Last year Boston was an unstoppable inevitable SC champion...until they weren't.

Nobody in July thought Boston would be unstoppable last year... many picked them to miss the playoffs. I'm saying on paper, this CAR team looks truly unstoppable

Well in the offseason, people were predicting them to miss the playoffs, then Bergeron and Krecji signed and they said maybe not. Their regular season performance+deadline acquisitions is what made people think they would win.

The defense looks like a Championship caliber dcore but upfront, they have guys who are young and good but they need them to be 1) healthy and 2) reach the next level.

NJ on the other hand, has a crazy good top 6 (like a top heavy team) on paper, and their depth was pretty good if they can replicate last year, their dcore is a future championship caliber dcore but maybe they get it done now.

Yeah, NJD offense is definitely better. I'm waiting to see what they do with their remaining cap space on their defense for final judgement; they still have 5.6mil left and only Kevin Bahl to sign, perhaps they'll spend more on someone else. And who knows if those two goalies can replicate their success; the 3 goalies CAR have are always good when healthy, which is certainly an issue with their team.

NYR got considerably worse (than their post-TDL team, anyway) and these guys are all getting considerably better haha... nightmare fuel

I would be worried about making it to the playoffs for the Rangers if they don't have a strong season. They would probably then be competing for spot #3 with NYI and PENS, and CAPS (maybe) but if they fall out they will probably be competing for a single WC position with the Atlantic+rest of the Metro.

What sucks though is if they are a lock for 2 or 3 in the Metro, they get a tough matchup right away.

Compared to what? TBL had much superior on paper teams in recent years- and won SCs. I like Carolina a lot and predicted them to win last year before injuries. Depth scoring is still questionable. At least compared to Jersey. Teravainen is a weak top line winger. Staal and Fast are strong defensive forwards. They could easily be offensive blackholes. Defensively they should be strong. Though they made quite a few changes with bringing in Orlov and likely adding DeAngelo. Both are offensive dmen and Carolina had the .just offensively productive dmen last year so odd. Especially the rumors of pursuing Karlsson. I like their goaltending duo, but they could both have bad seasons and tank the team.

Carolina is going to be reliant on decent goaltending and health of its forwards.

NJ is going to need to outscore everyone. Their defense got younger and likely worse defensively with a middle of the road goaltending. Very Edmonton like.

Rangers are going to reliant on Shesterkin again. Their two way play is still lacking.

The Rangers and Devils will battle to see whose weaknesses are exposed less. Carolina just hopes the injury bug doesn’t bite