Western Conference - Season Preview

This year I`m gonna try to guess the standings in the Western Conference.  Take these with a grain of salt as teams will definitively modify their rosters, this is just for fun.

1-      St. Louis Blues:  With pretty much the same team back this year, how can we bet against the team who have won the President trophy last year?  With Hall, Nielsen, Tarasenko, Giordano, Seabrook, Chara and Varlamov/Lehner composing the core of the Blues, they`ll once again be a really difficult team to play against.  They were leading the leagues in pretty much all departments last year, can they do better than this?  Depth is questionable but that was also the case last year and look what they did.  GM Peralta seems to be thinking they are ready to go to war the way they are right now as no significant moves were done by the Blues this summer.  They were shopping their 1^st round pick this summer but end up keeping it and drafted Riley Tufte.

2-      Calgary Flames: I think the Flames could easily be part of the series this year but all this depends of the plans GM Michaud has in mind for his team. It`s a fact well known several players have been made available for trade, the Flames are going through a nice transition where they got way younger while staying competitive. Even with the departures of some veterans like Williams and Doan the Flames should make the playoffs but they would most likely not finish second in their conference.  While the defensive squad is young and solid with Subban, Carlson and Murphy, some nights, Kuznetsov might be looking around for help offensively.  Corey Schneider should once again be the back bone of this team.  The Flames drafted 2 excellent young prospects this summer, Samuel Girard and Jordan Kyrou.

3-      Anaheim Ducks:  2 Stanley Cup final appearances, no Cup, will GM Leger make a final push to win the precious trophy before the Ducks get too old?  With Lecavalier now retired,  Bergeron, Kesler, Vanek and Lucic might need help on Anaheim`s top 6.  The Ducks could also use another dman who could help Krug on the power play.  GM Leger`s not a big fan of drafting young prospects but time to look toward the future might be now to avoid a major rebuild…  other than for Lucic, Krug and Rask, all Ducks key players are over 30 yo. 

4-      San Jose Sharks:  New GM, New Philosophy.  Big test for new  GM Binette who will have to make the transition to a younger team while staying competitive.  The Sedins, Dubinsky, Pominville, Landeskog, Schwartz, Vatanen, Del Zotto, Barrie, Ekblad and Andersen, the Sharks have enough ammunitions to cause major damages in the West.  Rumors from San Jose say young players won`t move and will be protected at the expansion draft but older players could be on their way out.  Let`s see how GM Binette will deal against the other ``sharks`` in the league ;-)

5-      LA Kings: GM Lozinski is back and it he started with a bang!  Acquiring several 1^st round picks last summer including the number 1 overall, Auston Matthews.  Cup boards are replenished in LA with McAvoy, Bean, Kunin, Benson, Lehkonen, Skjei and many more.  The Kings have quality veterans like Zetterberg, Iginla, Sharp, Ribeiro, Seidenberg, Orpik and Rinne.  TJ Brodie should get a lot of ice time leading the defensive squad, clearly GM Lozinski is aiming for a playoff spot and expect him to be even more active on the trade market if things are not going according to the plan.

6-      Minnesota Wild: The Shea Weber era is over in Minneapolis, the Wild is rebuilding around Domi, Voracek, Hertl, Kane, Johnson, Drouin and Hamilton. Corey Crawford gets older but still one of the best in the game, with the help of other veterans like Mitchell, Stempniak, Hamhuis and Hjalmarsson they should be able to clinch a playoff spot.  GM MzKenzie will probably try to find a replacement for Crawford as there`s currently no one else to replace him in the minors or even drafted at that position.  The Wild did try to trade up and advance in the top 10 last summer at the draft but ended up drafting Logan Stanley, with the 23^rd overall pick.

7-      Chicago Black Hawks:  Rumors from Chicago are saying Krejci and Bozak could leave, if that`s the case, the Hawks would most likely miss the playoffs, considering Howard have lost some of his luster, the loss of those 2 veterans would probably be too much to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Hawks had an amazing draft last summer, the drafted Puljujarvi (4^th), Sergachev (9^th), Bellows (18^th) and Thompson (21^st).   Jaccob Slavin was a nice surprise last year and will play on the Hawks top 4 this year with Ceci and Myers and probably Matt Carle.  GM Lewis could also decide to keep his veterans, he has all the assets to trade and become competitive quickly.    Kucherov and JVR can generate a lot of offense and they have a lot of depth with players like Lehtera, Stoll, Bailey, Berglund, Larsson and Jarnok.  The Hawks are probably at 3 or 4 players of being one of the top team in the Western conference, will they move now to acquire these missing pieces or wait for the youngsters to make it with the big team.

8-      Edmonton Oilers:  Gaudreau, Draisaitl, Yakupov, RNH, Burmistrov, Klefbom, Hanifin, Svechnikov, Strome, Kuokkanen, Barzal, Jost, Ho-Sang, Gauthier, Speers, Honka, Morin, Samsonov… they`re all under 25 yo, there`s no doubt about the Oilers’ brilliant future.  This year the Oilers will try to make a push and be part of the playoffs for the first time in 5 years, they might be able to make it if the other teams don’t trade to improve now or if GM Allain go get some help for his top 6, one more key d-man would also be more than welcome in Edmonton.  With a few good moves, the Oilers could fight with the best teams in the West within 2 years.  Wait and watch or go for it? We`ll see.  Just like the Hawks, the Oilers will face big decisions when it`ll be time to protect players for the expansion draft.

9-      Colorado Avalanche:  I put them 9^th but I expect the Avs to make the playoffs, GM Leblanc has been rebuilding but always manage to make the playoffs, it`s really hard to go against a MVP like Stamkos, he wins games by himself.  Denver has several players who can play on a second line, but Stamkos would need help on the first one.  Same with the defensive squad, a lot of them can play 20-21 minutes per game but the big d-man who can be put on in any situations and cumulate big minutes is missing since Letang has been traded to the Leafs.  The Avs are loaded with draft picks, GM Leger avoiding drafting too much last summer to save his new protégés from the expansion draft, as of now, Colorado would draft 17 times next summer with 4 first rounders.

10-   Nashville Predators:  There`s so many teams rebuilding in the Western Conference for so many years but they are now on the verge of becoming very competitive, the Preds are one of these teams who will soon fight for the Conference title.  Barkov, MacKinnon, Horvat, Reinhart, Strome, Smith-Pelley, Abdelkader, Shinkaruk, Bjorkstrand, Tanev, Parayko, Nurse, Dumoulin, Pouliot, Jones, Marner, Comrie, Vanecek, etc…  GM Gagnon is in the same situation as Mr. Allain with the Oilers, with all these assets he could move now to get better right away or wait another year and see how the young guns will perform this season.  This season’s probably the last one you`ll see the Preds out of the playoffs portrait… at least for a while.

11-   Vancouver Canucks:  Slowly but surely the Canucks are coming back to life. Even while rebuilding they managed to make the playoffs for the past 3 years but they could finish short out of the top 8 this year in the Western Conference.  GM Hondronikolis got the catch of the summer by luring UFA Artemi Panarin in Vancouver with a lucrative contract to say the least, $41.44 M over 4 years.  The team is young and the only veterans left have seen their best seasons already, we doubt Vrbata, Brown, Elias can lead the Canucks to the playoffs again.  That team desperately needs a guy like Dante Fabbro in the line up, but it won`t be for now.

12-   Winnipeg Jets:  The Jets will soon emerge from the abyss of the Western Conference, GM Forget as a great bunch of young players in his hands and he`ll wait for them to be ready to take over the reigns of the team.  This year should be determinant for several players in the organization and Mr Forget will probably have difficult decisions to make before submitting his expansion draft protection list.   Don't expect Winnipeg in the playoffs this year, next summer they should draft another top prospect to play along young guns like Eichel and Keller.

13-   Dallas Stars: The Stars are rebuilding, maybe... only GM Rockett has the answer on this.  The latest acquisitions of Kadri, Ennis, Hamonic and Deykerser are an indication management wants to build with young talented players.  Will Mr Rockett resist to the temptation of trying to make the playoffs if the team`s not doing good after 20 games?  Since they don`t have their first round pick next summer that could be an option, would it cost them their  better prospect?  we`ll see.  The Stars don`t draft really often but when they do they look good, they only 2 times they drafted in the first round in the past 5 years, they grabbed Brendan Perlini and David Pastrnak, unfortunately they both got traded.

14-   Arizona Coyotes:  Probably the league`s favorite at the chase of the #1 pick overall in the Entry Draft next summer, the Coyotes should add another brilliant prospect to their team.  In the past 2 years they drafted Chabot, Eriksson Ek, Sprong, Roslovic,   Borgstrom, Juolevi and many more.  GM Payeur did get rid of the dead wood and brought Nikolaj Ehlers, Jon Merrill and Ryan Pulock  in Glendale.  Patience is the key in Arizona, it should be a long season but better days are definitively ahead.

Mathieu Jobin

Great article Steve !

Western Conference - Season Preview
Blues are expect to repeat

• 0 teams Like this  9 years

Paolo Clara

nice write up steeve and thanks for prediciting me in the playoffs :)

Western Conference - Season Preview
Blues are expect to repeat

• 0 teams Like this  9 years