The Arizona Coyotes are set to be a playoff contender for the first time in ages.
By adding Michal Grabner, Alex Galchenyuk and Vinnie Hinostroza to an already deep lineup, the Coyotes are hoping to find success with a roster that features a lot of quality players, but few high-end ones.
Still, there is something to be said for being one of the few rosters in the entire league that doesn't feature any dead weight.
The Coyotes will look to Antti Raanta to lead them to the playoffs for the first time in the post Shane Doan era.
One thing that stands in the way of the Coyotes and their playoff dreams is the fact that the NHL's Pacific Division may be the best one in hockey.
The Las Angeles Kings are always going to be at least somewhat decent with a Kopitar, Quick, Doughty and Carter core.
The San Jose Sharks and their stacked if it was 2012 roster may look vulnerable, but they've got a surprising amount of young talent (considering they've been good for so long) and there's no reason to count them out until they make you.
The Knights went on a ridiculous run that was based on a player whose former team paid to get rid of him becoming the best goalie in the NHL for a spell. Still, they got a sweetheart deal of an expansion draft and it would be a mistake to count them as a total fluke. They may be even-money to make the playoffs, but they'll still be a challenging opponent who could finish anywhere from 4th to 24th overall.
The Flames and the Oilers are were it gets interesting. People will most likely over rate the bad luck each team encountered last year when considering their fortunes for this season. However, the Oilers have McDavid, Draisaitl and Klefbom. They're going to be fine.
The Flames look to be a goalie short of having one of the best rosters in hockey, I love what they've done in the offseason and with another year of improvement for Gaudreau, Monohan, Tkachuk and Bennet they are going to be awesome.
The Ducks remain an enigma: how can any team with Randy Carlyle in charge be even reasonably functional? Who knows!
With their defense and having one of the NHL's best goalies make them a contender, even if their forwards are not the best. The Ducks, just have to score a little bit and they're golden.
The last team is the Canucks and while I think they will probably be terrible, you never know. They Brock Boeser is a superstar about to happen, and Bo Horvat, Elias Peterson and Jack Virtanen make for a great young forward group. They also happen to have extremely competent players like Chris Tanev, Loui Erikson and Sam Gagner.
Their GM keeps making terrible decisions, but they've got some young talent and some decent depth players, so if they get a little luck they might be a surprise team.
The Pacific may not have the NHL's best teams - Toronto , Winnipeg, Nashville - but it does have more really good teams and less really bad teams than either of the other three divisions.
Guessing how eight more or less evenly matched teams are going to finish is a fool's errand, but I will still do it:
1. Edmonton
2. Calgary
3. Arizona
4. Vancouver
5. Los Angeles
6. Las Vegas
7. San Jose
8. Anaheim
One thing we know is that the Oilers are going to be a very good team despite their horrnendous general manager. They just can't help it. At a certain point, having McDavid, Draisaitle, Klefbom, Nurse, RNH, Yamamota and Puljujarvi is going to pay off.
So, to sum up: Best division in hockey, Oilers are going to win it, but the Coyotes will finish third.
Washington Capitals Blogger • 
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