Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - Every season brings surprises and disappointments. Who would have expected the Montreal Canadiens to improve off their 90-point campaign in 2006-07 and finish with the most points in the Eastern Conference? Even captain Saku Koivu stated last September that Montreal was not going to be a Stanley Cup contender.

The East was a conference in transition last season as the three teams that finished 10th, 14th and 15th two years ago not only made the playoffs, but two of them - Montreal and Washington - earned home ice advantage in the first round. The other club (Philadelphia) improved from the worst record in the league to make it all the way to the Conference Finals!

The same cannot be said for the West as seven of the eight teams that reached the second season in '06-'07 made the playoffs once again last year. Still, it's interesting to note that only three squads attained the 100-point plateau after seven pocketed over 100 the year before.

The Red Wings, the regular season point leader with 115, won their first Stanley Cup in six years after knocking off Pittsburgh in six games. They are the prohibitive 10-3 favorite to become the first back-to-back winner since Scotty Bowman's Wings proved victorious in the '97 and '98 campaigns.

The other 29 teams will be hard-pressed to stop Detroit, especially with the addition of prized free agent, Marian Hossa. Since the Red Wings appear to be the class of the league, the best way to attack the upcoming season, in terms of wagering, is to concentrate on team point totals.

THE TWO BEST BETS

There are five teams to focus on, but the two with the best chance for success are Vancouver, at OVER 85.5 points, and Anaheim, also OVER the number of 100.5.

The Canucks finished last year losing seven of their final eight games, and their 88 points were 17 less than the previous season when they won the Northwest Division.

Two factors were responsible for the major decline. Roberto Luongo's mind was on more important things as the season moved into the latter stages and the defense was decimated by injuries all year long.

After 69 games, the Canucks were 35-24-10, good for 80 points. If one would prorate that total to a full 82-game schedule, they would have finished the season with 95 points, almost 10 more than the 85.5 total set for this year.

Looking at Luongo's numbers over his final 13 starts, it's easy to see he wasn't focusing on the game as he had throughout his entire career. The all- world goalie was about to become a father for the first time and the big day came on March 27. The NHL was an afterthought for Luongo, who went 4-9 with a 3.36 GAA and a .896 save percentage from March 12 through the end of the season.

Injuries to the backline were the other major factor that precluded Vancouver from making the playoffs. The defense was hit with the worst set of circumstances one could imagine, as only one of the original top six defensemen played more than 63 games, and the unit as a whole lost 174 man games to injury.

The Canucks return eight of their top 10 scorers from a year ago and Pavol Demitra and Steve Bernier should come close to, if not surpass, the 34-goal total that Markus Nasland and Brendan Morrison accounted for in 2007-08. Along with a healthier defense and a goalie free of off-the-ice concerns, look for the Canucks to finish first or second in the division en route to at least 95 points.

The other best bet is the Anaheim Ducks. There were a lot of reasons why the 2007 Stanley Cup champions corralled just 102 points last season, but the biggest problem - goal scoring - was rectified in early February when Teemu Selanne returned to the NHL. Anaheim was struggling along at 27-22-7 on February 3rd when the "Finnish Flash" came on board with 12 goals in the final 26 games propelling the Ducks to a 20-5-1 record to end the regular season.

Not only will Selanne be in town for the entire year, Scott Niedermayer is in tow from day one as well. And don't forget the Ducks had to venture out to Europe to begin last season coming off a short summer after winning the Cup. Look for Anaheim to easily surpass the 100-point total.

THE OTHER THREE

With the scheduling change in place for this season, look for most of the Western Conference teams to improve their point totals, as each club will play eight more games against the lowly Eastern Conference. Two other teams besides Vancouver and Anaheim who will benefit from the change are Phoenix and Edmonton.

In the past, the Coyotes had to square off 24 times against the Ducks, Sharks and Stars. That number drifts down to 18 this year as division rivals will meet just six times instead of eight. Those moves translate to six games (Carolina twice) against the dreadful Southeast Division as opposed to six against Anaheim, San Jose and Dallas. Quite a difference!

Those aren't the only reasons to be excited about Wayne Gretzky's club this season. Ilya Bryzgalov will be between the pipes all year long and the team netted 69 points in the final 65 games after obtaining Anaheim's backup goaltender, which prorates to an 87-point season.

It would be difficult to believe this club won't be able to manage a few more points since the offense will also be boosted with the additions of Olli Jokinen and rookies Kyle Turris and Mikkel Boedker.

The Coyotes ended the 2007-08 campaign with 83 points and even if they fail to improve, they'll still finish on the right side of the ledger since the OVER/UNDER number is set at 82.5.

The Oilers finished tied with the Canucks and Blackhawks for ninth place in the West with 88 points. If Mathieu Garon had been named the number one goalie earlier in the season, that number would have been in the 90s and good enough for the playoffs. However, Dwayne Roloson received the bulk of the action in the early going and ended the year with the worst goals against average (3.05) of all goalies with at least 33 starts.

The acquisitions of Erik Cole and Lubomir Visnovsky were two of the better moves any team had made over the summer. Cole will provide much needed toughness, along with speed, to the left side of Shawn Horcoff and Ales Hemsky, sending Dustin Penner to his rightful spot on the third line. The defense has also been revamped with the addition of Visnovsky, and don't forget, Sheldon Souray missed 56 games last year.

The number is a little high at 93.5 points but even the smallest of improvement, say six points, will send the Oilers to a total of 94 and the OVER.

The Montreal Canadiens are the lone Eastern Conference team to make the top five and the only one that leans to the UNDER. The number is set at 99.5, which is extremely high considering they have to play 18 games against the West after going just 3-5-2 in the 10 contests last year. Not to mention the fact that only two teams from the East reached the century mark in 2007-08 and that was with just 10 games versus teams outside the conference!

There are many other factors that could cause a major decline. The first of which could be the most important and that's pressure. Last season, no one expected Montreal to make the playoffs, let alone finish atop the East with 104 points.

In addition, only one of the eight 2006-07 Eastern Conference playoff teams ended last year with a higher point total than the year before, and with the changes in the schedule, that could very well be the case again this season.

Speaking of pressure, one has to wonder how Carey Price will handle himself in his first year as the number one goaltender. Cristobal Huet and his 21 wins are off to Chicago so this is now his team. Remember, the 21-year-old only played half the games in his first regular season and imploded in the playoffs. How will he hold up for the entire campaign?

Offensively, the Canadiens received stellar play from the likes of Alexei Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec, who finished one-two on the team in scoring. Will Kovalev score 35 goals again? Will Plekanec continue to improve or was his career-best 69 points a by-product of playing alongside a motivated Kovalev?

Montreal led the league in power play percentage two years ago at 22.8%. Most experts felt the team would struggle on the man advantage last season after the departure of Sheldon Souray, but Mark Streit picked up the pieces with 34 PP points and the Canadiens scored a league best 90 power play goals. Now those same folks are predicting them to once again lead the NHL in PP production. Unfortunately, Streit is now a member of the Islanders and there is no one around to replace him.

The Canadiens will drop at least 10 points in the standings this year as their 100th anniversary season will be a huge disappointment.