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We have now touched on three of the four divisions for our mid-summer projections. At last visit, we were talking about the
Atlantic -- like the other Eastern Conference division, the guesses (especially in the middle) were all over the place.
On the other side, the West divisions seem a lot more cut and dry.
Just about everyone liked Chicago and St. Louis to advance, and the vast majority also put Dallas in the discussion. The real debate was over teams four and five.
I think there's even less of a guessing game in the Pacific, where the California teams seem like locks to reach the post-season. I think Anaheim's the weakest of the three teams, but I still think they are one of the better teams in the league. I think San Jose is still one of the best clubs in all of hockey, though their off-season wasn't ideal -- especially for a team whose window is probably closing, not opening. Los Angeles? Defending champions, and no reason to believe they'll be anything other than Cup contenders again in 2014-2015.
San Jose and Los Angeles may be two of the three best teams at even-strength -- Anaheim's getting there, and they have plenty of youth that can get them to the next level. I'd be stunned if any of these teams miss.
Which brings us to four and five, the same way the Central division did. Now, depending on how the Conference shakes out, these teams aren't necessarily going to be good enough for playoff bids due to the nature of the new format. Still, I think Vancouver is the best bet for the four hole -- the team was just woefully unlucky last year, and to the extent that they weren't unlucky, they were kind of getting sandbagged by John Tortorella. I still like thier defensive corps and when you're trotting out an elite top-line like Willie Desjardins can with the Sedin twins, you're probably going to get the right portion of the shots and the goals.
The race for five might be most interesting. Phoenix strikes me an extremely mediocre team with very limited upside, but I'd be stunned if they really had a poor season. The two Alberta teams still feel six and seven, though one of the two could jump up. We saw Calgary look great in spurts last year (especially when their five-man included Mark Giordano), and Edmonton's off-season definitely made the team better. Additions like Benoit Pouliot and Mark Fayne to replace some of the garbage on the roster last year are certainly going to help things move along, though I'm still deeply concerned about their poor center depth -- especially in this division.
So, my early guess is as follows. Reserve the right to amend when we revisit about six weeks from now.
1. San Jose
2. Los Angeles
3. Anaheim
4. Vancouver
5. Edmonton
6. Phoenix/Calgary
7. Phoenix/Calgary
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