawa Senators – The Sens are looking for a bounce back season. Last year they started off looking like one of the best teams in the league, but faded and lost out in the first round of the playoffs. They still have great forwards in Spezza, Heatley and Alfredsson and they will score enough goals. The defense is a question mark, but the real problem is in net with Martin Gerber. Ottawa needs Gerber to play better then he has in his entire career and the defense may not be good enough to cover up mistakes. The dynamic forwards will help the Sens compete, but they will have to battle for one of the final spots in the Eastern Conference.

The six cities that were selected were California Seals , St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota North Stars and Philadelphia Flyers. Unlike other professional sports leagues in North America, the NHL choose add all teams in one season. The biggest fear upon expanding the league was that the play would weaken with double the amount of players in the league. To fill the new rosters the NHL held an Expansion Draft in the summer of 1967, and each of the new six teams would pick 20 players from the existing NHL rosters. Some big names found their way to new franchises the Los Angeles Kings selected the legendary Terry Sawchuk from Toronto, the Maple Leafs also lost Bob Baun to the California Seals. Bruins goalie Bernie Parent went to Philadelphia and Glenn Hall moved from Chicago to St. Louis. The NHL also increased it schedule having each team play 74 games, increased from 70 games. The top four teams from each division would make the playoffs, and you would have to win three seven game series to win the Cup.

When the 1967-1968 season started it was clear the original six teams were still by far the class of the league. The Montreal Canadians won the regular season title and ended up facing the St. Louis Blues in the Stanley Cup Final. Montreal easily beat St. Louis in four games to claim Lord Stanley’s Cup. The Chicago Blackhawks forward Stan Mikita led the league with 87 points and claimed Most Valuable Player honors, Rogatien Vachon and Gump Worsley of Montreal split the best goalie honor and Bobby Hull led the league with 44 goals. The Oakland Seals (California Seals) were the worst team in league finishing with only 15 wins and missed the playoffs by 22 points.

In the 1967 season a young defenseman from Boston named Bobby Orr won the Calder Trophy (top Rookie), but in the 1968 season you really saw what he was going to become. He won his first Norris Trophy (top defenseman) and he would go on to win eight straight Norris’. Orr’s skill and talent would go on to change the game for ever, and is widely considered the best defenseman in NHL history. He was faster and stronger then most NHL players and he used those skills to score the famous Cup winning goal in 1970.

The Original NHL expansion in 1967-1968 expansion was a success for the league. Four of the franchises still play in their original locations Philadelphia, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Pittsburgh. The Philadelphia Flyers won the first Cup from an expansion team in 1974 and once again in 1975 led by forward Bobby Clarke and goalie Bernie Parent. Philadelphia has become one of the best hockey markets in the world, with devoted fans who love their tough Flyers.

In 1970 the NHL expanded again and added the Vancouver Canucks and the Buffalo Sabres. The expansion continues in 1972-1973 adding the Atlanta Flames and the New York Islanders and once again in 1974-1975 adding the Kansas City Scouts and the Washington Capitols. By this time some of the franchises were having troubles and would be relocated. The league now had 18 teams located all over North America, but not all the locations were selected well. The California Golden Seals had to move to Cleveland and Kansas City had to move to Colorado. Even after the move the original California franchise, that was now in Cleveland was forced to merge with the North Stars in Minnesota. The 70’s was a turbulent time for the NHL, lots of new teams and current teams finding new locations.

The 1970’s were ruled by the Montreal Canadian’s dynasty, Montreal won multiple cups. Led by exciting forward Guy Lafleur, defenseman Larry Robinson and solid goaltending by Ken Dryden. Lafleur was a first overall pick by the Canadians and played his first season in the 1971-1972 season. By the 1974 season Guy had become one of the if not the best player in the NHL and was a fan favorite at the infamous Montreal Forum. In the 1974-1975 season Lafleur almost doubled his career high in points in a season recording over 50 goals and 100 points, he would go on repeat those numbers for the next 5 years. For six straight years Guy was on top and leading the best team in the NHL, on his way to becoming the highest scoring player in Canadians history. Marcel Dionne was another player who was on top of his game in the 70’s, playing with both the Red Wings and the Kings he scored 40 plus goals six times in the decade. Unlike Lafleur, Dionne never had the team success with Los Angeles or Detroit.

In 1967 the NHL decided to expand and really has never stopped since. The decision to put 6 teams in to the league in one season was controversial, but ultimately successful. Four of those original six expansion franchises exist in their original form. The NHL continued to expand to its original state, with some great moves and some moves that didn’t work out. The truth of the matter is that if the NHL doesn’t expand in the 60’s we will never know what would have happened, but you can be assured the league benefitted from it. The expansion years caused a changing of the guard in the NHL, new owners, new players and eventually the need for European players.