Teams who will improve team defense

[TOCanadafan]

So much of a goalie's stats are tied to a team's defensive play...which teams do you think are trending upwards in terms of their overall defensive team play due to a either a coaching change or personnel change? Which teams are going to trend down? Case in point - Rask's stats have fallen hard as Chara and the Bruins have trended downwards.

[PenguinHunter]

Minnesota team defense is going to change with a new coach (negatively)
Arizona should improve with all the youth getting older and brining in new faces on the defense corps (positive)

[rataylor22]

Calgary all around

[Sulla]

Another Calgary vote... I'm intrigued by people's thoughts on Dallas as there is going to be a lot of youth back there

i also like what Florida have done to their back end

[rataylor22]

Another Calgary vote... I'm intrigued by people's thoughts on Dallas as there is going to be a lot of youth back there

i also like what Florida have done to their back end

I think Dallas will probably break even.

[chuckcouples]

Minnesota team defense is going to change with a new coach (negatively)

Please explain your reasoning for this comment as I do not understand it at all.

What team led the NHL in goals against last season? What team was 2nd in goals against in 2014/15? Who coached those teams? Do you still think Minnesota is going to be worse off defensively with a new coaching staff?

To the OP: Minnesota is going to improve significantly defensively from last year and they were pretty good last year. Columbus is another team that will have a big improvement from last season.

[Eskimo Brother]

I agree with Columbus. Calgary on the back of Elliott. Edmonton and Talbot as well for me.

[stevegamer]

I think Colorado is trending up, because Roy isn't there.
I think Philadelphia is trending up, due to pipeline of defenders that are coming in, and the new coach.
Montreal should be better due to Price's return.

Anaheim is trending downward due to coaching change, and the fact that they have pretty much nowhere to go but down from top-2 results the last few years.
Dallas will probably have some issues with their young defenders and their poor goalies meshing well, since they've changed a lot.

I think Minnesota may have some hiccups to start the year, but they had a good defensive team last year, and added a great defensive coach. I don't think they can improve significantly over 206 goals allowed, but that they will end up around 5th overall, up from 7th last year. That is only giving up 3 less goals, though.

Standings by conference sorted by GA:

http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/NHL_2016.html