We're in the dog days of the summer. Movement around the league is almost non-existent and training camps aren't just around the corner.
…‹At this point, league activity has essentially whittled down to re-signing restricted free agents…‹ and eyeing potential PTO candidates for September.
With that in mind, I figured now would be the perfect time to look at the changes each Pacific Division team has made and take stock of where they're at.
We'll start with the reigning division champs, Calgary, and work our way down to the bottom-feeding Los Angeles Kings.
Calgary Flames …‹The Flames haven't made a ton of changes this summer, which is probably a good thing. As disappointing as the playoffs were, the Flames piled up goals in bunches all year long while playing some of the best defensive hockey we saw in the league. Blowing things up would be a mistake.
I think Cam Talbot is an upgrade on Mike Smith. At the very least, I imagine he can post a save percentage *above* .900; something Smith failed to do a year ago. Whether you prefer Milan Lucic or James Neal, I think most would agree that swap is rather inconsequential. Neal wasn't going to be a key contributor in Calgary, and the same can likely be said about Lucic.
While the Flames may have to ship out a body to make room for Matthew Tkachuk's lucrative extension, the roster now will very closely resemble the one we see in October. The Flames should be a playoff team, and fight for home ice, once again.
San Jose Sharks The Sharks were in the mix to win the division until the final week of the season. I'm not sure that will be the case again in 2019-20. They lost a couple top-6 forwards in Joe Pavelski and Gustav Nyquist, an underrated middle-6er in Joonas Donskoi, and veteran defender Justin Braun without really adding anything.
Timo Meier (16:58 aTOI) and Kevin Labanc (14:01 aTOI) should see more opportunity and I believe they can handle it. Meier especially. With that said, their bottom-6 is going to be a lot less potent.
If Martin Jones isn't noticeably better, I think San Jose will be a peg or two below Calgary and Vegas.
Vegas Golden Knights Even without Nikita Gusev joining the mix, I think the Golden Knights are going to have one of the better top-9 groupings in the league. Having a full season of Mark Stone will make a massive difference, and (likely) getting healthier years from Max Pacioretty and Paul Stastny should help as well. The defense is competent, Marc-Andre Fleury is solid, and they are an extremely well coached team. I think they can contend for the division.
Arizona Coyotes Last season Clayton Keller led the way in points with 47 and nobody on the team potted 20 goals. The offense was clearly an issue. Arizona made several moves to try and address their lack of scoring, acquiring Phil Kessel from Pittsburgh and Carl Soderberg from Colorado. While Kessel is no longer in his prime, he is coming off an 82 point campaign. Soderberg quietly put up 23 goals and 49 points with the Avalanche. They should make a difference, as will getting more than 17 games from Nick Schmaltz.
Though they lost a few useful forwards in Alex Galchenyuk, Richard Panik and Nick Cousins, I think it's fair to say the Coyotes' forward lines look a lot more potent now than they did a few months ago.
This team should be in the mix for a playoff spot.
Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning has been as active as anyone this off-season. He signed Tyler Myers and Micheal Ferland in free agency. I think the former is overrated, and overpaid, but the latter was a sneaky good addition. J.T. Miller will really help the top-6, although I don't love the price paid to get him. Jordie Benn and Oscar Fantenberg are solid depth additions on defense, and Quinn Hughes will infuse some much needed game breaking ability back there.
There's no doubt the Canucks have improved. Whether they improved *enough* is the question because the financial flexibility to make further moves is gone. To me, this is a bubble team.
Anaheim Ducks Rickard Rakell, Ondrej Kase, Hampus Lindholm, Josh Manson, and John Gibson are all really good, and underrated, players in the prime of their careers. Ryan Getzlaf, Jakob Silfverberg, and Adam Henrique are still useful pieces. There is some talent on this team, and things should go better under Dallas Eakins than Randy Carlyle.
I think this team will be more competitive (aka not get outshot by 30 every night and rely entirely on John Gibson and Ryan Miller to steal wins) but I don't see them seriously contending for a playoff spot unless youngsters like Sam Steel, Troy Terry, and Daniel Sprong take big steps forward. I think this will be another transition year.
Edmonton Oilers This team drives me nuts and I have nothing invested in them. I couldn't imagine being a diehard fan. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are elite, elite, players capable of driving positive results every night. Unfortunately, most of the roster is more likely to erase the positive impacts those two make rather than build on it. That will likely be the case again with Zack Kassian, James Neal, and Alex Chiasson projected to play top-6 roles this season, and a Mike Smith-Mikko Koskinen tandem in goal.
Among 34 goaltenders to log 1,750+ minutes at 5v5 last season, Koskinen ranked 26th in save percentage and Smith ranked 31st.
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) July 28, 2019
Unless something changes in the coming weeks/months, I think the Oilers are going to waste another year of McDavid, Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Los Angeles Kings This team was a disaster a year ago and I expect more of the same this season. Why? All of their problems remain. Joakim Ryan was their big off-season addition. No, seriously. I think the Kings are accepting a full blown rebuild here, and I think that's the right path to take. Barring Jeff Carter, Ilya Kovalchuk, Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick and co. hitting a fountain of youth, this team is a decent bet to finish last in the division again. Recent posts: