It looks as though there will be a bit of everything in the Pacific Division this coming season. The Edmonton Oilers are considered the Stanley Cup favourite, while the Vancouver Canucks and Vegas Golden Knights also figure to be legitimate threats. The LA Kings have a strong chance at making the playoffs for the fourth-straight year, while the Seattle Kraken figure to be in the hunt. Then, you have the bottom feeders.
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The San Jose Sharks were the worst of all 32 teams last season, and will be in a similar position once 2024-25 wraps up. The Anaheim Ducks weren’t a whole lot better, and still have a ways to go in their rebuild. Then there’s the Calgary Flames.
The Flames weren’t nearly as bad of a team as the Sharks and Ducks in 2023-24, but they may be a lot closer this coming season. General manager Craig Conroy has opted for a rebuild, and partly out of intention, has put together an underwhelming roster in the hopes of getting a top pick for the 2025 Draft. While the long-term future looks promising, it could cause for some difficult divisional matchups against rivals this coming season. Here’s how they stack up against all seven opponents.
Anaheim Ducks
- Forwards: Flames
- Defencemen: Flames
- Goaltending: Even
While the Flames do figure to struggle, their roster, at least on paper, remains stronger than the Ducks. The Ducks do have some solid young forwards who have star potential in Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson, and Cutter Gauthier. They also have two others capable of producing strong numbers in Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry. That said, they have more holes than the Flames, and don’t have anyone that matches up with Nazem Kadri.
The Ducks are also one of very few teams with a worse blue line than the Flames. Cam Fowler remains a solid player, but would be better suited for a second-pairing role, as would Brian Dumoulin. Pavel Mintyukov is a promising prospect, but still has plenty of development ahead of him. As for goaltending, John Gibson is far more experienced than Dustin Wolf, but is nowhere close to being the elite netminder he was early on in his career.
Edmonton Oilers
- Forwards: Oilers
- Defencemen: Oilers
- Goaltending: Oilers
This shouldn’t come as a big surprise to anyone. The biggest gap…
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