Written by: Kip
The Pacific Division has always been an interesting division. It has superstars like McDavid, Brent Burns, and Gaudreau, but the division rarely sees the cup. You have mangled teams, and cup winning teams, but you can never really tell what the division will end up looking like by June.
Edmonton Oilers
To absolutely no one’s surprise, the Edmonton Oilers are suffering. This summer, they traded away Lucic for Neal, which I suppose makes sense in theory and with the way the league is trending, but it makes me wonder whether we should expect heavier hits on McDavid. And then there’s that whole thing with Jesse Puljujärvi. Markus Lehto, his agent, says “If [Puljujärvi] doesn’t get traded, he will play in Europe next year. He will not play for Edmonton.” Oilers brass says that they don’t trade players just because they want to be traded, so it looks like Jesse will stay in Europe for the time being. On the bright side, McDavid does seems to be recovering from his end of season injury just fine, even if he did look absolutely miserable at minigolf. Speaking of their last season, I don’t expect a change. Even if you have two 100+ point scorers on your team, that’s not how you win a cup. I mean, look at the Blues. The biggest names on that team were O’Reilly and Binnington, they literally have zero 100 point scorers (or anyone who scored more than 77 points), but they still finished the season as victors. As much as it pains me to say it, I don’t think there’s any way Connor McDavid finishes this season with a cup, even if he finished the 2019-20 season with more points than last season. But hey, I’d love to be wrong!
Anaheim Ducks
Honestly, I have nothing against the ducks. They’re a little boring, but I respect them. They drafted Trevor Zegras this summer.. Zegras has a lot of potential and I’d love to see them start to form their team around bringing in young talent and supporting Zegras once he gets to the NHL, even though he’s not a number one draft pick. I don’t think their 2019-20 season will be remarkable, but hopefully this season sets them on the track for reforming their team.
San Jose Sharks
So uh. Joe Pavelski’s gone. To the stars, too! Although I read the rumors, I can’t say I was expecting it. They also traded away Joonas Donskoi, who I can’t say I’ve ever heard of before, but—it is a trade. I’m cautiously excited for their season, even without Marleau and Pavelski, and even more curious about who their captain will be. If I had to choose right now, either Burns or Thornton (given he re-signs), but It would also be interesting to see Karlsson as captain. In any other division, I would think that the sharks have it in them to make a deeper cup run this year, but when up against teams in the Western Conference, like the Flames, Avalanche, and Stars, I don’t think they’ll make it very far.
Calgary Flames
I guess the real question for the flames is–where do you go from here? Where do you go (or even start) knowing that you were one of the top scoring teams in the NHL last season but lost in 5 games to a wild card? The Flames began to answer this question by trading Neal for Lucic, which I can’t imagine does much for them. Matthew Tkachuk still hasn’t signed, but a lot of RFA’s are holding out this year. I think the Flames will be re-working their long-term strategy and hopefully planning more for the playoffs, which will probably result in them dropping in the rankings a little bit. Despite the hit their points might take, I still believe that the Flames have a good chance to be one of the top teams in the league this season.
Vancouver Canucks
They have a calder winner! In case you missed it, Pettersson won the Calder earlier this summer. I’m honestly really excited to see what the Canucks do this year. I mean, they’ve got Boeser (assuming he re-signs and is uninjured), Pettersson (rookie of the year!), Hughes, and now Benn. They still need a captain, and as much as everyone thinks it should be Horvat, I’m not sure they’ll name one this season. I think the combination of stronger players on their blue line, as well as the strong presence of Boeser and Pettersson will turn out to be great this season. However, I still don’t think they’ll make it into the playoffs. It’s a little like the Oilers, if I’m being honest? They have some big-name players, but the rest of the team seems mediocre. I mean, prove me wrong, I’d love to see Elias Pettersson with the cup.
Los Angeles Kings
As far as I know, the Kings haven’t made any remarkable trades this summer, and I’m wondering where they plan on going from here. They won a cup in 2014, and I really do believe that after that Blues win, anything could happen. I don’t actually think this will happen, but it’d be fun to see the Kings in the playoffs (especially if they brought back the yellow and purple jerseys).
Vegas Golden Knights
Karlsson re-signed! Expansion teams are always fun to talk about, especially with a team like Vegas, which took discarded players like Karlsson, Fleury, and Marchessault, and turned them into a franchise. And that’s definitely one of the reasons I’m happy to see Karlsson re-sign. He really made Vegas into a home. Speaking of homes, Bellemare is going to need a new one, because he signed with the Colorado Avalanche. Honestly, I don’t have much to say about the move beyond that Vegas is losing one of it’s community members—I know the fans loved Bellemare. In terms of season predictions, I don’t think Vegas is done. After that call in round 1, I think they’ll be coming back with a vengeance, especially if they can bring up some of their AHL players (Cody Glass anyone?). I’m personally excited to see what Marchessault and Fleury get up to this season. I think Vegas has it in them to have a deeper cup run this year, even if they don’t make it all the way to the finals.
Arizona Coyotes
So. Let’s start with the elephant in the room, shall we? Arizona now has Phil Kessel. Now, listen—do I think the trade was a smart move for Pittsburgh? Definitely not. Do I think Arizona can do a lot with Kessel? Absolutely, yes. I have my reservations about Arizona, specifically how badly they mangled Dylan Strome before his trade to Chicago, but I’d like to cautiously believe in them this season. In this first season with big-name talent like Kessel, I’m not sure if they’ll manage him correctly, but I do think they’ll get a handle on it towards the end of the season. I don’t think Arizona will make it into the playoffs, but I think they’ll come close.