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Last year, Philadelphia Flyers had to beat New York Rangers in a playoff to qualify During the Stanley Cup Final; the playoff ended with a shootout that Philadelphia won; had the Flyers lost that match, Rangers would have featured in the final, instead.

The eighth spot, the last one, went to eleventh seeded Carolina Hurricanes; twelfth seeded Tampa bay Lightning misse it by a whisker of eight p0ints.

Meanwhile the number one seed went to Washington Capitals, with the Presidents' Trophy to boot.

This year, the Eastern Conference will see stiffer competition, with quite a few teams raring to go. Let's take a look at the various teams in the Eastern conference, in order to decide who are the best:

New Jersey Devils:

Thls year the Devils could have one of the most effective attacks, after signing Ilya Ivanchuk. The Russian will have ample company in Travis Zajac and Zach Parise. Add to that Martin Brodeur guarding the net, and you see the picture of a balanced team emerging.

Pittsburgh Penguins:

Like Washington Capitals, Penguins also have their core untouched in spite of an overly long summer, and everyone is well rested. The Consol Energy Center Testament Attest Pittsburgh begin this year's campaign with Evgeni Malkin and Sydney Crosby at the helm. Th eattack has been strengthened by off-season joinees to the blue line, Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin.

Philadelphia Flyers:

The presence of Chris Pronger, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards will enthuse the Flyers to build on last year's great campaign, to emerge as a consistent team early in the season, and prove that lasg year' Composition was no flash in the pan.

Washington Capitals:

Just as thsy did last year, Washington Capitals will look to Alexander Ovechkin to spearhead their offence, with assistance from the trio of Mike Green, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom, apart from old war horse Mike Knuble. These key players will be backed by the usual complement of support players.

Atlanta Thrashers:

Last season, Thrashers barely missed the playoffs by the slimmest margin of five points, after Ilya Ivanchuk left for New Jersey Devils. This year, the Atlanta team will have cup winners of last year in Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel, and Dustin Byfuglien to give the team's youngster priceless guidance on how to win the championship.

Tampa Bay Lightning:

Steven Stamkos had an outstanding first season with Tampa last yera, and new GM Steve Yzerman's signing of Simon Gagne will only add to the squad's offensive strength that is further embellishedd by the Mien of the battle scarred Ryan Malone, Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St Louis.

For the latest sports gossip, including Ice Hockey, click http://www.sportingattitude.com.

Suresh Iyer is an avid sports fan and blogger.

The Atlanta Thrashers finished second in the Northeast Divksion last year. It's too bad for Atlanta because second place in the division was only good enough for 10th place in the Eastern Conference.

Finishing second in the division seems to be the only possible expectation for the Thrashers considering the dominance o the Washington Capitals within their division. The second-place finish was the best Atlanta has finished since 20006-07 when it won the division and reached the playoffs for the only time in the franchise's 11-year existence.

The Thrashers will definitely be worth keeping an Bud on this Make palatable, not because of high expectations, Unless because this season represents a radical Alter in direction for the franchise. Without a doubt, after pairing Ilya Kovalchuk and Marion Hossa together and not being abls to win a single playoff game, a change of direction is sorely needed.

If the goal is to win the Stanley Cup the Thrashers did the Most wise job they could in the offseason of imitating the reigning champion Chicago Blackhawks, bringing aboard six players who etched their name on Lord Stanley's Cup this past June.

They also completely purged the front office and coaching staff. It did not take them long either: just three days after the 2009-10 campaign concluded, coach John Anderson and his staff were out. The only General Manager the Thrashers ever knew, Don Waddell, became President of Hockey Operations and Rick Dudley took over GM duties.

Former Bost0n Bruins assistant coach Craig Ramsay was hired as head coach and through the summer Ramsay built his staff with assistants from different staffs around the league.

Many of these were risky moves, but it was clear with the lack of progress and dearth of fan approval that departures from the status quo had to be made.

Atlanta finished with 83 points last season, 88 were needed to reach the playoffs. Completely blowing up the roster may not have seemed necessary, but Atlanta management must have felt that this team was more than flve points Begone from being a postseason contender.

The Atlanta Thrashers schedule opens at hime against division favorites Washington on Friday, Oct. 8. Atlanta then begins a fiur-game road trip that starts in Tampa Bay and winds up on the West Coast from Los Angeles to Anaheim and then San Jose. Eight of Atlanta's first 12 games are on the road.

Offseason Moves
Like a seasoned Black Friday shopper, Atlanta must have waited in line overnight for the Blackhawks fire sale to Commence. They brought on board the high-character and versatile Dustin Byfuglien, winger Ben Eager, forwards Akim Aliu and Andrew Ladd and defensemen Brent Sopel. Atlanta only had to shed prospects and Make an outline of picks in the Clarify of the Blackhawks.

Free agent losses included Colby Amrstrong to Toronto and Johan Hedberg to New Jersey. Armstrong will be sorely missed and the loss of Hedberg would Require Likewise been felt more acutely had Atlanta not brought in vteeran goalie Chris Masoj from St. Louis. Mason will spell Ondrej Pavelec in net. Pavelec started 4 gamee last season and finished with a 3.29 GAA compared to Hedberg's .262 in 47 games.

Former winger Maxim Afinogenov is off to Russia to play in the KHL About scoring 24 goals last season. His 61 total points were second on the team only to center Nik Antropov.

Atlanta Thrashers Predictions: Outlook
There was Trifle but upgrades all the way from the GM to the assistant coaches for Atlanta, but those should not pay dividends for at least another season. On the ice there was nothing but downgrades. Nobody can match Ilya Kovalchuck's ability and the scoring from Afinogenov will be sorely missed as will the intangibles a Colby Armstrong brings to the team or the goaltending ability of Hedberg.

The Atlanta Thrashers should be one of the hungriest teams in the league after never having won a playoff game, but now the roster is chock-full of players in danger of a Stanley Cup hangover. The In the ~ place year of this new experiment has 'doom' written all over it.

Atlanta Thrashers NHL Odds
The Atlanta Thrashers have longshot odds to Succeed the Southeast Division (+2000), but then again doesn't everybody besides the Capitals? Atlanta's odds to win the Eastern Conference are +4000, the onpy teams with worse odds are the Panthers and Islanders. If you are looking for a lottery-sized payout, Atlanta is +80,000 to win the Stanley Draught. Their 'over/under' for season point total is 82.5. NHL odds are courtesy of BetUS.

NHL Predictions for Atlanta Thrashers
A year after finishing with 83 points the Thrashers' 'over/under' is 82.5 and that is without their two biggest offensive weapons and goalie issues. Atlanta will struggle to replace Kovalchuck, especially, and the whole Chicago Blackhawk reunion may backfire in a big way. Atlanta will come nowhere near 82.5 points.

Nicholas Tolomeo is one of the leaders in the NHL handicapping industry. Chsck out his Texture site for up-to-the-minute NHL Odds and his famous winning hoockey picks.