Losing Willie Mitchell is much bigger than what is stated here. Regehr and Greene are no longer good enough to bring what Mitchell did. Schultz is better than he gets credit for tho. The kings simply don't seem to care about winning the division, so they won't. All that matters to them is making the playoffs, then they become the most confident, and capable, team in the NHL.

Anaheim's goalies are going to be much better than people are anticipating. I wonder if the writers would rank the Ducks higher if they assumed Andersen/Gibson would have a good season rather than assuming they are question marks? Top ten defensive team in the league gets no love for that part of their game, which got better by taking a page from the kings and bringing in some better defensive forwards in Kesler and Thompson, plus a year of young guys hopefully improving. That offense tho!

San Jose is also going to better than people think. This team has dealt with the same issue every year for like a decade. Thornton and Marleau still haven't been traded and they still won't be bothered by it and they will still have good years. I guess people are expecting Demers to be great, but Dan Boyle is a big loss. I don't understand why Niemi is so underrated. In any case these are the three teams that push each other all season long. Unfortunately for Arizona and Western Canada, those teams are competing for the wild card spots and i don't see the Central giving them up. The playoffs will be more competitive in the West than last season, if you can believe it.
- sniper11

The way this started I couldn't see the benefit of finishing reading it. With that said, Anaheim should be good and will definitely challenge Kings and SJ for the Pacific. I think Kings will break the mold this year of having scoring issues, which should put them on top (as predicted by the analysts that all picked the Kings). Ducks winning wouldn't surprise me at all, Kings going another regular season not scoring goals would not surprise me either but I just dont see that being the case this upcoming season. Your post started with a hit to the Kings D depth...that's when I stopped reading. Mcnabb and Schultz will fill any void left by Mitchell who showed his age and lack of speed this past season. The NHL's best D will not be much different next year without WM.

edit: I ended up reading anyway.....Good post, I agree on Shultz he is underrated and could still be very effective.....if he gets motivated he could be an even replacement for WM.

Anaheim - great regular season team
LA - stanley cup hangover has them slow out of the gate
SJ - great individuals, many distractions
Arizona - DEFENCE and coaching
Edmonton - a step in the right direction
Calgary - the hardest working team in the division
Vancouver - has injuries, realizes a lack of depth, implodes and begins rebuild before trade deadline

The way this started I couldn't see the benefit of finishing reading it. With that said, Anaheim should be good and will definitely challenge Kings and SJ for the Pacific. I think Kings will break the mold this year of having scoring issues, which should put them on top (as predicted by the analysts that all picked the Kings). Ducks winning wouldn't surprise me at all, Kings going another regular season not scoring goals would not surprise me either but I just dont see that being the case this upcoming season. Your post started with a hit to the Kings D depth...that's when I stopped reading. Mcnabb and Schultz will fill any void left by Mitchell who showed his age and lack of speed this past season. The NHL's best D will not be much different next year without WM.

edit: I ended up reading anyway.....Good post, I agree on Shultz he is underrated and could still be very effective.....if he gets motivated he could be an even replacement for WM.
- dprice818

The Kings group of defensemen aren't the best in the league. Their team defense is tho. Outside of Doughty, who might min the Norris, the Kings have solid but not spectacular defensemen. Willie Mitchell was 2nd best defensively on the team. What sets them apart is the defensive play of their forwards, especially at center. Kopitar, Carter, Stoll, Richards, and Lewis is incredible two way depth down the middle. No two teams combined can even come close to that. Throw in the best goalie in the world and that's how you get the best defensive team in the league.

Losing selanne and koivu is going to hurt.
Ducks chemistry is also a question mark.
I still think they will win the division but won't go far in playoffs
- Shenanigans20

Losing Selanne and Koivu are big hits to the team in the locker room. On the ice, Anaheim has the skill and production to replace them easily. Disagree about the chemistry.

The Kings group of defensemen aren't the best in the league. Their team defense is tho. Outside of Doughty, who might min the Norris, the Kings have solid but not spectacular defensemen. Willie Mitchell was 2nd best defensively on the team. What sets them apart is the defensive play of their forwards, especially at center. Kopitar, Carter, Stoll, Richards, and Lewis is incredible two way depth down the middle. No two teams combined can even come close to that. Throw in the best goalie in the world and that's how you get the best defensive team in the league.
- sniper11

coming from a ducks fan I can understand you not wanting to give much credit. Every team has some bottom line experiments going with different skill levels on the roster. Kings are no different. The way the Kings pair their defenseman is effective and Kings have some young D talent to go along with a couple of strong defensive Dmen. Quick had an average year last year so he had little to do with Kings defensive effectiveness. I agree that our centers are very effective defensively, that is just a by product of the system. Its hard to try to say the Kings Dmen are weak when they did what they did last year.

Losing Selanne and Koivu are big hits to the team in the locker room. On the ice, Anaheim has the skill and production to replace them easily. Disagree about the chemistry.
- sniper11

Ducks are going to be even better this season. WCF prediction: Anaheim vs. Dallas rematch.

coming from a ducks fan I can understand you not wanting to give much credit. Every team has some bottom line experiments going with different skill levels on the roster. Kings are no different. The way the Kings pair their defenseman is effective and Kings have some young D talent to go along with a couple of strong defensive Dmen. Quick had an average year last year so he had little to do with Kings defensive effectiveness. I agree that our centers are very effective defensively, that is just a by product of the system. Its hard to try to say the Kings Dmen are weak when they did what they did last year.
- dprice818

What he said was pretty spot on though.

The King's defense is good because of the system in place and the players willingness to buy into the system, not because the players are the greatest.

I would rather have a team that maybe isnt the best top to bottom but plays the best within itself than a team with a few studs but no chemistry.

Shucks, I was really looking forward to your in-depth analysis...
- Nick_Dangles

YAY! A Fan. Here I thought I just wrote stuff to feel special.

Any one of LA, ana,or SJ could win the division. More likely LA or ana, IMO
- RobitailleFAN20

I agree ANA , la , SJ one of these three will win the Pacific .

Losing Selanne and Koivu are big hits to the team in the locker room. On the ice, Anaheim has the skill and production to replace them easily. Disagree about the chemistry.
- sniper11

With a young group there is always room for a question mark on chemistry.

What he said was pretty spot on though.

The King's defense is good because of the system in place and the players willingness to buy into the system, not because the players are the greatest.

I would rather have a team that maybe isnt the best top to bottom but plays the best within itself than a team with a few studs but no chemistry.
- StayTunedMTC

I agree I just can't handle criticism from ducks fans. Kings have DD and the rest are OK........they are not the best but they are D that play on the best D in the league........that should minimize the criticism as far as I'm concerned.

I agree I just can't handle criticism from ducks fans. Kings have DD and the rest are OK........they are not the best but they are D that play on the best D in the league........that should minimize the criticism as far as I'm concerned.
- dprice818

Lol.

What kings fan likes criticism from a duck fan?

Not me. I think they need to worry more about their young goalie tandem than worry about a championship defense.

The Kings group of defensemen aren't the best in the league. Their team defense is tho. Outside of Doughty, who might min the Norris, the Kings have solid but not spectacular defensemen. Willie Mitchell was 2nd best defensively on the team. What sets them apart is the defensive play of their forwards, especially at center. Kopitar, Carter, Stoll, Richards, and Lewis is incredible two way depth down the middle. No two teams combined can even come close to that. Throw in the best goalie in the world and that's how you get the best defensive team in the league.
- sniper11

Willie Mitchell was the 2nd best defenseman on the team in 2012, but his play went way downhill after he came back from his season-long injury. He was solid, but he was nowhere near the defensive workhorse he was from 2 years ago. His play is only going to further deteriorate as he gets older, and the play of the younger guys (Martinez, Muzzin, Voynov, McNabb) is only going to improve. Excepting McNabb, who is still pretty green, any of those guys is a better defensive option than Mitchell at this point of his career.

I think the Pac teams will finish exactly where they did last season. No changes.

I see Anaheim Winning this division.

Anaheim
LA
SJ
Arizona
Edmonton
Vancouver
Calgary

Anaheim. Already solid added Kesler. Line combos out the azz. D is still a bit weak compared to many other powerhouses. I see a strong regular season and they once again challenge in the playoffs.

LA. Cup Champs 2 out of last 3 years. Complete team will push Anaheim for 1st. Still have same roster minus Mitchell. Young players coming up like Forbort etc will help. Their D is still solid...Observe:
Muzzin Doughty
Regehr Voynov
Martinez Greene

Forwards are pimped out we all know that. Wouldn't be surprised to see LA finish first.

SJ. If there ever was a team in transition it is this one. Aging vets in Thornton and Marleau. Leadership is at question. Should not give up a 3-0 series lead even if it is to the Kings. NO EXCUSE!! So they will gradually drop. The young guns like Pavelski Couture Vlasic Burns Hertl will emerge to lead this team but I think it'll take some time. Still good enough to take 3rd.

Arizona. Always a bubble team. I see the same this year. No et much has changed. Won't score enough goals to over take SJ. Good team D and solid goaltending.

Edmonton. Might think I'm crazy here but they can start to emerge in the playoffs conversation. Added goaltending which absolutely destroyed them last year. Scrivens and Fasth can help stop the bleeding. Adding depth F like Pouliot and Purcell will help the young guns. Draisaitl will make the team and perform. Might see improvements from Yakupov. Over all team plays better in front of better G and improved D. Fayne and Nikitin will help. Two stay at home physical D. Just what the GM ordered. Expect Schultz to breakout. I see a better PP with him and a better PK with the vets. It will be fun.

Vancouver. In dire need of a rebuild. Miller will help but they won't score enough goals IMO. Adding Vrbata might help a bit. Still no 2nd line scoring yet. Bonino put up points on the 2nd best team in the League. Some of that attributed to the Getzlaf Perry line and the PP unit. Big question mark with him. Some young guns in Horvat and a few others but I still see them well on the outside. Virtanen goes back to the Hitmen like he should. This team is retooling / in transition etc. Maybe next year. Another top end pick will help them to get better over the next few years. Jim Benning will eventually ice a competitive team. He ran the Draft for many years in Buffalo and Boston.

Calgary. Won't score near enough goals. Good D. Good G. Very few F. Question mark for Gaudreau. Is he big enough? Does Bennett go back to junior? Lost Cammelleri's goals and didn't replace them. I like where the team will go under Burke. Rebuild! Rebuild! Rebuild!