It is finally here! The 2021-22 NHL season is slated to get underway today with two games, each being nationally televised on ESPN. In yesterday’s article, the Eastern Conference was examined. You can find that linked here. Today, let’s predict and preview the Western Conference.
The Western Conference
Central Division
The Central Division is certainly the stronger of the two Western Divisions. The Colorado Avalanche is ahead of the rest, but there is some good competition up-and-down. As for potential bottom-dwellers, despite the Arizona Coyotes, the Central should not feature any of the league’s bottom-five teams.
The Extreme Favorite
As mentioned above, the Colorado Avalanche are far away the best team in this division and may be the best team in the NHL. However, there are some questions regarding one of the top Stanley Cup favorites. The Avalanche lost goaltender Philipp Grubauer in the Expansion Draft and will now have to rely on Darcy Kuemper for the bulk of the work. Outside of that, the Avalanche have the most complete roster on paper.
The Next In Line
The next group of teams are in a larger pack, most likely broken down into two groups. The first group appears to consist of the Minnesota Wild, Winnipeg Jets, St. Louis Blues, and Dallas Stars. The Wild should be the strongest of the group, contingent on if Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen getting the job done. Both other position groups are strong and led by a nice combination of youth and veterans. The Wilds’ defensive core, who saw the addition of two solid defensive-defenseman in Jon Merrill and Dmitry Kulikov, should be one of the league’s best.
The Jets have a top-thee goaltender in Connor Hellebuyck and have finally started addressing the weak defensive core in front of him. Winnipeg added Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon each of which should provide a very nice upgrade over what they had. The ability to put the puck in the back of the net may plague Winnipeg a bit this year, as the team’s bottom-six is on the weaker side. However, the Jets are in position to be a playoff team.
Battle For Fourth
The Stars and Blues are both slowly fading from their once Stanley Cup appearing selves. Dallas will hope they can lean on a duo of Anton Khudobin and Braden Holtby in front of a decent defensive group. The team’s top-nine is also pretty solid and should score just enough to keep the Stars in the playoff conversation. For St. Louis, the big question is if Jordan Binnington will be able to rebound. Unfortunately, for both him and the Blues, the defensive group got weaker with the subtraction of Vince Dunn. The group as it stands on paper is lackluster which will not help Binnington’s chances at a rebound. The forwards, on the other hand, should be the team’s strength, in large part to the additions of Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich.
The Rest
The remaining three teams consist of two on a similar level and one decently below. The two on the similar level are the Chicago Blackhawks and the Nashville Predators. The Blackhawks made major offseason moves, most notably bringing in veteran goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to bring much needed stability in net. Seth Jones, who is overrated by many, should also help the defensive core that is other wise lackluster. The forward group does have some pieces but is not complete enough to be an above average-to-average unit. The Predators on the other hand have a nicer defensive core and a bit weaker of a forward group. The losses of Ryan Ellis, Viktor Arvidsson, and Calle Jarnkrok will certainly be felt. Juuse Saros will definitely have his work cut out of him this season. Nashville is headed toward a decent sized rebuild in the coming years.
The Coyotes had a nice offseason in the sense they garnered a number of future assets. However, the product on this ice this season may be hard to watch. The list of what the Coyotes lost is very long, the most notable is forward Conor Garland, goalies Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper, and defensemen Alex Goligoski, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The team’s forward group is arguably the weakest in the league, and pair that with a goaltending duo of Carter Hutton and Josef Korenar, the Coyotes will most likely be batting it out with the Buffalo Sabres for the best odds in the lottery.
Predicted Finishing Order
- Colorado Avalanche
- Minnesota Wild
- Winnipeg Jets
- St. Louis Blues*
- Dallas Stars*
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Nashville Predators
- Arizona Coyotes
Pacific Division
The weakest division in the NHL appears to be the Pacific Division. There is one cup contender, a couple league average teams, and the rest will be fighting for relevancy. In this division alone, there appears to be three of the league’s projected bottom eight or so teams.
The Bottom Dwellers
The bottom three appear to be the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, and Los Angeles Kings. The Ducks appear the be the weakest of the three, as poor John Gibson will once again be holding on for dear life. The team’s defensive core has some recognizable names, but each appear to be in a steep decline or headed that way. Jamie Drysdale development will certainly be something to monitor as he did struggle last season. The forward group is not much better, as youth will be relied on way too much.
The Sharks and Kings are a bit closer in terms of chances to succeed. The Sharks did a nice job, it appears, of finally addressing their awful goaltending situation. Out goes Martin Jones and in enters Adin Hill and James Reimer. The rest of the roster is certainly a work in progress, as outside the top-line the forward group is below-average and the defensive core as a group most likely will struggle in its own end. The Kings made three terrific additions in Phillip Danault, Arvidsson, and Alex Edler. Their younger players are still progressing so the Kings are still away from being playoff relevant, but the team is on the slow rise.
The Middle Part
The next group of about three teams will most likely be contending for one playoff spot. After a bit of an outlier of a COVID-19 shortened season, the Canucks regressed mightily last year. It does not appear it will be much better this season, as the defensive core may be the worst in the league. Quinn Hughes struggled mightily in his own end last year and the acquisition of Ekman-Larsson may further raise the defensive issues. Forward-wise, the Canucks’ top-six should be above league-average and the goalie tandem of Thatcher Demko and Jaroslav Halak should help hide the defensive deficiencies a bit.
The newest member of the NHL is a tad difficult to get a read on. Seattle’s defensive core and goalie tandem, on paper, appears to be a top-ten unit. The issue lies up front, will Seattle be able to count on career middle-six players to step up and play a top-six role? The Kraken do have a much better shot than most at the playoffs, given the Pacific’s weak nature, but will they be able to consistently win games 2-1 or 1-0 on a nightly basis?
The Calgary Flames were one of the biggest disappointments last season. The Flames made a big signing up front brining in two time Stanley Cup champion Blake Coleman, but they did lose their captain to Seattle. Their top-nine unit is comfortably above-average, but their defensive core and goalie tandem do raise some questions. Jacob Markstrom will need to rebound to his former self and Dan Vladar will need to emerge as a formidable backup. If Markstrom is at least league-average, the Flames have a good shot at returning back to the playoffs.
The Remaining Two
The top team in this division most certainly is the Vegas Golden Knights. Despite losing Fleury, the Knights should be in good hands with Robin Lehner and former Jet Laurent Brossoit in between the pipes. The team’s defensive core is one of the best units in the league with the likes of Alec Martinez, Alex Pietrangelo, and Shea Theordore. Meanwhile, the forward group has arguably one of the best top-six groups in the NHL. Is this the year the Golden Knights finally win it all?
The Edmonton Oilers should be able to take advantage of a weak division and capture another playoff appearance. They had a very busy offseason adding the likes of Zach Hyman, Duncan Keith, and Warren Foegele to name a few. They did however lose Ethan Bear, Adam Larsson, and Dmitry Kulikov. Despite that, the fire power in the team’s forward group should do enough to take the load off a questionable defensive core and an aging goalie tandem. Will the Oilers be able to win games 6-3 and 5-4 on a nightly basis? Will the 39-year old Mike Smith be able to get the job done?
Predicted Finishing Order
- Vegas Golden Knights
- Edmonton Oilers
- Calgary Flames
- Seattle Kraken
- Vancouver Canucks
- Los Angeles Kings
- San Jose Sharks
- Anaheim Ducks
Conclusion
The only remaining piece to our 2021-22 mega season preview is the last article which will cover playoff predictions and some speculation on season awards. Be on the look out for that in the next couple days. Once again, part one of this series can be found here.