From the Press Box: Metropolitan Division Preview

We begin our preparations for the upcoming fantasy hockey season with a look at players who have moved onto new teams or others who will play more prominent roles. We continue with the second of four columns exploring the Eastern Conference's Metropolitan Division.

Carolina Hurricanes
The Hurricanes began the summer with a trade that brought in goalie Eddie Lack to challenge long-time starter Cam Ward for playing time, a move that makes some sense because Ward has been slowed by injuries over the last three seasons and is in the final year of a contract that carries a $6.3 million cap hit. Lack is in the final year of a deal with a much more modest $1.15 million due this year. The move was done in tandem with another deal that sent last year's backup goalie, Anton Khudobin, to Anaheim in exchange for high-scoring defenseman James Wisniewski. The move gives Carolina a second mobile offensive talent to join Justin Faulk on what should be an effective power-play tandem on the blueline. The other big move was the buyout of Alexander Semin's contract, which will cost them $2.3 million in salary cap space for each of the next six seasons. The club's captain and signature player, Eric Staal, is heading into the final year of a deal with an $8.25 million cap hit, and he will be involved in many rumors up until the NHL's trade deadline as the Canes will likely commit to a rebuild at that time.

Columbus Blue Jackets
The Blue Jackets have to believe that they can move beyond the rash of injuries that ruined last season. Their big off-season transaction was a trade with the Blackhawks to acquire forward Brandon Saad, who then signed a six-year, $36 million contract, signifying his inclusion among a pack of big and skilled forwards who should be poised for a big rebound if they can stay healthy. To further bolster their checking units, they also signed veteran Gregory Campbell, who will fit in as a centerpiece on their bottom six forwards. The physicality of Saad, David Clarkson, Scott Hartnell and Nick Foligno will be no fun to play against. On defense, David Savard took a big step forward in his development last season and is counted upon to deliver offensively along with Jack Johnson on the back end of what should be a productive power play. Sergei Bobrovsky is locked in as the top goalie and should still be regarded among the league's best at the position.

New Jersey Devils
The Devils have had a quiet summer with the biggest news coming when long-time general manager Lou Lamoriello resigned to take on the same role in Toronto. The Devils did not plunge heavily into the free agent market, nor did they engage in roster-altering trades. Their biggest move was to commit long-term (six years, $25 million) to Adam Larsson, who will remain a key component on the blueline alongside Andy Greene. They have moved the contract of Ryane Clowe to long-term injured reserve to give them some flexibility if they chose to shed their current image of a low-budget team. They have signed only 18 players to NHL contracts and are poised to cherry pick from the remaining free-agent pool to fill out their roster, using some of their $14 million in available cap space. The Devils will again hope to be led by veterans Patrik Elias, Michael Cammalleri and Travis Zajac on offense and will lean heavily on Cory Schneider, who is now the undisputed No. 1 goalie in New Jersey.

New York Islanders
The Islanders are looking forward to building on a significant improvement last season, which began with a revamped blueline that featured two veteran additions in Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy. Thomas Hickey was also rewarded for his progress by signing a three-year, $6.6 million contract. This trio is joined by Travis Hamonic to form a very dependable top four on the blueline, which is now regarded as a major strength. Jaroslav Halak proved to be very dependable last season, and he will be supported by the addition of veteran backup Thomas Greiss for an upgraded goalie tandem. The Isles rewarded Anders Lee for his breakout campaign, signing him to a four-year, $15 million deal. Ryan Strome also made great strides in his sophomore season, as did Brock Nelson, who is expected to re-sign but remains a restricted free agent at this time. John Tavares is clearly entrenched as one of the best players and team leaders in the NHL. The best is yet to come for this young team.

New York Rangers
The Rangers are currently regarded as one of the strongest teams in the league, with good depth throughout their roster. As a result, they only tinkered around the edges of their roster. After dealing away Cam Talbot, a dependable backup goalie last season, they acquired Antti Raanta from Chicago to move in behind Henrik Lundqvist. While they dealt Carl Hagelin to Anaheim in exchange for the more imposing physical presence of Emerson Etem, they also replaced a loss of Hagelin's speed with the addition of veteran Viktor Stalberg. The Rangers can look ahead to starting the year with excellent puck mover Keith Yandle leading the offense from the blueline in tandem with captain Ryan McDonagh. Dan Boyle is a nice third option on a defensive corps that used to be defensively focused around solid stay-at-home types like Kevin Klein, Marc Staal and Dan Girardi. That's a vey formidable group now. Kevin Hayes emergence as another power forward in addition to Philadelphia Flyers
Even though the Flyers remain one of the top spending clubs in the league, they shed the LTIR contract of Chris Pronger, opting to exchange it for the prospect of adding Sam Gagner, hoping that he will add another presence to the offense. That will be needed to offset the underperforming Vincent Lecavalier and R.J. Umberger, who are on the books for an annual cap hit of over $9 million, but combined for only 17 goals and 35 points last year. On the other hand, the new eight-year, $64 million contract they gave Jakub Voracek looks like money well-invested on a player who has forged an excellent partnership with team captain Claude Giroux over the last three seasons. Sean Couturier, who tallied a modest 37 points last year, is expected to develop as a bigger offensive contributor and re-signed on a six-year, $26 million deal. In the revolving door that is the Flyers' goalie situation, Michal Neuvirth moves in to replace the volatile Ray Emery as the backup to Steve Mason. The Flyers hope to bolster their blueline with the addition of 32-year old, Russian-born blueliner, Yevgeni Medvedev. They also rewarded Michael Del Zotto with a two-year, $7.5 million after he produced 32 points and played big minutes for them last season.

Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pens made the biggest splash of the offseason by adding the explosive scoring talent of triggerman Phil Kessel, in a huge trade with the Maple Leafs. He fits into a top-heavy salary structure because the Leafs agreed to retain $1.2 million of his salary over the next six seasons. The Pens also signed big winger Eric Fehr ($6 million over three years), who brings his imposing size and experience as a power forward into the offensive mix. Not to be discounted is the news that veteran Pascal Dupuis is healthy and expected to be ready to resume his role as a steadying two-way influence after injuries limited him to only 16 games last season. Keep an eye out for 25-year old Sergei Plotnikov, a left-winger who was signed as a free agent (one-year, $925,000) out of the KHL. There is some uncertainty about the health of Kris Letang on an otherwise thin and inexperienced blueline, and the Pens would certainly benefit from the continued development of Olli Maatta and Derrick Pouliot to carry more of the offensive load back there. As a sign of their concern, Pittsburgh has invited veteran Sergei Gonchar to a training camp tryout. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury may be hard-pressed to match his impressive stats of the last few seasons. It looks like this team will go as far as the revamped offense, which is still led by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, will take them.

Washington Capitals
The Caps dipped into free agency to bring in veteran forward Justin Williams, signing the right-winger to a two-year, $6.5 million deal. They further bolstered the starboard side, acquiring T.J. Oshie from the Blues. Oshie is expected to move into a first-line role alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, completing what should be one of the most prolific lines in the NHL. In another key move, they rewarded goalie Braden Holtby with a five-year, $30.5 million contract extension after his meteoric rise to the "top goalie in the league" discussion. Beyond these transactions, the Caps look like a very well diversified and skilled roster. They also added agitator Zach Sill, who will likely partner with rugged winger Tom Wilson on a gritty fourth line that will keep opponents on their toes. Keep an eye on the development curve for Evgeny Kuznetsov, a highly skilled forward who is entering his third year in the NHL, a time when a number of players take a big step in their careers. He has all the tools and won't face top-checking lines as a second-line forward.