2016-17 NHL Pacific Division Predictions

By Jeff Duarte
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Updated: October 12, 2016

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Jeff Duarte

I am normally terrible at predictions. We’d have to go back to the 2001 and 2002 playoffs for when I got most of my predictions right, as last year I was nowhere close. Still, this is fun to do and I’m going to give it the old college try.

1st – San Jose Sharks

My biggest compliant about the Sharks was that their core players of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture tend to disappear when the going gets tough in the playoffs. Things finally changed last season as these players, along with former Kings’ back up goalie Martin Jones, played their hearts out and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final, (where Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski and Couture all decided to disappear from instead. I still say “Joner” stoled two games from the Penguins in that final on his solid play while his teammates bailed on him). With some more added success for Thornton, Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Brent Burns for Team Canada at the World Cup of Hockey, I can see San Jose continuing to have some momentum to win the Pacific Division this season (and raise another useless Division banner in an already overstuffed rafters, filled with useless Division banners and not one Stanley Cup banner, (you know, the one that matters). But let’s be honest, Thornton and Marleau are past the wrong side of being 30 years old and they are not getting any younger. Pavelski and Burns are also in their ’30s, and in a modern NHL where youth and speed are key, the Sharks will burn out by playoff time unless Jones decides to piggyback everyone on his back for another run at the Cup.

2nd – Anaheim Ducks

What is old is new again. The Ducks have welcomed back former (and banished) head coach Randy Carlyle in hopes that he can return them back to the promised land, as he did back in 2007 when the Ducks won the Stanley Cup. Despite that historic run, Carlyle had conflicts with stars Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry that ended up getting him fired in Anaheim and was sent packing to Siberia (aka, The Toronto Maple Leafs). Carlyle’s time in Toronto was a complete disaster, (remember the game 7 collapse against the Boston Bruins in 2013???), but after coach Bruce Boudreau kept finding new and impressive ways for his team to choke in game 7′ s at home, Ducks’ GM Bob Murray decided to do a deal with the devil and bring Carlyle back. As of right now, Carlyle, Murray, Getzlaf and Perry are all saying the right things about each other, but one has to wonder how long that will last, especially when things get tougher and crazier around playoff time? I’m also not sure about Anaheim’s decision to trade Frederick Anderson to the Leafs for another former Kings’ back-up Jonathan Bernier, (and what is it with the Duck’s obsession with the Leaf’s lately???). Bernier was an okay back up in LA, (he’s no Martin Jones) but struggled heavily in Toronto (well who doesn’t?). The change of scenery by returning to Southern California, being away from the fishbowl like pressure cooker that playing in Toronto can bring and having the position of being the back up goalie to John Gibson (unless there’s an injury) might do him some good, but I still feel he’s a wild card in all of this. As for John Gibson, he’s still unproven. Then again, so was Jones and look what he did with San Jose when giving the opportunity of being the number 1 goalie and the Ducks do have solid defense in front of him, even though I don’t think the fading Kevin Bieska will do much to help out. I see the Ducks finishing in second, and then losing a game 7 somewhere in the playoffs, which will put GM Bob Murray in the hot seat with Anaheim’s powers that be and will leave Bruce Boudreau smiling like a madman somewhere in the state of Minnesota.

3rd – Los Angeles Kings

There are a lot of changes with the Kings team this year. Gone is Milan Lucic (and let’s be honest with ourselves people. For someone who kept saying he wanted to stay in Los Angeles, loved LA and didn’t even need to look at free agency, he really didn’t try that hard to stay in Los Angeles when he left for the big bucks to play in Edmonton. Remember he knew all year that the Kings had salary cap issues and knew they couldn’t afford to keep him at full price (not Carey) but c’est la vie). Anze Kopitar is now the Captain of the team, replacing long time (and two-time Stanley Cup leading Captain) Dustin Brown and one has to wonder how much tension and awkwardness there is going to be in the locker room or between Brown and Darryl Sutter/management because of it and how much will it affect the team? The Kings signed on Teddy Purcell, Tom Gilbert, Mark Latte (who was placed on waivers), Jeff Zatkoff and others as free agents, but none of these moves shook the world when they were made, and roster spots are finally (or in theory) available for Ontario Reign youngsters Nic Dowd and Derek Forbort to grab and make their own. With Tanner Pearson harshly suspended for the first two games of the season and Marian Gaborik being injured (again), it looks like Devin Setoguchi will be on the roster on opening day after signing a 2 way, 1 year contract after his tryout with the Kings in the pre-season. With the huge question marks when it comes to the older defensive players like Matt Greene and Rob Scuderi (who was also placed on waivers), plus the possibility of injuries to main roster players throughout the year, maybe top prospects like Adrian Kempe, Michael Mersch, Kevin Gravel and Paul LaDue can finally find roster spots on the main team this year at some point too? Despite all the uncertainty and constant salary cap limitations, there are still positives going the Kings’ way as well, such as their core is still intact with Selke Trophy winner Kopitar, Norris Trophy winner Drew Doughty, Jeff Carter and Jonathan Quick steering the ship. A healthy year from Alec Martinez, along with Jake Muzzin and an improvement year from Brayden McNabb can do wonders for this team defensively. Tyler Toffoli will be a year older and now has another year of NHL experience behind him and could be due for another breakout season, (especially since it’s a contract year for him). As could Tanner Pearson when he returns from suspension, (it is also a contract year for him too and I wouldn’t be surprised if GM Dean Lombardi used Pearson as trade bait around the trade deadline). I think the Kings will be okay enough to make the playoffs but the lack of defensive depth and a struggle to find secondary scoring in the bottom six of the line up will hurt them in the end. I can see them bowing out early in the playoffs again. Then again, this team always does it’s best when everyone is betting against them …

4th – Calgary Flames

I have the Flames in fourth place over the Oilers and Coyotes for many reasons. One, they now have former St. Louis Blues’ and Jennings Trophy Winner Brian Elliott between the pipes. Second, they just (finally) re-signed Johnny “Hockey” Gaudreau to a new contract and this kid is a star. The Flames also have better defense than the Oilers with Captain Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie and Doug Hamilton patrolling the blue line. Also along with the talented Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett, Michael Frolik, Mikael Backlund, Troy Brouwer, and former King and two time Stanley Cup Champion Kris Versteeg, the Flames have both talent and a blue-collar workman’s skill set that can upset any team on any given day. Gone are the days of the hail Mary, cherry pick pass that the Flames relied on heavily two seasons ago under former head coach Bob Hartley. These Flames lack depth but they can play and they play hard. I don’t think they will catch a wild card playoff spot, as the Central Division is again looking like the “murderer’s row” of the NHL and they are way too stacked to not allow five teams from that division to make the playoffs, but look for the Flames to create some havoc and play spoiler to many potential playoff teams.

5th – Arizona Coyotes

The Coyotes have immense potential with young players like Max Domi, Anthony DuClair and Dylan Strome, plus with the heavily underrated Oliver Ekman-Larsson on defense. They still have one of the best coaches in the NHL in (former LA Kings’ assistant coach and) Jack Adams Trophy winner (and secretly the real GM of the team), Dave Tippett and he will keep everyone in check with their further development this season, but both Captain Shane (Moan) Doan, and goalie (I still blame the Kings for our collapse since 2012) Mike Smith are now long in the tooth at this point in their careers and long past their primes. Like the Oilers and the Flames, the Coyotes will provide some upsets along the way this year, but not enough to make the playoffs but enough to place higher than the Oilers.

6th – Edmonton Oilers

Yes, the Oilers have phenom Connor McDavid now as their Captain and yes, this kid can cause some serious damage to opposing teams but the Oilers still don’t have the defense or the goaltending (what else is new?) to make enough noise by making the playoffs … yet. They did improve their defense … well somewhat … by trading for Adam Larsson from the New Jersey Devils, but the steep price of giving away former number 1 draft pick and many time leading scorer Taylor Hall for him was not the wisest move by GM Peter Chiarelli. I feel the Oilers could have gotten a lot more, or even a better, and more solid defenseman or goaltender for the underrated Hall. Even trading away the disappointing and also former number 1 draft pick Nail Yakupov to St. Louis for only prospect Zach Pochiro and a conditional third-round pick in 2017 was another mis-step by the Stanley Cup winning GM. Which begs the question, why are the Oilers undervaluing their top trade prospects when they are in serious need of roster improvements? I am quite certain that the loss of Hall is going to bite them in the rear. They did wisely pick up free agent defenseman Kris Russell, and he will help on the defensive end, but I still feel that he is still not going to be enough. There is still some work to do for that blue line. Former first round picks Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have no choice but to step up, and goalie Cam Talbot has to be more consistent in net. The acquisition of (now) former LA King Milan Lucic is an interesting one, (and by interesting, I don’t just mean that this is the second year in a row that the Oilers took a Los Angeles Kings player in free agency that was nothing more than expensive rental player for the Kings, Andrej Sekera being the first before “Looch”), as these Oilers are a super speedy, run and gun team based on their youth and Lucic, well he’s just not that fast of a skater. He does provides leadership, toughness, grit and experience without a doubt, and those are all attributes that Oilers need badly, but he’s reaching 30 years old soon, moves slowly and one has to wonder if he’s going to struggle by trying to keep up with his lightning (not Tampa Bay) fast teammates? Especially two to three years from now. Lucic is also going to become an eventual salary cap nightmare for Edmonton, (and a long-term bullet that luckily the Kings have now avoided). The Oilers are going to be tough to play against, but this isn’t the 1980’s where the run and gun, balls out style of offensive play was the norm. The seriously lacking of defensive and goaltending depth will hurt Edmonton in the long run this season. Oh, and McDavid has to be healthy and play for the entire year for Edmonton for them to even have a remote chance of doing anything successful as well. In a few years, I have no doubt that the Oilers are going to be the darlings of the NHL, but that time isn’t now.

7th – Vancouver Canucks

We saw at the World Cup of Hockey how effective Loui Eriksson can be on a line with the Sedin twins but sadly, one productive line for the Canucks won’t be enough to prevent this team from being one of the cellar dwellers of the NHL. Ryan Miller is nowhere close to being the goalie that he once was and that won’t help either. It’ll be a long and rough year for the Canucks.

Stanley Cup Final

My gut is telling me that the Dallas Stars and the Nashville Predators are going to be playoff monsters this year for the West, while the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals are the monsters of the east, and I’m having a hard time choosing which two teams make the Cup Final and wins. So I’m flipping a metaphorical coin here and I’m going with the Washington Capitals finally winning the Stanley Cup in a tough close series with the Nashville Predators in 6 games. Alexander Ovechkin finally wins his Cup and Justin Williams gets a fourth Cup ring because that’s what he does. Oh and then he signs back with the Kings as a free agent that summer too! Well, we all can dream right?

What did you think of our Pacific Division predictions??? Who do you think will win the battle of the Pacific and/or win the Stanley Cup??? How do you think the Kings or the Ducks will do this year??? Please let us know in the comments below. Either way and despite all the possible outcomes that could play out this season, one thing is definitely for sure. It is great to have some NHL hockey back in our lives!

Stay with us at Calisportsnews.com as we will keep you up-to-date on all things Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks and the rest of the LA sports teams! All Cali, all the time!

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