NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

The changes the Toronto Maple Leafs made in their front office, on their bench, and to their roster during the offseason made for interesting storylines and allowed for some fascinating discussion about the new way the team will go about its business on the ice and off it.

However, with the conversation now focused on putting those changes, including Toronto's obvious emphasis on analytics, to the test, old news is still hard to ignore.

The Maple Leafs have a new leader in president Brendan Shanahan, who made changes underneath general manager Dave Nonis and coach Randy Carlyle by appointing each new assistants, all because of how poorly last season ended.

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

Changes at the top of the organization, on the coaching staff, to the roster, and in the team's overall philosophy have highlighted a busy summer for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

However, to change the results on the ice the Maple Leafs will have to do almost a complete 180 from last season. They need to specifically be better in the following three areas:

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

Consistency in the NHL isn't always easy to pinpoint or maintain, but it can mean the difference between missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs and making it, between an early summer and one spent celebrating a championship.

For the past few seasons, the Carolina Hurricanes have been consistently inconsistent. Gaps in regular-season performance have translated into a five-season playoff drought and two consecutive 13th-place finishes in the Eastern Conference. Over one 12-game stretch from Dec. 20-Jan. 13 that can serve as a microcosm of Carolina's inconsistency, the Hurricanes lost five straight, then won five straight, then lost their next two games.

This offseason the Hurricanes, in search of that elusive consistency, overhauled their front office. Carolina replaced longtime general manager Jim Rutherford with Ron Francis. Shortly after, coach Kirk Muller was fired and Detroit Red Wings assistant Bill Peters was hired in his place.

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

After seeing their team miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past five seasons, Carolina Hurricanes fans will settle for no less than a return to the postseason in 2014-15.

Bill Peters, who enters his first season as an NHL coach after three spent assisting Mike Babcock and the Detroit Red Wings, is right there with them. Peters said a playoff appearance would require consistent effort, mental toughness and a will to win. Now it's up to Peters and his staff to infuse the Hurricanes, a team largely unchanged from the one which finished last season 13th in the Eastern Conference, with these qualities.

As training camp gives way to the regular season, here are three keys for the Hurricanes entering the season:

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

Despite setting career highs in games, wins and saves in his first season with the Toronto Maple Leafs after five with the Los Angeles Kings, goalie Jonathan Bernier knows how his 2013-14 campaign will mostly be remembered.

He struggled with injuries late in the season and Toronto lost 12 of its final 14 games to fall out of the race for a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"We've just got to learn from it, move on. I think as a group we'll be stronger with the way we ended our season," Bernier said. "I think I was a lot more tired at the beginning of the season. [In Los Angeles], I wasn't playing that many games. But it was really good to get back in that game mode."

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Justin Faulk is accustomed to strong starts and even stronger finishes.

In his first international appearance for the United States as an 18-year-old, Faulk scored the game-winning goal to give the Americans the gold medal at the 2010 IIHF U-18 World Championship.

A year later, as a freshman at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Faulk played a key role in the Bulldogs' run to their first NCAA championship. That summer, the Hurricanes, who had selected Faulk in the second round (No. 37) in the 2010 NHL Draft, signed him to a three-year entry-level contract. Again, Faulk announced himself immediately, scoring 22 points in 66 games in 2011-12.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen will attempt to play during the 2014-15 NHL season but admitted Thursday the chances of that happening are slim due to blood clots that were found in his lower right leg and in both lungs in early August.

"My desire is always I want to play but chance of me playing is really slim," Timonen said during a press conference at the Flyers' practice facility in Voorhees, N.J. "That's the fact. But I'm ready to wait for that chance and see how I feel."

PITTSBURGH -- Change is inevitable.

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi echoed those words inside their Consol Energy Center locker room Thursday. And it was a prevalent theme one day before the Penguins take the ice for their first practice of training camp.

The Mike Johnston era has begun in Pittsburgh. Most players don't seem to know what to expect from their new coach yet.

But each player recognized that change was warranted after the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, when the Penguins couldn't hold a 3-1 lead against the New York Rangers in their Eastern Conference Second Round series. In the aftermath, general manager Ray Shero was fired and replaced by Jim Rutherford. Rutherford fired coach Dan Bylsma and hired Johnston on June 25.

"It's going to take a bit to learn a new system and to understand the expectations of our coaching staff," forward Chris Kunitz said. "But I think we're all eager and excited to get into that process. … The one thing I keep hearing is the puck possession, kind of the analytics of the game and being able to hold onto the puck instead of giving it away. If you keep the puck your shots go up, and I think we have a team that can skate up and down the ice.

"We're going to be able to hopefully play into that system."

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

The New York Islanders know they have to be better than they were a season ago, when they lost 13 games in which they led by two goals en route to missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons.

Entering their final season at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, it's important the Islanders have some momentum heading into Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the 2015-16 season.

"The time's upon us," captain John Tavares said. "I'm looking forward to it. It's a new year and obviously we've got a lot to prove."

NHL.com continues its preview of the 2014-15 season, which will include in-depth looks at all 30 teams throughout September.

For more than four decades, the New York Islanders have called Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum home. The 2014-15 season will be their last at the outdated facility on Hempstead Turnpike; the Islanders will be moving into Barclays Center in Brooklyn next fall.

And that's just one of several changes on the horizon.

Team owner Charles Wang is in the process of entering into a new partnership. The Islanders announced Aug. 19 that a group led by former Washington Capitals co-owner Jon Ledecky and London-based investor Scott Malkin reached an agreement, subject to NHL approval, to purchase a substantial minority interest in the team. Under the terms of the agreement, Wang will continue as majority shareholder and governor of the Islanders, with the Ledecky/Malkin group transitioning to majority ownership in two years.