CaliSports News Pacific Division Predictions

The new 2015-16 NHL season is just around the corner and we here at CaliSports News are acting accordingly by re-assembling all members of our NHL department team and having them predict how the battle for the Pacific Division and others will play out.  For fun, each writer will also predict who will make the Stanley Cup final this year.  So without further delay, here .. we .. go!

Lori Hultin 

Pacific Division

The West has already proved it’s the best with the Blackhawks and Kings trading the last four seasons’ Stanley Cup championships. Within the West, the Pacific Division has only gotten better with fierce competition between top teams like the Kings, Ducks and Sharks, now supplemented by last year’s dark horse entry into the playoffs, the Calgary Flames, an improved Vancouver Canucks team and – my prediction for most improved of this coming season – the Edmonton Oilers. Coyotes? Well, someone has to be at the bottom…

Here are a few predictions for the Pacific Division’s 2015-2016 season, starting from last season’s bottom up:

• Arizona Coyotes: The Coyotes stay in last place, just like the past season. With their continuing struggles, the fight to remain in Glendale, Arizona and no significant trades or moves during the off-season, I don’t see their prospects improving much. Sorry, ‘Yotes.
• Edmonton Oilers: The surprise of the season will be Edmonton. Bolstered by incoming rookie, Connor McDavid, significant acquisitions like Andrej Sekera on defense and Cam Talbot, former back-up goalie for the NY Rangers, and with former Sharks coach, Todd McLellan in place, the Oilers look to be a contender this season and I predict they will duke it out with the Sharks for the last playoff spot…and succeed.
• San Jose Sharks: And speaking of the Sharks…they just don’t get it. After the reverse-sweep loss in the first round of the 2014 playoffs to their bitter rivals, the LA Kings, you’d have thought they’d learned. But very few changes were made for the 2014-2015 season and a war of words ensued between their GM, Doug Wilson, and former captain, Joe Thornton, who was unceremoniously stripped of his title before the season started. Many Sharks were quoted questioning the culture of the club and the locker room environment. So what did the Sharks do in response? They fired their Coach and sent him packing to a Division rival. The only major change the Sharks made this Summer was to send goaltender Niemi packing and acquire Martin Jones from the Kings via the Bruins. I’m a huge Martin Jones fan, but he hasn’t yet proven he’s a number one goalie and neither has Alex Stalock, the number two tends the Sharks relied on to back up Niemi the past couple of seasons. With powerhouse players like Burns, Couture and Pavelski, the Sharks should be better, but their stubborn GM refuses to acknowledge that he is part of the problem with the Sharks’ culture. I say they miss the playoffs…again.
• Los Angeles Kings: If you expected me to be unbiased, that all ends here. No, the Kings won’t sit atop the Pacific Division at the end of the regular season and they won’t make it easy on themselves or their fans, in typical Kings fashion. But they will get into the playoffs and they will get to the Western Conference Final. The Kings still have challenges ahead – particularly on defense where they’d better solve the SlavaVoynov issue quickly – but they’ve been able to obtain the most critical thing they needed during this off-season: Rest. It was a tired, worn-out looking Kings team that lost back-to-back games vs the Oilers and Flames at the end of last season, sealing their post-season fate. But now they’ve had time to recuperate and regenerate, and they’ve had a long summer to think about how much they want to win again. While it was tough losing players like Williams, Stoll, Richards, Jones and Regehr, the core of the two-time Stanley Cup winning Kings team is still here and will be ready to go. Having Milan Lucic on our side won’t hurt. I predict he’s the guy who finally sends Johnny Hockey flying into the boards (but no injury please – just enough to make him think twice!).
• Vancouver Canucks: On paper, they should be better and the Sedins continue to play brilliantly, but they just can’t seem to break through. While they finally made it back into the playoffs last season, they just couldn’t quite get to that next step. They’ve traded away Eddie Lack, which I think was a big mistake – I don’t think Ryan Miller is as good in-goal as they think he is. The history of choking when it counts is getting to them and I just don’t think they have the mental fortitude to get there. I say they miss the playoffs this year.
• Calgary Flames: The Flames scare me. They’ve now shown that their young players can step up and play with the big boys in the playoffs. I still don’t understand how Johnny Hockey avoids getting pummeled by players who are nearly twice his size, but he manages to escape them. During the summer, the Flames added Dougie Hamilton from the Bruins to help shore up the blue line and Michael Frolik from the Jets, a solid right-wing who won a cup with Chicago in 2013. These guys look dangerous and I expect them to make it into the playoffs again (wherein, hopefully, the Kings will send them packing as revenge for putting the nail in the Kings’ post-season coffin last season!)
• Anaheim Ducks: Much as it pains me to say it, they’re good. Really good. Just like last year, I predict the Ducks will sit atop the Pacific Division at the end of the regular season and easily make the playoffs. Unlike last year, I predict they will lose in the second round. The Ducks have everything they need to get to the top: except the mental strength to push through in important games. Twice in the past two seasons, they’ve lost in a crucial game 7. That has to wear on a team and on top players like Getzlaf, Perry and Kesler. And, of course, as many observers have already noted, coach Bruce Boudreau also can’t seem to take any club to that next level. The Ducks will ride high during the regular season, but I predict they crash and burn before they get a shot at the Western Conference Final.

So in summary, I expect the Pacific Division to look like this at the end of the regular season:

• Anaheim Ducks
• Calgary Flames
• Los Angeles Kings
• Edmonton Oilers (Wildcard spot!)
• San Jose Sharks
• Vancouver Canucks
• Arizona Coyotes

As for the rest of the Western Conference, Chicago is looking eerily like Los Angeles at the start of this season with some tired players and an off-ice issue with a top player, Patrick Kane, that could really derail their season.  Last season, I picked the Minnesota Wild to go the Western Conference final and they are my pick again for this season. I think they’ve got the goods and will finally put it together …until the Kings beat them to go to the Stanley Cup final, of course. Naturally, the Kings are my pick to win the West.

As for the East, all I can say is watch out for the Washington Capitals. They were excellent last season and they’re going to be even better this season with the addition of Mr. Game 7, Justin Williams. They’re my pick to win the East. A Stanley Cup Final between the Kings and Capitals would be a dream…in which the Kings don’t let the Caps get to a game 7, of course!

Stanley Cup Final

Los Angeles Kings vs Washington Capitals