NHL is back – and if the Kings don't win, someone else in California probably will

The new NHL season starts on Wednesday. Here, Colin Horgan previews the teams in the Western Conference, and suggests the Kings, Sharks and Ducks for the Stanley Cup, and why western Canada might not have much to shout about

Since the 2004-05 lockout season, the Stanley Cup has been awarded to a team from the Western Conference every year save three (I’m counting the 2008 Detroit Red Wings win in that tally, given they were in the West at the time). And four of the last five Cups have gone to either the Los Angeles Kings or the Chicago Blackhawks. The West has long been a more demanding conference, starting with the travel schedule and going from there. These are big, fast teams, many of which perennially have a legitimate chance at going all the way. Will we see another Western Cup champion this season? In a few cases, it’s looking promising.

But before we get to prematurely predicting a Cup winner, let’s take a look a quick look where each team is sitting to start the year.

Western Conference, Pacific division

Edmonton Oilers

I’ve lost track of which Rebuilding Year we’re into now with the Oilers (almost a decade?), or whether we can even logically still call this phase of the organization’s existence a rebuilding. Much of the team remains the same this year as it was last, but the Oilers have added Benoit Pouliot from the New York Rangers. Edmonton is Pouliot’s fifth stop in five years, but he’s signed for a five-year deal with the Oilers, which might give him a chance to blossom. The Oilers will look to Taylor Hall to have another standout season. Last year, Hall notched 27 goals and 80 points, despite Edmonton landing third-last in the league.

However, rather large question marks remain at the back end. Edmonton has yet to solidify a great defence (or defensive system), which has in turn been overly taxing on its ever-rotating cast of goaltenders. It looks like Ben Scrivens will get the nod between the pipes this year. Scrivens shows promise, but he’ll need the guys in front of him to give him as many chances to succeed as possible. Will that happen? Quite frankly, it has to.

Edmonton is still good at defense, I see. pic.twitter.com/SzHLLjUicN

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) October 3, 2014

Calgary Flames

There are fewer questions about whether there’s still some rebuilding going on in southern Alberta. After shedding Jarome Iginla, Jay Bouwmeester, and Miikka Kiprusoff in the last couple of years, the Flames are still figuring out who the new pillars of the squad will be. Eyes will be on Sean Monahan, who stayed out of the minors last year and had an excellent rookie season. The loss of goal generator Mike Cammalleri will be tough to overcome, and even more difficult if Mikael Backlund’s abdominal injury keeps him out of commission for the beginning of the season.

In the offseason, the Flames picked up both Mason Raymond and Devin Setoguchi. Raymond had his best year yet last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs (19 goals, 26 assists) and is a good choice for the first line. Setoguchi’s fallen on tough times since his good years in San Jose, but might take the one-year contract in Calgary to show he’s worth keeping around. Both are also local boys, which might help them adjust to the new home. Calgary has also added Jonas Hiller from Anaheim to help Karri Rämö, and perhaps give him more time to recover from a nagging hip injury.

Oh, and let’s not forget Flames prospect, Hobey Baker award-winning, Johnny Gaudreau. There’s hope yet.

Vancouver Canucks

John Tortorella is gone, replaced by Willie Desjardins. Roberto Luongo is gone, replaced by Ryan Miller. Ryan Kesler is gone, replaced (?) by Nick Bonino. On the surface, each one of those changes appears to be positive. With Tortorella gone, the Canucks can refocus on winning hockey games and less on worrying whether their coach will start a locker room brawl at the period break. And they can now also spend less time worrying about whether the starting goaltender really wants to be there (answer: he did not). In other words, as much as there’s hope those three major offseason moves translate immediately into on-ice success, the fact that the overall drama has been finally dialed back is already a good start.

Bonino will help that along. He managed 22 goals last year in Anaheim and shone in the playoffs. Presumably he’ll slip into Kesler’s role and with any hope repeat that goal production. As for Miller’s entry into the fold, into the place that is, as Maclean’s magazine put it recently, a goaltending graveyard? It actually bodes well. After years of hanging on to goaltenders who didn’t want to be there, Vancouver now has a man looking for a fresh start. It could be enough.

Anaheim Ducks

Here is why the West is so difficult to predict: the California teams. They’re just so good, it seems any of them might be a solid candidate for a cup run (though the Sharks, obviously, come with years of caveats). Anaheim had an amazing run in 2013-14, strolling into the playoffs where they took down Dallas in six games, and only losing to LA after pushing the series to a full seven. What Anaheim was known for last year was goal scoring, and adding Ryan Kesler and Dany Heatley in the offseason may only increase the chances of those again this year. That could be especially true of the Ducks’ first line. With Heatley filling the left wing, it means Ryan Getzlaf (31 goals, 87 points last year) and Corey Perry (43 goals, 82 points last year) could be even more dangerous.

Still, the Ducks lost a few familiar names over the summer, including Teemu Selanne, who finally retired at the age of 43. Whether he’d still be playing were coach Bruce Boudreau not still behind the bench is a bit of a question now, however. Selanne’s new memoir, due for North American release in 2015, expands on his disagreements with Boudreau about his ice time, and whether he should have been used more in the playoffs. Would his experience have been the difference maker against L.A.? We can wonder.

And Ducks fans might also be wondering about the state of the team’s goaltending situation. Jonas Hiller decamped to Calgary, leaving an opening for Frederik Andersen to become the No. 1. He played well against L.A. before a knee injury put him out of commission. Andersen’s goals-against average (2.29) might be a tad high, but if the Ducks can keep scoring, it might not matter.

Los Angeles Kings

What is there to say about the Los Angeles Kings? Is there anything objectively wrong with this team? There were perhaps two points during last season at which we could have reasonably doubted their abilities. First, last winter, when Jonathan Quick was placed on the Kings’ long-term injured reserve list, and second, when they were down three games-to-none against the San Jose Sharks in round Ooe of the playoffs. Obviously, in hindsight, we know now that any mild panicking at those points was a waste of energy. The Kings are the defending Stanley Cup champions. So: enough said?

Perhaps. Speaking of Quick, he’s recovering (well, apparently) from wrist surgery he had in the off-season. Presumably he’ll return good as new. As, presumably, will Drew Doughty, who suffered what’s been called a “freak pre-training camp accident” but told the LA Times he’s now “good to go.” We probably don’t even need to get into what kind of difference the other returning names can make. Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik, Dustin Brown et al are all still major threats.

So with the Kings returning with essentially the exact same team that just won a Cup, should we expect another this year?

San Jose Sharks

By this point, I’m not even sure the San Jose Sharks are even a team any more. I think they’ve moved beyond that. It’s like the NHL keeps them around as a sort of experiment – a theoretical concept, like the idea of an alternate universe or something where everything looks right, but there’s something fundamentally wrong. The recent history of the Sharks is simply baffling. On paper, they look to be quite strong every year. And on the ice, for most of the year, they are. They win – a lot. They make the playoffs – a lot. And yet we all know how it always finishes. They blow it.

It’s with all that in mind that we evaluate this year’s team. As usual, it looks great. Joe Thornton isn’t captain any more, but maybe that’s a good thing. Patrick Marleau isn’t assistant captain any more. Maybe that’s a good thing, too. Tomas Hertl is back. That’s (theoretically) great. On defence, Marc-Edouard Vlasic has proved to be mostly fantastic. They even have a solid up-and-coming goaltender in Alex Stalock, who nailed a 1.87 goals-against average last year in his 24 starts for the Sharks. But that’s only if they need him. Because Antti Niemi is very good, too, just about all the time. In all, they are solid.

Theoretically, this is a Cup-winning team. Can they finally prove it?

Arizona Coyotes

Has anything changed apart from the name and the shoulder patch? Yes. Has enough changed to make the Coyotes a threat? Difficult to say. The Coyotes came very close to being back in the post-season last year, falling just two points shy of the last playoff spot after they went 3-4-3 in their last 10 games of the year (versus Dallas’ 6-4-0, which helped push them into that eighth position). A tough way to go out, but not necessarily all bad news.

Much of the Coyotes lineup remains the same this season. However, they did pick up Sam Gagner from Tampa Bay (but who’s kidding: he basically came straight from Edmonton to essentially fill the spot Mike Ribeiro was supposed to take last season. That is, someone who scores goals (Ribeiro did not). Otherwise, most of the Coyotes’ summer was spent saying goodbye to a pile of free agents.

It’s tough to say whether we can expect better things out of Arizona this year. The Coyotes still boast two of the best defencemen in the league in Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, but behind them remains a question mark. Mike Smith hasn’t been consistent enough in goal for the Yotes recently to instil full confidence. If Smith returns to form, however, it may be enough to push the Coyotes over the cusp.

Central Division

Winnipeg Jets

The Jets will try to pick up where they left off before a slew of injuries helped ensure they were not seeing the second season last year. Behind the bench, coach Paul Maurice is looking to build a faster team to stay competitive in a very rough and quick division. The Jets didn’t make very many moves in the off-season. Perhaps the only significant ones were to pick up Mathieu Perrault and TJ Galiardi from Anaheim and Calgary, respectively. I’m not overly convinced this pair will produce a flurry of goals for the Jets, but both are relatively young and looking to prove themselves. Perrault, at least, is capable of it. Back in 2011-12, he notched 16 goals in 64 starts as a Washington Capital.

The major stumbling block for Winnipeg is in net. Ondrej Pavelec has to be much better. Last year he posted a bleak 3.01 goals-against average. No question, that statistic has got to come down to afford the Jets any serious chance of competing against Western goal powerhouses like Anaheim or Chicago – or even Dallas. It might be another disappointing year in Manitoba.

Minnesota Wild

Things will be a bit better south of the border from Winnipeg. Minnesota finished last year with a disappointing loss in round two of the playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks, but their first-round victory against the Colorado Avalanche will give them hope. Bolstering that hope will be the signing of Tomas Vanek from Montreal. Vanek was a disappointment, overall, for the Canadiens, but he’s capable of great things. Back in his heyday in Buffalo, Vanek was a pretty consistent 25-plus goal scorer. Even if he doesn’t bring those kinds of numbers, what he does bring to Minnesota is depth – exactly what gets teams further in the playoffs.

Other than Dany Heatley moving back down to California (Anaheim this time), much of the Wild’s bench remains intact. That consistency will help them. Jason Pominville and Zach Parise are constant offensive threats (they grabbed 30 and 29 goals respectively last year), as is defenceman Ryan Suter, who managed 43 points last season.

It’s the goaltending that could be an issue. Josh Harding broke his ankle and is out indefinitely, so the nod will go to either Ilya Bryzgalov or Darcy Kuemper. Both were relatively solid for the Wild in the playoffs (Bryzgalov got his first playoff shutout against Chicago), but whether either can carry the team for an entire season – even if they split it – is questionable. But it’s nice to still have Bryzgalov around, though, if for no other reason than entertainment value.

Ilya Bryzgalov just chillin in full pads on the middle of the #mnwild bench. pic.twitter.com/mrJLRRSFuy

— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) September 23, 2014

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche may prove to be the most exciting team to watch this year. Last season was almost unbelievable. Having finished near the bottom of the pile in 2012-13, they grabbed the Central division title in 2013-14, finishing ahead of eventual Western Conference finalists the Chicago Blackhawks. They even finished the year with more points than the Kings, the eventual Cup winners. Which means two things: One, they’re potentially primed for an even more impressive performance this season; and two, no matter how many regular season points they manage, they’ve got to learn to win in the playoffs.

They’ll have some new help. Last year’s Avalanche were predominantly quite young – maybe too young. Stepping into the role of well-heeled veterans this year are Jarome Iginla and Daniel Briere, both transitioning (in Iggy’s case, back) to the West after playoff runs in the East last season failed to pan out. They’ll be trusted to bring both leadership and depth to the roster. And it’s already an impressive one. Calder trophy-winner Nathan Mackinnon is back, along with Matt Duschene and Gabriel Landeskog. However, they did lose key centreman Paul Stastny to division rivals St. Louis.

Semyon Varlamov will return between the pipes, but the Avs no longer have a totally solid backup. Reto Berra arrived via Calgary to replace Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who retired after last season. Berra is mostly untested, so the Avs will likely count on Varlamov to put in a long year. They’ll hope injuries don’t bother them as much as last season, but overall, things are looking very good in Denver.

Dallas Stars

The Stars had a solid finish to last season and slipped into the playoffs, where they fell to the Anaheim Ducks in six games. And yet, the Stars are poised for better things this year. They’ve added Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky from Ottawa, which gives them a strong centreman and, if they want, a potential second line winger, respectively. Spezza, specifically, has the potential to bring more goals, something the Stars are already pretty good at getting, thanks to guys like Tyler Seguin (37 goals, 47 assists last year), and Jamie Benn (34 goals, 45 assists last year).

Kari Lehtonen returns in goal, and with the addition of Anders Lindback as his backup. Lindback is a good pickup – strong enough to give Lehtonen the kind of rest he really didn’t get enough of last season. They’ll need him to stay fresh if they want to make a deeper drive into the post-season.

One area Dallas has to improve this year is winning on the road. The Stars went 23-11-7 at home last year, but only 17-20-4 on the road. It’s not a huge difference, but it’s one that counts – they were the only team to come out of the West and into the playoffs having lost more than 17 games in regulation on the road.

Chicago Blackhawks

Like their major rivals, the L.A. Kings, the Blackhawks return this year with much of the team intact. The exception being the addition of Brad Richards, who they picked up from the New York Rangers during the summer. As if they needed to add any more offensive depth. The lines are slightly ridiculous at this point. And to ensure those lines remain a threat well into the future, the Blackhawks shored up both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane with eight-year, $84 million deals over the summer.

In fact there’s a lot of money in Chicago right now. Too much. The Blackhawks will have to get under the cap by Tuesday (before the season officially starts) and, at writing, it looks as though defenceman Nick Leddy will be the one who will get cut as a result. And though that does damage the depth of the Chicago defence a bit, they can still be quite comfortable with who they still have – familiar names like Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Johnny Oduya and Niklas Hjalmarsson. In goal, as ever will be Corey Crawford.

It all sounds pretty good. But it did last year, too. The Blackhawks will face a number of challenges this year in their own conference, but perhaps the biggest one of all will be in their heads. If they don’t get that Cup this season, will it mean they’ve already peaked?

St Louis Blues

For the last few seasons, the Blues have felt like a team on the cusp. Their hope is some off-season signings will finally give them what they need to go that extra step – like Paul Stastny for instance. He managed 25 goals and 60 points overall in 2013-14. Colorado’s big loss is St Louis’ gain, and Stastny will likely be slotted in between Alex Steen and Joakim Lindstrom to centre the second line. He wasn’t the only name the Blues added to their lineup this summer. They also added Carl Gunnarsson to bolster their defensive depth.

The Blues re-upped on Brian Elliott, signing the goalie to a $7.5m, three-year deal. Probably he’s the logical starter, though he’s been up and down over the last few years. Elliott put in 38 pretty stellar games in his first year with the Blues (2011-12), with a 1.56 GAA and a .940 save percentage, then stumbled a bit the following year (2.28 GAA, .907 save percentage in 24 games), and settled somewhere in the middle last season (1.96 GAA, .922 save percentage in 31 games). Luckily, he has one of the best defensive units in the NHL in front of him. The Blues excel in keeping the puck away from their own goal, and with Bouwmeester, Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk all returning, they’ll continue to be a threat. But will it be enough? Definitely playoff bound. After that?

Nashville Predators

Nashville fell just short of a playoff spot last year. Maybe new bench boss Peter Laviolette can change that. He’ll certainly have some new weapons to use in the fight to the finish, anyway. The Preds acquired James Neal from the Pittsburgh Penguins over the summer, along with Olli Jokinen and Mike Ribeiro. That should, theoretically, give them some more depth up front – particularly if Jokinen plays well. (Perhaps not if Ribeiro replicates his previous season.) And boy, do they need goals. In five-on-five scenarios last year, Nashville finished near the bottom of the league in scoring.

On the other side of things, however, the Predators are still looking good. On defence, they’ll expect their zillion-dollar man, Shea Weber, to lead them as usual, but they lean on him a lot, so it would be wise to deploy Seth Jones a bit more, if he’s up to it. Jones is an exceptional talent, and it would be wise for Laviolette to cultivate that as best he can, if for no other reason than to balance out the ice time a bit. Behind them, Pekka Rinne is back and healthy, and Nashville will hope he stays that way. Are they playoff-bound? It might take a few lucky streaks, but they have the potential.

Contributor

Colin Horgan

The GuardianTramp

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