4. LA Kings<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Kings lost the Western Conference Final last year to Chicago and return largely the same lineup \u2013 young, strong, fast and an absolute nightmare to play against. Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Justin William, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter up front with Drew Doughty and Slava Voynov on D are pretty darn good! Jonathan Quick is still viewed as one of the best goaltenders in the league and alone should carry this club a long way.<\/p>\n
5. St. Louis Blues<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Blues took a big step last year and enter this year with the size and speed that defines success in today\u2019s NHL. Coach Ken Hitchcock quietly has quite a lineup in St. Louis \u2013 from the forwards to the defense this is a cohesive disciplined bunch. Brian Elliot in goal also helps the Blues to a Top 5 spot.<\/p>\n
6. New York Rangers<\/strong><\/p>\nToo high? Consider that the Rangers have a ton of talent that was being wasted under John Tortarella\u2019s defensive scheme. New Coach Alain Vigneault will let the offensive flair on his roster flourish \u2013 Rick Nash, Brad Richards, Ryan Callahan and company will have a blast under Vigneault and with a guy named Henrik Lundqvist between the pipes it is hard to count this team out this upcoming season.<\/p>\n
7. Vancouver Canucks<\/strong><\/p>\nThere is absolutely no reason the Canucks should experience a drop-off this year. After all, they have the same nucleus that went to Game 7 of the Final only a few short years ago. Sure they have a ton of question marks like Luongo and Tortarella but the talent is still there.<\/p>\n
8. San Jose Sharks<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Sharks still boast a very good lineup on paper \u2013 playoff success continues to elude them though. This team is solid from the crease out \u2013 they deserve a top 10 spot for sure!<\/p>\n
9. Detroit Red Wings<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Red Wings are poised for a step backward this year \u2013 a move to the Eastern Conference could actually hurt them a bit this year. The Wings are getting a bit older, they have a largely unproven defense and could look simply average this year. But then again \u2013 they are the Wings!<\/p>\n
10. Ottawa Senators<\/strong><\/p>\nPerhaps the biggest overachievers last year, the Senators could realistically carry some momentum into 2013-2014. Daniel Alfredsson is gone but Bobby Ryan is an excellent acquisition. They have an absolutely elite D-Man Erik Karlsson, a Stud power forward Bobby Ryan to play alongside Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek and their goaltending has been top tier the last couple of years. [ad-4437448]<\/p>\n
11. Montreal Canadiens<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Habs made significant strides last year and I see no reason they don\u2019t continue to elevate their game this year. Carey Price is much better than he played toward the end of last season and with a guy like PK Subban on defense and a budding superstar in Alex Galchenuk up front, expect the Canadiens to be very competitive this season. <\/p>\n
12. Washington Capitals<\/strong><\/p>\nThere\u2019s no way this team doesn\u2019t improve this season. Alex Ovechkin on offense and Mike Green on defense make up a very good nucleus. Coach Adam Oats seemed to be getting his point across toward the end of last season as well \u2013 the ascension continues as the Caps return to prominence this year.<\/p>\n
13. Anaheim Ducks<\/strong>
\n 14. Toronto Maple Leafs<\/strong>
\n 15. Philadelphia Flyers<\/strong>
\n 16. New York Islanders<\/strong>
\n 17. Minnesota Wild<\/strong>
\n 18. Dallas Stars<\/strong>
\n 19. Columbus Blue Jackets<\/strong>
\n 20. Edmonton Oilers<\/strong>
\n 21. Tampa Bay Lightning<\/strong>
\n 22. Winnipeg Jets<\/strong>
\n 23. Nashville Predators<\/strong>
\n 24. Carolina Hurricanes<\/strong>
\n 25. Colorado Avalanche<\/strong>
\n 26. Phoenix Coyotes<\/strong>
\n 27. New Jersey Devils<\/strong>
\n 28. Buffalo Sabres<\/strong>
\n 29. Florida Panthers<\/strong>
\n 30. Calgary Flames<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave B\u2019s NHL Power Rankings \u2013 Sept 30th, 2013 The NHL Regular Season kicks off this week \u2013 time to look at the teams that have looked good in the preseason and which teams have something to look forward to this upcoming year. The top teams in the Rankings come as no surprise. Simply put […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":63303,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nhl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66802"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66806,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66802\/revisions\/66806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}