i feel like chicago, detroit, vancouver and san jose are pretty much locks to make the playoffs... it wouldn't shock me if calgary, st. louis or anaheim miss out although i do think they all get in. agree for the most part, although i think there's a gap between the top 4 in the east (pitt, philly, boston, wash) and the rest. though carolina is still a good team and who knows about jersey, they won the division last year and with lemaire back they could always get 110 pts while winning 50 games by one goal. You still can't sleep on Montreal Canadians in the east, because of them not being all that consistent at times...they can sneak up and play with the best of them. I like this team a lot better than last yr as they have gotten rid of some of the problems kids to move forward with being a little tougher.