For the most part, it’s easy to differentiate the good teams from the bad in each division. With the Pacific Division, it’s practically impossible.
The Pacific Division consists of 8 teams – the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Vancouver Canucks, and Vegas Golden Knights. Entering the 2018-19 season, the Pacific could be the NHL’s most competitive division.
Here are the standings from the 2017-18 season. The teams in bold made the playoffs.
Vegas Golden Knights – 109 points
Anaheim Ducks – 101 points
San Jose Sharks – 100 points
LA Kings – 98 points
Calgary Flames – 84 points
Edmonton Oilers – 78 points
Vancouver Canucks – 73 points
Arizona Coyotes – 70 points
The Golden Knights shocked the hockey world when they made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. No inaugural NHL team has ever done such a thing in the league’s 100-year history. Meanwhile, the Oilers have the best player on the planet on their team and didn’t make it to the playoffs.
With such polarizing teams in the same division, it’s practically impossible to make a prediction because you never know what might happen.
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Let’s start with the teams who made the playoffs last season.
Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights lost a top scorer in James Neal but then acquired Max Pacioretty from the Montreal Canadiens and Paul Statsny through free agency. It’s safe to say they’ve improved their roster, but will they be able to retain last year’s magic?
Last season, a lot of their players like William Karlsson had career seasons. The important thing for Vegas is to make sure that those players don’t fade into the background once the new season starts. Will the players continue to produce or are they just one-hit wonders?
Anaheim Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks have a lot of question marks entering the season. Ryan Kesler might miss the entire season because of his hip injury and Corey Perry‘s production is dropping every year. John Gibson is known for being fragile and Ryan Getzlaf is already 33 years old.
However, they have young budding talents like Rickard Rakell and Ondrej Kase who have potential to drive this team and their defense is one of the best in the league. All in all, the Ducks are a massive wild card.
San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks are one of the only Pacific Division teams that are undisputedly great. They can score and have a very mobile defense, Martin Jones is a top goalie in the league, and now Erik Karlsson is part of the mix. This team is loaded with stars up and down the lineup and are a serious Stanley Cup contender.
LA Kings
The LA Kings acquired 35-year-old Ilya Kovalchuk to their already aging roster. This team is the definition of mediocre and yet, they might have the chance of making the playoffs. Jonathan Quick has shown that he can be great and Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar are top of the league talent. This team confuses me so much because they have the potential to be really good, or catastrophically bad.
Now for the teams who didn’t make the playoffs:
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames had a great team on paper but were unable to execute on the ice. Rumors say it’s because of the atmosphere in the locker room, but whatever the reason, they have to focus on the real goal. They acquired James Neal and Noah Hanifin who will definitely improve their roster and fired their head coach, Glen Gulutzan.
They really changed up their personnel and hopefully, they can get that locker room back on track. Their forward group is dynamic, and they have one of the best young defensive cores in the league. This team has all the pieces to make a Cup run, it’s now a matter of execution. Question is, can they?
Edmonton Oilers
Two seasons ago, the Edmonton Oilers went to the Conference Finals. The very next year, they finished third last in their division with 78 points. How can you predict which team you’re going to see next year? This team has the best player in the world in Connor McDavid and yet they still find a way to screw everything up with the moves they make. (Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson and the Leon Draisaitl contract) The Cam Talbot that we see early in the season should indicate which direction this team will go.
Arizona Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes exploded in the second half of the 2017-18 season and finished with 70 points. They signed Oliver-Ekman Larsson to an eight-year extension and acquired Alex Galchenyuk. This team has a lot of rising talent like Jacob Chychrun and Clayton Keller and they have the potential to make their first playoff run in years. Will the Coyotes be able to put everything together or will they be bottom feeders for the 12384761st time?
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks have a bad team with rising talent. Unfortunately for them, they don’t have enough to make a playoff run this season but they definitely have big pieces for the future.
The Pacific Division is the most confusing division in the league. You can easily make the case for any one of these teams to be playoff or lottery contenders. This unpredictability is what makes hockey such a fun sport to watch.