The big news in Dallas a week before the season opener was restricted free agent Jason Robertson agreeing to a four-year, $31 million contract. With defenseman Roman Josi also coming off a career year on the offensive end, the Predators are a team to be reckoned with. Forsberg and Duchene were both 40-goal scorers for the first time in their NHL careers last season, and Granlund put up a career-high 53 assists. They will be nice additions to a lineup led by an elite top line of Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene and Mikael Granlund. Nashville went after free agents with recent playoff success and acquired defenseman Ryan McDonagh from the Lightning and forward Nino Niederreiter from Carolina Hurricanes. Colorado lost a big chunk of its offense when Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky signed elsewhere in the offseason, but there is still plenty of offense remaining with MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and high-scoring defenseman Cale Makar.

The front office also took care of a major piece of business by signing Nathan MacKinnon to an eight-year deal that will assure he stays in Denver through the 2030-31 season. Georgiev doesn’t need to be spectacular, as the Avalanche should possess one of the league’s highest-scoring teams again. The Avalanche begin defense of their Stanley Cup title with a few new faces, most notably goalie Alexandar Georgiev, who was brought in to replace Darcy Kuemper. (Teams listed in predicted order of finish) The Nashville Predators were also very talented last season, and they have made their roster even stronger.

The Blues have a plan in place, and they have shown they can execute.

The Avalanche will have stiff competition just to win the Central Division, however. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.

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