1. LOS ANGELES KINGS: If there’s a weakness, GM Dean Lombardi is likely to plug it by the deadline, as the GM did last year by obtaining Marian (Can’t Play in the Big Ones, Oh Yes He Can) Gaborik and just as he did in 2012 by obtaining Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. One of the great draft picks of recent vintage: Tanner Pearson, 30th overall in 2012.

2. CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS: Less of a spotlight on Brad Richards in the Second City, but no less pressure at all on him as second-line center as Chicago attempts the almost impossible task of matching against LA down the middle.

3. BOSTON BRUINS: One last ride for this gang that will cease to contend the moment Big Zdeno Chara no longer dominates his shifts. If that’s by April it means another early exit.

4. ST. LOUIS BLUES: Built for the long haul, though Bob Gainey’s addition to staff as “coaching consultant” leads one to wonder whether Ken Hitchcock will be behind the bench for the long haul, as well.

5. NEW YORK RANGERS: A very good team that will be better in December than October and better in April, May and June than December. These guys aren’t trading Marc Staal at the deadline with a Cup in sight, impending free agent or not.

6. ANAHEIM DUCKS: Nothing quite suited Teemu Selanne less than going out, we now discover, and are once again reminded that nothing is tougher in pro sports than coaching (or managing) an all-timer nearing or at the end, isn’t that right Bruce Boudreau, Pete DeBoer and Joe Girardi?

7. DALLAS STARS: Should provide the perfect platform for impeding free agent Jason Spezza to get the next seven-year, $50 million-plus contract that some observers will actually claim as a bargain (See: Ryan, Bobby in Ottawa. Or, better yet, don’t.)

8. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING: True story. When Derek Jeter, not a hockey aficionado, inquired about the state of his hometown Lightning and was told they’re a very good team, he then asked how far they advanced in playoffs. When informed swept in first round, but with their No. 1 goaltender injured, the response was: “Excuses.”

9. COLORADO AVALANCHE: No one-trick wonder here from a team that’s loaded with talent and somehow always looks as if it’s having fun on the ice. Maybe this time Matt Cooke won’t hurt anybody (Tyson Barrie) in the playoffs.
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10. SAN JOSE SHARKS: You are looking at Exhibit A in how not to treat a captain with a no-move clause, aka: To which team will GM Doug Wilson ultimately move the branded Jumbo Joe Thornton for pennies on the many dollars?

11. NEW YORK ISLANDERS: Yes, it looks like a typographical error but instead this should — should — represent a fitting end to an era (and error) at the Coliseum. Still need to improve on D even with the heady acquisitions of cap casualties Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy.

12. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: Seriously, you really think they’ve gotten better with all of the sweeping changes orchestrated by ownership in the executive suite, behind the bench and on the ice? I know. Patric Hornqvist is the savior.

13. MINNESOTA WILD: GM Chuck Fletcher says he is “perplexed” that Ilya Bryzgalov can’t find a job in NHL after not giving the goaltender a job on his own team in Minnesota, as if the Wild have Ed Giacomin and Gilles Villemure in nets.

14. MONTREAL CANADIENS: Is one significant Carey Price injury or two inferior Dustin Tokarski outings as the backup enough to get Martin Brodeur into the only other uniform he could ever have been born to wear?

15. NEW JERSEY DEVILS: No Lou Lamoriello team has ever missed the playoffs three straight years. Of course, no Lou Lamoriello team had ever missed the playoffs two straight seasons until last year. Cory Schneider finally gets to make his case for a Vezina and a role on Team USA in the 2016 World Cup.

16. VANCOUVER CANUCKS: It was only a dream, new president Trevor Linden says about last year to a fan base that was about to flee with unfulfilled season ticket renewals. No, it was a nightmare, say the Sedins.

17. COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS: Better to be safe than sorry integrating Ryan Johansen into a full workload after his missed training camp.

18. DETROIT RED WINGS: Big-time guys left the New Jersey powerhouse as free agents and look what happened to the East’s dominant team. Now big-time guys don’t sign as free agents in Detroit and look what’s finally happening to the NHL’s Gold Standard of franchises that has won one playoff round the last three years and three over the last five.

19. FLORIDA PANTHERS: Filled with young talent that should be steadied by Roberto Luongo’s presence in goal, but it’s impossible to get too excited about a franchise that hires a coach in Gerard Gallant in large part because he’s willing to work for less than other candidates.
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20. NASHVILLE PREDATORS: Call me crazy, but I’m not feeling the vibe for Big James Neal down in Music City, where they will soon be clamoring for a return to the golden era of Alexander Radulov.

21. WASHINGTON CAPITALS: Dale Hunter, Adam Oates and now Barry Trotz behind the bench, but wouldn’t Ted Leonsis have just been better off sticking all along with Bruce Boudreau? At least this way we get to hear about yet another New Ovechkin the way folks in DC would advertise a New Nixon.

22. ARIZONA COYOTES: It’s the desert or be deserters for the rebranded Arizona team that again is on the clock and for which so many have invested so much so that so few people can profit from the experience.

23. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: Going on 40 years for Ed (“Mr.”) Snider, who doesn’t much appreciate hearing about the four-decade championship drought.

24. TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Analytically speaking, does anyone think it’s a particularly good sign for either coach Randy Carlyle or GM Dave Nonis that they were retained by incoming president Brendan Shanahan but that their assistants were not?

25. OTTAWA SENATORS: Again: Bobby Ryan at more than $7M a year as a bargain? Most shocking development last season was Ottawa’s lack of consistent work ethic. If it happens again, Paul MacLean will pay the price, and quickly.

26. EDMONTON OILERS: One small step for man, one giant leap for Edmonton.

27. WINNIPEG JETS: You can take the team out of Atlanta but you can’t take the Atlanta out of this team that hasn’t begun to fulfill its promise to the fan base.

28. CALGARY FLAMES: Would just love to see Brian Burke tell Connor McDavid he needs to take boxing lessons or Calgary will pass on him.

29. CAROLINA HURRICANES: At the deadline, Carolina trades Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal and Justin (The Right One) Faulk for a seventh-round pick.

30. BUFFALO SABRES: Coach Ted Nolan attempts to fire up team by telling veterans McDavid is coming to take someone’s job just the way New Jersey coach Tom McVie did in 1984 when Mario Lemieux was there for the taking and then he wasn’t.