The San Jose Sharks shocked the hockey world by reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2015-2016. The team under first-year head coach Peter Deboer. While it took the team some time to gel initially, they were able to pull off big series victories against their biggest rival, the Los Angeles Kings, the Nashville Predators, and then later on the St. Louis Blues. With aging players like Patrick Marleau not playing to the best of their ability, depth players like Joonas Donskoi, Joel Ward and Melker Karlsson, along with veteran forward Logan Couture who was coming off an injury stepped up and carried the Sharks to their first Finals appearance in franchise history. Their finals matchup with the Penguins lasted six games, and even though they lost, they showed that they still have what it takes to be a Cup contender, after a few years of a sharp decline under former head coach Todd McLellan
Central Division
Chicago Blackhawks- The Blackhawks have won the Stanley Cup three times in the last seven seasons. This current cast of Blackhawks forwards is one with very few noticeable names other than Kane, Toews, Panarin and Hossa. One can make the assumption that this Blackhawks squad isn’t going to able to make the playoffs with how competitive the Central Division is, but never underestimate a team with Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane or coach Joe Quenneville.
Colorado Avalanche- It’s really difficult to gauge how the Avalanche will play this year. The Avalanche have forwards Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan McKinnon, but other than them, they may have the thinnest forward group in terms of depth in the league. First-year head coach Jared Bednar will need to work a near miracle to get the Avalanche into the playoffs this year, barring a few trades.
Dallas Stars- The Stars are a dynamic offensive team, scoring a league high 267 goals last season. Dallas has arguably the best top six in the league with guys like Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn in their prime and Patrick Sharp and Jason Spezza at the end of theirs. The only thing keeping the Stars from being one of the elite teams in the league is their subpar goalie tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi who’s combined cap hit is $10.4 million.
Minnesota Wild- The Minnesota Wild have been where veteran forwards at the end of their prime go to die, in terms of production. We have seen this in the past with guys like Matt Moulson, Tomas Vanek and current Wild Jason Pominville are perfect examples of this. That is where new Wild center Eric Staal comes in, coming off his worst career season which he split with the Hurricanes and the Rangers. The Wild should be in the playoff chase as usual, but they aren’t a team that is going to blow you away.
Nashville Predators- On June 29, the NHL collectively shook their heads in confusion as the Montreal Canadiens traded young dynamite defender P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators for the again Shea Weber— who has one of the worst contracts in the league. A defensive pairing of Subban and Roman Josi instantly becomes the best young defense pairing in the NHL. The forward group is not too shabby either, as the team will open the season with a deep forward group, featuring dynamic scorers like Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen and James Neal. Pekka Rinne will be a stud as always as the Predators seemingly should compete for the Central Division Title.
St. Louis Blues- So much of this Blues team will look very different, while other parts will look exactly the same. With longtime captain David Backes signing in Boston, Alex Pietrangelo will be the next captain for the Blues. With veteran David Perron reentering the fold after a few years away from the organization plus the addition of former first overall pick Nail Yakupov, the difference between this team being good or great will be on the shoulders of goaltender Jake Allen, who is now the number one goalie after the team shipped Brian Elliot to the Flames at the draft.
Winnipeg Jets- The Jets only loss from last season is a rugged winger and two-time Stanley Cup champion Andrew Ladd. They won’t miss his production too much, though, as they have added Patrik Laine, the 2nd overall pick in the NHL Entry Draft to the fold. The Jets play a very physical brand of hockey. They have one of the scariest defenses in the league in terms of size and physicality and they could be game changers. At the same time, what the team makes up in size it loses in speed, and the NHL is becoming a faster and faster league each year. You can’t hit what you can’t catch, and that may be the Jets biggest problem heading into the season.
Pacific Division
Anaheim Ducks- The Ducks fired head coach Bruce Beaudreau in the offseason and brought back the coach he replaced when he was hired by the team; Randy Carlyle. There was a reason Carlyle was fired in the first place. In this age, you need to be able to possess the puck and play a quick transition game. Carlyle hasn’t employed that style of play in the past and most likely will not install that type of offense this time around either. With an aging roster and less depth than ever, this could be a tough year for the Ducks.
Arizona Coyotes- Yes, the Coyotes acquired another dead contract in Pavel Datsyuk’s deal that will help them with their salary cap, but as weird and almost pathetic as that move was, the Coyotes play on the ice will not be nearly as weird and pathetic as it’s been the past few years. The additions of Radim Vrbata and Jamie McGinn on offense and Alex Goligoski and Luke Schenn on defense coupled with the growth of youngsters Max Domi and Anthony Duclair among others is going to lead for Coyotes team that will surprise some people.
Calgary Flames- The Flames had a good offseason. They re-signed young stars Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau and brought in some good depth at forward in Troy Brower, Linden Vey and Alex Chiasson. The Flames also made a trade for one of St. Louis’ two-headed goaltending monster in Brian Elliot. Some people around the league aren’t sold that Elliot can be a true number one goaltender, but the Flames don’t really have much of a choice but to throw him into the fire—see what I did there? The Flames have a chance to get back to the playoffs if Elliot can prove his doubters wrong.
Edmonton Oilers- This is make or break time for the Oilers. The team traded two of their former first overall picks this offseason, Taylor Hall and Nail Yakupov to the New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild respectively. While the loss of those two players will hurt their offense, they picked up veteran Milan Lucic and Jesse Puljujärvi, who was the 4th overall pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft. They will also have Connor McDavid for a full season and their defense automatically improves with the addition of Adam Larsson via the Hall trade. With all of these pieces starting to come together, along with the brand new $450 million arena “Rogers Place,” the Oilers have a shot at making the playoffs for the first time since 05-06.
Los Angeles Kings- The Kings will be in a bad spot to start the year as not only forward Marian Gaborik hurt but now starting goaltender Jonathan Quick was injured in the first period of the Kings season opener against the San Jose Sharks. This team will go as far as Quick takes them, despite them being relatively deep at all positions. Jeff Zatkoff, the former Pittsburgh Penguin will have to be good for the Kings to stay afloat until Quick comes back—if that even happens this season.
San Jose Sharks- The reigning Western Conference champions seemingly got even better in the offseason. The additions of Mikkel Boedker and David Schlemko give the Sharks even more depth at forward and on defense. The Sharks have maybe the deepest center core in the league with Logan Couture who will be full healthy this year, the ageless Joe Thornton, and the aged Patrick Marleau. If the Sharks can get the same kind of performance out of goaltender Martin Jones that they did last year, then you can expect the Sharks to be among the best teams in the Pacific Division once again this season.
Vancouver Canucks- Although the Canucks went out and signed Loui Erickson, do not expect them to be anything too special this year. The Sedin twins are both yet another year older and there is barely any depth at any position in the lineup. Couple all of that up with an aging Ryan Miller in net and the possibility of this team finishing in 30th place this year is a real possibility.
