Russo's Eastern Conference predictions

2013: 36-12-0, 1st in East (72 points)

• Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury broke down yet again in the postseason, but this is the regular season and Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal will light it up.

2013: 28-14-5, 4th in East (62 points)

• Tremendous on the back end, starting with goalie Tuukka Rask, and now the B's add Loui Eriksson to a deep group of forwards.

2013: 24-16-8, 7th in West (56 points)

• Most felt the Red Wings would collapse last season without Nicklas Lidstrom. Didn't happen, and now they move to East, where they should thrive.

2013: 25-17-6, 7th in East (56 points)

2013: 26-18-4, 6th in East (56 points)

• John Tortorella wore out his welcome, and now this tight group presumably will breathe easier behind goalie Henrik Lundqvist and rising star Derek Stepan.

2013: 26-17-5, 5th in East (57 points)

• Made the playoffs last year for the first time in eternity and followed it up by hopefully settling their erratic goalie situation in acquiring Jonathan Bernier.

2013: 24-17-7, 8th in East (55 points)

2013: 27-18-3, 3rd in East (57 points)

• Alex Ovechkin got off to a slow start last season before pouring it on en route to his third Hart Trophy. No slow start this season.

2013: 29-14-5, 2nd in East (63 points)

• Was a surprise out of the East last season, but last season's Carey Price was nothing like the Carey Price of three years ago.

2013: 23-22-3, 10th in East (49 points)

2013: 24-17-7, 9th in West (55 points)

• Hard-working team that should score more with a full season of Marian Gaborik, but goalie Sergei Bobrovsky will be asked again to carry the load.

2013: 18-26-4, 14th in East (40 points)

• The Lightning has scorers Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis, but also has a terrible blue line.

2013: 15-27-6, 15th in East (36 points)

14. NEW JERSEY DEVILS

2013: 19-19-10, 11th in East (48 points)

• Ilya Kovalchuk up and retired, and this was a glacially slow team to begin with. This could be a tough go for the Devils.

2013: 19-25-4, 13th in East (42 points)

• They better hope goalie Cam Ward is completely healthy after a knee injury, because defensively, this team has big issues.