NHL: 1 bold prediction for each Pacific Division team’s offseason

San Jose Sharks make an attempt to get younger

With seven players about to become unrestricted free agents and four about to become restricted free agents, the San Jose Sharks may be inclined to get younger and acquire some draft picks in order to do so.

The Sharks currently have a few unfavorable contracts on their books, but with a still relatively young Evander Kane (27), along with Tomas Hertl (25), the Sharks could potentially try to get younger on the fly while hanging onto some of the good young pieces that they already own.

They do, however, have some tradeable assets at their disposal. Most notably, right defencemen Brent Burns and Justin Braun. A team taking on Burns’ contract would have to be wary, however, because Burns’ contract runs through the 2024-25 season with an annual average salary of $8 million. At 34, he isn’t getting any younger, but he is still one of the top defencemen in the league, and the return for a player of his caliber would likely be worthwhile for the Sharks.

Currently, the Sharks don’t have a first, second or fourth-round pick in this year’s draft. In next year’s draft, they don’t have a first, third, sixth, and seventh round pick. On top of that, if they re-sign Erik Karlsson, they will give up their second-round pick in the 2021 draft to the Senators, as the pick is a conditional second-round pick.

That’s why it would make sense to me if the Sharks made an attempt to sell their tradeable assets for picks and younger talent. This core isn’t getting it done, and with Joe Thornton about to turn 40 in less than a month, reality may be setting in for San Jose.

The Vegas Golden Knights shake up the defense

Technically, the Vegas Golden Knights have already shaken up their defense a tad bit with the acquisition of well sought after NCAA defenceman Jimmy Schuldt. However, I’ll make the bold prediction that Vegas does more to shake up their defense corps.

We already know that the team has been fielding trade proposals for Colin Miller, but what about Brayden McNabb? He is 28 years old and has a rather favorable AAV of $2.5 million. Either one of these defencemen would be a way for Vegas to pass the torch to their next wave of young and up and coming defenceman, namely Shuldt.

A team that tried to land Erik Karlsson just a year ago, Vegas may also look to free agency, not just trade to add to their defensive group. Maybe a player like Jake Gardiner or Tyler Myers makes sense? That being said, if Vegas wants to spend on July 1st, they will need to free up some cap space. As per CapFriendly, the Golden Knights have the highest projected cap hit in the entire NHL.

They also have Nicolas Hague and Zach Whitecloud in the system, both of whom may be near ready to make the jump to the NHL. This offseason could see the Golden Knights shed some defencemen, welcome some new ones in, and hope that their young d-men are indeed ready to take the next step.

The Arizona Coyotes pursue a big name free agent

The Arizona Coyotes haven’t reached the postseason for seven years now, and with a roster full of young talent ready to prove that them finishing one spot out of the final wild-card spot last season wasn’t a fluke, I predict that the Coyotes will add a piece to the puzzle in the form of a big name free agent.

Whether that be throwing big money at Artemi Panarin or trying to pursue a less expensive player like Ryan Dzingel, the Coyotes should be looking to build off of what they started with last year’s team. Personally, I think Dzingel makes the most sense for them. Here’s why.

The current Coyotes roster has some great pieces in place, but could almost certainly use a jolt of goalscoring. Dzingel brings that and so much more to the table.

The team would not have to rely as heavily on Derek Stepan and Brad Richardson, and would simply be adding to their depth. A smart free agency move could help the Coyotes stay relevant for a long time as their young core grows together.

Although there will be many teams interested in Dzingel’s services, I predict that the Coyotes heavily pursue him, and that they are indeed the team that lands the 27-year-old American.

The Vancouver Canucks trade Quinn Hughes to the New Jersey Devils

This is tough for me to write as a Vancouver Canucks fan, and it is an idea that I am almost wholeheartedly opposed to.

But while a lot of the members of the Canucks fan base have been talking about the potential of trading up to draft Jack Hughes in order to unite the Hughes brothers in the NHL, the Devils may be equally interested in doing the same thing – uniting the Hughes brothers.

As someone who has watched nearly every Canucks game for almost 20 years, I can tell with you the utmost confidence that we have never had a defenceman as good as Hughes, and everybody knows it. He is the exact type of defenceman the Canucks have been lacking and in dire need of all these years, and they finally got him at last year’s draft.

Although Hughes fell to the Canucks at seventh overall, few people are aware that the Canucks actually had him rated third in that draft, likely right behind Rasmus Dahlin and Andrei Svechnikov.

The Canucks thought Hughes would be long gone by the time they took to the stage in Dallas, but luckily for them, a couple of shakeups in the form of Barrett Hayton being selected at fifth overall, along with Filip Zadina falling all the way to six, allowed the Canucks to pick Hughes at seven.

Right from day one, the entire Canucks fanbase couldn’t get enough of Hughes. While everyone was excited for the arrival of Elias Pettersson, people were equally, if not more excited for the debut of Hughes. Watching Hughes, Pettersson, and Brock Boeser work the puck in overtime twice in the five games Hughes played was enough to sell almost everyone on the fact that Hughes is legit.

So it will surely take an extraordinary trade package for the Canucks to let go of their fan favourite young defenceman, but if the offer is good enough, maybe the Canucks will pull the trigger. I mean, really good. This kid means the world to Canucks fans.

The Anaheim Ducks pass the torch to the next wave of youth

Similar to what the Sharks did when they gave the captaincy to Joe Pavelski, I predict that the Anaheim Ducks make a move to get the next wave of players prepared to make a push for the Cup. The fact of the matter is, the core consisting of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Ryan Kesler, all of whom are 34 years of age, isn’t going to get the job done anymore.

It is time for the Ducks to hit the rebuild button and to pass the torch to their next wave of young players. Better yet, the Ducks should be trying to identify who their next leader is going to be and have that young future leader learn from the best in the form of Getzlaf and Perry.

The Ducks likely won’t strip Getzlaf of the captaincy as the Sharks did to Joe Thornton, but rearranging your alternate captains around to the next wave of young leaders definitely sends a message to your team’s fans and players alike that the current generation of players have almost reached the finish line.

Currently, Kesler and Perry serve as alternate captains for the Ducks. My bold prediction is that the Ducks change this up, and give the A’s to the next generation of Ducks. Maybe players such as Rickard Rakell or Jakob Silfverberg?

Ken Holland fixes everything in Edmonton

I don’t know what the moves will entail, but my bold prediction for the Edmonton Oilers is that newly hired President and General Manager Ken Holland steps up and is somehow able to fix the mess that was left for him by former Oilers’ GM, Peter Chiarelli.

Holland has the best player in the world on his team, so that’s a start. Behind Connor McDavid is another budding star in the form of Leon Draisatl, who is coming off his own impressive season, in which he scored 50 goals and picked up 55 assists. Those two are a good start, now it’s time for Holland to pull off some magic and fix that supporting cast.

It would be nice if the Oilers still had Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, but Chiarelli traded those two away for Adam Larsson and Ryan Strome. Eberle is a free agent this year, so maybe a new face in the front office can convince Eberle to return to the team that drafted him?

The current secondary scoring on the Oilers is extremely poor. After Draisatl and McDavid, the third leading scoring forward on the Oilers was Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had 69 points, followed by Alex Chiasson, who had 38 points. That just isn’t good enough when you’ve got the best player in the world locked up for seven more years.

I predict that Holland steps in and makes some necessary changes that eventually will help lead the Oilers back into the playoffs in 2019-20.

The Kings make changes and bounce back

Last but not least, sitting dead last in the Pacific division and second last in the NHL, is the Los Angeles Kings. Much like the Oilers, I predict that it will be the KIngs changes to their staff that will cause them to bounce back and reach the postseason.

Oddly enough, the Kings new head coach is the Oilers’ former coach, Todd McLellan. To me, the Kings season last year became a write off the moment they hired Willie Desjardins. Nothing against Willie, but his nickname here in Vancouver has become “Tank Commander Willie” due to his ability to make almost any team he coaches have a high probability at winning the draft lottery.

For those that don’t know, the lowest point of the Canucks’ rebuild came in the 2016-17 season when Desjardins was the coach. That was the season they finished second last in the entire NHL, and is the same year that they drafted Elias Pettersson. I think a full season with a new coach behind the bench could be exactly what the Kings need.

They still have loads of talent and just need to piece it all together and play a system that works for them. McLellan will have almost all offseason to assess the task waiting for him come October, and I think that the Kings coaching change will lead them to bounce back next year.