The past season saw Anaheim raise the Stanley Cup in dominant fashion. Here is what I think the playing field looks like for the upcoming season in the Eastern Conference.

1. Ottawa Senators ‘ A couple of minor losses shouldn’t affect the Senators’ dominance over the rest of the East. Ray Emery will be a much stronger goalie this season and their top line of Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson, assuming they all stay healthy, will produce as expected and lead the team back to the Stanley Cup against the Ducks. Unfortunately for the Sens, the outcome will be the same.

2. New York Rangers ‘ With the additions of Chris Drury (Buffalo) and Scott Gomez (New Jersey), the Rangers are sure built to win their division. Henrik Lundqvist is going to be huge in net this season, but since they didn’t stock up on defense, they will not be bringing the Cup home this season.

3. Carolina Hurricanes ‘ They have the talent to win a good division. Eric Staal is going to have to have his best year yet if this team is going to win; his production was way down last year from the previous Cup season, but look for the point totals to go back up. Cam Ward must have a big year in net as well.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins ‘ Crosby, Crosby, Crosby!!! The reigning NHL MVP, along with Rookie of the Year Evgeni Malkin, will have to do a lot of damage this year, but goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is going to have to be more consistent this year. If he is, then Pittsburgh may be able to make it a couple of rounds in the playoffs.

5. Buffalo Sabres ‘ Even with the departures of co-captains Daniel Briere and Chris Drury, the Sabres will still be a solid playoff team with the potential to pull off some playoff upsets. Thomas Vanek and Derek Roy will have to carry a lot of the offensive load now that they’re raking in the big bucks. Look for goalie Ryan Miller to be a Vezina Trophy contender.

6. New Jersey Devils ‘ Losing fan favorite Scott Gomez hurts and losing All-Star defenseman Brian Rafalski hurts a little more. But with the smart pickup of Dainius Zubrus, a physical forward, New Jersey should have no problem winning, especially with MVP candidate and the NHL’s all-time best goalie Martin Brodeur in net.

7. Atlanta Thrashers ‘ A lot of off-season departures, but nothing too devastating. Veteran Marian Hossa, coming off a career-best season, will have to lead them if they want to make any moves in a tough division.

8. Florida Panthers ‘ That’s right, folks. Adding goalie Tomas Vokoun is a great start for a team that really needed a great goalie. With an entire new third line and no major departures, Florida and Olli Jokinen will finish this season in the playoffs.

9. Philadelphia Flyers ‘ After the team’s worst season in franchise history, the Flyers went out and got some talent from the open market; they inked All-Star MVP Daniel Briere to an eight-year contract. Briere will surely bring his winning ways to Philly and keep them far out of the conference basement.

10. Toronto Maple Leafs ‘ The Leafs added Vesa Toskala in net from San Jose, a guy who I think has the potential to be a good No. 1 goalie. They also added Jason Blake, who will have to keep up his goal scoring if he wants to have any affect on this team.

11. Washington Capitals ‘ A couple of key additions in the offseason will give the Capitals a much better record than last season (which shouldn’t be too hard with only 28 wins). Of course Alexander Ovechkin will have to have a big year again.

12. Tampa Bay Lightning ‘ Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier are too much to keep out of the playoffs, but with an average goalie, I had to. They would be much higher if they only had a No. 1 goalie (two backups don’t equal one starting goalie).

13. New York Islanders ‘ The Islanders’ best offseason move was signing veteran Bill Guerin and making him captain. In the meantime they lost All-Star goal-scorer Jason Blake and leader Ryan Smyth. Sorry to all five Islander fans that go to Binghamton, but enjoy what will surely be a long season.

14. Boston Bruins ‘ Adding goalie Manny Fernandez was a great move, but they are going to need a lot more than him to do any real damage this year.

15. Montreal Canadiens ‘ All-Star defenseman Sheldon Souray has moved on to bigger and richer things. With no offense, the Canadiens will be in the cellar of the Eastern Conference all season (and they’ll probably still sell out every game).