Will Blackhawks contend for Stanley Cup?
Now that most of the dust has settled from free agency, who is the team to beat in the Western Conference in 2011-12?
Take your pick from these five: The Blackhawks, San Jose, Detroit, Vancouver and Los Angeles.
As it stands today, the Hawks are as good as anyone in the West and might be the cream of the crop.
1. Blackhawks
There's no question the Hawks are going to miss Brian Campbell's speed and ability to move the puck from the back end, but Nick Leddy gets the chance to fill the void while there's pressure on Niklas Hjalmarsson to take his game to the next level.
The Hawks addressed the need for size and toughness in free agency with the additions of Steve Montador, Sean O'Donnell, Jamal Mayers and Dan Carcillo, while Andrew Brunette should fit nicely on the second line.
The Hawks still have a ton of skill up front and the 1-2 punch of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook anchoring the defense.
2. San Jose
Sharks general manager Doug Wilson made two nice trades with Minnesota, getting Martin Havlat for the underachieving Dany Heatley and underrated defenseman Brent Burns for Devon Setoguchi.
A motivated Havlat could make Sharks fans forget all about Heatley, who was a playoff bust.
The Sharks lost some grit in Mayers and Ben Eager and let Ian White go as a free agent, but Wilson has brought in center Michal Handzus and defenseman Jim Vandermeer.
3. Los Angeles
If the Kings were lacking leadership they have all kinds of it now after trading for Mike Richards and signing Simon Gagne as a free agent.
They had to trade Wayne Simmonds and top prospect Brayden Schenn to Philadelphia to get Richards and lost Handzus, but the Kings are a team that now has a lot of the pieces in place for a deep playoff run.
4. Detroit
Never count the Red Wings out of anything.
The Wings saw defenseman Brian Rafalski retire, but they signed defensemen Mike Commodore and White as free agents.
Detroit still is loaded offensively, led by the great Pavel Datsyuk, and Nicklas Lidstrom is coming back for another year at age 41. GM Ken Holland still has plenty of money to spend and may be looking to make a trade.
5. Vancouver
It's hard to see where the Canucks have improved since losing Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals to Boston.
Gone as free agents are defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and rugged forwards Raffi Torres, Tanner Glass and Mark Rypien.
GM Mike Gillis did sign center Marco Sturm, but that's it. The Canucks still need to find a top-six forward somewhere and more jam.
The rest
Ÿ Columbus: The Blue Jackets made some bold moves and should be much better with the additions of Jeff Carter's 40 goals and defenseman James Wisniewski's 40 assists.
Ÿ Minnesota. The team that couldn't score went out and acquired Heatley and Setoguchi from the Sharks. Which Heatley shows up in the Twin Cities likely will determine if the Wild is better. Losing Burns hurts, though.
Ÿ Nashville. How are the Predators better after letting Joel Ward, Steve Sullivan, Marcel Goc and J.P. Dumont walk as free agents while adding only Niclas Bergfors and Zach Stortini? They aren't.
Ÿ Phoenix. The Coyotes always could depend on goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to win games, but not anymore. He's in Philadelphia now, and also gone are heart-and-soul guys Ed Jovanovski and Vern Fiddler. Mike Smith is the new No. 1 goalie.
Ÿ Calgary. The Flames traded defenseman Robin Regehr and added nobody. Good luck with that.
Ÿ Anaheim. Like the Flames, the Ducks have stood pat, but they still should be right in the thick of the playoff chase with a solid roster.
Ÿ Dallas. The Stars lost Brad Richards, who can't be replaced. Adding Michael Ryder, Fiddler, Jake Dowell and Sheldon Souray won't come close. They're probably not a playoff team again.
Ÿ Colorado. What are the Avs doing anyway? They added goalies Semyon Varlamov and J.S. Giguere along with defenseman Jan Hejda. That's not enough to make them a playoff team.
Ÿ Edmonton. Adding center Eric Belanger, Eager, defenseman Cam Barker and Darcy Hordichuk brings grit, but it will be another year of waiting on the kids for Oilers fans.
Ÿ St. Louis. The Blues finally got active Wednesday, signing center Jason Arnott and winger Jamie Langenbrunner — solid pickups after the additions of journeymen Kent Huskins, Scott Nichol and backup goalie Darren Elliott.