As fall begins and the days continue to get shorter, the professional sports season starts to get underway. As things stand now, it was relatively quiet throughout the Pacific Division’s eight teams compared to the other divisions in the National Hockey League. However, there were still some major stories coming out of the division this past off-season.
The “Mighty” Ducks of Anaheim
After hiring Greg Cronin as their new head coach last April, the Ducks were looking to tank for Connor Bedard to finish out the season. They came oh-so-close to doing so, receiving the second overall pick behind the Chicago Blackhawks and drafted Center Leo Carlsson over Adam Fantili. Fantili would end up going with the Blue Jackets who held the next pick. They also re-signed Alex Killorn, Alex Stalock, Ilya Lyubushkin, and notably, Radko Gudas to new contracts, while letting Anthony Stolarz, Max Comtois, and Kevin Shattenkirk go.
New Sharks in the Tank
Another team that failed to tank last season, the San Jose Sharks came into the off-season looking to continue their rebuild by clearing some cap space and to gain new players through the draft and by trading with other teams. They drafted Center Will Smith with their 4th overall pick during this year’s draft, and acquired Mikael Grandlund, Mike Hoffman, Jan Rutta, Anthony Duclair, and Mackenzie Blackwood. However, the biggest news coming out of the tank was Erik Karlsson’s trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Karlsson wanted to be traded because he wanted to have a chance to play for a Stanley Cup contender, and realized after winning the Norris Trophy (for being the best defenseman in the league) last year, that it’s unlikely that he was going to have another chance to win one with the Sharks after 2017. Along with Karlsson, James Reimer left for the Red Wings, and Noah Gregor went to the Maple Leafs.
The Vancouver Canuckleheads
The Canucks came into the offseason in a similar place to the Sharks in their rebuilding efforts (their last playoff appearance was in 2020). Throughout the offseason, the Canucks signed Carson Soucy, Pius Suter, Teddy Blueger, and Ian Cole while letting go of Ethan Bear, and Travis Dermott. With these signings, combined with what they already have, plus what we saw from them towards the end of last season, I wouldn’t be surprised if they happen to sneak into the playoffs as the second wildcard in the Western Conference this year.
A Bright Future
The Flames came into the off-season with a new head coach in Ryan Huska but didn’t do anything big besides acquiring forward Yegor Sharangovich. I’m not that surprised that they didn’t do anything since they had the chance to lock in their playoff spot last season, but fell short to the Nashville Predators in a three to two shootout in their second to last game of the season.
Rising from the Deep
The Seattle Kraken came into last off-season very optimistic after being the most improved expansion team in league history with a 19 win (and 40 point) improvement over their inaugural season the year before. They also made an amazing playoff run, defeating the defending champions, Colorado Avalanche in seven games before being knocked out in the second round two-to-one by the Dallas Stars in another seven game series. After all of that optimism, it is no surprise that they, like the Flames, didn’t make any major trades throughout the last offseason other than boosting their faceoff odds with by signing Brian Dumoulin, Kailer Yamamoto, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare to make up for losing Soucy to the Canucks. The only questions coming into the season is if they are going to assign a captain or continue to operate without one and if Joey Daccord could beat Philip Grubauer for the starting goalie position given Daccord’s success leading the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds to the Calder Cup Finals last year.
Aiming for the Throne
The Los Angeles Kings entered the last off-season after being eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers in six games. Realizing that they needed more star players to even have a chance to compete in what is expected to be a tight three team race for the division, they traded Sean Durzi, Alex Iafallo, Gabe Vilardi, and a second round pick in next year’s draft to the Winnipeg Jets in exchange for left wing Pierre-Luc Dubois. The Kings also signed goalie Cam Talbot to boost their goaltending, and center Trevor Lewis to help train incoming rookies. This team will definitely be a problem and will go far into the playoffs in the coming years.
Striking Oil
The Oilers came into the last off-season after being eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights in seven games. The team itself is already stacked with talent with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. However they were close to the salary cap ceiling so they didn’t have as much movement space as the other teams on this list. This off-season, the Oilers signed Connor Brown, and Drake Caggiula while Nick Bjugstad, Klim Kostin, Kailer Yamamoto, and Jesse Puljujavi left for other teams. Overall, it looks like they, like the Kings, are running close to the same team compared to last year.
It Hurts to Win
The Vegas Golden Knights came into the last off-season after defeating the Florida Panthers in five games to win their first championship in franchise history. After all of their championship festivities, they came back to a team that needed to be slightly cut down after going over their cap limit. They traded Riley Smith to the Pittsburgh Penguins and resigned Ivan Barbachev and Adin Hill, locking in two crucial parts of their championship team to try and defend their cup this season.
