Well, the 2023-24 NHL season is rapidly approaching and there are plenty of questions that need to be answered for the Pacific teams. While every team has questions, these are the most pressing.
Anaheim Ducks Can they move John Gibson?
Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, and Leo Carlsson are all locked in. Bringing in Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas for more experience; no-brainer. Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale have been re-signed, but what to do about John Gibson? The well-acknowledged-best-goalie-on-a-bad-team is 30 years old and signed at $6.4m will 2027. Is he the goalie of this team's future or if they're not ready, cash in on the value he still has? Gibson hasn't put up good numbers since 2019 even though his .899 save % is respectable for a goalie with a 3.99 GAA. It's not his fault he plays in a shooting gallery, which is bad for a Duck (yuk, yuk). Gibson has led the NHL in losses 3 of the last 4 seasons and he may be completely shot by the time Anaheim is ready to contend. The "potential landing spot" discussion for Gibson has been going on for so long that Jakob Chychrun is getting annoyed by the traders. Anaheim doesn't have a replacement to fill his shoes, but when you're at the bottom, just gather assets.
Calgary Flames Was it all Sutter?
Some bosses may be a little abrasive but can get the job done while rubbing people the wrong way? Some employees don't respond to that type of boss. In Calgary, they had both of them. Coach Darryl Sutter was a two-time Stanley Cup winning coach and got Calgary to their last Stanley Cup Finals in 2004. (Arguably he won it). The Flames brought in Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri to replace Matt Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau. To say the least, it didn't work. Kadri's production fell from 87 points with the Avalanche to 56 points in Calgary. To be fair, it's still his third-highest point production in his career. However, his -19 rating was the WORST in his career. Yikes. Not to be outdone, Jonathan Huberdeau went from 115 points in Florida to 55 in Calgary. You have to believe that the 30-year-old winger who had 415 points in the last 5 years will bounce back. Huberdeau just didn't fit and maybe it was all Sutter, maybe it was just the mix of players. Also, Jakob Markstrom couldn't stop a beach ball last season after being a Vezina finalist the year before. Enter Ryan Huska to coach the Flames and return them to the playoffs. While it's true that Calgary had a league-high 17 OT losses and 2 points behind Winnipeg for the final playoff spot in the West, it's hard to see a rookie head coach fixing all these problems and getting the team in the playoffs. Calgary has plenty of talent, but that's a lot to ask a first-year coach.
Edmonton Oilers Will this team ever put it all together?
The Edmonton Oilers can look across the country to Toronto and see themselves. A top-heavy team offensive team that lacks depth, defense, and goaltending. GM Ken Holland added Mattias Ekholm at the trade deadline and he was awesome with 14 points and a +28. The Oilers tied Vegas 2-2 before Adin Hill became a wall and Jay Woodcroft was outcoached by Bruce Cassidy in Games 5 & 6. Stuart Skinner had a good rookie season (29-14-5, .913 Sv% 2.75 GAA)into a .883 save % and 3.68 GAA playoffs. Edmonton brought in Jack Campbell to be the guy and instead got a five-million-dollar paperweight. Campbell's 21-9-4 record may look good, but avoid his .888 save % and 3.41 GAA. The Oilers have the offense (no duh league-best 325 goals), but are middle of the road with 256 goals against (17th in the NHL). Their Goal Differential is +65 and come playoff time, they always seem to run into a team that can out-defend and outscore them. It's time to cut down the Goals Against even if it means cutting down the Goals For. If the Oilers focused on their DEFENSE more than their offense, a Cup could come home to Edmonton for the first time since 1990.
Los Angeles Kings Do they have the goaltending?
The LA Kings won two Stanley Cups in the last decade with Jonathan Quick standing on his head behind a great defense and a solid offense. Since Alex Martinez beat Henrik Lundqvist in Game 5 to win the Cup in OT, the Kings have not won a playoff series. On this team of great - not good - GREAT defensive players like Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, and Phillip Danault, this team was still letting a lot of pucks in the net. So they looked at the analytics and shipped the mainstay goalie Jonathan Quick and brought in Joonas Korpisalo. The "Korpedo" was solid in net until they faced Edmonton and hurt his neck looking back into the net to get the puck out of the net. Out with Korpisalo, in comes Cam Talbot. The 36-year-old goalie is coming off a 17-14-2 season with a 2.93 GAA and a .898 save % thinking he's an improvement. Talbot did have a .914 save % the previous 3 seasons with Minnesota and Calgary, but LA may be asking him to be the goalie he was 6 years ago in Edmonton when he was 4th in Vezina voting. Can he carry the load or will LA turn to Pheonix Copley to save them again?
San Jose Sharks How much can Grier do to rebuild this team?
There's an old saying, "If a (GM / Coaching) position opens, you have to take it cause there's only 32 of them." Last year, Mike Grier took arguably the most difficult job in the NHL. A job that was to reconstruct a team falling in the standings with 5 stars locked up long term to BIG money. Gone are two of them (Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson) and the remaining are Logan Couture, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Tomas Hertl. None of these long-term deals were signed by Grier. The Sharks are in a full rebuild and this was a rotting house that had to be torn down to the studs. So how much more can Grier do? Can he move the 34-year-old Couture ($8m AAV through 2027 with a tight NMC) and the 36-year-old Vlasic ($7m AAV through 2026) or is he stuck with them? Fans have been VERY critical of Grier for getting "fleeced", but failing to see that he had to shed the contracts and ANY return was a good one. While he missed out on Bedard, can he shed some more big contracts, get any assets, and end up with Macklin Celebrini or Cole Eiserman in the 2024 NHL Draft? This is a rebuild that has to keep going even if fans think they're getting "fleeced".
Seattle Kraken Can they continue to grow?
The Seattle Kraken shocked the world when they upset the defending Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche in the First Round last year. Then they pushed the Dallas Stars to Game 7 in the Second Round. All the people who questioned the hiring of Dave Hakstol (me included) owe him an apology. The job he has done with the balanced roster Ron Francis gave him is incredible in only year 2. Seattle tied New Jersey for 4th in Goals 289 and their Goals Against are tied for 14th with Tampa Bay Lightning (252). They are built for the 82-game grind and a TOUGH out in the playoffs. Hakstol did all this with a net that was pretty unreliable. None of their goalies had a Save % over .900 and Philipp Grubauer found his game in the playoffs (7-7 .903 Save %, 2.99 GAA). If he can be the number 1 that Seattle signed him to be - and get better backup goaltending from either Joey Daccord or Chris Dreager returning from injury, Seattle could really make some noise next year.
Vancouver Canucks Can Rick Tocchet lead them back to the playoffs?
Going into last season, it wasn't a stretch to see the Vancouver Canucks as a stock on the rise under Bruce Boudreau. Then the season started and NOTHING went right, from holding a lead to the firing of the popular coach by Jim Rutherford, the Canucks were a disaster. Enter Rich Tocchet and he saw how daunting the task of bringing them back to respectability is. He did just that. The Canucks finished 20-12-4 under Tocchet to finish the season and could be poised to get back to the playoffs if star center Elias Pettersson continues to grow. The 2024 RFA wants to see the Canucksimprove before he thinks about re-signing long-term after his first 100-point season. One thing that would greatly help is a healthy Thatcher Demko. After turning in a VERY good 33-win 2021-22 season, Demko only played 32 games. Demko makes a HUGE difference and could be the reason the Canucks make the playoffs.
Vegas Golden Knights Will there be a Cup hangover?
Vegas achieved their goal of a Stanley Cup and didn't do much to improve in the offseason. As a matter of fact, they had to shed Reilly Smith and Teddy Blueger without adding anyone. They did add Ivan Barbashev last season and he blended well with Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel. A full season of those three together could carry this team, but are they going to rest on their laurels, or a they going to try for another Cup. Vegas has been doubling and tripling down to get their Cup, but will they try to go for another Cup or restock the cupboard for the future. They did re-sign Adin Hill for winning them the Stanley Cup and should he falter they still have Logan Thompson, who was more than solid in his 37 games (21-13-3, .915 save %, 2.65 GAA). Vegas could still be great next season, but will the hunger be there to continue to be a Stanley Cup Champ after winning it last season.
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