Pacific Division Preview

Over the next four days we will break down each division in the NHL, team by team. More importantly we will give you the power rankings for these divisions. You will know who is going to surprise and who will be looking at a lottery pick.

We will start in the Pacific Division. As always, the Pacific is top heavy and there is no doubt who the consensus number one seed will be. However, there may be some surprises as to the rise and fall of the veteran teams.

8. Las Vegas Golden Knights

This is going to be an extremely hard team to predict as the season goes. On paper they are much better off than previous expansion teams. This is thanks to the league’s strict rules on who each team could and could not protect. You have to be impressed with their veterans that will fill their top two lines. James Neal, David Perron, Reilly Smith and Jon Marchessault all give serious scoring prowess to what was expected to be a depleted lineup. On the back end they have Jason Garrison, Luca Sbisa and Nate Schmidt to give them some balance in their lineup. Fans have to be especially pleased with their goaltending. Marc-Andre Fleury is an incredibly lucky find for an expansion team. He alone can steal a lot of games for this team. The big and obvious concern is depth. Their third and fourth lines will be woefully bad. That is going to cost this team a lot of games. Also, you have to be worried about chemistry. This will be the first time most of these players will have ever played together. It can take years for players to gel and figure each other out. My expectation is the Knights are aiming for the top pick in the draft. It is fairly obvious when you look at all the draft picks they traded for and players they selected in expansion, this team has no interest in being competitive today. They plan to tank for high picks to be ultra competitive in a few years. Expect this team to make a lot of moves as the season goes.

7. Arizona Coyotes

No surprise here. The Coyotes finish near the bottom of the division nearly every season. However, they never seem lucky enough to land the top pick in the draft. Arizona did make some offseason moves of note. Adding Derek Stepan gives them a legitimate center and Nik Hjalmarsson is an excellent top four defensemen. They also have some nice young players returning in Anthony Duclair, Max Domi and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Ekman-Larsson would be a star player in any other organization. I also am very excited to see what Dylan Strome can do at the NHL level. He was the third overall pick behind Conner McDavid and Jack Eichel. The problem in Arizona is the same as it ever was. They do not have enough depth or scoring. An even bigger problem is they lost Mike Smith in goal and replaced him with Antti Raanta.You would be hard pressed to find anyone that thinks the Coyotes have a legitimate shot at making the playoffs.


6. Vancouver Canucks

This team is in full-on rebuild mode. There is not much high end talent to give them hope for a successful season. The Sedin twins best days are far behind them. Alex Edler and Loui Eriksson are good players, but they need great players around them to be truly successful. Goaltending may be the team’s biggest concern. Between Jacob Markstrom and Anders Nilsson they do not have a worthwhile starting goalie. The lone bright spot for the Canucks is that they were able to re-sign Bo Horvat to a long term contract before the season. He is the team’s future. This team is stuck in one of those bad positions where they are being loyal to veterans that can no longer help them win, but do not have the quality prospects to replace them with. The Canucks are in the very early stages of what will be a long challenging rebuild.

5. Los Angeles Kings

If coached right, the Kings can be a very competitive team. Many of the key pieces from their recent Stanley Cups are still there. If Jonathan Quick bounces back to all-star form, they could definitely find themselves in the playoffs. However, they are still buried in bad contracts like Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Marian Gaborik. That keeps them from being able to add necessary depth. The upside to returning veterans is Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter give them enough scoring to compete. The Kings are talented enough to be competitive, but not deep enough to be great. Great coaching could make them a serious player in the Pacific Division.

4. San Jose Sharks

It is hard to believe this team is just one season removed from being in the Stanley Cup finals. Losing Patrick Marleau this offseason shows that the Sharks window is closed. They are still talented and deep enough to be a lock for the playoffs. This is Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture’s team now. Martin Jones is still a good goalie and the depth in San Jose is very strong. Unfortunately for the Sharks they happen to play in a tough division. They simply to do not have enough high-end talent to keep up with the great teams at the top of the division. I do not expect the Sharks to be in the playoffs. Expect the Central Division to take both wild card spots.

3. Calgary Flames

The Flames are expected to take a big step forward this year. They gained playoff experience last season and added some much needed veteran assistance to the young lineup. Young players like Gaudreau, Monohan, Bennett and Tkachuk are the first thing you think of, but this team’s defense is what will make them special. This is a big, strong and deep defensive group. Mark Giordano and Doug Hamilton are the anchors, but Travis Hamonic may have been the most impactful addition of any team’s offseason. They also made a move to improve last season’s poor goaltending, by signing Mike Smith. The combo of great young talent and new veterans could give Calgary enough of a boost to compete for the top spot in the division.

2. Anaheim Ducks

It is odd going into a season where the defending division winner and Western Conference finalist is somewhat of an afterthought. The Ducks have been one of the league’s best teams for over a decade. So their window to win may be closing soon. They need to capitalize now. The are as strong down the middle as anyone. Getzlaf and Kesler create a matchup nightmare for any team.  When you add in players like Perry, Rakell, Eaves and Silfverberg they can score with the best teams in the league. Their concerns start in the opposite zone. They have great offensive defensemen, but they are each a liability in their own end. Vatanen, Fowler and Lindholm are all great with the puck on their stick, but are ineffective in winning defensive battles. Another enormous concern is how Jon Gibson will hold up in net. He has been very up and down in his career. He was good enough last year to win two playoff rounds, but will that be the case in 2018? The Ducks are a Stanley Cup contender and they need capitalize on that fact this season. Expect Anaheim to be active in the trade market.

1. Edmonton Oilers

The oh so popular pick to win the Stanley Cup. Everyone is excited to see what McDavid and company can do coming off their surprise success last season. I am excited too. They have a great young team and McDavid is coming off an MVP season. There are not many holes on this team either. They have solid defensemen and depth players combined with their high end offensive skill. However, a couple pieces for concern are goaltending and experience. Cam Talbot did a fine job in goal last season, but do not forget he is a 30 year old goaltender without much of a track record. He is not going to be better than what he was. Also, they made it to the second round of the playoffs, but still do not have a ton playoff experience as a team. I am a big believer in teams learning what it takes to win in the playoffs versus the regular season. I could see the Oilers winning the Stanley Cup or just as easily eliminated in the first round.