Sharks had some serious injury and system issues that have been changed going into this year, and the wild and yotes were bubble teams who made pay ins. I dont see any changes like that for LA or Anaheim to tell me they arent bottom feeders still.

I’d say the wild are the worst of the bunch. Who’s their 1C? In no particular order, Kopitar/whoever, Getzlaf/Henrique, Couture/Hertl, Stepan/Dvorak or Schmaltz is all better than whatever MIN goes with and then their goalie tandem is 3rd best on paper of those 5 teams.

SJS on paper has the best fwd group but probably the worst goalie tandem. MIN Dcore on paper is probably the best defensively but they aren’t overly offensive and their fwd group is the worst. If Miller re-signs like ANA beat writers believe he will, ANA and AZ have the best G tandems.

MIN got significantly worse. Their #1C is Johansson? JEE? Bonino? Bjugstad? AZ is a toss up for me. Sure they made the play in but they weren’t significantly better than any of the other 4 teams and there’s turmoil all around that team. SJS goalie tandem is awful. Their top 6 is legit tho. Much like your injury excuses, I can say ANA gets Milano and Henien for a full season and they were much better after the trade deadline with them plus Shattenkirk is an upgrade to the top 4 D and PP. LA to me is still the worst team. We can argue all day but there isn’t a team of these 5 who is definitely the best which will make for a fun season out west. Winner gets to get swept in the first round of the playoffs lol

Ill agree with that. Going to be hard to beat Colorado

The Sharks forward core is subpar, and is miles better than the Ducks. The Sharks D core is better as well. Hertl, Couture, and Karlsson will all be healthy the whole year unlike last season, therefore they are better. If the Sharks get a .905 goalie they are well better than the Sharks. The Wild are gonna most likely had Bonino and Eriksson Ek as their two centers (wild fans correct me if not). That is not that much worse than Getzlaf/Steel. Fiala is a better forward than any Anaheim's. They also have a better blue line. Who knows how they'll do, they need to replace Stalock as well now. The Yotes have two above average starting goalies. Their defenses are pretty similar, maybe give the advantage to Anaheim possibly. The forward depth of Anaheim is better, but the better players in the top 6 of Arizona are better.

All that being said: looking at your pfp I don't see you changing your mind.

Subpar? Their top 6 is legit but they still have a horrible overpaid Dcore and an awful goalie tandem. I like how you changed it to Getzlaf and Steel so you can neglect the 25g C in Henrique and compare them to Bonino and JEE. Fiala may be better than any ducks fwd (he had a career last year) MIN has nothing else up front and sure their Dcore is solid but Talbot is still their #1. Gibson is just as good as Kuemper if not better but sure Raanta the best back up in the division.

I like how you think I’m being biased when I asked you to definitively pick a team that was better than ANA of those 5 teams and you chose MIN as one of them when they may be the worst of the bunch.

Bang on on the Canadian Division, everything else is interesting. SJ, MIN, ARZ > ANA DAL>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>CBJ. My finger got tired or I would have kept going. The East is anyone's guess but NYR won't be 1st, even though I am high on them