NHL division preview: 4 questions looming over the Pacific
The Pacific Division features the reigning champs, the NHL's best player, and a new Seattle Kraken team that arrived ahead of schedule last season.
There's a pretty good case to be made that the Pacific Division is the NHL's most fascinating entering 2023-24.
The division contains a Vegas Golden Knights squad coming off its first championship, the Connor McDavid-Leon Draisaitl combo, the NHL's newest franchise, and a couple of Western Canadian squads in the midst of transition years full of intrigue.
The only thing dragging this group down is the presence of San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks squads undergoing deep rebuilds.
Here are the questions that could define the Pacific in the upcoming season.
How will the Oilers build on the most impressive season of the McDavid era?
Although the Oilers went further in the playoffs in 2021-22 than they did in 2022-23, there's a strong argument to be made that last season was the most promising of the McDavid era. Edmonton produced its highest point total since its generational player came aboard (109), scored 24 more goals than any other team, and put together the most efficient power play of all time.
The Oilers also got extremely hot down the stretch after solidifying their blue line with the addition of Mattias Ekholm. McDavid scored 20 more goals than he'd ever scored before and Edmonton may have found a long-term goaltending solution in Stuart Skinner.
So many things went right for Edmonton until they were stifled by Adin Hill in the second round of the playoffs while struggling to contain the Golden Knights offense. Once again, McDavid and Draisaitl were world beaters in the postseason, combining for 38 points in 12 games. Once again, it wasn't enough.
The Oilers have plenty of positives to take from last season, but the team's salary-cap bind meant it wasn't able to make significant offseason additions outside of bounce-back candidate Connor Brown. Edmonton remains a threat to win it all, but it's probably a half-step behind the NHL's top teams and its dynamic duo is already doing as much as humanly possible — both in the regular season and playoffs.
Can the Golden Knights run it back?
Repeat champions have been relatively common in the NHL recently, and the Golden Knights didn't see a massive exodus of core players after winning their title.
Losing franchise staple Reilly Smith hurts, but a full season from Ivan Barbashev should help compensate for his absense and Vegas might see more of Mark Stone during the regular season — though that's far from a guarantee given his recent durability issues.
A few key players on this roster are a little long in the tooth like Alex Pietrangelo (34), Jonathan Marchessault (33), Alex Martinez (36) and Brayden McNabb (33) and after a long playoff run they might be worn down entering 2023-24.
The goaltending situation is also relatively high variance. As magical as Hill's run in the playoffs was he's never started more than 25 games in a season. Logan Thompson has looked solid in his brief NHL career, but that includes just 57 games. If Robin Lehner found his way out of the injury wilderness he'd be a wild card. There's talent between the pipes for Vegas, but questions persist.
All in all, the Golden Knights project to be a contender once again, but many of the NHL's traditional powers faltered early in the 2022-23 playoffs and the road to the Cup might be tougher this time around.
Are the Kraken in for another step forward or some regression?
After a fairly typical inaugural campaign that resulted in a 27-49-6 record, the Kraken took off last season. Seattle produced a 100-point campaign and despatched the defending champion Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the playoffs.
It's tough to believe a team that takes a 40-point jump in the standings won't backslide a bit, but there's reason for optimism in Seattle.
The Kraken are bringing back the vast majority of their key contributors from last year, and reigning Calder Trophy winner Matthew Beniers should be better in his second year. The loss of Daniel Sprong will hurt, but a full season of Eeli Tolvanen could make a big difference — and Kailer Yamamoto is an interesting reclamation project.
Matty Beniers scores with a pretty shootout move.
Let's see him in the shootout more often. #SEAKraken pic.twitter.com/ni34DB8PqF— Emerald City Hockey (@EmeraldCityHky) October 3, 2023
One area for potential growth is in net as the Kraken thrived despite getting dreadful goaltending last season. They are almost certain to improve on the .890 save percentage they produced in 2022-23 whether that comes via Philipp Grubauer regressing to the mean or Joey Daccord translating his AHL success to NHL production.
Seattle's top talent might not line up with the best some Western Conference contenders have to offer, but the Kraken are deep and they play an organized and relentless brand of hockey. A step back is possible for this team, but it is far from a certainty.
Will suspect goaltending sink a promising Kings season?
The Kings might be one of the NHL's most underrated contenders. While they are reliant on greybeards like Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, those guys can still play and the squad built around them is impressive.
Following the Pierre-Luc Dubois deal, Los Angeles has excellent depth down the middle, and a full season of Vladislav Gavrikov will significant bolster the team's blue line. The Kings also have youngsters like Quinten Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev who might just take a major step in their development in 2023-24.
All of that talent could easily go to waste if they can't get competent play in net — and that's no guarantee based on the goalies they have in house.
Pheonix Copley projects to start for this team coming off a minus-1.3 GSAA campaign. He's never posted an above-average save % or started more than 35 games in an NHL season. Behind him the team has Cam Talbot, a 36-year-old who might be washed coming off a rough year with the Ottawa Senators.
The Kings were one of the better possession teams in the NHL last season, and that trend is likely to continue — but the advantage generated by outshooting their opponent could easily be eroded by substandard work between the pipes.
In 2022-23 a mid-season trade for Joonas Korpisalo was a massive boost for the team, but it would be tough to count on finding the same level of success with a similar move this time around.
