•Forward Jarome Iginla needs to rebound from a sophomore slump that saw his goal scoring dip from 21 to 13.

David Poile, Nashville's G.M., knew free agency and the expansion draft would bring his first-year Predators grizzled veterans, peach-fuzzed prospects and crooked-nosed grinders. But Poile wanted desperately to move...

•Tampa Bay must overcome a defensive corps that lacks skill and mobility, which makes the Lightning vulnerable to forechecking.

Right wing Theo Fleury, the league's shortest man at 5'6", was the only player in the NHL to lead his team in penalty minutes (197) and points (78).

•The Panthers must improve their putrid penalty killing, which was effective only 79.9% of the time last season, worst in the league.

The Lightning scored only 33 goals in 353 power-play chances last season, a meager success rate of 9.3% and the worst percentage by any team since that stat became official in 1967-68.

•General manager Brian Burke must acquire a quality goaltender for Vancouver to have any chance of making the playoffs.

It didn't take long for Flames coach Brian Sutter to figure out his team last season. "Two minutes into training camp I could tell their approach wasn't conducive to winning," he says. "We had some young players who...

Last season the Panthers had the league's second-biggest decline in points (from 89 to 63) and the second-worst drop in goal differential (-73) from 1996-97.

After being acquired from the Islanders at midseason, left wing Todd Bertuzzi nearly doubled his points-per-game production, from 0.35 to 0.68.