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Ahhh, after a long hot summer, the NHL is back as the regular season drops the puck tonight… finally! We did the Eastern Conference yesterday, now let’s take a look at the Western Conference, starting with the Pacific Division and keeping the Right Track / Scratching My Head format…
The Pacific Division saw all three California teams take the guaranteed playoff spots last season and I am not sure that will happen again as the Pacific seems to be the division most ripe for some wholesale changes as some real questions surround all three of these teams. How does an older team like San Jose recover from a short offseason? Can Martin Jones consistently perform like last season? Because they haven’t really made any impact adds, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Sharks miss the playoffs as the rest of the division may be better
Right track teams in the Pacific? Edmonton, Calgary and Arizona. All three young teams, all three with plenty of potential. I rank Calgary ahead of Edmonton simply from an experience perspective, especially in goal but the Oilers are going to reap the benefits of losing for so long. I still have questions about Edmonton’s defense, but they will contend for the playoffs. Arizona is a little further away than the two Canadian teams, but not much and if a few things break well for them, they may be in the mix as well.
Scratching my head at Anaheim, Los Angeles and Vancouver. The coaching “change” in Anaheim has all the potential of blowing up that team as the return of Randy Carlisle may cause a catastrophic culture shock after Bruce Boudreau… they have some serious cap issues and (as of this writing) two critical unsigned RFA’s in Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell. Los Angeles changed captains, lost Marian Gaborik and have a lot of young players with a coach that traditionally doesn’t like playing them and Vancouver hasn’t figured out where their goals are going to come from to make up for a defense that was rather porous last season, the addition of Eric Gudbranson helps, but he can’t play 45 minutes a night.
Turning to the Central Division, five teams made the playoffs last season and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if five make it again… unless Edmonton sneaks up in the wild card race (a distinct possibility.) Dallas won the division, both St. Louis and Chicago finished with 100+ points. It is my belief this division is wide open and one of four teams could win it. I also think I need to add a third category to my analysis of Right Track / Scratching My Head… Floating teams.
Floaters in the Central… these are teams that did not dramatically improve or degrade over the offseason. Dallas and Chicago matches this category. Dallas will be an excellent regular season team again, but they did nothing to address the flaws that were exposed in the playoffs… defense and goaltending. The two goalie system just never seems to work and Dan Hamhuis will help replace Alex Gologoski, but who replaces Jason Demers and Kris Russell? Chicago is Chicago… that puts them in the mix automatically, but they are depending on a lot of youth. That being said, any team with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane cannot be discounted.
Right Track teams in the Central, Winnipeg and Nashville. Winnipeg finally ripped the band-aid off and waived long time goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, casting their lot with Michael Hutchinson and Connor Hellebuyck, a move that was a year overdue for the Jets. They are also stacked with good young talent including Calder candidate Patrick Laine. The only thing that may get in the Jets way is inexperience and a very tough Central Division. Nashville, coming off the deepest playoff run in their history made a shocking move in trading captain Shea Weber to Montreal for PK Subban. A move that should pay off handsomely as Subban was made for Peter Laviolette’s system. Adding some veteran depth to the blueline in Matt Carle and Yannick Weber also helps this team and for the first time in franchise history, the words “offensive depth” is being bandied about. Nashville could be a favorite in the Central and is being mentioned in a lot of predictions as a Cup contender, even a cup finalist.
Scratching my head on St. Louis, Colorado and Minnesota. The Blues acquisition of Nail Yakopov may reduce my head scratching a little, but the loss of David Backes, Brian Elliott and Troy Brower will hurt. Is Jake Allen up to handling the number 1 role? And how does the “coach in waiting” situation play out. Something isn’t right in St. Louis. The Minnesota Wild jumped at the chance to correct their playoff performances by hiring… Bruce Boudreau? This is a team with talent that may improve during the regular season, but this is a team that will be judged by playoff performance. Which brings us to the Colorado Avalanche, a late offseason coaching change combined with no adds to a team that finished 6th in the division… this is a team that always seems to refuse to address their needs… that didn’t change in the offseason.
So… who make the playoffs in the Western Conference? I’m calling Anaheim, Calgary and LA in the Pacific. Nashville, Dallas and Chicago in the Central. The wild cards? Minnesota and Edmonton.
That’s right, my bold prediction is that St. Louis misses the playoffs. Let’s get it on!!!
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Random Notes
- Countdown to hockey… 2 days to Predators season opener.
- The Preds spent quite a bit of time working on 3-on-3 in their first practice with the opening night roster.
- The official on-ice leadership team has been announced, Mike Fisher’s captaincy was previously announced, the A’s go to Roman Josi and James Neal.
- Peter Laviolette has made a point of saying that sending Austin Watson to Milwaukee was simply a matter of making sure he gets playing time and indicating he may be a first call up when needed.
- Tonight’s NHL Schedule – Four games on the schedule, all times Central – TOR @ OTT 6pm, STL @ CHI 7pm (NBCSN), CGY @ EDM 9pm, LAK @ SJS 9:30pm (NBCSN)
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