San Jose's forward group isn't good enough to compete with the really deep teams in the league. Nashville is much better than them still as is Winnpeg. I think St Louis and Minnesota could also give them problems. San Jose is basically a 3 line team and their 3rd line is still very weak.

No Cup, just disappointment

Contender for sure (They were even before this move), but there are a lot of really good teams in the West. Is San Jose's top 4 group even the best in their conference?

They'll win the Pacific then get bounced in the first round by a WC team from the Central.

I think that is a very real possibility. Sure they will have a very good defence, but their 3rd line isn't a very good 4th line and the 4th line will be league minimum contracts because they can't afford anything else.

Not to mention their blueline is much more offensive than defensive and turnover-prone . The question really is whether they can score enough goals to make up for the many they will give up.