Pacific Specifics

Round One of the 2006-2007 Division Predictions underway...

Pacific Division
Anaheim - Coming off yet another unexpected post-season run that was only ended by the equally feel-good story of the Edmonton Oilers' Finals appearance, there are high expectations for this club. Adding mega-defenseman Chris Pronger in an offseason trade and ditching the plum and green color scheme and "angry duck" logo only heightens them.
However, I'm not going to anoint them ready to take their place among the Dallases and San Joses for the division title. Teemu Selanne, while a valuable veteran forward, and very happy to be back in SoCal, won't have another 40 goal season. The Pronger trade cost them a great young forward in Joffrey Lupul, and Ilya Bryzgalov will most likely follow the path of Jean-Sebastien Giguere into mediocrity then obscurity. That's not a rip, but in a 30-team league, one team that makes a surprise run one year goes back to the middle of the pack in the next.
Aside from the Niedermayers, Pronger, Todd Marchant and Selanne, the roster is stocked with young talent who will have to prove their worth in-season. Not a recipe for disaster, but nothing to hang your hat on, either. Prediction: Third place, slightly above .500, fighting for a playoff berth.

Dallas - Last season's shootout darlings, the Stars used that travesty of a game-decider to wring 53 wins and 112 points out of the 05-06 season. However, when faced with a real team with real veteran presence and youthful energy in the first round of the playoffs, the Stars wilted to the Avs in five.
This is a team in more flux than at any time since Ken Hitchcock took the reins from Bob Gainey in 1995. They've subtracted the aging Bill Guerin, and added the circus that is Matthew Barnaby, the sullen Patrik Stefan, the solid if unspectacular Jeff Halpern, and the China Doll that is Eric Lindros - and over the weekend jettisoned Janne Niinimaa to Montreal for the young but struggling shooter, Mike Ribeiro. Let's not forget the passing of the "C" to Brenden Morrow, demoting long-time "face of the franchise" Mike Modano. If Modano's reaction to the move is anything like his tantrum after Team USA's ouster in Turin, the Stars are in for a long six months.
The Stars will remain a solid club with solid veteran talent able to teach the young kids how to be successful. Now, if someone could tell Jussi Jokinen that he maybe shouldn't save his energy and best moves for the shootouts, that would be great. Prediction(s): First place, but no more than 44 wins. Also, I'm setting the over-under on the number of games Lindros dresses for at 55.5.

Los Angeles - If ever there was a team facing unrealistic expectations because their foundation was ripped to its very core, it would be the Kings.
Marc Crawford, while a great coach with an established reputation for taking young teams (Quebec/Colorado and Vancouver) and rebuilding, is not the magic immediate solution to the Kings' woes of the past three seasons. Gone are Luc Robitaille, Jeremy Roenick, and Pavol Demitra. Coming in are Rob Blake for a last gasp, Brent Sopel, Scott Thornton and Brian Willsie. Throw in that mysterious trade that nets them prize defensive prospect Jack Johnson and veteran throw-in Oleg Tverdovsky for Eric Belanger and Tim Gleason, and the Crown Royals will be shored up on defense while the young offense takes time to jell.
Yet another team with so much youth up front. You have to have a few proven snipers up front to provide some balance, and the Kings don't have it with the departures of the three wizened vets. Trial by fire is a funny thing for unknown talent, so I see the Kings as a team hanging in until the end on the back of experienced defense. Goaltending is mediocre at best. They probably won't score much early on when chemistry is an issue, and late in the year as other teams feast on them in the playoff hunt. It may be two years before we can say the Kings have officially arrived. Prediction: Last place, 28-32 wins. With Sean Avery still around, they'll be the most interesting last-place team in the NHL.

Phoenix - This team is like a game of 20 Questions. Can Phoenix break the ceiling to the division title created for so many years by the Stars and Sharks? Will the Coyotes ever shake off the bad karma that comes from being the descendent of the Winnipeg Jets NHL franchise? Will they play a game in the new arena where it's so hot that a fog envelops the ice on a 100 degree Arizona day? How many chances will lifetime friends and business partners Wayne Gretzky and Mike Barnett get before the jig is up?
They've got as solid a combo in net with Curtis Joseph and the newly-signed Mike Morrison as anyone in the Western Conference. They have braun with Ed Jovanovski and Mike Comrie, toughness with Georges Laraque and Shane Doan, and skill with Nagy, Saprykin, Reinprecht and this year's Methuselah, Jeremy Roenick. Still, something always seems to prevent the 'Yotes from reaching their potential. This year, that something may be "Will Owen Nolan be of any value after not playing a single minute for two and a half years?"
The Great One seems to be Competent Enough behind the bench, but he's gotta come up with some different looks and adjustments to get the most from his team. I suggest bringing in Mark Messier as an assistant coach in charge of "providing a foot in the rear of any player who needs it at any time." Prediction: 4th place, edged out by Anaheim.

San Jose - This season was the Sharks' time to seize the moment, and take advantage of a weaker Dallas Stars club. They have Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo for a full season, and while they won't be putting up gaudy numbers like 125 points or 56 goals, even 85 percent of those totals this year will make a difference.
You have to wonder about an acquisition like the one over the weekend for Vladimir Malakhov. He was once marked for deletion by the Rangers, then a valuable add for the Flyers, then cut by the Devils for "subpar play" last year. If that pattern holds, he'll be a solid acquisition. Also, adding Curtis Brown and Mike Grier for grit and depth are at best neutral moves. This team has two too many goaltenders, too (four in all), and there has to be something worked out between the former darling Nabokov and the new-jack hero Toskala for the number one job. Aside from the Terrible Twosome on the top line, Patrick Marleau will have to pick up more offensive slack now that the surprising Nils Ekman has departed.
The Sharks should be setting the world on fire, ready to chomp down on the Stars and an unspectacular division. Instead, they made lateral moves to add depth but not punch. They'll be in the middle of the playoff pack once again. Prediction: Second place, 40-42 wins.