by Kelly Monteith

Created on: July 20, 2010   Last Updated: July 21, 2010

With a little more than a month since the Chicago Blackhawks raised the Stanley Cup, and free agency in full swing, teams are doing their best to make a return appearance to the playoffs for the 2010-2011 season.

Chicago should be the odds-on favorite to repeat, however the same was said about the Penguins, who were eliminated in the second round.It has been difficult for a team to repeat; the excitement of winning, a short summer and then a long 82 game schedule, and to top it off, the salary cap, where general managers try to move players and their salaries in attempts to sign another player whom they believe will help their team.

Although they are not alone, the Hawks are guilty of such a move, even before the final game of the playoffs was played, rumours of moving several players made news.Players come and go, that's a part of hockey, but can you imagine standing on stage with your teammates at the NHL Awards as the news of three of teammates have been traded, it no doubt puts a dampers on the ceremonies. All done for cheaper, younger talent, with the hope they can make it to the playoffs.

The question everyone has on their lips will be who will return, Pittsburgh, Detroit have reserved their place, having a full summer to recuperate, but what about Washington, a team who won the President's Trophy, as the team with the most points at season's end, only to be shocked by the Montreal Canadiens.Letting G Jose Theodore go, and signing two fairly young goalies with some experience may not work well, especially if scoring becomes problematic, Ovechkin and company will have a ton of pressure on their shoulders if they do not make another playoff appearance.

Montreal maybe another team with questions to be answered, after all when you trade the goalie who did everything to get you deep into the playoffs, and you believe in our other goalie Carey Price, Jaroslav Halak maybe the player who can get the St.Louis Blues back to the playoffs, while disgruntled Habs fans will have to hope Price can display the same kind of magic as Halak did, otherwise he may find himself out of Montreal.

Goaltending was a key component to win the Stanley Cup, where high-priced players somehow could not do the job.Chicago's Christobal Huet was one of the players, which would not been the issue, the issue was he could not stop a beach ball, enter Antti Niemi, who had some shaky games, but when it counted, was the reason the Blackhawks won the cup.

Philadelphia Flyers have had their goaltending issue since  the retirement of Bernie Parent, and yet they thought they had found their man.Ray Emery has had a reputation for being difficult, so eyebrows were raised when Emery signed a one year contract.Emery also had hip problems, and with surgery on the horizon, his year was done.Michael Leighton was placed on waivers by Carolina, and was picked up by  the Flyers.

He proved his weight in gold, and along with backup Brian Boucher were instrumental in pushing the Flyers through the playoffs, now both Niemi and Leighton have signed new contracts with their respective teams, and many are wondering if last spring performance was for real, can they carry that magic deep into the season.

New Jersey Devils, Bufffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins all ending their playoff run early, and there should be no excuses for the 2010-11 season, for if fans see the littlest hint of failure, these teams will continue to see short playoff runs.

There could be some surprises for this season; Phoenix, Colorado and L.A. can only improve, with something extra, and with anything possible the 2011 Stanley Cup odds maybe harder to predict than ever.    

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