It’s true: Boston is wicked awesome. The Northeast Division is home to the NHL’s defending Stanley Cup champions as the Bruins captured their first league title in 39 years. The B’s are set to return with basically the same deep, star-laden squad; if they can avoid the Cup hangover, they’ve got a realistic shot at repeating. The most improved team in the Northeast should be the Buffalo Sabres, given the moves they made on defense and the amount of cash they threw at free agents. The Toronto Maple Leafs should also be better and possibly the Montreal Canadiens, too, but Canada’s Original Six clubs will be in tough to make the playoffs. The Ottawa Senators, meanwhile, have nowhere to go but up, but don’t kid yourself into thinking the rebuilding Sens are anything more than a lottery team.

Predicted order of finish:

1. Boston Bruins*

2. Buffalo Sabres*

3. Montreal Canadiens

4. Toronto Maple Leafs

5. Ottawa Senators

(Asterisk denotes playoff team.)

1. BOSTON BRUINS

Five Most Important

Here’s a quick look at Brad Richards(notes) and the 49 next-best unrestricted free agents on the market.

The top 50 ranking is broken down by position: 20 forwards, 20 defensemen and 10 goaltenders.

The NHL’s free-agent frenzy begins at noon ET on Friday.

TOP 20 FORWARDS

1. Brad Richards – Don’t know if you’ve heard, but Richards is the star pupil of the 2011 free agent class.

2. Ville Leino(notes) – Talented winger has grit, too, and is suited for second-line duty.

3. Teemu Selanne(notes) – Soon-to-be 41-year-old probably shouldn’t be listed here because the only team he’ll sign with is Anaheim.

4. Erik Cole(notes) – Power winger plays a high-speed game. He’s been knocked around a bit, but can still be a force.

5. Tim Connolly(notes) – First-rate skills, third-world health record.

6. Tomas Fleischmann(notes) – Highly skilled, but his career’s in question due to blood-clot problems. It’s a big gamble for the team that signs him – and for his own well-being, too.

7. Sean Bergenheim

VANCOUVER – There was hope, of course, but it's tough to be an optimist in Vancouver when it's spring and you're a Canucks fan.

The franchise's playoff history hasn't been kind. Forty years of cruelty is one way the locals might describe it. The Canucks have been to two Stanley Cup finals, in 1982 when they were swept by the New York Islanders and in 1994 when they lost Game 7 in an epic battle with the New York Rangers (who fans can relate to long-term suffering). The Canucks have faced the Chicago Blackhawks in the past two postseasons, losing both times. The Canucks had a 3-0 series lead on Chicago last week, only to see the defending Stanley Cup champions reel off three straight victories to force a one-game, winner-take-all scenario on Tuesday night.

"Game 7 overtime, it doesn't get any better than that," says Roberto Luongo(notes), an Olympic hero in his current hometown one year ago but who proclaimed late Tuesday that "this one might be better than the Olympics."

Vancouver was

While the rest of the league focuses on the All-Star Game weekend in Carolina, here’s a look at the all-stars – and non-stars – on Canada’s six NHL teams.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

The All-Stars: Where to begin? The Canucks are cruising atop the Western Conference and look very much like a Stanley Cup hoister. The Sedin twins, obviously, for their two-headed prowess and continued ascension to the top of league’s scoring charts, deserve a double helping of stick taps. Ryan Kesler(notes), who’s joining the Sedins in Carolina at the All-Star Game, has elevated his game – and is making a claim as the game’s best two-way player. Roberto Luongo(notes) hasn’t lost in regulation time in nearly two months. He’s surrendered just one goal in nine of his past 16 starts, and just two goals in three other starts. Defenceman Alex Edler was having a career season before the back surgeon called. Now, he’s out indefinitely. Fortunately for Vancouver, Kevin Bieksa(notes), Dan Hamhuis(notes) and Christian Ehrhoff

After a 14-0-3 run, the Canucks finally lost in regulation time…The Canadiens played their 3,000th home game…Miikka Kiprusoff is fighting the puck in Calgary…The Senators snapped a six-game losing streak by scoring six times…The Maple Leafs win four in a row…Taylor Hall is scoring for the Oilers.

Here’s a look back at how the NHL’s Canadian teams have been faring – and a look ahead to what’s coming up.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

The week that was: For the first time in 18 games, the Canucks failed to gain at least one point when they were blanked 1-0 by the Rangers on Thursday. Backup goalie Cory Schneider(notes) turned in another solid performance, making 34 saves while registering his first loss in 11 outings this season. Vancouver trounced Edmonton 6-1 last Friday and nipped the Islanders 4-3 in a shootout on Tuesday, with a 5-4 overtime loss in Detroit on Saturday sandwiched in between. The Canucks are hitting on all cylinders and have been so good, you almost want to them to back off a bit

Fittingly, the Canucks and Canadiens are Canada’s flagship franchises in the NHL this season.

The brunt of the load has fallen on the Canucks as Montreal has stumbled in recent weeks, and Vancouver has responded to the challenge of carrying a country’s Stanley Cup hopes.

Here’s a look back at how the NHL’s six Canadian teams have been faring – and a look ahead to what’s coming up.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

Looking back: The Canucks are Canada’s lone feel-good NHL story at the moment, riding a seven-game winning streak and boasting an 11-0-1 mark in their past dozen contests. Vancouver is the only Canadian club securely holding down a playoff spot; for good measure, the Canucks are fighting it out with Detroit for first place in the Western Conference. In fact, Vancouver’s only loss in nearly a month was a 5-4 overtime defeat against the Wings on Dec. 22. What are the Canucks doing that’s working so well? Name an area of the game, and chances are Vancouver is excelling: goaltending, scoring,

The Good:

For Canadian hockey fans, there wasn't a more goodly moment in the past year – or in the past couple of decades, for that matter – than when Sidney Crosby(notes) screamed for the puck, got it, and whipped a low shot past goalie Ryan Miller(notes) last February. The goal, an overtime winner which delivered Olympic gold to Team Canada on home ice at the Vancouver Games – after the U.S.'s Zach Parise(notes) had tied the contest 2-2 in the final minute – immediately joined Paul Henderson's 1972 Summit Series winner and Mario Lemieux's 1987 Canada Cup clincher in the holy trinity hat trick of seminal Canadian tallies. Crosby hurled his stick and gloves high into the air, skated to the corner, turned and screamed again, his face a huge smile and his fists pumping, before being mobbed by joyous teammates. Behind him, a wall of hockey fans stood and roared, joined by millions of others from coast to coast. What a day, eh?

Crosby's joy turned to pain in the NHL playoffs, however, as

Hey, isn’t that Markus Naslund in Vancouver? And look, there’s Dion Phaneuf back in Calgary!

If only Wayne Gretzky would return to Edmonton, it’d be a hat trick for the ages.

Of course, Naslund was in Vancouver last weekend for a retirement ceremony, while Phaneuf skated in Calgary – and his hometown of Edmonton – as captain of the Leafs. As to be expected, the Canucks fans greeted Naslund much more warmly than the Flames supporters welcomed back Phaneuf.

Here’s a look at how the NHL’s Canadian teams fared last week – and a look ahead to what’s in store on the weekend.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

The Week That Was: It was like 1999 all over again in Vancouver on Saturday night, with Markus Naslund being feted by the fans and Mattias Ohlund back in the building. The Canucks raised Naslund’s No. 19 to the rafters before a game against Tampa Bay, featuring ex-Van blue liner Ohlund in Lightning colors. Naslund is just the third Canuck to be honored, joining Stan Smyl and Trevor Linden. (The retired