Stanley Cup Finals
Philadelphia vs. San Jose

West Finals
San Jose vs. Vancouver

East Finals
Philadelphia vs. Washington

MVP
Joe Thornton

Top 5 Surprises:
1. James Van Riemsdyk - Young and talented, with the right linemates he can be a legit Calder contender.
2. Los Angeles - Adding the grit and scoring of Ryan Smyth to go along with all the young talent already in place, will help them improve and make a true playoff push this season.
3. Fabian Brunnstrom - Will captialize on a successful rookie season and will not fall victim to the sophomore jinx. Will be just behind Loui Eriksson in total points on the team.
4. Nikita Filatov - Showed signs of a budding superstar during his stints with Columbus last year. Will be the leading candidate to win the Calder.
5. Edmonton - With a solid goalie and a legit coach behind the bench, the Oilers will make a deep run into the playoffs but will run into 1 of 2 buzzsaws: San Jose or Vancouver.

Top 5 Disappointments
1. Chicago - Spent too much money on Marian Hossa and not enough on solidifying the goaltending and defense.
2. Judge Redfield T. Baum - Will end up awarding the Coyotes to Jim Balsillie. The NHL will fight the ruling and this will keep this tied up in the courts for years and will kill any chance hockey has of succeeding in Phoenix.
3. Pittsburgh - Will not repeat as Stanley Cup champions. Penguins did not do an adequate job of replacing all the role players that were lost in the offseason. They will struggle to make the playoffs and might possibly miss the playoffs all together.
4. Marian Hossa - Signed a lucrative deal in Chicago. Will miss the first 2 months of the season due to offseason surgery that he had after signing the deal. I thought it was kinda manditory for players to have physicals before deals were signed.
5. John Tavares - Is expected to be the savior on Long Island. He might be the savior in the future, but it won't be this season. Tavares doesn't have the talent around him to do very much, and he isn't ready to carry the entire franchise on his back. The Islanders will be in the running for the #1 pick in the 2010 Entry Draft.

Calder Trophy Candidates
1. Nikita Filatov
2. James Van Riemsdyk
3. Dmitry Kulikov
4. Colin Wilson
5. Matt Gilroy