Adam Proteau: Pre-season picks: Pacific Division Columnist Adam Proteau continues compiling his predictions for the upcoming NHL regular season by focusing on the newly-expanded Pacific Division.

5. Los Angeles Kings



Deletions: Paul Postma, D; Drew Stafford, LW; Chris Thorburn, RW; Mark Stuart, D; Darryl Sutter, head coach; Dean Lombardi, GM

wow, such an exodus of players off the roster...that were never there.

The Oil will finish 1st and the Flames will wild card it in

If Smith can stand on his head Calgary has a good chance.

Pretty similar to how I see it.

1. Anaheim
2. Edmonton
3. Calgary
4. LA
5. San Jose
6. Arizona
7. Vegas
8. Vancouver

I all honesty, I can see either one of the Albertan teams finishing 2nd or 3rd, and the same goes for San Jose and LA in the 4/5 spot. As far as the bottom 3 go, whatever order they finish in wouldn't surprise me much, but I do think that this is the year that Vancouver hits rock bottom.

The Oil will finish 1st and the Flames will wild card it in
- darylfletcher

Yes the Oil have an amazing forward group. But after their first pairing their D is suspect (at least till Sekera is back, and if he can come backk 100% from injury). But D doesn't win championships so you have nothing to worry about.

Anyways I think it comes down to if Talbot can keep up his amazing play. If so you you are probably correct. But asking the guy to play 72 games a season is not a recipe for success. Neither is Mike Smith!

Obviously this is just personal opinion and it depends on a lot of things as do any predictions, but all things being equal and teams being healthy - I would look for Arizona to surpass LA and probably challenge the Sharks and maybe even the Flames in the Pacific. Wouldn't surprise me if Vancouver is challenging for a wildcard spot either. They have so many young players with "potential" it really is a guessing game on how it pans out. There's still room for additions, PTO's, and trades that will no doubt muddy things up moving forward

Smith can be awful with that defence in front of him. The only thing I worry about is the Offence can we score enough. I mostly agree with you Adam switch Flames and OIlers. Great job as usual my friend.

About how I see it.

I think any one of Anaheim, Calgary, and Edmonton can claim the Division, and they'll be slugging it out against each other for top spot all year. Beyond that, I can see Arizona challenging the Kings for 5th, and I fully expect Vancouver to be the last team in the Division again.