NHL- 5 Early Favorites in Eastern Conference

5  Carolina Hurricanes
     The Hurricanes potentially had enough before this offseason to make a little playoff run next season. But Carolina took the initiative, signing Alexander Semin and trading for Jordan Staal to join alongside Eric Staal and Jeff Skinner to put them as the early favorites to win a crowded and weaker Souteast division, putting them in a good position seeding wise to make a run next season. 

4  Philadelphia Flyers
     The Flyers looked great (well not defensively and not in net) when they bounced the favored Pittsburgh Penguins in convincing fashions. But their woes defensively and in goal came back to haunt them against a more balanced New Jersey team. Will Ilya Bryzgalov step up this season? That remains the big question, but even with those questions, the Flyers are talented enough offensively to outscore any team in the league.

3  Boston Bruins
     The Bruins remain deep and defense oriented, but they are now more explosive offensively. Tyler Seguin very easily could take that next step and become a super star in this league while others like Milan Lucic and David Krejci look to rebound on an up and down campaign in 2011. The Bruins must be more consistent in 2012 and they must get production from Tuukka Rask. Rask has the potential to be Jonathan Quick like or even Tim Thomas like and because of that, the Bruins remain one of the more dangerous teams in the East.

2  Pittsburgh Penguins
     Pittsburgh has the two most talented players in the NHL with Sidney Crosby and Evengi Malkin. They also have another prolific scorer in James Neal and an above average defensemen in Kris Letang. The big surprise that lead to the Penguins downfall last year was the collapse of Marc-Andre Fleury in net against the Flyers. Will he redeem himself in 2012? If he does, the Penguins are very likely to hoist the Stanley Cup once again.

1  New York Rangers
     The Rangers seemed booked to appear in their first Stanley Cup Finals since 1994, but they failed to bring the same defensive play in critical games against the Devils, losing in six games. The Rangers have the defense and goaltending, so just because the defense wasn't as steady and Henrik Lundqvist wasn't outstanding in a couple of games doesn't mean this Rangers team isn't still the favorite in the East. They now have Rick Nash in the mix to go along with Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards. If you include youngsters Chris Kreider and Carl Haggelin, the Rangers remain the team to beat, slightly ahead of division rival Pittsburgh.