I actually think my Preds do fairly well for one reason only, Pekka Rinne. The higher the work load gets the better he plays, and with the short season they won't need to worrying about resting him ( not like they did last year anyways). I figure the start will be kind of ugly, but thats ok because the more shots he faces the better he gets. I actually think this is the year he wins the Vezina Trohpy.
I have no idea who is going to win it because the dynamics change, you don't really have the time for the young guys to get it like they normally would, although with the short season the first year guys won't have the issue of getting bogged down with the longer season like usually happens.
I think the trade deadline will be crazy this year, especially with teams having the buyout option in the second year.
We pretty much have the same team we had last year, minus Suter. Tootoo was already riding pine and the defenseman that went to Montreal ( can't even remember his damn name atm) was on his way out too. Granted, losing Suter is big, but we have always had pretty good defensemen that step up from the AHL every year.
Forgot we signed the defenseman that played with Calgary as well ( Hannan I think was his name )