The NHL season is nearly upon us and now it is time to see the predictions for one of the toughest divisions to predict, the Metropolitan division. Let's take a look at where each team will finish.

8th: Carolina Hurricanes: Carolina is picked to finish last in every division I have seen and I completely agree. They just don't have the players to keep up with all of the rest of the teams in the division. They also took a deadly blow last night as Jordan Staal broke a bone in his leg which may make him miss the first couple months of the season. Much of the load will have to be on Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner for the season. An aging Cam Ward doesn't help either.

7th: Philadelphia Flyers: This may come as a surprise to a lot of people but I don't really see the Flyers as a playoff team this season. Ron Hextall did absolutely nothing to improve the Flyers this season and on top of that, they're most likely going to lose Kimmo Timonen for the season due to blood clots. He's easily one of their best defenseman and he will be really missed in the lockerroom and on the ice. Steve Mason is not going to be as good as he was last season where he had one of his best seasons in the league. The Flyers will have to rely on Claude Giroux who finished 3rd in points to carry this team along with help from Jakub Vorachek and Wayne Simmonds. 

6th: New Jersey Devils: New Jersey did a lot to upgrade their team this year. They signed Martin Havlat, and Mike Cammalleri to help out with their scoring and also resigned Jaromir Jagr to another contract. That 42 year old has still got it. They also let one of the best goaltenders in the history of the NHL go in Martin Brodeur though but it was for the better. He was getting old and they have a very capable starter in Cory Schneider who I think is going to be great for them this season. It's still not going to be enough to make the playoffs as there are just too many teams better than them in this division.

5th: New York Islanders: New York made some pretty nice signings this offseason where they got proven goal scorers in Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin. They also upgraded their goaltending with Jaroslav Halak as the starter and Chad Johnson as the backup. The thing that worries me about this team though is the defense. Travis Hamonic is the best defenseman they have and that really doesn't say much. They need to acquire another good defenseman and then they will be set because that blue line just isn't that good. 

4th: Washington Capitals: Washington should be a lot better than they were last year much to the fact that they have a great coach now in Barry Trotz. He was hired to replace Adam Oates after they missed the playoffs for the first time in over six years. You can expect Alex Ovechkin to score 50 goals this season and most likely win the Rocket Richard trophy for scoring the most goals in the league. He's going to need help though as he can't carry the team all by himself. Nicklas Backstrom is going to have to have another season like he did last year and Braden Holtby is going to really have a big bounce back season from last year where he wasn't good.

3rd: Columbus Blue Jackets: The Blue Jackets had their best season in franchise history last year when they finally made the playoffs for only the second time. They were led by Ryan Johansen who had 33 goals in a huge breakout season for him. They still have not extended him and it's getting to the point where they may enter the regular season without him. I think it will get done and he will play there and help the team a lot. Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky also should have another great season and Columbus will go back to the playoffs yet again.

2nd: New York Rangers: Whenever you have a team with the best goaltender in the world in Henrik Lundqvist, you will always finish near the top in the division. That's exactly what the Rangers did last year and I don't expect it to change this year either. They did lose a lot of players in the offseason such as Brad Richards, Anton Stralman, Dan Carcillo, and Brian Boyle but I think they will be just fine. Derek Stepan's injury will hurt a lot but Rick Nash, Martin St Louis, and Chris Kreider should all be very good this year for the Rangers.

1st: Pittsburgh Penguins: This team is easily the best team in the division. Whenever you have a team with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, you're guaranteed to finish near the top of the division. Despite Ray Shero and Dan Byslma being fired, this team will be in great shape. Jim Rutherford went out and got some great bottom six depth for the Penguins in Blake Comeau, Steve Downie, and Nick Spaling. They also let a lot of the dead weight go and got Christian Ehrhoff for a steal. The losses of Matt Niskanen, Jussi Jokinen, and James Neal may hurt the Penguins, but it's not going to stop them from another division title this season.