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One goal is more then a slogan to help sell tickets to the Chicago Blackhawks. it has become the mantra of the entire organization and its fans.

While they had only been the NHL playoffs once in a decade, and that was a first round exit in 2002, the slogan seemed kind of silly.

However this is a get team that got all the way to the Western Conference Finals a year ago, and after adding Marion Hossa in the off season, this team is a legitimate contender.

Clearly the San Jose Sharks are a great hockey team. The only real question is just how great they are, or how great they actually good be.

Last year they went out and scored 117 points and won the President's Trophy, then lost a first round playoff series in six games to an 8 seed.

Granted the Anaheim Ducks were not your typical 8 seed, but Sharks have a long history of disappointing runs in the post season.

They say to the victors go the spoils, but in the NHL Northwest Division this off-season we could change that to the victors go a stay of execution.

While many of the teams in this division spent the off season replacing General Managers or Head Coaches, the Canucks and GM Mike Gillis and Bench boss Alain Vigneault spent the off season plotting on how to defend their division title.

In the 2008-09 season the Boston Bruins had the best record in the eastern Conference. That distinction does not come without its rewards and the Bruins hauled in many over the summer.

They have the reining Coach of the year, best defenseman, and best goalie. Of course those award do little to soothe the wounds of losing Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

With all that in mind little is different about the Bruins this year.

John Tortorella took over as Head Coach of the New York Rangers last season from Tom Renney and immediately began to question his offensively challenged clubs physical fitness, and their ability to play nasty Eastern Conference style hockey.

This off season Ranger General Manager Glen Satehr must have been listening no less than 10 2008-09 Rangers have been shown the door, and no less than nine new players come to the team for the next campaign.

No one should ever underestimate the ability of the New Jersey Devils to win hickey games. No one picked them to score 106 points last year, even while missing goalie Martin Brodeur for three months of the season.

No one expected, Head Coach Brent Suter to return to New Jersey just to get fired in favor of Jacques Lemaire, and no one expected them to clear out seven million dollars in cap space only to do virtually nothing with it.

The Anaheim Ducks made a strong late season push to make last year's playoffs. Once there they quickly dispatched, the President trophy winning San Jose Sharks, and even pushed the Stanley Cup runner ups Detroit Red Wings to seven games.

This all served notice that the Ducks were back among the NHL elite. With that being said the 2009-10 version of the Ducks will not be at all like the Ducks of the Brian Burke era.

The Carolina Hurricanes went 45-30-7 and earned 97 points last year in a season that ended up lasting a lot longer then many thought.

The Hurricanes made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals before being swept by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Hurricanes seemed to be one big move or a few small moves away from being a big time contender again in 2009-10.

However Canes, GM Jim Rutherford thinks his team already made its big moves, and essentially stood pat over much of the off season.

This might be the year for St. Louis Blues fans to celebrate, or it night not. One thing is for sure and that is the Blues are back.

After making the playoffs for the first time since 2004 the Blues are back, back to relevance in the NHL, and looking to start another 25 year run in the playoffs.

While the Blues were swept out of the first round, we can ignore that since the Blues two top defenseman, and top winger barely played in that series due to injuries.

After making the playoffs for the first time in the team's eight year history, the Columbus Blue Jackets headed into the off season looking to resign their 25 year old Captain LW Rick Nash to a long term deal.

Nash could have opted not to sign, and become a free agent after the coming season and go either home to Toronto, or to a place where it seemed more likely to hoist a Stanley Cup Championship.