It's not exactly New Year's Eve.
But it's close.
Excitement and anticipation are palpable in the cities of the NHL's 32 teams—or at least in most of them—as the league counts down into mid-September and training camps begin to open.
Preseason games will commence Sept. 25, and the slate of 1,312 regular-season games will begin with faceoffs in Tampa Bay and Las Vegas on Oct. 12.
Not surprisingly, zeal for the imminent arrival of sticks and pucks has spread to the B/R hockey writing types, who got together again to cast ballots for the preseason's inaugural power rankings.