Pacific Division predictions

Right now the Pacific Division is still slated to one of the NHL’s weakest. There’s maybe two good teams, one subpar team, and a motley crew of rebuilding and awful teams after that. This is my predictions for how things are going to play out by the end of the season.

No doubt there will be disagreement in the comments section, but – newsflash – I’m not writing with the objective of pleasing everyone. I know, it’s shocking, but I only write what I believe and you’re free to agree or not.

So, let’s get started with the Team I’m predicting to win the Pacific Division:

1.  Edmonton Oilers

Call me biased if you want, but name another team in the division that’s better than the Oilers top to bottom. There isn’t one.

Their top six is led by the McDrai duo, who are doing their best Gretzky-Messier impressions by finishing one-two in league scoring in the early going. Those two are supplemented by star players Zach Hyman and now long term minted pest extraordinaire Evander Kane, back for a second tour of duty.

The Oilers didn’t rest on their laurels, either, as far as the top six goes, as with emergence of Ryan Mcleod this season as a regular threat on the third line they’ve been able to move “The Nuge” back to the top six where he belongs, and he’s certainly rewarded the team with 13 points in 12 games in the early going. He’s playing alongside Mcdavid and Hyman for a pretty potent first line.

Mighty Mouse Kailer Yamamoto rounds out the top six, and although he’s struggling in the early going with only three assists in 11 games, he cracked the 20 goal mark for the first time in his career last season, so expect him to turn that around at some point this season, he’s too talented and he’s surrounded by the Deutschland Dangler Leon Draisaitl and the aforementioned Kane to form a fantastic second line to throw over the boards, so he’ll start scoring again in short order, you can bet on it.

The bottom six is full of depth and for the first time in quite some time, the Oilers aren’t icing AHL quality players in the bottom six. Warren Foegele-Mcleod-Bison King Jesse Puljujarvi are a third line that, while it hasn’t scored a lot in the early going, has a sniper on it (Mcleod), a physical player with hands capable of providing secondary offence (Foegele) and a player providing good defensive play who also has some hands (Bison King).

The fourth line right now is centered by rookie Dylan Holloway, 2020’s first rounder. He has two assists in eight games, I expect we may see a mini offensive outburst late in the season. On his wings are two veterans, Derek Ryan (faceoff pro and three points in 12 games) and Devin Shore (can play both center and wing, has one assist in 11 games). Ryan is the only one who is producing at a regular clip in the early going, but expect that to pick up later on in the season.

Defensively in the top four the Oilers have a largely unaltered corps from last season. Nurse-Ceci still anchor the first pairing, are playing the toughs and both are proving they can chip in offensively as well, as Nurse has three goals and 8 points in 12 games in the early going while Ceci is even off to a solid start in this department as well as he’s got 1-2-3 in 12 games, pretty good for a stay at home guy.

Brett Kulak has moved into the second pairing to mentor and mop up after Evan Bouchard defensively. Kulak has two assists in the early going along with a +6, about what you’d expect from a stay at home guy. Bouchard claims he’s struggling, and I suppose from a goal scoring perspective he is, but five assists in 12 games is still pretty good for a blueliner – although it’s worth noting that he’s currently tied for worst +/- on the team as well, with -4. Bouchard is still a tender 23 years old and is only in his second season as a regular NHLer, so a few growing pains are to be expected. He’ll turn things around, bet on it. Kulak is the perfect mentor for him defensively.

The bottom pairing of the D corps is where it got interesting for the Oilers this season. Philip Broberg did not win a roster spot as expected, although we later found out he was playing injured so it’s no wonder he didn’t make it. Veteran port sider Ryan Murray surprisingly beat out Broberg and Finn Markus Niemelainen to start the season, but he’s since been playing a lot less as of late, probably due to the fact that he’s the other player tied with Bouchard for worst +/- on the team with -4.

Combine this with the fact he’s put up a mere one assist in those seven games and it’s no wonder he’s riding the pine right now – you’d expect better from a veteran of 439 NHL games. If Murray doesn’t turn it around he’ll find himself on the waiver wire sooner rather than later – the Oilers could certainly use the cap space.

Niemelainen has since come on the scene after spending part of last season with the Oilers as an injury fill-in from the minors. Niemelainen is a bruising stay at home type of d-man, the type common at the bottom of D corps in NHL days of yore. He’s only 30 games into his NHL career, but is proving to be worth the third round pick he was drafted at in 2016 (a sign the Oilers drafting has certainly turned around). He hasn’t produced offence right now but two things are clearly in his favour – his +/- has improved to even from -5 last year and he’s second on the team in hits with 33 in 10 games.

No wonder they’re playing him over Murray right now – I would too if I was head coach Jay Woodcroft.

On the right side is Tyson Barrie – exiled as a regular from top four by being supplanted by first Ceci and then Bouchard last season, he’s still valued as a veteran presence by Holland which is why they didn’t get rid of him despite his $4.5 million cap hit for this season and next.

Barrie is the first unit PP QB and it shows in his stats – he has 1-6-7 in 12 games this season so far and has clearly taken to heart the lessons assistant coach Dave Manson taught him defensively as he has a +4 in the early going. All but one of those points have come on the PP.

Barrie has still spelled off Bouchard in the top four when Bouchard has been at his darkest moments in the early going and Woodcroft has put Bouchard on the bottom pairing again temporarily. Guess it was a good thing they didn’t trade him.

In goal is where it gets interesting for the Oilers as they had to replace both their goalies from last season – we later found out Mike Smith was dealing with four different injuries last season and those injuries are keeping him out of the game for good – he’s spending the last year of his contract on LTIR giving the Oilers some critical $2.2 million in LTIR cap space for this season.

Mikko Koskinen bolted for the Swiss league the day after the playoffs ended for the Oilers.

In their place is the $5 million in Jack Campbell that we rescued from the Maple Laffs in toxic TO. His stats are pretty ugly in the early going – 4.2 GAA and .874 sv% but he does have a 5-3 record in the early going and has publicly said he hasn’t played his best hockey so far, so hopefully he improves upon those numbers as the season goes on.

Backing him up will be rookie Tom Sellick I mean Stuart Skinner. Only NHL player I know whose moustache has it’s own Twitter account. He’s shown promise early in the season but of course you can hardly forecast a career based on a mere four starts, but so far so good with 2.10 GAA and a .944 sv% – both numbers which I expect to regress a bit as the season progresses as even the best goalies in the league don’t put up those kinds of numbers.

Only time will tell if this duo is up to the task of helping the Oilers take their next step as a franchise – at the very least we did get younger which was necessary to start this season. Campbell is only 30 while Skinner is only 24, a far cry from the 40 year old Mike Smith and the 30-something Mikko Koskinen.

If the Oilers have a weakness I see it was their PK, which at this point in time is a woeful 27th in the league. The PP is right around where you’d expect it – second in the league right now – but the PK has got to improve if the Oilers are to do any damage in the postseason.

That and the unknowns around the goaltending are the biggest issues right now. I have every faith the players who are slumping right now will find their games, so that’s not an issue for me.

I think they’ll go as far as their goaltenders will take them.

2.  Los Angeles Kings

Last season the Kings emerged as Pacific Division playoff contenders, after a prime in which they won two cups in 2012 and 2014, they saw the writing on the wall and blew up the franchise so they could draft and develop the next generation of Kings who would take them over the top.

Memo to the Calgary Flames – this is how you build a winning team.

The Kings already had an impressive top six, and built on that when they traded for Kevin Fiala in the offseason. They took the Oilers to seven games in last season’s playoffs, and will be even more formidable this time around.

These LA Kings are the last of the playoff contenders in the Pacific Division.

They boast an impressive array of firepower in the top six, as they have the still relevant 35 year old Anze Kopitar putting up two goals and 12 points in 14 games in the early going. He’s flanked by 2014 first round pick Adrian Kempe on the left side, who has 6-3-9 in the early going. 2017 first round pick Gabriel Valardi is on the right side, and he’s currently leading the team in scoring with 9-5-14 in 14 games – very impressive.

Philip Danault centers the second line, and he’s got 4-4-8 in 14 games. Flanking him is playmaker Trevor Moore, rescued from the toxic TO Maple Laffs, who has 2-8-10 in 14 games. On the other side it’s free agent signing from last season Viktor Arvidsson, who probably bolted Nashville because he got tired of spinning his wheels there. 3-5-8 in 12 games so far for him.

Not as good as the Oilers but still quite impressive.

Centering the third line is 2018 first round pick, Finn Rasmus Kupari. He already has two points in five games after putting up a mere 13 points in 58 games last season. If he can keep up that pace he might have 25-30 points by season’s end, which would be impressive totals for a bottom six guy. Flanking him is the aforementioned Fiala, who’s probably only playing in the bottom six because the left side is so stacked in the top six. He’s cleaning up with 14 points in 14 games. On the right side is Carl Grundstrom, who has six points 13 games, pretty good for a bottom sixer.

The fourth line is centered by Blake Lizotte, who has four goals in 14 games. On his left you have bruiser Brendan Lemieux, who still has three assists in 12 games. On his right you have 2019 second round pick Arthur Kaliyev, who has 4-5-9 in 13 games.

It appears that neither primary nor depth scoring will be a problem for this team as they are already firing on all cylinders.

On D it’s a similar story. On the left side of the first pairing is surprising fourth rounder Mikey Anderson, who has three assists in 14 games so far. After a couple of irrelevant seasons where he faded into the NHL background, Drew Doughty has become relevant again at the age of 32 – lucky for the Kings, who have him at a whopping $11 million cap hit for another four seasons after this one. While the Kings were winning cups he was one of the NHL’s best, and now that’s no longer the case but he has still managed to put up 30+ points the last three seasons. There’s a good chance age will catch up to him before this contract is up, but you can enjoy it for now.

On the second pairing we have Sean Durzi, one of two players the Kings got back from toxic TO in the Jake Muzzin trade. Six points in 13 games already, not bad. On the right side is someone the Kings managed to pluck from the seventh (!) round in 2015, Matt Roy, and he also has six points in 13 games.

On the bottom pairing is a guy likely playing his NHL swan song in Alex Edler, a veteran of 977 games and counting, he’ll crack the 1,000 games mark this season. He only has a single assist in 11 games so far. Ditto for his partner in Sean Walker, who has a single assist in 10 games so far.

There are two things that look like they hold the Kings back this year – the injury to one of their best prospects in Quinton Byfield and their goaltending, which has cratered in the early going of the season. Neither Jonathan Quick nor Cal Peterson have a sv% above .900 or a GAA below 3.0 (Peterson’s GAA is 4.3). This is the last season of a contract for the 36 year old Quick paying him $5.8 million – my money says he retires when it’s done.

They could also do with getting better on special teams, too – their PP is an anemic 23rd at 19.7% while the PK sits at an unimpressive 19th (76.8%).

If more of their young roster takes a step forward this season, and their goaltending and special teams improve, then we could see this team do some damage in the playoffs this year and in the Pacific Division.

3.  Calgary Flames

I have to hand it to GM Brad Treliving in one sense – trading away Tkachuk after he made it clear he wanted out and then signing Nazem Kadri as a free agent was probably the best case scenario he could’ve seen play out after neither Gaudreau nor Tkachuk wanted to come back.

But will these two players move the franchise forward? In my opinion, no they won’t.

As far as I’m concerned the Flames are a team that’s built on a house of cards whose only purpose is twofold – exist and don’t collapse.

That’s the only explanation I can come up with for why you would pursue replacement players instead of starting a rebuild once your two best players from last year want out and many players disappeared in the playoffs. This team generates a lot of hype but IMO it’s very unwarranted.

So why do I list them third? Default. This spot in the standings flatters them. But, all the other teams below them at this point in time are even worse. That’s it. But as the rebuilds in Anaheim, Vancouver, and Seattle mature expect that to change – they are still relevant now but expect that to change as the division gets better.

For one thing, a lot of players on the Flames last season had career years – here is the list:

Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin, Dillon Dube, Oliver Kylington, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, Erik Gudbranson (CBJ), Jacob Markstrom.

We’ll throw in Huberdeau and Kadri as well, because both of those guys had career years with Florida and Colorado, respectively.

Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with having a career year, but the key is what happens after that. Can the player do it again? I have no doubt some of those guys will repeat their career years, others will not. They even acquired Gudbranson hoping he would repeat a career year from Columbus.

And the thing is – most of those guys sported shooting %s above their career average which means that for many of them get ready for their numbers to drop back down to earth. In Markstrom’s case, he’s been in the league for a long time, and finally after many years he put up an elite sv% – does it seem logical to expect him to repeat that? No. So I have a reaction of absolutely ZERO surprise when I see that Markstrom’s start to the season is terrible, having only a .900 sv% and a 2.84 GAA. The guy has a career .912 sv% so naturally he’ll regress down to the  mean and show last season was a complete and utter fluke. Pitty the sucker who’s paying him $6 million a year to be an average goaltender.

Nor am I surprised that Tkachuk is having a better start to the season then Huberdeau – Tkachuk went to the superior team with more depth built through the draft while Huberdeau went to the inferior team built in large part through trades and free agency.

That brings up another red flag about this team – the lack of draft picks on it. Take a look at the Flames roster and see how it’s constructed vs. better teams – in the forward ranks the Flames here a mere four forwards who were drafted. The Oilers have seven forwards who were drafted, while the Kings have seven also. On D the Flames have but a single draft pick on their roster. The Oilers have three draft picks on D on their roster, while the Kings have four. Between the pipes the Oilers and Kings can each boast one goalie drafted (Stuart Skinner, Jonathan Quick) while the Flames don’t have one.

Sign and trade is not a recipe for success, otherwise the Oilers would’ve won two or three more cups in the 90s. Sign and trade is supposed to supplement your drafting, not replace it.

The flaws in the Flames roster, even just taking a cursory glance at it, is obvious – not enough talent on the roster, hoping and praying that guys on career years have a repeat performance, paying an average goaltender elite money, questionable drafting. Not a recipe for long term success.

Look at how the roster is constructed – Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli

– five points in 10 games, six points in 10 games, eight points in 10 games, respectively

One player out of three with an elite start to the season

Dube-Kadri-Mangiapane

– four points in 10 games, 11 points in 10 games, four points in 10 games, respectively

Again, one player out of three with an elite start to the season

That’s your top six. Not a good start.

Coleman-Backlund-Lewis

– four points in 10 games, four points in 10 games, four points in 10 games, respectively

Not bad for a third line, but when your top six isn’t scoring enough, your third line isn’t going to save you, nor should you ask it to

Lucic-Rooney-Ritchie

– three points in 10 games, one point in 9 games, five points in 10 games

Quite a mixture here, won’t save the top six though

Now for the D:

Hanifin-Andersson

one point in nine games, eight points in 10 games

Yay Andersson, boo Hanifin – those are pathetic stats for a top pairing guy.  Cody Ceci is outscoring you and he’s a stay at home guy.

Zadorov-Weegar

three points in 10 games, four points in 10 games

Middling results, especially for Weegar, who came to Calgary with a lot of hype.

Mackey-Stone

zero point in 10 games, five points in 10 games

Mackey is an injury call-up, so he’s not as important to the team. Stone looks like he just got injured as he’s listed on IR now.

The fact that Stone, Tanev, and Kylington are all out with injuries now doesn’t help matters but it should magnify the issues with the roster.

I’ve already spoken about Markstrom and his struggles. Don’t expect backup Dan Vladar to bail him out, either, as he doesn’t even have a .900 sv% and his GAA is an ugly 3.81.  All that from a guy who has a mere 31 games of NHL experience. Doesn’t inspire confidence to me.

Even with a healthy roster, though, I firmly believe the Flames would still be struggling right now. There are simply no signs this team can have any sustained success. Fans should expect pretty much what you’ve gotten for the majority of the existence of the Flames – a pattern of one good season, then disappearing into the woodwork for awhile. No sustained success. You had some success last year, so expect to disappear in the woodwork this year.  I predict the Kings will wipe the floor with the Flames if they meet in the Pacific Division rounds of the playoffs.

No wonder Tkachuk and Gaudreau wanted out….I would too if I was playing here.

4.  Vegas Golden Knights

Vegas as a hockey team reminds me now of a drunken gambler who’s lying in a ditch somewhere with the smell of urine on his pants and a black eye.

They’re copying the Flames’s version of building a hockey team with free agency and trades, which is not going to cut it.  They keep going after the big fish in trade or free agency, and in many cases they land them. They got Alex Pietrangelo. They got Jack Eichel. They got Mark Stone. They got Robin Lehner.

But what’s it gotten them as a franchise?  One single solitary unlikely appearance in a Cup final. Zero cups won.

What Vegas as a franchise doesn’t seem to understand is the NHL is not the NBA – one player will have an effect up to a point, but only up to a point. Hockey is much more of a team game, the best teams build through the draft and aim to build the best TEAMS, not the ones with the flashiest names on the roster.

They also have the dubious distinction of being the team with the biggest cap overage – just over $6.5 million, to be exact, which is why they sacrificed Evgeni Dadanov to bring Shea Weber’s contract into the fold and not forfeit draft picks.

This is why a lot of draft pick capital had to be sacrificed – either in the form of players received from the expansion draft or the from the entry draft. It is now to the point where they only have a mere three entry draft picks on their roster, that’s it. That increases to seven if you could the expansion draft, but that’s still not really a lot considering that the Oilers and Kings both have that amount of draft picks in their forward ranks alone.  After all if you go big game hunting in trade that means you have to sacrifice prospects or entry draft draft picks in that hunt.

They’ve also developed a reputation for not treating their core players very well – ask Max Pacioretty last offseason if he wanted to be traded somewhere else for “future considerations” – aka nothing but cap relief, which will probably affect their ability to draw free agents in the future – not that they’ll have the cap space to do it anyway….

They’re lucky they’ve gotten off to an 11-2 start to the season, but they’re not good enough to stay there so expect them to drop back down to earth soon enough.

The Knight’s top six of Stephenson-Eichel-Stone and then Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith are two pretty good lines, but just like the Flames last season, most of those guys are playing with shooting %’s above their career averages so expect the scoring totals of those guys to come back down again. Eichel has 14 points in 13 games, everyone else has 10 points in 13 games. Impressive, sure, but ultimately a mirage.

As you would expect when you go big game hunting, depth has be sacrificed to pay for it – and Vegas’s third line is a prime example of that. Phil Kessel has done fine, going 1-4-5 in 13 games, but the other two players on that line – Mike Amadio and Brett Howden – are both 1-1-2 in 10 and 13 games respectively.

Their fourth line fares better with Carrier-Roy-Kolesar. Carrier has five points in 12 games while Roy has seven in 13. Kolesar has three points in 11 games.

Lacking overall depth in the forward ranks compared to the rest of the Pacific Division.

On D, their pairing is the dual Alexes of Martinez and Pietrangelo. Pie man is living up to his contract with 10 points in 13 games but Martinez is struggling with but a single assist in 13 games.  The second pairing is in a similar situation, where Shea Theodore has 3-6-9 in 13 games, while Brayden Mcnabb only has four assists in 13 games. OK, but not great.

The bottom pairing has Zach Whitecloud and Nicholas Hague, who both have 1-3-4, Whitecloud in 13 games, Hague in 12. Again, OK but nothing to write home about – typical of the Knights who have to fill in their roster with these types of players because no cavalry is riding in from the farm team at this point in time.

The biggest concern with Vegas, however, is their goaltending. Robin Lehner is out for the season with injury, and as is the case with Vegas since they don’t have the cap space to go out and get a viable alternative they are manning their nets with two unproven commodities in Adin Hill and Logan Thompson, who between the two of them have barely 100 NHL games of NHL experience combined. 

What this means is this is my most educated guess for how Vegas will fare this season going forward. Their goaltending is doing great right now, but frankly I wouldn’t expect it to hold up.

That means that if there’s a team that’s going to emerge from the doldrums in the division because they’re finished their rebuild, they have a shot at the roster spots of both Calgary and Vegas.

But one never knows with these things – Vegas has defied the odds before, they might slip into the playoffs in a wild card spot or they may surprise and move up into the top three.

Pity Jack Eichel, for if Vegas’s team craters and they can’t get out of it – which they probably wouldn’t be able to – he may go down in NHL lore as the most talented player to never make the playoffs.

5.  Vancouver Canucks

I’ll say one thing for the Canucks – at least they actually went and fired Jim Benning. It should’ve been done years ago, but better late than never, as they say.

It seems like the Canucks are close to done their rebuild, but still need another piece or two plus they need time for their young players to mature. Jim Benning made a mess of the roster, but at least it’s not as bad as his counterpart Dean Lombardi did in San Jose prior to Mike Grier taking over.

In the offseason they beat out a number of other teams – including the Oilers – for the services of Russian Andrei Kuzmenko.

As always we’ll start with their forward lines. The first line of Nils Hoglander flanked by two great vets in Bo Horvat and JT Miller looks like it will be a pretty good one eventually. Horvat and Miller are off to their usual good starts, with 14 and 12 points respectively in 12 games. Hoglander is proving to be the achilles heel on the line in the early going only mustering up two assists in nine games. However, he is a tender 21 years old and has a mere 125 NHL games to his name, so he doesn’t have a lot of experience. A former second round pick, the Canucks are obviously high on Hoglander or they wouldn’t be playing him so high up the lineup.

The second line consists of the aforementioned Kuzmenko, Elias Pettersson, and rescue dog Ilya Mikheyev plucked from the toxic TO Maple Laffs. Kuzmenko is already paying dividends for the Canucks, putting up 11 points in 12 games, including seven goals. Pettersson actually leads the Canucks in points, with 15 in 12. Mikheyev has seven points in nine games, which has pushed top six staple Conor Garland to the bottom six.

Playing with Garland is some random named Sheldon Dries, who hasn’t done much of anything in the league, he has a single assist in four games. There’s also Tanner Pearson, who has five points in 12 games. Garland has six points in 11, both reasonable for bottom six players.

Hampering Vancouver right now is there are five players currently injured for them, including top sixer Brock Boeser.

This means that to an extent the bottom six is in flux as guys who wouldn’t normally be there are there.  That would explain why the fourth line center is Nils Aman, a nobody AHL bubble player who is surprisingly doing well with three points in 12 games. His linemates are Dakota Joshua, who has the same three points in 12 games, and Jack Studnicka, another AHL bubble player who a single assist in three games.

On D is really where you can see Jim Benning’s legacy of incompetence and is an area that will haunt the Canucks for a long time.

But it certainly is not because of superstar Quinn Hughes, who broke through last year with 68 points in 76 games and is well on his way to besting that total from last year with 10 points in eight games. His partner is NHL journeyman veteran of 875 NHL games, 33 year old Luke Schenn.

The second pairing is Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the worst contract in hockey that Benning stupidly acquired and sent out a bunch of contracts set to expire by last season’s end. If it weren’t for this trade the Canucks would’ve had an additional $10 million in cap space to play with last offseason. Instead they will have to pay Oliver Ekman-Larsson $7.26 million to underachieve for this season plus the next four more. Ouch.

OEL’s partner is ex-Oiler Ethan Bear, who was recently acquired for Vancouver to provide more depth on the blueline so they could push Tyler Myers down to the bottom pairing where he belongs right now. So far Bear has put up no offence in three games.

The bottom pairing consists of left shooter Ryan Stillman (no offence in 8 games) and Tyler Myers, another monument to Jim Benning’s incompetency.

Myers is being paid $6 million for this season and next to underacheive – and Benning gave him a Modified NTC to boot, which makes him even harder to trade. Not quite as bad as the OEL contract, but I’m willing to bet Allvin will be happy when both of these contracts have expired and the Canucks have an extra $13 million plus in cap space.

In goal the Canucks already have a starter calibre guy in Thatcher Demko, but he’s not off to a great start as he sports an .879 sv% and a 3.9 GAA. Ouch.

Backing him up is trade acquisition Spencer Martin. Martin has a mere 12 NHL games to his name so he’s incredibly raw. Expect this tandem to get better as the season gets better.

All Vancouver has to do at this point is two things:  1) Get healthy and 2) Keep drafting and developing. No one in Lotusland should harbour any illusions about making the playoffs, just keep doing what you’re doing. In a way, a lot of losing this season from the health of the team would be a good thing as it would help your draft position and you could get a better player in the draft.

If nothing else at least you fired Jim Benning, you can always comfort yourselves with that.

6.  Anaheim Ducks

And now we get to the rebuilding team in the Pacific Division that’s not as far along as the Canucks but has some good pieces for sure.

I really wanted to rate the Ducks higher as they held down the second spot in the Pacific Division for a time but then came crashing down to earth when their young talent inevitably felt the pinch of growing pains.

I was impressed by the Ducks’s offseason too, as they acquired some useful veterans in Ryan Strome, Frank Vatrano, and John Klingberg.

Still, though, the Ducks are building something pretty good here, might win another cup or two eventually.

Their first line consists of Adam Henrique-Trevor Zegras-Frank Vatrano. Zegras is certainly off to a good start, with 12 points in 12 games. Vatrano is doing his thing with five points in 12 games. Henrique is 3-1-4 in 12 games. Not bad.

Their second line consists of Maxime Comtois-Ryan Strome-Troy Terry. Terry currently leads the Ducks in points with 16 in 12. Strome has eight in 12, while Comtois has four goals in those 12 games. That’s a good start for sure.

The third line is centered by 2021 first round pick Mason Mctavish. The second year player already has eclipsed last year’s total of three points with seven points in 12 games. His wingers are Max Jones, 1-1-2 in 12 games, not great. Subbing in for Derek Grant, who is off right now due to conditioning issues right now, is Brett Leason, who has 1-1-2 in six games, not bad.

The fourth line is centered by Isac Lundestrom, who has four assists in 12 games, and at the left side is Colton White, no points three games. The other winger is Jakob Silvferberg, who has 3-1-4 in 11 games. Not bad.

The Ducks are a bit hurting on D right now, as they have three d-men injured at the time of this writing – Sam Carrick, Urho Vaakanainen, and Jamie Drysdale. I’m assuming they’re hurting for the entire season as the Ducks have a number of guys signed to one year contracts.

The Ducks’s first pairing consists of ex-Oiler Dmitry Kulikov and ex-Star John Klingberg. Kulikov has four points in 12 games while Klingberg has six assists in 12 games. On a non-rebuilding team this would be a bad top pair but on this team it’s fine. On the second pairing we have Simon Benoit with no points in eight games and Cam Fowler, with one point in 12 games. The bottom pairing consists of Nathan Beaulieu – two assists in eight games – and Kevin Shattenkirk, four assists in 12 games.

In net we have the shadow of John Gibson, who is somehow still in Anaheim despite trade rumours dogging him for a long time now. He’s fallen off the map a bit, probably ran out of gas due to having to bail his team out on so many occasions. He’s off to about the start you’d expect, .883 sv% and 4.58 GAA. Congratulations Anaheim, you have him for this season and the next four at the hefty price tag of $6.4 million. Enjoy.

Backing up Gibson we have Anthony Stolarz, who was briefly an Oiler. He’s also off to the start you’d expect backstopping a young team lacking defensive experience, .901 sv% and a 3.9 GAA.

This team is bound to get better defensively as their young roster gains experience, but until they do Gibson and Stolarz are going to be mere meatshields for the many pucks flying in their vicinity.

The Ducks remind me of the Oilers from four seasons ago. Might be two or three seasons away from making the Playoffs in this Pacific Division.

7.  Seattle Kraken

Not much to say about a team that just started operating last season, they’re going through the typical growing pains of an expansion franchise, yet they aren’t my last place team in the Pacific Division.

I was impressed that they were able to land Andre Burakovsky and Oliver Bjorkstrand in the offseason. That’s quite a coup for their wings, especially since both guys can play both wings.

Not so coincidentally, both the aforementioned players are playing the wing for Alex Wennberg on the first line. Wennberg has seven points in 13 games, Burakovsky 10 in 13, and Bjorkstrand seven in 13. The second line meanwhile, is centered by Matty Beniers who has nine points in 13 games, with Jordan Eberle on one side (eight points in 13 games) and Jaden Schwartz on the other one – another great pickup in the offseason and currently leading the Kraken in points with 5-5-10 in 13.

That’s a typical top six for an expansion franchise.

2022 fourth overall pick Shane Wright centers the third line, not much from him so far as he’s only got a single assist in seven games.  His wingers are Brandon Tanev (eight points in 13 games) and Yanni Gourde, who has 2-5-7 in 12 games.

The fourth line is centered by Morgan Geekie, who has seven points in 10 games. His wingers are Daniel Sprong, who has had a surprisingly good start to the season with seven points in seven games, and Ryan Donato, with 1-2-3 in 10 games.

Not a lot of talent there but certainly good depth scoring from top to bottom so far. A scrappy bunch.

On D, it’s a similar story. Vince Dunn mans the top pair left side for the Kraken, with 2-6-8 in 13 games so far. His partner is stay at home defender Adam Larsson, whom the Oilers lost to Seattle in the expansion draft when they poached him in free agency. 2-1-3 in 13 games is about what you’d expect from him.

The second pairing is Jamie Oleksiak, who has 3-2-5 in 13 games, and Justin Schultz, who has 1-5-6 in the same 13 games. The bottom pairing is Carson Soucy – 1-3-4 in 13 games, and William Borgen, 1-2-3 in 13 games.

In goal is where the Kraken might actually be in trouble, as both of their starting goalies – Chris Dreidger and Phillippe Grubauer – are on the shelf right now.

In their places, at least for now, are Martin Jones and Joey Daccord. That’s going about as well as you’d think – Jones has a .901 sv% and a 2.61 GAA. I’m not seeing any games played for Daccord, but oddly enough Grubauer is the only other goalie who’s played games right now – .860 sv% with a 3.77 GAA. Grubauer must’ve just recently become injured in the previous game and Daccord hasn’t played yet – no stats listed for him.

8.  San Jose Sharks

And now we come to the dregs of the Pacific Division. San Jose is a complete dumpster fire – so much so that I don’t know how new GM Mike Grier won’t become an alcoholic over his tenure.

This is a team that is hamstrung so badly by bad contracts that they may not be able to retain their own prospects by the time their ELCs are up. They had to trade away Brent Burns and a bottom six forward to another team in exchange for a third round pick and two prospects just to be cap compliant. For San Jose, the rumoured $4 million increase in the cap two seasons from now can’t come soon enough.

To give you an idea of how bad this team is, Erik Karlsson – a defenceman – is their top scorer right now. That’s right, a blueliner is their top scorer right now. Normally I’d go through the lines but I don’t even think that’s worth it. Their problems are just getting started.

Timo Meier – who plays on the first line and has 11 points in 14 games – has a contract that’s up and frankly I wouldn’t hold my breath that he comes back. Tomas Hertl has had a decent start to the season also with 11 points 14 games. Logan Couture has eight points in 14 games. That’s about it for scoring of note.

Oh, did I mention Couture is 33 and signed for another four seasons after this one at $8 million a season? Ouch. At least he’s still relevant now, something you can’t say for any of their blueliners other than Erik Karlsson. Pickleman Marc-Edourd Vlasic isn’t producing offence, and these days his own zone play has dropped off pretty badly too – and he’s signed for $7 million for another three seasons past this one. Charming…..

As for the goalies, 34 year old James Reimer is somehow managing to be an average goalie backstopping this team, with a .910 sv% and a 2.88 GAA. Can’t say the same for Kaapo Kahkonen, who is posting an .878 sv% and 3.62 GAA, but I’m much more certain that his results are only a byproduct of the lousy team in front of him.

This is a team paying a bottom pairing d-man – Matt Benning – to play in the top four for them. I’m not making this up…ouch.