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Alright everyone - great questions as always. Enjoy the return to action tonight! If I missed you, hit my mailbag here: http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/mailbag/_/id/40243/craig-custance

(I'd go Toews though but it's an impossible call. Love them both.)

Wow. You can't lose with either.

Way worse. With the loss of Suter/Parise and the signings they actually made, that summer is going to go down as one of the uglier ones for Holland and his group. But they've recovered nicely, especially if they can get the cap situation solved.

Passed. Love it. A season too late.

Yeah, I do. I just think it has a shelf life though. It'll be fun to see the Blackhawks and Blues go at it for a few years, and then we're all going to be like - I miss those Blackhawks/Canucks showdowns. A time for everything, right?

My surprise team in the Stars. Good young talent. A little suspect defensively but good goalie can make up for it. I wouldn't be surprised to see Wild and Maple Leafs take a step back. Ducks too.

Yeah, that's where I'm at. Bobrovsky is going to come down to earth a little bit. I know they're really excited about Ryan Murray and Boone Jenner. Dubinsky had a great camp too. I'm not ruling them out of a playoff spot, but the East is tough and their best years are ahead of them in Columbus. Love what JD and Jarmo Kekalainen are doing though. They're building that thing the right way.

My prediction is that someone will take a chance on Ilya Bryzgalov. He's still a good goaltender and at some point somebody's starter is going to get hurt or somebody is going to underperform and Ritch Winter's phone will ring. I'm telling you, I"d take a chance right now on Bryz if I had any question about my goalie. Buy low.

Haha. I think Kovalchuk may have ended up doing Uncle Lou a favor in the long-term so no hard feelings there. Maybe the timing could have been better.

Well, my good friend and colleague Scott Burnside picked them to win the STanley Cup. I'm not quite so optimistic and think a playoff berth would be a good year for them. It comes down to Mike Smith. If he's the guy who carried them to the WCF, they're going to be good. If we see last year's version, they don't make the playoffs.

Buyout window is closed. I'd hate to do it, but maybe you package a decent prospect along with Sammy to a team willing to take on the cap hit. And who knows, some of these players don't have the best track record staying healthy. It may just be a season of juggling the LTIR.

Everybody looked sluggish in almost every preseason game I saw. Hard for veteran teams to get up for those games. Rangers are going to be good.

Correct.

I think the Ducks are in one of those in-between years. They've got some great young talent coming but like you said, there's some age and concerns on defense right now. And when you're not on the power play, where do you play Teemu Selanne? Not sure you can put him in the top six anymore. I think next year's Ducks will be better than this year's Ducks when more of that young talent is ready to make an impact.

Gotta go with the Broncos.

Richard - Steven Stamkos; Hart - Crosby; Norris - Doughty and Vezina - Lundqvist; No way any of those are possibly wrong.

Yes. I'm still a little surprised that the Coyotes haven't traded some of their depth on defense for another scoring winger. I thought Damien Brunner would have been a great fit in Phoenix and I know they kicked the tires there. Wouldn't be surprised at all to see Ekman-Larsson as one of the Norris finalists in Vegas this year. Or wherever they're holding the awards show.

Right, and it's a good $7 million. I don't mind spending $7 million on 2013 Henrik Lundqvist. But if you're going to give him six or seven years, I'm not crazy about giving 35 year old Henrik Lundqvist $7 million.

Wrote a little bit about it today, but they need a couple of their young guys to take a step forward to get back in the playoffs. Whether it's Coyle at center or Niederreiter or Granlund. At least one of those guys needs to be really good for them this season like Brodin was last year for the Wild. If that happens, they continue trending up. If not, they miss the playoffs.

North American teams typically don't do well making the trip to Europe for hockey in the Olympics. So that's concerning. Their goaltending stacks up with anyone in the world but they're weak down the middle. I'd put them at a bronze right now. Tons of great captain options - Dustin Brown, Zach Parise, David Backes, Callahan. Such a tough call.

Loved the Eriksson addition. Wasn't crazy about Iginla addition. I'll say 24 goals for Iggy and 37 for Eriksson.

I'm going to have to take your word for it gabba.

Jeremy - True. If they buyout Richards that's a big obstacle. They're going to sign Lundqvist to a huge number soon and he's not getting any younger. That makes me nervous. The Nash contract scares me too. Yes, cap is going up but next deals for Callahan, Girardi, MDZ and Step are going to be considerably higher than last.

Three biggest threats in the West to a Blackhawks repeat: 1. Kings - love how this team is built. Perfect playoff team. 2. Blues - tons of depth. Well-coached. Motivated. 3. Sharks - it's going to happen one of these years in San Jose.

I'm concerned we might see that team take a step back. I'm with you about Hamonic and Vis but you can't ignore the loss of Streit. Good player, important to that transition game. I'd like the Islanders a lot better if they had Hiller or Miller right now rather than waiting until the deadline. It may be too late then.

Stefaniak - I never take those late season pushes by bad teams too seriously. Those games were essentially meaningless. Buffalo has some great prospects and will be good in a couple years but I still think it bottoms out a little more and at some point Vanek and maybe Miller gets traded. Lots to like in the future there, just think it's (at least) a year away.

Yeah. I'm buying it. All-World goalie. Healthy on defense and a top four as good as any in the East. Rebound season for Richards. New coach. Stepan emerging as really good center. Sense of urgency this year. Lots of reasons to like Rangers.

They're going to be really bad. And no. I think they're significantly worse that the No. 29 team. I think you can make a playoff case for almost every other team.

Hmmm. Love this question. This is off the top of my head, so I reserve the right to change my mind. But here you go: 1. Metropolitan 2. Pacific 3. Central 4. Atlantic. Wow, I already have second thoughts looking at it in print. That's a tough one.

Trading goalies isn't an easy proposition. If it was, Ryan Miller wouldn't still be in Buffalo. I'm not sure Neuvirth gets a top four defenseman in return. Maybe a draft pick. In retrospect, the return George McPhee got for Varlamov was pretty darn good.

The Flyers would have been a fantastic fit but they seem genuinely impressed with Steve Mason who was good for them down the stretch. I have no issues at all with Ray Emery, but i think an Emery/Thomas duo would have been fantastic. Not sold on Mason.

My pick for Calder is Valeri Nichushkin in Dallas. He's got an NHL body, an incredible skillset and will get plenty of opportunity with the Stars. My sleeper would be Boone Jenner in Columbus. They love him there.

They've already earned mega contracts. It's just a matter of being allowed to sign them. I don't think we'll be waiting too long after the season to start getting details of what those deals will look like.

On defense, I think strong starts by Dustin Byfuglien and Keith Yandle move them from the bubble onto the roster. Up front, a guy like T.J. Oshie could solidify his spot with a strong start. The most interesting race is in goal behind Jonathan Quick. I don't think you can rule out any of the guys (Anderson, Howard, Miller, Schneider) and what about Tim Thomas? What if he starts out the year on fire?

I'm on the Stars playoff bandwagon. I think Kari Lehtonen continues to be underappreciated nationally. He's capable of carrying that team for long stretches. I love how Jim Nill aggressively fixed the hole at center and moved Jamie Benn back to the wing. Not crazy about the defense or the term given to Sergei Gonchar but sometimes you have to do that to fix holes. I'd bet on the Stars getting in the playoffs though. Their division helps too.

Jay - Yeah, Ken Holland was able to buy some time with the LTIR but he has some major decisions ahead when guys get healthy. I think if anybody was willing to trade for Tootoo, it would have happened by now. There's a couple tough contracts to move. I don't know how they fix that salary crunch. I can assure you that Nyquist will be back though. He'll play more in the NHL than the AHL this season.

Love the Blues. Picked them to lose to the Kings in the Western Conference finals but that group is definitely capable of winning it all. Big question is in goal - which guy is going to seize the job? Morrow was a great addition late too. I'd want no part of that team in the playoffs.

Rob - They definitely can. It's almost impossible to repeat but they have all the ingredients to do it. What makes them good again is that they didn't have to dismantle like last time. Most of that team is back. They don't need new faces, they just need the old ones to stay healthy and motivated.

Ed - The three I'd say are the Rangers, Canucks and Sharks. The Richards contract is going to look pretty bad really soon even if he bounces back. Not sure what they do with that. And who knows how many years Rick Nash has left at his best? The Canucks window may have already closed but it'll be interesting to see how the Sedins, Luongo and Torts mix this year. And the Sharks have Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dan Boyle playing in the final year of their contracts this season. Might be the last call for that trio.

Haha. Yes, yes I am. I still can't figure out why that game isn't at the superior Spartan Stadium. I just hope hockey fans are louder than Michigan football fans.

Joey - Not completely crazy. I'm not ready to give them real good status, but Dale Tallon has done a nice job adding pieces lately that surrounds young players with veterans who know how to play. They're real good if Vezina Tim Thomas shows up, but that may be too much to ask after a year off. I've upgraded Florida from lottery team to playoff bubble team.

Those are just a few. There's a million more.

Hmmmm. Good question. There are so many. In no particular order - 1.) The start of the Coyotes. There's a new ownership and they're hoping to build off summer momentum with success on the ice. If the team struggles and that building remains empty, it could be a long climb for the new owners. 2.) Tim Thomas' return. I can't wait to see how he looks this season. 3.)Toronto goalie battle. It looks like management wants Bernier to be the man, but Reimer isn't giving up icetime easily. Will be fun to see who emerges.

Hey everyone! Thrilled to have real live regular season hockey tonight. Should be a very entertaining season. Let's jump right into our last chance to preview it!