The Eastern Conference of the NHL lacks the dominant forces that exist out west. The Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins seemed to want the moniker of “team to beat” but became surprisingly beatable in the Stanley Cup playoffs last season.

The parity that exists across the board in the Metropolitan Division is also prevalent in the Atlantic Division. The disparity between the “haves” and “have nots” is nominal with a streak, bounce or break providing the smallest of margins between the teams. The smart money will have the Boston Bruins among the top tier in the division considering they have won their division in consecutive years. Things could definitely be shuffling this season as other teams have caught up to Boston in both talent and depth of roster.

Preseason predictions are a dime a dozen but at eDraft we actually go out on a limb to make the bold picks, and then we’ll tell you why we’ll be right. Just remember, there is no such thing as a sure thing, so don’t lay down your mortgage payment or little Rusty’s college fund. We pride ourselves on being accurate, but no one is 100%, not even this guy.

Florida Panthers

The Panthers will be turning a deaf ear to the whispers that they are the next team to be moved to a more “hockey friendly” location. With Seattle and Quebec on the map as the likely next cities to enjoy the NHL, Florida will essentially be playing with their existence on the line. The roster is balanced with talented youngsters like Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau, and veterans like Brad Boyes, Tomas Fleischmann and Roberto Luongo. While the future may look good for the Panthers, will ownership have enough patience for this group to grow into a winner? Predicted finish: Eighth

Ottawa Senators

The Sens are smack dab in the middle of rebuilding their franchise and may not even realize it. They still are a dangerous team but by surrendering Jason Spezza to Dallas, they acknowledged that times will get tougher before they get better. Erik Karlsson will rack up a ton of points, but may end up being a one-man show. Craig Anderson will have to be spectacular for Ottawa to have a sniff of the playoff bubble and start your watches on the Bobby Ryan trade watch. Predicted finish: Seventh

Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres gave their loyal fans something to get excited about besides the possibility of ending up with a shot at the first overall pick in the 2015 draft. They actually made some solid free agent signings while keeping the core of solid young contributors together. Jhonas Enroth will finally get to show if he is a number one goaltender. Tyler Myers is at the make or break point in his young career to see if he will become the franchise defenseman the team needs or just another big dope on skates. Matt Moulson, Cody Hodgson and Tyler Ennis are the keys to the offense. In a glass half full world at least the Sabres won’t finish in last place. Predicted finish: Sixth

Montreal Canadiens

Let the debate begin if Montreal is one of the contenders or pretenders in the east! Last season’s run to the Eastern Conference finals had as much to do with other team’s failure as it did with Montreal’s success. Not to take anything away from the magical run, but Tampa Bay was a different team once starting goaltender Ben Bishop got hurt. Boston couldn’t overcome the ghosts of their storied history with Les Habitants, before New York finished them off in the conference finals. Montreal simply doesn’t have the horses on offense to compete with the teams that improved their rosters. They’ll be in the discussion down the stretch, but I think they’ll take a step back this year. Predicted finish: Fifth

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Leafs made more noise for the decisions they made behind the scenes than any personnel moves. The collective leap into advanced metrics and statistics was spearheaded by Toronto, immediately giving credibility to the calculator-toting bloggers that had shredded the franchise for the past decade. The leafs boast one of the best potential offenses in the division with talent across three lines (Phil Kessel, Nazem Kadri, Joffrey Lupul, James Van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and yes even David Clarkson)and if the statisticians can pinpoint the cause of the annual spring Maple Leaf collapse, Toronto could be a dangerous playoff team. Goaltenders Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer did nothing last season to separate themselves from the goalie competition. Both are talented but at least one of them needs to step up. Predicted Finish: Fourth

Detroit Red Wings

This year could be challenging for Detroit, unless you consider all of the things that went wrong last year in Hockeytown. Nine players made their NHL debut last season due to an absurd number of injuries. The good news is that Detroit will at least start the season healthy. The better news is that if anyone goes down with injury, or struggles, the Wings won’t need to look very far for a replacement. Much ado was made about Detroit’s inability to sign any free agents, but the team they have enough talent to compete and when they’re healthy they can take down anyone.
Predicted finish: Third

Boston Bruins

The defending kings of the hill will need a superior effort to be supplanted atop the Atlantic Division. They have all the resources to be the best team in the division, but this is the year that the Bruins will have to grind a little bit more. They are a team loaded with veterans that know how to win, but after the top two lines, which rank among the best in the NHL, there is a significant talent drop off. When you are at the top for as long as the Bruins have been, there really is only one place to go. While they won’t necessarily go down, the rest of the division is catching up. Predicted finish: Second

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning are the fashionable pick to take the division from Boston and look like they have the horses to do exactly that. With a stable full of young forwards under the age of 24, including mega-super-sniper Steven Stamkos, the Bolts are poised to take over the top of the Atlantic. The missing piece appeared to be in goal with Ben Bishop, who was one of many surprises for Tampa last year. If Bishop is fully recovered from his playoff injury, Tampa will be the team to beat. The official debut of Jonathan Drouin could be something special to watch. Last year the Lightning had two prize rookies receive Calder Trophy consideration, (Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat) and this could be Drouin’s year to take his game to the next level. Projected finish: First