Can any team in the west challenge Vegas or Colorado in next 2-3 years?

[dalewood12]

I see the Knights and Avs as the powerhouses and a big drop after that.

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[sebsisles]

definitely the two most complete teams right now in the West

 

[HBK27]

No

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Don't jinx it

Didn't we learn from all those Mackinnon threads after round 1??

 

[Mez]

A lot can change in a season or 2 these days. For all we know Seattle could overtake them.

 

[Ignatius]

Seattle?

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Edmonton

 

[Elysian]

Dallas, easily.

 

[Kuljeskelen]

Not any team, but some teams.

 

[Go Wings]

It reminds me a lot of the Detroit vs Colorado days at the height of their strength.

The answer is unlikely. Dallas has a good team but has some rapidly aging goalies and some potential cap issues. They remind me of St.Louis in power days of Detroit and Colorado. A good team but never good enough.

 

[Go Wings]

Edmonton

Thanks for the laugh

 

[Elysian]

It reminds me a lot of the Detroit vs Colorado days at the height of their strength.

The answer is unlikely. Dallas has a good team but has some rapidly aging goalies and some potential cap issues. They remind me of St.Louis in power days of Detroit and Colorado. A good team but never good enough.

Oettinger isn't "rapidly aging..."

edit: We also don't have cap issues, we had that this season but next season will be much improved. Just an all around odd take.

 

[Mobiandi]

LA

 

[rocketdan9]

I see the Knights and Avs as the powerhouses and a big drop after that.

Not Vegas at this rate

Avs are still not there yet

 

[Ctrain2k]

Edmonton, Minnesota and Dallas are really the only teams I see that could.

 

[GreeningOil]

Edmonton… if Holland spends some assets and signs the right free agents. If not we will compete with Buffalo for best waster of a stars time!

 

[Go Wings]

Oettinger isn't "rapidly aging..."

edit: We also don't have cap issues, we had that this season but next season will be much improved. Just an all around odd take.

You still have Bishop and Kuemper both signed.

Dallas has 16 million in cap space with half a defense to sign including Heiskanen. They also have only 9 forwards signed.
If you do the math there is going to be issues especially if Dallas wants to add pieces to improve.

 

[MuckOG]

The Wild just took VGK to 7 games and will be adding talent this offseason. I think they can challenge them.

 

[Elysian]

You still have Bishop and Kuemper both signed.

Dallas has 16 million in cap space with half a defense to sign including Heiskanen. They also have only 9 forwards signed.
If you do the math there is going to be issues especially if Dallas wants to add pieces to improve.

Kuemper? I think you mean Khudobin, and Dallas has plenty of cap space to do the things that need doing. Dallas doesn't need to add pieces to improve, they need to be healthy. That's already happening.

If Khudobin isn't taken by Seattle it's almost certain they will trade him. Oettinger needs to be the 1B next season, or the 1A if they want to limit Bishops schedule.

 

[MBTendy]

Things can change on a dime really quick in this league .. but as of now there's at least Dallas and Minny who can compete. I expect some teams to get better as well this off season.

 

[treple13]

Things can change fast in the NHL. While Colorado/Vegas look to be the powerhouses for years, I'd bet on someone else winning the West in the next two years

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Dallas built for playoff hockey.

 

[93gilmour93]

I think Minnesota can if they continue to improve

 

[jetsforever]

It reminds me a lot of the Detroit vs Colorado days at the height of their strength.

The answer is unlikely. Dallas has a good team but has some rapidly aging goalies and some potential cap issues. They remind me of St.Louis in power days of Detroit and Colorado. A good team but never good enough.

Dallas didn't even make the playoffs, so I'm not sure they're the best counterexample.

 

[Noodletoro]

Dallas didn't even make the playoffs, so I'm not sure they're the best counterexample.

Sure if you just ignore that they were missing their #1 goalie, #1 center, #1 RW all season, started the season with COVID, had a once in a century storm hit DFW that had players evacuating their homes due to days with no power and running water/pipes bursting, and had numerous other injuries to existing players like Hintz and Faksa being D2D for like the whole season, Kiviranta being out, etc.