LOS ANGELES – The New National Hockey League season is nearly here. The Pittsburgh Penguins will take the ice as the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. 
This year we will be posting regular updates to this preseason ranking of the 31 NHL teams.
Enjoy and leave a comment on your ideas for the rankings below.
| RANK | Division Prediction | TEAM | BARTNICK’s TAKE |
| 1 | Metro 1 | PENGUINS | Centers Sid and Geno are 2 of 5 best players in world. Snipers Kessel, Guentzel fill Rust the wings. The defense won Cup without Letang. Goalie Murray has never lost a playoff round |
| 2 | Atlantic 1 | LIGHTNING | Last season was an anomaly. Stamkos returns. Kucherov is a superstar. Kunitz adds 4 rings to talented forwards core. Hedman a Norris contender.Vasilevskly is ready to lead team in net. |
| 3 | Pacific 1 | OILERS | McDavid and Draisaitl are the 2nd best 1-2 centers in the world. Maroon, Lucic and Kassian provide beef. Sold on Talbot as a championship goaltender but not sold on the defense. |
| 4 | Central 1 | PREDATORS | The best defense core in the NHL and a great group of young forwards. I’m not concerned with a Stanley Cup runner up hang over I’m concerned with Pekka Rinne’s frame of mind in net. |
| 5 | Metro 2 | BLUE JACKETS | The Blue Jackets have the best young defensive pair in the NHL (Jones/Werenski). Columbus has big, bruising forwards and elite scorers. The problems are Bobo in the spring and Tort’s ego. |
| 6 | Pacific 2 | DUCKS | Maybe one last run for the Getzlaf/ Perry era Ducks. Kesler Lindholm and Vatanen’s injuries will impede start. Ducks have depth to withstand but don’t want to fall to far behind in tough Pacific. |
| 7 | Central 2 | BLACKHAWKS | Toews and Kane are still around. Panarin was swapped for Saad. Young forwards need to step up. Hawks will miss Hjalmarsson and Hossa. Corey Crawford will show his greatness. |
| 8 | Metro 3 | CAPITALS | Expect a big bounce back from Ovi. Oshie and Kuz were paid but Johanson was dealt. Defense will miss Alzner and Schmidt. Holtby is the best regular season goalie. |
| 9 | Atlantic 2 | MAPLE LEAFS | Auston Matthews is Hart material. Leaf’s holdovers bought in last year. Marleau adds even more fire power. Sold on Anderson. Not sold on Reilly and Gardiner on defense. |
| 10 | Pacific 3 | FLAMES | The Flames have 2 great lines and a rock solid defense. The bottom 6 is suspect. Mike Smith does not solve their goaltending issues thus keeping them out of real Stanley Cup contention. |
| 11 | Central 3 | STARS | Seguin and Benn are a dynamic duo. Bishop is a grade A net minder. Everything else a ???. A retread coach. Radulov with a contract. Methot without Karlsson. Confused kids on D. |
| 12 | Atlantic 3 | BRUINS | Boston’s top line of Pasta, Rat and Patrice is aces. The secondary scoring is young but able. The D is a mix of really old (Chara) and really young (McAvoy). A steady Rask puts them in dance. |
| 13 | Metro 4/WC | RANGERS | The Rangers have more depth up front than anyone in the NHL, just no superstar. The revamped defense is faster. If King Henry regains his form Rangers could make serious run. |
| 14 | Pacific 4/WC | SHARKS | The Sharks did not improve in the off season.Thorton’s health is a question. Marleau is gone. Hertl., Donskoi and Meier need to score more. Brett Burns carried this team too often last year. |
| 15 | Central 4/WC | JETS | Is this finally the year the Jets year? The Jets are too talented LaIne, Scheifele, Wheeler for .500. Big Buff leads 2nd best D in Central ( on paper) Mason just needs to better than OK for playoffs. |
| 16 | Metro 5/WC | HURRICANES | Darling should give the Canes better than 29th ranked goaltending. The defense is mobile and skilled. Justin Williams brings experience . Skinner and Aho can score. Just missing a center. |
| 17 | Atlantic 4 | CANADIENS | Everything hinges on Carey Price. The team’s defense was cut in half. The brought in Alzner but lost 3 guys. Can Drouin handle the Montreal pressure ? He needs too. |
| 18 | Atlantic 5 | SENATORS | The Senators are closer to the team that barely made the playoffs than the team that almost made the Final. Locked up Anderson in net is good but Karlsson is already hurting. |
| 19 | Central 5 | WILD | BBQ Bruce Boudreau’s team was once again great in the regular season only to crumple in the playoffs. The Wild won’t live up to the promise they had when Parise and Suter signed years ago. |
| 20 | Central 6 | BLUES | Injuries have already hit the Blues up front (Fabbri) and the back end (Bouwmeester). Tarasenko could win the Art Ross and Pietrangelo is a stud but they aren’t enough. |
| 21 | Atlantic 6 | PANTHERS | The Panther’s should give their front office a human name because it did hurricane type damage last season. Aaron Eckblad needs to be his former self for this team to have a chance at playoffs. |
| 22 | Pacific 5 | KINGS | If Jonathan Quick is Jonathan Quick again the Kings might make the playoffs. Carter was the only bright spot last year. Kopitar and Toffoli were awful. Doughty wasn’t much better. |
| 23 | Metro 6 | FLYERS | If Claude Giroux continues to decline the Flyers will continue to be stuck in mediocrity. Flyers lost Schenn and added Lehtera. Not a good swap. The D is young but learning. Elliot not answer. |
| 24 | Metro 7 | ISLANDERS | John Tavares deserves better than this. Anders Lee is a worthy linemate, Ho-Sang worthy teammate. Eberle and Ladd maybe? Defense is better on paper than ice. Greiss should be a # 2 |
| 25 | Atlantic 7 | RED WINGS | Jimmy Howard regained/won the Wings net. Larkin and Nyquist can’t possibly play as bad as last year. Mantha and AA give the Wings some future hope. Daley will eat a lot of ice on D. |
| 26 | Pacific 6 | COYOTES | The Coyotes now have a number 1 center (Stepan), a true top defense pair (OEL/Hjalmasson) and a goalie (Raanta) Head Coach Rick Tocchet will give the forwards a kick in the pants. |
| 27 | Metro 8 | DEVILS | Nico Hirshier will win the Calder. Cory Schneider will have a bounce back season in net. Travis Zajac’s injury makes it moot though. The Devil’s defense is old and slow. |
| 28 | Atlantic 8 | SABRES | Jack Eichel’s lack of a contract and Evander Kane’s trade rumors will derail season. Sabres kept the wrong goalie. Netminder Lehner should try MMA he might actually be good at that. |
| 29 | Central 7 | AVALANCHE | All Joe Sakic had to do this summer was trade Matt Duchene and he couldn’t even do that. It’s no good when a franchise legend needs to be fired. |
| 30 | Pacific 7 | GOLDEN KNIGHTS | Flower will keep the Knights in games they shouldn’t be in. Gallant is a great coach and this team will win a few more than you think. |
| 31 | Pacific 8 | CANUCKS | The Canucks are waiting for the Sedins to retire. |
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