Well, if Sbisa is our biggest problem, then we are in a better place than all but a few teams.
I predict that we are going to win the division. For all the talk that the other teams in our division improved, I just don't see it.
Anaheim is going with an extremely inexperience d corps and goaltending. Bieksa is their only veteran defender, and as talented as these kids are, experience at the back is so vital. As well, they traded away most of their kids and the energy that brings to an organization and didn't get much back. Haeglin is a nice player, but is a first liner? I think they will rue the day they traded away the likes of Etem and Smith-Pelly. It would take just one or two key injuries to the injury prone trio of Getzlaf, Perry and/or Kesler to put this team on the playoff bubble in my opinion.
LA has added Lucic, essentially doubling down on the strategy that failed so miserably for both themselves and Boston last year. Are they a better team than the one that missed the playoffs last year? I don't think that they are deeper up front, and I am not convinced that guys like Toffoli and whatever is left of Dustin Brown have any place in the top six of a playoff team in the west.
San Jose looks like a descent team, but only if they found a goalie in Jones. There really is no back up plan for them, so as Jones goes they will go.
Edmonton still has a lot of work to do, and still needs a goalie because Talbot isn't good enough to cover for that terrible defence. How many break away per game did we get against them this preseason? 3... 4? McDavid is obviously a fantastic talent, but there is still the challenge of building a team and learning what it takes to win consistently. Ultimately I think that they will challenge for a playoff spot, and that alone is a huge jump for them.
Calgary is probably the only team other than us that I can confidently say is better than last year and in my mind that makes them our main rival for the division. But I don't think that they are better than us, now that we have added some youthful exuberance to our lineup to match theirs, the experience of the Sedins and Miller will separate us from them.
And Arizona is hardly worth mentioning.
I think that we have a really exciting balance of veteran talent that is still amongst the best in the league and a large group of quality young players. Thats what has worked around the league. Look at all of the teams that stand out year after year, they have that kind of mix. I think that our competition in the Pacific have lost that quality while we have gained it in a very short period of time.
GAME ON!
