Last season, the New Jersey Devils were your BRHL2 champions, marking the 4th time in a row that a team from the East has won it. Things might be more of the same this season as the East is once again the strongest of the two Conferences.

We see a couple new teams this year in the West that are legitimate contenders. The Avalanche and Kings are two teams who are officially in the contenders category. One team is run by the Commish who can't win or else everyone will claim it was "rigged", and the other is run by Rumpy who is a coke binge away from trading away all of his assets for Matt Grzelcyk or Jakub Zboril. So one has to wonder if the West's two strongest teams actually have a chance at all.

With that said, coming out of the East this year are a few great teams. Both New York teams in the Metro division look strong and primed to compete for the division lead. You also cannot count out the former champs in the New Jersey Devils. The Rangers and Islanders might be the two favoured teams this year to win it all.

It's the Atlantic division that has seen it's biggest shakeup this off-season. Newcomer Steph has totally revamped Kirk's team. While some of the moves could be questioned, there is no doubt his team is better this season then it was during Kirk's departure. The Senators are an early favorite to win the Atlantic. Greg in Boston probably made the most significant moves this off-season. I earlier had the Bruins finishing 4th in my predictions but a lot has changed since then, including his signing of Patrice Bergeron. The Bruins and Senators look to be the two favourites coming out of the division this year.

So where does that leave the Tampa Bay Lightning. Earlier in the year I made the claim that the Lightning will no doubt be a playoff team. Unfortunately the Senators and Bruins got better since then leaving the Lightning to make some minor moves with next season in mind. Both Austin Czarnik and Vinnie Hinostroza were bought for mid to late round draft picks. Both players are hardly useful unless it's in a fourth line role, but the outlook next season could be drastically different for both players. The Lightning aren't throwing in the towel, but are tempering expectations a bit. Playoffs are still a goal as they do not own their first round pick. They learned a valuable lesson last season with lottery picks and won't make the same mistake.

The offense and defense are both strong areas on this team. It's the goaltending that may need to be improved as the season goes on. A tandem of Smith and Khuduboin isn't terrible, but isn't up to par with some of the real contenders. Unfortunately there isn't anything on the market worth exploring in trades as nothing available is actually an upgrade. The Lightning may need to wait until later in the season to find a trade for a goalie who is currently not available.

The expected top line is Anze Kopitar centering Jaden Schwartz and Kyle Palmieri. The line is capable of playing a two way game while also being a scoring threat. The second line should consist of Erik Haula centering Jake Guentzel and Jakub Voracek. Haula had a big season last year and is one of the better goal scorers on this Lightning team. He will pair up with one of the best playmakers in the league in Voracek. The third line and fourth lines should play out with Jordan Staal, Reilly Smith and Mattias Janmark forming a tough to play two way line, followed by a defensive line of Matthew Peca, Brad Richardson and Blake Coleman.

On defense, the team has some high end pieces in Brent Burns, Matt Dumba and Keith Yandle. Supporting the top 3 are Brett Pesce, Derek Forbort and a tandem of Michal Kempny/Mike Reilly. A 6th defensemen upgrade could be in the near future for the Lightning. Armed with 6 million in cap space, the team has enough room to make a splash.

In a real tough division, the Lightning are expected to finish 3rd or 4th.