1. Carolina Hurricanes: I have all the confidence in this team to snag itself a top 3 spot in the metro almost in it's sleep. With a relatively balanced forward corps and arguably the best back end in the league, it's not hard to see why they are able to keep themselves in the contender conversation. With the addition of Orlov however, I have to imagine that there is another shoe to drop on defense, as it doesn't make sense to play Brady Skjei as 3LD particularly from a cap perspective, he probably makes the most sense to move if he wants too big of a payday on his next deal, more so than Brett Pesce, who could also price himself out of the team himself but might make more sense as an own rental than Skjei. Goaltending looks...fine, my only question with the team is whether or not they have enough goal scoring to get themselves over the hump finally. Pacioretty never quite worked out, and the only impact addition from outside is Michael Bunting, who is a guy that can't really be relied on as a PRIMARY scorer the way Pacioretty can be.

2. New Jersey Devils: They obviously look like nothing short of a powerhouse on paper, but I want to see them put it together for a full season, as they cooled off in the latter half of last season and Lindy Ruff hockey doesn't emphasis great team defense. Goaltending should be fine, but likely not elite.

3. New York Rangers: If the team comes out of the gate hot due to a Laviolette coaching bump, that will not surprise me at all, but on paper, this team is easily a step below Carolina and New Jersey. Like Jersey, there are good players on the back end, but they don't amount to having the highest defensive IQ, so I see them relying on Shesterkin a decent amount going into next season, which I suppose isn't an overly worrisome proposition. Right Wing depth is obviously still somewhat suspect too.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins: The team undeniably got better this off-season, but I don't see them overcoming the three above teams in the standings.

5. Washington Capitals: No reason for the Caps not to be competitive, but I think I like the Penguins roster just a bit more.

6. I don't see goaltending or a D pairing of Pulock and Pelech being able to overcome the overall lack of dynamics on a roster that's just not talented enough.

7. Philadelphia Flyers: Roster still isn't very good, although some of that is deliberate for a change, plus the organization seems to be finally moving in the right direction. The reason I put them 7th is because I see Torts at least being able to instill a sense of on ice cohesion with his group of players, at least more so than...

8. Columbus Blue Jackets: I know they added Provorov and Severson, but make no mistake, the back end is still relatively poor, as is the rest of the roster, despite boasting some promising offensive pieces.

To sum up, I certainly regard the Metro as a fairly strong division overall, only difference between them and the Atlantic I would say is that they have one more obvious bottom feeder candidate than the Atlantic has.

1. NJ Devils
2. Carolina
3, NY Rangers
4. NY Islanders
5. Pittsburgh
6, Washington
7, Columbus
8. Philly

Only way I see the Islanders finishing 4th is if Sorokin puts the team on his back. Also, I think it might be a bit premature to project the Devils winning the Metro for the reasons I stated above.

1. NJ
2. Carolina
3. Rangers
4. Islanders
5. Pittsburgh
6. Columbus
7. Washington
8. Philly

Only way I see the Islanders finishing 4th is if Sorokin puts the team on his back. Also, I think it might be a bit premature to project the Devils winning the Metro for the reasons I stated above.

NJ, Carolina, Rangers in any order. 2 wild cards from the Atlantic, so I don't care about the rest.

Hmm, confident that the Atlantic takes both wildcard spots eh? So you would take all four of the Sens, Bruins, Sabres, and Red Wings over all three of the Islanders, Penguins, and Capitals?

1. Carolina
2. New Jersey
3. New York Rangers
4. Pittsburgh Penguins (WC)
5. New York Islanders
6. Washington Capitals
7. Columbus Blue Jackets
8. Philadelphia Flyers


Apart from Philly, I can see anyone from this division have a winning record

For sure, but only the top three are the ones who are likely to be well above .500

I think the Metro Division shakes out largely similarly to how it did last year, with teams only moving up or down a spot or two at most.

1. New Jersey Devils - The Devils' young core broke out in a big way last season and I predict that upward trajectory will continue. Their forward corps is talented and relatively deep, led by a clutch of young and in-their prime talent. Adding Tyler Toffoli on top of having a full season of Timo Meier will only elevate this group. Defensively, the Devils lost Damon Severson and Ryan Graves, but blue chip prospects Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes are waiting in the wings, so the blue line overall should be fine. They have a solid goaltending tandem, but the potential is there for them to make an upgrade in net. This team is my pick to take the division and make a run at the Presidents Trophy.

2. Carolina Hurricanes - This team might have the strongest overall group of defensemen in the league, and they only added to it this offseason with Dmitry Orlov and the return of Tony DeAngelo. This portends well for their solid goaltending trio. Up front, they added Micheal Bunting and should get Andrei Svechnikov back from injury, but I feel like this group still lacks a bit of goalscoring punch. That's why I have them finishing below New Jersey but in my mind but besides them the Canes still have a leg up on the other teams in the Metro. Come playoff time though I feel like Carolina will be a menace.

3. New York Rangers - The Rangers were unable to make many moves this offseason due to their cap crunch, and they still have to sign Alexis Lafrenière. Their additions consisted mainly of cheap deals for Erik Gustafsson and Blake Wheeler, each of whom I think is capable of outperforming their price tag. Any major improvements for the Rangers, though, will likely have to come from their young players. I think they're still comfortably a playoff team and will secure a top-three spot in the division.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins (WC1) - The Penguins appear to be making one last run while their aging core is still productive, and it resulted in them being one of the league's most active teams, adding Reilly Smith, Ryan Graves, Lars Eller, Noel Acciari, and Alex Nedeljkovic. They are also still looking at adding Erik Karlsson as well, so there's more potential for a shakeup here. The Pens undoubtedly improved their forward depth and somewhat shored up the defense, however their goaltending is still shaky and the average age of the roster is now over 30. I think the Penguins start off hot, but run out of gas and end up as a wild card team.

5. New York Islanders - The Islanders snuck into the playoffs last season and put up a decent fight, but I'm thinking as presently constructed what we saw last year was pretty close to their ceiling. They didn't do much of anything this summer outside of extending Ilya Sorokin and bringing back Pierre Engvall and Scott Mayfield. While the Isles remained stagnant, other teams in the Metro made more significant additions that I think will propel them above the Isles, so my prediction is this team ends up on the outside of the playoff bubble.

6. Washington Capitals - I think the Caps stand a chance of being higher than this, as a healthier roster will go a long way towards helping them bounce back. However, they are among the older teams in the league, and adding two good but injury prone players in Joel Edmundson and Max Pacioretty only exacerbates their health worries, so a rebound on the basis of good injury luck alone isn't really the best bet to make. This team seems headed towards a rebuild, but I think they'll be able to hang around the playoff bubble for a while before ultimately finishing on the wrong side of the line.

7. Columbus Blue Jackets - The Jackets had horrendous injury luck last season, and I don't think their team will be quite as much of an infirmary this season. The defensive core was seriously reinforced with Damon Severson and Ivan Provorov, which will hopefully help a beleaguered Elvis Merzlikins return to being a viable NHL goaltender. Their forward group also has some real quality talent but is lacking in depth; their bevy of prospects can go a long way towards rounding this group out but probably still need some more development time before they become difference makers. Overall, I think the Jackets will see a major improvement in points when compared to last season, but question marks in net and the forward corps will likely keep them out of the playoffs for the time being.

8. Philadelphia Flyers - The Flyers pivoted into an overdue rebuild, trading away Ivan Provorov and Kevin Hayes. They're positioned for a major sell-off in the near future, with players like Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, Carter Hart, and others potentially on the move soon. Trading away their core contributors will likely result in a plunge to the basement of the divisional standings, and that's where I think the Flyers will finish this year.

I think the Flyers will be more competitive than the Blue Jackets personally, but having it go the other way around wouldn't shock me too much either. I think placing the Devils ahead of the Hurricanes is awfully premature, as I don't think they're quite as seasoned as Carolina is when it comes to managing a regular season schedule. I can definitely see the Devils going through some peaks and valleys during the regular season despite finishing with a winning record overall, which of course they should. Agree that their backend should be in good shape. Agree too that Rangers should be a comfortable playoff team, and I do think it's worth noting that Rangers back end doesn't have the highest amount of defensive intelligence outside of Fox and Lindgren, so the Rangers may be leaning on Shesterkin throughout the year more than we think they will

1. Carolina
2. New Jersey
3. New York Rangers
4. Pittsburgh
5. New York Islanders
6. Columbus
7. Washington
8. Philadelphia

Columbus ahead of Washington??

Yeah that’s what I was thinking that’s why I didn’t say “way above”