
Perhaps the only thing more difficult than winning the Stanley Cup is defending it.
It hasn't been done since 97/98.
There are a number of reasons why.
First, the rest of the teams in the league spend their entire seasons gunning for you.
Second, after winning the Cup most teams have significiant pieces of their team bolt for other cities in hopes of scoring a big pay day.
This leads to the third reason, which is that every other team in the league spends their offseason trying to improve their own team and fill in the holes they noticed during the previous season.
The Penguins are going to experience all of those things next year.
They are the champs and thus they have become the measuring stick.
Last year the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the defending champion Red Wings in their first game of the season.
The city celebrated the victory like it was 1967.
That's the way it will be every time someone upsets the Penguins next season.
However, the main difficultly in defending the Cup will be the moves made in the offseason.
Almost every team has added or subtracted from their roster in hopes of overthrowing the Pens next season.
Today we look at what teams in the Eastern Conference have done.
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