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The Edmonton Oilers stood pat during the summer months of 2018, and despite a 25 point drop in the standings, it might be all they need to find the playoffs once more.

Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick made up the only two 2017 draftees that made the bigs last year. The 2018 draft class appears set to have a much larger crop of players able to make the jump in their first year of NHL eligibility.

With the game's top offensive defenseman on the move, a few teams could create a defensive core the league has rarely seen.

Auston Matthews threw the whole hockey world for a loop last year by scoring 40 goals as a teenager. After digging into his stats and taking in a bit of film, we'd say it's more likely that he pots 50 this season than drops below 40.

2017 Atlantic Division Predictions Boston: Absolutely Montreal: Absolutely Tampa Bay: You betcha... Toronto: You betcha Ottawa: Perhaps Buffalo: Unlikely Florida: Nope Detroit: Absolutely not See more

The mullet-man provides the Flames with their only offensively oriented right winger.

Was Jake Guentzel's 13 playoff goals elevated by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, or is this kid capable of producing on his own?

Pacific Division Playoff Predictions Edmonton: Absolutely Anaheim: Absolutely Calgary: Absolutely... San Jose: Perhaps Los Angeles: Uphill battle Arizona: If everything goes absolutely perfectly Vancouver: Nope Vegas: Nah See more

Henrik and Daniel will go down as an elite duo that played the game like no one else.

Edmonton has Connor McDavid and Leon Draisatl locked up together for the next eight years, and it will be failure if they do not reach the Cup Final at least twice over that span.

From the archives: Based on the timing of Chicago and Pittsburgh's rebuilds, we were all pretty unfair to Edmonton.

New York has everything required for a playoff run, but need to find elite talent on offense.

Boston has earned an exceptional drafting record over the past three years, and have Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, and Brad Marchand, and David Pastrnak locked up until at least 2020. Three years of development combined with that core means Boston will compete with the best for the foreseeable future.

Not only do the Leafs boast one of the top trios of elite young talent in the game, but name-for-name their entire group of top-9 forwards can match any other team's. The Leafs offense, safe to say, is of little concern. Will the rest hold up?