Last year, it was the Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs. The year before, it was the Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes. The year before? The Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning.

There are always two or three teams - in each conference, nonetheless - expected to be near-locks for the playoffs who end up missing out on cracking the top eight.

Which teams will disappoint this year? Let's take a look at the top three candidates from the Eastern Conference.

Boston Bruins

Last year's President's Trophy champions will make the playoffs again, but do not expect them to finish with the top record in hockey for the second consecutive year.

Boston has plenty of young talent across the roster, but the right wing position took a serious hit, losing both Jarome Iginla and Shawn Thornton this past summer. Last year, they lost both Jaromir Jagr and Nathan Horton at the right wing position, but replaced them with the likes of Iginla, Loui Eriksson and Reilly Smith.

Without Iginla, the Bruins do not have an extremely experienced veteran presence at forward on their team. In 2011, Boston won the Stanley Cup with Mark Recchi. In 2013, they got to the Stanley Cup Final with Jagr wearing the black and gold. In 2014, Iginla filled the void while Boston won the President's Trophy.

2012 was the only one of the past four years in which the Bruins roster did not hold such a veteran. They were knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

By losing Iginla, Boston does not only lose a veteran and future Hall-of-Famer; they lose a man who scored 30 goals and had 31 assists last season.

Also, the aforementioned Reilly Smith had a shocking breakout season last year. Was it a fluke? It's a possibility. Smith finished with 20 goals and 31 assists on the year, but only had two goals and seven assists in the final two months of the season. Was this version of Smith more indicative of what to expect from him this year? We will have to wait and see.

Last but not least, as silly as it may seem, the new rules enforcing punishment for diving could end up hurting the Bruins and costing them at least a game or two. The Bruins are known as some of the league's most common offenders of diving.

All in all, expect the Bruins to still contend for the Stanley Cup, but don't be surprised if they end up finishing second or even third in the Atlantic Division.

Montreal Canadiens

Winger P.A. Parenteau and defenseman Tom Gilbert were solid additions this offseason, but Montreal lost quite a bit of key players from its Cinderella team that went all the way to the Eastern Conference Final last season.

Captain Brian Gionta, veteran Daniel Briere and probable favorite to inherit the captaincy Josh Gorges were all shipped off, taking years of experience away from Montreal's roster.

Also, while the Canadiens are experienced on the defensive front, they lack speed on the blue line. Andrei Markov, and Mike Weaver are both past their primes and Alexei Emelin is not the swiftest of foot. They may have trouble keeping up with young, quick offenses like Tampa Bay or Detroit and will rely on goaltender Carey Price an awful lot.

Speaking of Price, he was the main reason why the Canadiens had such a great year in 2013-14. Last year was easily the best of his career at age 26. While he was very good in the 2010-11 season as well, he has been rather inconsistent throughout the rest of his career.

If Price takes a step back this year, which is a possibility, Montreal could be in some serious trouble of missing the playoffs.

New York Rangers

After going to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1994, the New York Rangers are arguably the favorites to win the Metropolitan Division and the Eastern Conference in 2014-15. 

Not so fast. There are plenty of "if's" surrounding this team this upcoming season. For example, is it really plausible to think that Martin St. Louis can score nearly 70 points again this season at age 39? Sure, he was a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning for most of the season, but St. Louis led the Rangers' charge toward the Stanley Cup Final all spring long. He has to slow down at some point, right?

Also, the Rangers made a big splash in free agency this year by signing veteran defenseman Dan Boyle, but at the same time, they lost the younger and faster Anton Stralman. Boyle is better on the power play, but Stralman has the athleticism to keep up with opposing offenses that Boyle doesn't at this point in his career.

New York also lost gritty depth forward Brian Boyle: a workhorse who played exceptionally well for the team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Depth forward Benoit Pouliot decided to sign elsewhere as well.

Last but not least, the Rangers bought out the hefty contract of veteran Brad Richards. This was a good move on the Rangers' part, as the aging star was not worth nearly the $7 million cap hit a year he was taking, but by buying him out, the Rangers lost one of their better offensive players.

Youngster Chris Kreider will be relied upon to assume a much larger role this year, and he needs to step up and become the same player he was in the 2013 playoffs to cement himself as a top six forward.

In goal, Henrik Lundqvist had a below-average regular season (by his standards), but rebounded in the team's long playoff run. Will he return to his old self or will he play like he did during the regular season last year? Hopefully, it isn't the latter.