With an interesting mix of teams at the top and teams on the rise, the Pacific Division has a wide range of possible outcomes this season, and several different perspectives to view the season through.
In this division we’re considering how big contracts will affect the sustainability of contenders, but also if some dynamic young players could begin to reshape the order of things. For now, the division is relatively settled, with a clear delineation between the top, middle and bottom teams. But slowly that line will blur.
To some degree, that could start to happen this coming season, depending on how things play out in various places. So, with training camps on tap next week, we look at one question each team in the Pacific Division is facing this season, and what it means for what comes next.
Anaheim Ducks: Will the climb up begin this season?
Trevor Zegras. Mason McTavish. Leo Carlsson. Cuter Gauthier. Olen Zellweger. Pavel Mintyukov. There are a lot of under-24 players on this Ducks roster and they keep coming every season. They also have a decent stable of productive, slightly older players, such as Frank Vatrano, Troy Terry and Cam Fowler. Now after seasons of 58 and 59 points, we have to start wondering when Anaheim will begin to climb out of the muck.
A sudden rise all the way into the playoffs seems unlikely, but can they push past Calgary, or closer to Seattle or even Los Angeles? Is something like a 20-point improvement a realistic possibility for this group yet, or are we still a year (or two) early? It’s going to come one day, and the Ducks Breakout Watch begins now.
Calgary Flames: Will any players look to exit the rebuild?
Unlike the Blackhawks or Sharks, Calgary hasn’t gone scorched earth in its rebuild (re-tool, whatever you want to call it) and has retained some good NHL players. Blake Coleman scored 30 goals last season and Yegor Sharangovich got 31. Nazem Kadri still approached a point per game season, and the defence duo of Mackenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson are still a great 1-2.
But there’s no question this is a transition year for the Flames after they sold off some other key pieces last season and over the summer. The trade speculation may not be as hot around the team this season, but what will flare up? Does Kadri’s contract still have too much term (five years) to speculate, or will the fact he’s a centre attract interest?
One player we’d expect questions to be asked about is Andersson, who has two years left on his great-value of a contract ($4.45 million AAV). Whether or not a poor start or season leads to him asking out behind the scenes, the Flames are going to have to weigh his future with the team against what they might be able to get if they traded him. As an organization, do you get out in front of that now, or wait until he’s a rental for someone else?
Edmonton Oilers: With Draisaitl done, what will Evan Bouchard’s extension look like?
Celebration over the Draisaitl extension soon turned to talk of what Connor McDavid’s future bar-setting contract may look like, but we can’t forget that Bouchard is the next big contract up. His breakout in 2023-24 saw a point total that more than doubled year over year, he finished fourth in regular season scoring at his position, and with 32 points in 25 playoff games, scored twice as many playoff points than any other blueliner.
An RFA after this season and currently making $3.9 million, Bouchard is in for a monster raise, especially if the Oilers go long-term. But how high will it go? Will he become the highest-paid blueliner on the team and surpass Darnell Nurse?
Los Angeles Kings: Do they have a path to improvement, or are they stuck?
For the past couple of years, Vegas and Edmonton have been the teams to beat in this division — one got its Stanley Cup, and the other lost in seven games in the final. Last season, the Vancouver Canucks took the division and, as we’ll explore below, have possibly entered the upper crust of teams. The Kings, meanwhile, didn’t make any big additions and in fact, sold off Pierre-Luc Dubois one year after paying a hefty price to get him from Winnipeg.
So if the Kings didn’t improve, where do they fit into this division, and what’s their path to competing with those teams at the top?
Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke are vitally important players to what comes next here, but the youth movement isn’t so strong in LA. Anze Kopitar is 37 with two years left on his contract and so, at some point in the near future, the curtains will come down on his career. Drew Doughty showed last year he still has something left in the tank, but he’ll turn 35 in December with three years left on his deal. Kevin Fiala is a great player who has finished between 29-33 goals and 73-85 points the last three seasons. At 28 years old, he’s performing at his peak.
The Kings don’t seem ripe to retreat from the playoff race, but as state rivals Anaheim and San Jose keep adding new talent, and the Kraken key in on the weaknesses holding them back, where will the Kings find improvement? Will they be able to hang at the top of this division and go on a playoff run, or are they mired in the middle? Another first-round exit against Edmonton or some other top Western contender will leave the Kings with tough off-season questions.
San Jose Sharks: How transformational will Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith be?
Look, it’s a long road ahead for San Jose, but the light is finally starting to shine through. Two players in particular make this a team worth watching — or at least checking in on — again this season.
Macklin Celebrini arrives as the latest first-overall draft prospect, a product of the Jr. Sharks minor hockey program and the youngest-ever winner of the 2024 Hobey Baker Award. Ahead of this past summer’s draft, our scout Jason Bukala noted that of the past four first-overall draft picks, Celebrini’s potential eclipsed everyone’s except Connor Bedard. Bukala also noted Celebrini was an ideal prospect to build a franchise around because “he leads by example with his 200-foot detail and effort, plays fast, brings consistently relentless compete and makes plays many prospects only dream of making.”
The Calder Trophy race could be an interesting one around the league this season, but one of Celebrini’s own teammates could give him a run for it. Will Smith, the fourth overall pick in 2023, was the only NCAA player to outscore Celebrini last season, finishing with 25 goals and 71 points in 41 games. Smith is a breathtaking, all-offence player who will make for a heck of a long-term duo with Celebrini.
Over the years, these two players figure to lead San Jose back to relevance. But in Year 1, how transformational can we reasonably expect them to be?
Seattle Kraken: Can Shane Wright have an NHL breakthrough?
A player to watch through Kraken’s training camp is 2022’s fourth overall pick after Wright settled for most of last season in the AHL and posted 47 points in 59 games. Now 20 years old, turning 21 in January, he’ll have a shot to stick with the big team out of camp and stay on as a full-time NHL player.
Dan Bylsma is Seattle’s new head coach and he’s familiar with Wright from their time together in Coachella Valley last season. That should bring some degree of comfort to Wright as he faces this challenge. After we saw Juraj Slafkovsky take a big step in the back of last season, Simon Nemec get into 60 NHL games, and Logan Cooley get to 20 goals as a rookie, the three players taken ahead of Wright have all graduated to the top level. Now it could be Wright’s turn.
Vancouver Canucks: Did last season launch a new contender?
The other day when we were ranking teams in the Pacific Division and taking a crack at how we saw them finishing up in April, we noted that the Canucks were a regression candidate. It came with the caveat that a step down didn’t have to mean a step off a cliff.
The Canucks should be a playoff team again in 2025, and anything less would be a massive disappointment. They levelled up last season, no doubt, and have potential year-end award winners at forward, on defence and in the net. But where do they rank around the league as a whole?
What the Canucks are going to answer this season is if last year’s breakout truly launched a new Stanley Cup contender out of the Pacific Division, or a solid team that’s still a step or so below that, needing a tweak here or there yet.
Vegas Golden Knights: What’s the surprise up the sleeve this time?
We’re on to you, Vegas. Even when you think the Golden Knights have no cap space or assets to surprise us with a trade, they find a way to do just that.
Absolutely no one saw the Tomas Hertl trade coming last season, and yet it ended up being the biggest move at the deadline. This year the team will be near the cap again and with even fewer assets to move — their top pick from 2023 is gone, and they don’t have a first-rounder in either 2025 or 2026 already.
But still, we won’t get fooled again. Vegas has been hovering in trade speculation at times over the summer around Mitch Marner who would be the biggest name on the market if the Leafs decided to go that route. Whenever — and wherever apparently, after the rival Sharks made a swap with them — a big-ticket player comes to the market, the Golden Knights will surely be in the mix. Who will that player be this season, and how could Vegas make it work? Time will tell.