Speculation: Hot Takes on where each team will rank in the Pacific Division this season...

[Pucklington]

LA will be greatly improved and I think so will Vancouver. Seattle will win a lot of 2-1 games and I don’t think they are done adding offence. There’s a lot of pieces they have on D to move still.

Seattle will lose more games 2-1.

 

[Sinistril]

Vancouver / Edmonton

Vegas (gonna be hurting without MAF)

LAK / Calgary

San Jose
Anaheim
Seattle

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Seattle will lose more games 2-1.

They will lose those as well and I think they finish 4th but only the top 3 in the Pacific get in as one team will slide over as a WC from the Central.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Kopitar and Doughty are a year older. Kopitar had amazing year, and they still stunk. They added players, but it isn't reasonable to expect that from Kopitar again. I think at best they are level.

Vancouver... I look at the team last year vs. this year and I don't see any player who will improve them enough to make the playoffs.

Schmidt is a better player than OEL, and I don't see adding Garland making that big a difference.

Vancouver may have the worst defense in the division.

We agree to disagree.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Look out for Van. 2 deadly lines and great goaltending. PP is scary if healthy. Hughes is a beauty and Petey is scary good. Podkolzin is also a monster. Perhaps the next Mark Stone.

Vegas is a beast of a roster but still weak at C, however, they will always be blessed w/ the "Vegas Hangover" for a few extra wins

I see Edm finishing top 1-3. Our forward depth is fantastic and McDrai is better than anyone can handle most nites

 

[Dirt McGintty]

This is one of the dumbest posts I have read in months..congrats.

I already acknowledged that I was just being a dick to the Vancouver fan who came over to another teams board just to call them a bunch of homers. PS your hotrod sucks.

 

[Niten Ichi Ryu]

Division bold takes:
-Vegas will slide to wildcard status, Lehner struggles at times and they feel the void of no MAF. Peyton Krebs is a finalist for the calder
-Los Angeles is a top 3 team in the division. With the addition of Danault and Edler, and arguably the best prospect pool in the league, they begin to blossom with a rookie breakout or two, and sophomore evolution from Vilardi, Anderson and Bjornfot
-With the additions of OEL and Garland, a motivated core in Pettersson, Hughes and Hoglander, and a breakout year for Demko, Vancouver will have the best start in the division and create separation early
-Vancouver, Edmonton and Los Angeles jostle for the division title with a tight finish right to game 82
-Mike Smith struggles out of the gate, Ceci makes his way into the top pairing, Tyler Benson makes the team, Puljujarvi has a breakout season and Darnell Nurse is a norris finalist
-Seattle will miss the playoffs, offense will be an issue and Hakstol will be terminated in the off season
-San Jose repeats as the worst team in the division. Erik Karlsson waives his NMC and gets traded
-Calgary misses the playoffs again, Sutter is terminated, Lucic is traded to one of the 8 teams on his modified NMC, and Tkachuk signs an offer sheet
-Finally, Anaheim will fight for the final wild card spot right to the last game, Comtois is a top 20 scorer, Zegras with a rookie breakout and Gibson a Vezina finalist

 

[Gordian Knot]

Seattle starts season with four losses and in fifth game we see them playing 11 PPs.

 

[alphahelix]

Whatever charts those are that your reading which say our D is 30th or lower you can safely ignore.

Which of our RD are you going to put out there against Tampa Bays powerplay unit when it's running at 45% in the playoffs? combine that RD with our goaltending and you start to see a scary situation developing. Now, imagine that Nurse is the one in the box, or just played a long shift. We're going to run a 38 yo Keith (who had straight bad metrics last year) and Cody Ceci and feel good about it? Or is it rookie dream team Bouchard and Willie Lagesson? Honestly they probably have the better shot at keeping pucks out of our net. Most of these guys are not going to be particularly physical to grind out wins either.

I hope that Ceci can take a huge step and Bouchard can take a huge step, and Lagesson can take a huge step, and Keith can rebound, and Kris Russell can rebound and play stretches in the regular season that match his playoff performance, and that Mike Smith can somehow hold the fort together at 39.

Hope.

Just remember Tippett went to Nurse-Larsson late in every game that mattered last year and now he cant. Ethan Bear was used for lots of ES minutes against elite players in the regular season. A minimum requirement is to have 1 reliable stud at RD if you dont want to get badly exposed by the leagues elite players. Our options are questionable.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

Why does anyone think Vegas will be good?

Has anyone seen their lineup?

Nolan Patrick is now their 3rd line C after posting 9 points and went -30


Awesome wingers with no Centers.

Chandler Stephenson is their 1C.

 

[jesusbuiltmyhotrod]

I already acknowledged that I was just being a dick to the Vancouver fan who came over to another teams board just to call them a bunch of homers. PS your hotrod sucks.

As I already stated, I quoted you by accident, meant to quote to dumb nucks fan.

 

[jesusbuiltmyhotrod]

Vancouver / Edmonton

Vegas (gonna be hurting without MAF)

LAK / Calgary

San Jose
Anaheim
Seattle

LOL nah

 

[McDoused]

I dont think their will be any nights off in the Pacific this year. I dont see anyone as bad as Arizona/Buffalo.

Anaheim's been a bottom 5 team in the league for a few years and I dont see how they got any better, so they are at the bottom for me. No surprise with Eakins running the team.

I'm incredibly low on Seattle. After doing a ton of mock drafts and putting countless hours/days into prepping for the expansion draft I'm very disappointed in the team they ended up with. Not only did the pass on the best players available but they wound up a bunch of "two way" players that will all be expected to play higher in the lineup. I look at their team and think they are big but slow and dont transition the puck overly well. When you factor in poor selections with a bad coach, it's going to make for a frustrating experience for the players and the fans.

San Jose was a tire fire last year. They will have better goaltending in a Hill/Reimer tandem but honestly I just see them being left out to dry. Add the Kane drama and the fact that they are putting off the build, I think this is the year they finally pack it in.

Calgary lost their captain which is a huge blow to that dressing room. Who did they get to replace him on the back end? No one. Instead the "defensive" flames spent all their cap on Blake Coleman. The mix here isnt right and nothings changed that. Calgary could have made the playoffs this year but squandered their chances. They only seem to show up when games dont matter.

I think LA will surprise some people. They seem to be insulating their young guys with veterans. I think their veterans still have some gas left in the tank to play the hard minutes while their youngsters grow. Lack of talent especially on the back end is worrisome.

I'm not a huge fan of vancouver. I dont think they actually improved that much this year. Hughes was overworked on the backend last year and its only going to be worse this year. OEL and Hamonic as a 2nd pairing is going to get eaten alive as neither is a top 4 defenceman.

Edmonton will be able to push the pace better. We lost all our slowest players while adding forward depth and becoming a better all around defence. Goaltending might need to be addressed mid season if needed.

Las vegas will miss their starting goaltender but I still think they finish the top of the division. They are a good regular season team but will need to make a big move up front if they want to do damage in the playoffs.

Las Vegas
Edmonton
Vancouver
Los Angeles
Calgary
San Jose
Seattle
Anaheim

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Which of our RD are you going to put out there against Tampa Bays powerplay unit when it's running at 45% in the playoffs?

If we are playing Tampa Bay in the playoffs then we are in the Stanley Cup Final which means our D corps is better than 30th (at best - your words).

combine that RD with our goaltending and you start to see a scary situation developing.

Combine a far better possession driven forward corps with that RD and with goaltending that was top half in the league in save percentage and its not near as scary as youve been led to believe.

Now, imagine that Nurse is the one in the box, or just played a long shift. We're going to run a 38 yo Keith (who had straight bad metrics last year) and Cody Ceci and feel good about it? Or is it rookie dream team Bouchard and Willie Lagesson?

Kieths metrics are influenced by the shitty team and D corps around him not to mention when Lankinen was not in net it was not good. Kieth will be fine, Ceci looked good with Pittsburgh and were not done on the Left side, I believe we will have a better bottom LD than were showing with Russell and I am not sure Lagesson even makes the team.

Most of these guys are not going to be particularly physical to grind out wins either.
I hope that Ceci can take a huge step and Bouchard can take a huge step, and Lagesson can take a huge step, and Keith can rebound, and Kris Russell can rebound and play stretches in the regular season that match his playoff performance, and that Mike Smith can somehow hold the fort together at 39.

Hope.

Just remember Tippett went to Nurse-Larsson late in every game that mattered last year and now he cant. Ethan Bear was used for lots of ES minutes against elite players in the regular season. A minimum requirement is to have 1 reliable stud at RD if you dont want to get badly exposed by the leagues elite players. Our options are questionable.

Overall I see our D as being better at transitioning the puck and we will see how Bouchard develops, and who else we will be added on the bottom pair LD. Are we a top league shutdown D? NO but the Oilers are not a shutdown team either. We need a D that compliments our greatest assets up front. The more McDavid and Draisaitl have the puck the less it is in our end. We have a forward corps that should be far better on the forecheck and 4 legitimate NHL lines with legitimate winger support on all 4 lines. That is going to translate into less D zone time.

Are we a bottom 3 NHL defence. Absolutely not and any chart that claims as such is so out to lunch as to not to be taken seriously.

 

[GOilers88]

Which of our RD are you going to put out there against Tampa Bays powerplay unit when it's running at 45% in the playoffs? combine that RD with our goaltending and you start to see a scary situation developing. Now, imagine that Nurse is the one in the box, or just played a long shift. We're going to run a 38 yo Keith (who had straight bad metrics last year) and Cody Ceci and feel good about it? Or is it rookie dream team Bouchard and Willie Lagesson? Honestly they probably have the better shot at keeping pucks out of our net. Most of these guys are not going to be particularly physical to grind out wins either.

I hope that Ceci can take a huge step and Bouchard can take a huge step, and Lagesson can take a huge step, and Keith can rebound, and Kris Russell can rebound and play stretches in the regular season that match his playoff performance, and that Mike Smith can somehow hold the fort together at 39.

Hope.

Just remember Tippett went to Nurse-Larsson late in every game that mattered last year and now he cant. Ethan Bear was used for lots of ES minutes against elite players in the regular season. A minimum requirement is to have 1 reliable stud at RD if you dont want to get badly exposed by the leagues elite players. Our options are questionable.

The big wrench here is that there's 82 games between now and then and God knows who's going to have what kind of season. I think people are really overstating their concerns.

 

[FlameChampion]

Vegas
Edmonton

Vancouver
Seattle
Calgary

Los Angeles

Anaheim
San Jose

 

[Gordian Knot]

Edmonton
Vancouver
Vegas
Los Angeles
Calgary
Seattle
San Jose
Anaheim (Dallas Eakins guys...)

 

[alphahelix]

If we are playing Tampa Bay in the playoffs then we are in the Stanley Cup Final which means our D corps is better than 30th (at best - your words).




Combine a far better possession driven forward corps with that RD and with goaltending that was top half in the league in save percentage and its not near as scary as youve been led to believe.



Kieths metrics are influenced by the shitty team and D corps around him not to mention when Lankinen was not in net it was not good. Kieth will be fine, Ceci looked good with Pittsburgh and were not done on the Left side, I believe we will have a better bottom LD than were showing with Russell and I am not sure Lagesson even makes the team.




Overall I see our D as being better at transitioning the puck and we will see how Bouchard develops, and who else we will be added on the bottom pair LD. Are we a top league shutdown D? NO but the Oilers are not a shutdown team either. We need a D that compliments our greatest assets up front. The more McDavid and Draisaitl have the puck the less it is in our end. We have a forward corps that should be far better on the forecheck and 4 legitimate NHL lines with legitimate winger support on all 4 lines. That is going to translate into less D zone time.

Are we a bottom 3 NHL defence. Absolutely not and any chart that claims as such is so out to lunch as to not to be taken seriously.

Obviously any team with an elite offence will give our undermanned D fits, but we still have to get through Tampa Bay if we want any of this to matter so why not use them as the example when there are a dozen other teams with elite offence. If you think our goaltending is going to be top third this year, well, thats interesting.

Last year our D was definitely more puckmovers than defensive guys, but now we're Toronto 2 years ago. All puckmovers except whoever our 3LD is. We have 2 of their top 4 from then and they couldnt survive against elite teams.

Can you name the 10 teams that we have better defence than?

 

[Oilhawks]

If we are playing Tampa Bay in the playoffs then we are in the Stanley Cup Final which means our D corps is better than 30th (at best - your words).




Combine a far better possession driven forward corps with that RD and with goaltending that was top half in the league in save percentage and its not near as scary as youve been led to believe.



Kieths metrics are influenced by the shitty team and D corps around him not to mention when Lankinen was not in net it was not good. Kieth will be fine, Ceci looked good with Pittsburgh and were not done on the Left side, I believe we will have a better bottom LD than were showing with Russell and I am not sure Lagesson even makes the team.




Overall I see our D as being better at transitioning the puck and we will see how Bouchard develops, and who else we will be added on the bottom pair LD. Are we a top league shutdown D? NO but the Oilers are not a shutdown team either. We need a D that compliments our greatest assets up front. The more McDavid and Draisaitl have the puck the less it is in our end. We have a forward corps that should be far better on the forecheck and 4 legitimate NHL lines with legitimate winger support on all 4 lines. That is going to translate into less D zone time.

Are we a bottom 3 NHL defence. Absolutely not and any chart that claims as such is so out to lunch as to not to be taken seriously.

On top of all of this I’d add that these charts would be basing the assessment of these individual players on their respective (former) teams. We essentially have the following incumbent D

Nurse - Barrie
X - X
X? - X

I don’t count Bouchard because he essentially didn’t play last year. Keith and Ceci are new to the team and it’s a very good chance that the 3LD is someone new, either a signing or one of the kids stealing a spot. I doubt it will be Lagesson or Russell

Even heavy stats guys would usually caution about using the stats out of context. We haven’t seen how these guys are going to play together outside of Nurse and Barrie. Ceci looked pretty good on the Penguins and Keith is not only moving from a tire fire team, he’s also having a reduced role.

There is a very good chance that this D is better than people are expecting, IMO

 

[alphahelix]

The big wrench here is that there's 82 games between now and then and God knows who's going to have what kind of season. I think people are really overstating their concerns.

Well, youre kind of right, in the sense that a game is a game and ultimately anything can happen. But from the perspective of a GM, that would definitely be a firable attitude. "Who knows what any of the players in this league might do? Its totally unpredictable! Who cares if you have Ceci or Doughty, same difference"

 

[NotAVacuumSalesman]

Look out for Van. 2 deadly lines and great goaltending. PP is scary if healthy. Hughes is a beauty and Petey is scary good. Podkolzin is also a monster. Perhaps the next Mark Stone.

Vegas is a beast of a roster but still weak at C, however, they will always be blessed w/ the "Vegas Hangover" for a few extra wins

I see Edm finishing top 1-3. Our forward depth is fantastic and McDrai is better than anyone can handle most nites

Agreed. Podkolzin is scary good for his age.

Watching him at the WJC, he's got the best 2 way forward label on him.

 

[Oilers in NS]

My newest hot take on how the Pacific Division will pan out this season....

I looked at all the current rosters on capfriendly.com for the 8 teams in the Pacific Division and ranked them looking at their current rosters based on their forwards, dmen and goaltending.

These ranks are my subjective opinions (obviously) of where each team is RIGHT NOW... barring any other further roster moves before the season begins (which of course will happen and these rankings could and will possibly change)... but anyway on to my current ranks and hot takes...

I ranked each category for each team "optimistically"... taking into account player performances from last season plus some young players that are coming up the ranks for each team that may have shown reasonably well at the NHL in their cups of coffee/short stints.

I'll be updating this during the summer as teams add/subtract from their rosters and final opening day rosters begin to take shape.

I've now also added my "hot take" looks at the other divisions as well across the NHL and have taken that into account as to how that likely impacts the Pacific Division rankings as well.


So on to the ranks...

Pacific Division

Team	Forwards rank	Dmen rank	Goalies rank		Overall division rank
Oilers	1	2	4		1
Knights	2	1	2		2
Canucks	4	3	5		3
Kraken	5	6	1		4
Flames	3	7	8		5
Sharks	6	8	6		6
Kings	7	5	7		7
Ducks	8	4	3		8

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Central Division

Team	Forwards rank	Dmen rank	Goalies rank		Overall division rank
Avalanche					1
Stars					2
Jets					3
Blues					4
Blackhawks					5
Wild					6
Predators					7
Coyotes					8

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Metropolitan Division

Team	Forwards rank	Dmen rank	Goalies rank		Overall division rank
Penguins					1
Capitals					2
Rangers					3
Flyers					4
Devils					5
Islanders					6
Hurricanes					7
Blue Jackets					8

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Atlantic Division

Team	Forwards rank	Dmen rank	Goalies rank		Overall division rank
Panthers					1
Maple Leafs					2
Bruins					3
Lightning					4
Red Wings					5
Senators					6
Canadiens					7
Sabres					8

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

One more BOLD hot take look at the projected Overall NHL standings (and again this still could be subject to change as the rosters take shape throughout the summer)...

Team	Overall NHL Rank
Panthers	1
Maple Leafs	2
Avalanche	3
Oilers	4
Penguins	5
Bruins	6
Stars	7
Knights	8
Lightning	9
Capitals	10
Rangers	11
Canucks	12
Jets	13
Blues	14
Blackhawks	15
Flyers	16
Wild	17
Kraken	18
Devils	19
Islanders	20
Red Wings	21
Senators	22
Hurricanes	23
Blue Jackets	24
Predators	25
Flames	26
Sharks	27
Kings	28
Ducks	29
Canadiens	30
Coyotes	31
Sabres	32

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

So there you have it... cancel your Sportsnet/NHL TV hockey season package as you already know the Pacific division season results as well as the standings for the rest of the divisions and overall for the league as well and tune in to the playoffs in May when the real action begins.


Flame away at all those ranks if you like or better yet man up and post your own ranks and take a stand instead of just throwing out whiny, bitchy complaints and criticisms at others that actually put it on the line and make predictions.

Leafs in 2nd?
Whoa there Seabiscuit

 

[Oilers in NS]

Here’s my hot take:

1. Edmonton
2. Vancouver
3. Vegas
4. LA
5. Calgary
6. Seattle
7. Anaheim
8. San Jose

Interesting

 

[GOilers88]

Well, youre kind of right, in the sense that a game is a game and ultimately anything can happen. But from the perspective of a GM, that would definitely be a firable attitude. "Who knows what any of the players in this league might do? Its totally unpredictable! Who cares if you have Ceci or Doughty, same difference"

What I mean is it's hard to go with a hypothetical playoff scenario 82 games from now with players as they currently stand today. Evan Bouchard could very well be a top 4 guy by the end of the season. Duncan Keith could be having a great season 82 games from now on a lesser role with lesser minutes. Ceci could be exactly what he was last year on Pittsburgh which means he will have had a fine year with Edmonton. Any two of these would essentially render the hypothetical with Tampa completely moot, and if we're going up against Tampa it's in the finals anyways, which means we probably won't have any worries about the roster anyways if they manage to make it that far. On the flip side none of these could happen and if we somehow managed to go up against Tampa then we beat some pretty long f***in odds to begin with and it would be a hell.of a successful season.

Basically what I'm saying is any hypothetical playoff matchup against Tampa would equate to a hugely successful season regardless of all the concerns you raised or whether we win or lose.

 

[nexttothemoon]

Leafs in 2nd?
Whoa there Seabiscuit

Well that may still change as the summer goes on and all the rosters change across the league and I fiddle with all the stats inputs.

Really I just want to have a predicted order set in place by opening day of the season and see how accurate my order is to the actual season results.

No doubt I'll get some right and many wrong.