last but not least

Alright, let's wrap this up with the Pacific Division.

Anaheim Ducks: The once mighty ducks (ugh that joke was terrible), found themselves on the outside looking in last year from 11th place. This season should prove interesting for this team. Neidermeyer and Ward have retired, and the defense is in an interesting spot. Will Luca Sbiza be able to crack the line up and stay there? Will the draft day steal of Cam Fowler be ready to play with the big club right away? I would like to say yes to both of these questions, but honestly I can't be sure.
What will become of the whole bobby ryan situation? While publicly it's been stated that Ryan wants to remain a duck, it's painfully obvious that he wants a minimum deal to get him to unrestricted free agency in a few years and cash in. Who can blame him? He has two years in the league and has put up back to back 30 goal seasons. The kid is a big and can score on the power play, as he's averaging 20 points a year on the PP. This is the kind of winger everyone wants, but few people have. With Lupul missing the beginning of the season, Ryan will have an even bigger work load. It's Cory Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan bringing the bulk of the offense for this team. Koivu and Selanne cannot be counted on like the were earlier in their careers. Aside from Jonas Hiller in goal, I have a lot of questions about this team. If they can get ryan under contract, or make a decent trade for his rights, the ducks have a chance of making it in, but right now i don't see that happening.

Los Angeles Kings: Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. That's what i heard Dean Lombardi say after losing out on almost everyone he wanted. LA missed out on Kovalchuk and Gagne and probably every other free agent in the league it seems. well aside from Willie Mitchell, which is a great pick up. Given that opening statement, you'd think the Kings are doomed. You'd be wrong. While nothing too flashy occured for the kings this season, unless you count Willie Mitchell as a flashy signing, they did alright.
Younger Brad Richardson seemed to find his stride, posting his best season numbers since 06-07. Alexi Ponikarovski was another respectable signing after a 50 point campaign with Toronto/Pittsburgh. The real strength lies in net for the Kings. Jonathan Quick has been great for the Kings. While not getting over the hump to the "elite" goaltending level, he has shown tremendous promise. I expect him to improve this season, especially with the competition coming up in Jonathan Bernier. This season in the AHL with Manchester, he won the Baz Bastien Memorial Trophy, which is the AHL equivalent of the Vezina. He went 30-21-6 with a 2.03 GAA, .936 SV% and 9 shutouts. While minor league numbers do not necessarily guarantee success, his few starts with the big club are also impressive. In three starts this year he went 3-0-0 with 1 shutout, an impressive 1.30 GAA and a staggering .957 SV%. Could be a flash in the pan, but all signs are pointing to this kid being a star. So with the Kings set in net for a long time, look for GM Lombardi to tinker with his line up as needed to get this team be a real threat in the west. The pieces are there, they just need one or two more to finally get there.

San Jose Sharks: What an offseason this has been. Well, somewhat predictable since they managed to not win the cup again. every year someone writes it's their year, only to be proven wrong. Joe Thornton and Nabokov underachieving in the playoffs? No way! Everyone scratched their heads when Antero Niittymaki was signed on the first day of free agency. While certainly a solid NHL caliber goalie, he hardly seems like an adequate replacement for Nabokov. Come to find out, they weren't really done, and signed cup winning goaltender Antii Niemi to a deal, which was less than his arbitration winnings, which lead to his release from Chicago. Conspiracy theorists can think about the offer sheet offered to Hjalmarsson simply being a ploy to force the hand of chicago to give up one player. Regardless Niemi is in net for the sharks.
Up front for the Sharks there isn't a whole lot of new faces, but that shouldn't really matter. The sharks are deep enough to make another run into the playoffs. I think this could be the year they won't be top seed in the west. That could actually work out to their advantage though. finishing lower in the standings could take some of the pressure off. Although the sharks will continue to be favorites as long as most of this line up stays intact. the real question will be come playoff time, and if the top players on this team actually perform to their abilities, rather than disappearing. Still, look for the Sharks to make some kind of run again this post season.

Dallas Stars: The youth movement is in full swing in Dallas. Gone are Jeri Lehtinen (presumably anyway), Marty Turco and long time captain and face of the stars, Mike Modano. Brad Richards remains after putting up a career best 91 points, which he also did in 05-06 with tampa. What i do not understand is the signing of Kari Lehtonen to a three year deal. He has shown glimpses of being a top goaltender, but is often injured and has modest career numbers. Although, I suppose GM Joe Nieuwendyk is hedging his bets against goaltenders coming into their prime later than other positional players, and playing longer. let's hope he's right.
I'm not a big fan of the offseason movements made by Dallas, but i'm not questioning them either. I think the big keys for this team will be the play of Lehtonen, and how the younger players will acclimate to the system. The Stars have lost a lot of what made them great a decade ago, but they might not be too far removed from getting back into the playoff picture. For now though, come april it's only going to be baseball being played in Texas.

Phoenix Coyotes: Who are you, and what have you done with the real Coyotes? Dave Tippet I blame you for this. Amidst a season long legal battle about who owns the team, who will buy the team a whole slew of other issues, the Coyotes put up fantastic numbers. Phoenix is a team who, on paper, looked like they were out of it from the get go. They've always had spurts of solid hockey, so when they got a few wins under their belt it wasn't surprising....but then they kept going.
A lot of their success has to be credited to the play of Ilya Bryzgalov. He won 42 games and had 9 shutouts, earning himself a Vezina nomination (he should've won, with all due respect to ryan miller). I was also surprised with the play of Scottie Upshall, who finally started to play to his potential before going down with the knee injury. In 49 games he set a new career high in goals, and was on pace to his first 30 goal season. Lee Stempniak was lights out since being acquired at the trade deadline putting up 18 points in 18 games. If both Stempniak and Upshall can duplicate at least some part of their successes from last season this team can roll again. The 'Yotes can also look for Wojtek Wolski to do the same, as he also was a point per game producer since coming over from the Avalanche.
The defense of Phoenix I am not overly impressed with, but there's enough seasoned veterans on there to play sound defensive hockey and help out as need be. What will really help this team is having an owner (seriously) who can afford to pay these guys, and afford to pay players to come to Phoenix...or wherever this team may end up. I'm al lfor them going back to Winnipeg, but that's whole seperate blog. Look for the Coyotes to be a middle of the pack team this year, but they'll get in again. Assuming they can repeat on some successes.


Predictions: Los Angeles - San Jose - Phoenix - Dallas - Anaheim


alright folks, that's all she wrote for the divisional previews. hope you enjoyed them. well not really. you read them either way. feel free to comment here or on the facebook page. whatever. camps open just over a week. hockey's just around the corner