Edited Aug. 21, 2021 at 6:17 p.m.
All lines are according to DailyFaceoff
Anaheim Ducks - 8th in the West last year, have since swapped Danton Heinen, David Backes, Haydn Fleury, Andy Welinksi and Ryan Miller for Greg Pateryn. Lines are according to DailyFaceoff. This teams number 1 centre is Trevor Zegras, who is in fact probably a number 2 centre for this season at least. I think we can expect a 60 point, 2C season this year. Max Comtois is probably a 60 point, 1st line winger who would put up 80 if he didn't play for Anaheim. Troy Terry is a middle 6, minimal offence defensive winger playing first line RW next year. Not a good fit. Adam Henrique, 2LW is a middle 6 two way centre who's playing wing for some reason. The 3rd player out of 4 Ducks forwards so far playing over their head. Ryan Getzlaf is a good 2C who developed two ways last year in a down offensive year. You can expect effective 2C play this year. Rickard Rakell, is an all-offence, playmaking, 55 point second line winger for next season. A good fit with a goal scorer in Henrique for a good 2nd line. Isac Lundestrom is a decent fit on 3LW, probably in a bit over his head. Sam Steel is probably a good fit at 3C. Jakob Silfverberg is good middle six RW playing 3RW. You can likely expect close to 40 points. The first player with potential to really excel in their role so far in this lineup. Onto the 4th line who's goal is to collectively not suck and nothing else. Max Jones, accomplishes that goal. Derek Grant is a great PKer who also does not COMPLETELY suck 5v5. He's pretty bad there though. Nicolas Deslauriers.... he sucks. Overall, the only star forward here is Comtois. Zegras, Terry, Henrique and Lundestrom are all one spot too high in the lineup and only Silfverberg is exceptionally good for his position. The 4th line is below average but barely accomplishes the aforementioned goal of not sucking. Hampus Lindholm is a good two way #2 d-man. Josh Manson is a good second pairing d-man. Cam Fowler can be a good fit as a #1 d-man if he plays well. Jamie Drysdale will likely be an effective top 4 d-man this year. Onto the 3rd pair. Jacob Larsson is an effective third pairing d-man while Kevin Shattenkirk can play top 4 any day you want him too. Still a great d-man. Unlike the forwards the defence is well constructed and everybody should succeed in their role. John Gibson has the ability to be the NHL's best goalie any day. Anthony Stolarz is a more than capable back up goalie. This team is set in net. The PP1 is Comtois-Getzlaf-Rakell-Drysdale-Zegras. Rakell and Getzlaf have sucked on the PP. Comtois will be effective and I guess we'll find out but I expect good things from Zegras and a quick replacement for Drysdale. PP probably sucks for this team. Overall, a mediocre forward group that is in over their heads, a bad PP, solid defence and great goaltending compose this team.
Calgary Flames - 5th in the North last year, have since swapped Derek Ryan, Dominik Simon and Mark Giordano for Blake Coleman, Tyler Pitlick, Trevor Lewis, Nikita Zadorov and Daniel Vladar. Elias Lindholm is a star, two-way 1C who will likely put up 80 points. Johnny Gaudreau is an elite offensive winger who has developed to competent defensively in the past two years from his previous stance of liability. Probably another 80 point guy. Matthew Tkachuk is also a star player on the RW, great offensively, good defensively. A third 80 point guy for a very good first line. All players are stars. Andrew Mangiapane is a terrific two way winger with star upside. For now we'll call him a great fit on 2LW but he may be considered a 1LW if he can put up some more point production this year. Mikael Backlund is a good two-way, 2C who you can expect 50 points from each year with lockdown defense. Blake Coleman on 2RW is basically older Mangiapane, similar point totals, similar analytics. Now playing 2RW minutes I'd put him in the same boat as Mangiapane. Good fit on 2nd line for now but could be seen as close to a 1RW by season's end. And don't call that bias, I had him on the USA Olympic team before he signed with Calgary. The 2nd line is a terrific two-way second line for a great top 6 with all players who are good defensively and even Gaudreau is still competent. Sean Monahan at 3C, is interesting. Unless he bounces back he is a high end 3C for the time being. Mediocre offensive play driving, horrific defence, minimal point production and even his scoring has dropped since 18-19. Lets label him as a 3C with upside for now. Dillon Dube is a middle 6 LW. Good fit here but some upside to be more like a 2LW by season's end. Tyler Pitlick is an all-defence RW. Bottom 6 winger at its finest. The 4th line who's goal is as previously stated with Anaheim is to not suck. Milan Lucic. Fail. Trevor Lewis. Pass, only because he's good defensively. Brett Ritchie. I guess pass. So not horrific but by no means good. This forward group is good. Depth isn't great but it is at worst a very good top 6 with a bad 4th line and at best an elite top 6 with a serviceable 4th line. The defence. Hanifin has historically been an offensive 2LD but his defence developed with Tanev last year making him a two way 2LD playing first pair minutes. Chris Tanev was a defensive defensemen who was an offensive liability before Calgary. With them, he was average offensively and the NHL's best defensive defensemen. I expect something in between this year. More of a high end 2RD instead of the first pair guy we saw last year. So the Flames first pair is in fact actually a high end 2nd pair. Nikita Zadorov is a #4 d-man. Nothing more, nothing less. Rasmus Andersson is another wild card. Poised for a #1RD role and in a spot to do good there, this year he was barely even serviceable. If he can return to form, the Flames have a filled out, good but not elite top 4. If he can't, its probably not gonna be too pretty. Juuso Valimaki sucked last year. Potential to be a top 4 guy this year and potential to be just a third pair guy. Seems to be this teams theme. Kylington is just a third pairing d-man. Nothing else. Overall the d-core could be good. Or it could be awful. We'll find out. In net, Markstrom is an elite NHL starting goalie. The Flames are set there. For the backup, Vladar is a HUGE question mark that can break this season for Calgary. We really have no idea what to expect. On special teams, the PP1 is Tkachuk-Monahan-Gaudreau-Lindholm-Andersson. All players, with the exception of Andersson were good PP performers last year. This is a good PP if Andersson can play well and even if he can't it isn't a liability. Overall this team has a good forward group with upside (or downside), a good defensive group with upside (or downside), a good goaltending tandem with upside (or downside) and a good PP with upside (or downside). This team is impossible to predict. Can be impressively mediocre or elite. No one knows.
Edmonton Oilers - 2nd in the North last year with a first round exit. Have since swapped James Neal, Dominik Kahun, Alex Chiasson, Jujhar Khaira, Adam Larsson, Ethan Bear, Dmitry Kulikov and Caleb Jones for Zach Hyman, Warren Foegele, Derek Ryan, Duncan Keith and Cody Ceci. At 1C, Connor McDavid is by far the best player in the NHL. Zach Hyman is a two way first line winger. Last year, Jesse Puljujarvi became a two way top 6 winger with first line potential. Now with McDavid, I think we see that first line potential come out. Both Hyman and Pulju are capable first line wingers and with McDavid this becomes one of the best 1st lines in the NHL. Leon Draisaitl at 2C is a top 5C in the world, playing 2C. Ryan Nugent Hopkins is a two-way first line winger playing 2LW. Kailer Yamamoto was elite in 2020 and a middle 6 winger in 2021. I think he'll be a good fit on 2RW in 2022. This elite 2nd line along with the 1st line makes this one of the best top sixes in the NHL. At 3LW, Warren Foegele is a good 3rd liner who could be a solid middle 6 winger if he was even competent at scoring goals. He's a good play driver though and good defensively. Ryan McLeod is in over his head on the 3rd line. Josh Archibald is a 4RW PK guy playing 3RW. Overall this 3rd line is pretty much a disaster for about 10 minutes a night. Now onto the don't suck line. Devin Shore. Fail. Derek Ryan. Pass, he's a middle 6 centre and will in short order replace McLeod. Zack Kassian. BARELY pass. This 4th line works, but is probably bottom 10 in the league. Overall the top 6 is one of the best, bottom 6 is one of the worst. Dominant forwards for 40, disastrous for 20. Darnell Nurse is a top pairing defensemen who can't play defence. Probably a fringe #1, solid #2 guy. Tyson Barrie is like a second pairing defensemen offensively if you take out McDavid, the secondary assists and the PP and the NHL's worst defensemen defensively. This combines to make him a 3rd pairing d-man playing #1RD. Yikes. Duncan Keith, is also a 3rd pairing d-man playing 2LD. Cody Ceci is also a 3rd pairing defensemen playing 2RD. Kris Russell is a decent 4-5 option. Good fit at 3LD. Evan Bouchard is a capable top 4 d-man and this team's 2nd best d-man. Unfortunately he'll play 3rd pair. This defensive corps is a disaster. A good 3rd pair but the worst top 4 you could imagine. In net, Mike Smith sucks. Last season will not happen again. I'd bet my house. Mikko Koskinen also sucks. This team is a disaster in net. The PP. PP1 is Hyman-Nuge-Draisaitl-McDavid-Barrie. Might be the NHL's best PP. Overall, they have an elite top 6, elite PP, horrific bottom 6, horrific defense and horrific goaltending.
Los Angeles Kings - 6th in the West last year, have since swapped Kurtis MacDermid for Viktor Arvidsson, Phillip Danault and Alex Edler. Fairly good offseason. Kopitar at 1C is no longer elite. That said, I think he is still a 1C. Iafallo is a middle 6 winger playing 1LW. In over his head there. Viktor Arvidsson is a top 6 all offence winger with a scoring touch who will be serviceable on the top line, but not a great fit. Overall this first line kinda sucks. Two players too high in the lineup and one that isn't elite but is good there. Phillip Danault is a Selke quality shutdown 2C who's a good playmaker and would be a 1C if he was even competent at goal scoring. Adrian Kempe is a middle 6 winger who will be okay at 2LW. Dustin Brown was randomly good last year. I expect third line quality play this year as opposed to the top 6 guy we saw last year. Similar to the first line, 2/3 are in over their heads but I expect Danault to be one of the NHL's better 2Cs. Trevor Moore is a 3LW playing 3LW. Athanasiou is an offensive 3RW. I don't like that. He sucks defensively and the entire point of a 3rd line is to be good defensively. Byfield at 3C. He had an NHLe of roughly 18 points last year depending on how you calculate it. I think he'll put up 30 points this year making him a bottom 6C. Not a great fit at 3C. This 3rd line isn't very good. I just don't think it works. Onto the 4th line. The don't suck line. Jaret Anderson-Dolan. Pass. Blake Lizotte. Pass. Gabriel Vilardi. Pass. Good 4th line that meets the standard of not being a liability and exceeds it. Mikey Anderson for some reason is playing 1LD and I think 2LD /3LD is a fit for him. Drew Doughty. Was randomly a #1 again last year. I think we see a top 4 guy, but not the damn near Norris guy we saw last year. First pair is realistically second pair. Alex Edler is a 2LD playing 2LD. Sean Walker is a 2nd pairing OFD playing where he should. Edler-Walker makes up a good 2nd pair. Tobias Bjornfit could be playing top 4 minutes by the end of the year. I think he's a very good at 3LD. Matt Roy is this teams best d-man who for some reason is playing 3RD. He's a #2 d-man. Overall, the first pair is okay, the middle pair is good and the bottom pair is awesome. In net, Cal Petersen is an actual elite starting goalie and I've thought that since before Lehner said it. Quick is a below average backup goalie. The Kings are set in net all things considered. On PP1 it's Brown-Kopitar-Kempe-Iafallo-Doughty. It's impressively average. Overall, I think the top 6 is in over its head and the third line doesn't work. The defence is decent and goaltending is good though.
San Jose Sharks - 7th in the West last year, have since swapped Patrick Marleau, Ryan Donato, Greg Pateryn and Martin Jones for Nick Bonino, Andrew Cogliano, Nick Merkley, Adin Hill and James Reimer. At 1C, Logan Couture who is a 2C at this point in his career. On his LW is Evander Kane who is a top 6 LW and a terrible human. Generally I'd call him a bonafide 1LW but because of his life situation I'd say he'll make a 2LW impact this season. That said, he made a big difference last year despite a pretty dramatic life situation so who knows. Kevin Labanc is a 2RW who's fallen a long ways since his 1x$1M discount contract. This first line is underwhelming. It's very low end but acceptable. Timo Meier is a 2LW playing 2LW. He still has that first line ability in him, lets see if it comes out. Tomas Hertl, 2C is actually an elite two-way 1C who for some reason is playing 2C. Alex Barabanov did really good with the Sharks and really bad with the Leafs last year. I think we see something in between and he'll be more of a 3RW playing 2RW. Overall this is a good 2nd line that combines to make a below average top 6. John Leonard is a bottom 6 winger and 3LW is a bit of a stretch but I think he'll be decent. At 3C, Nick Bonino is a middle 6C who is basically perfect at a 3rd liners role. Elite on the PK and defensive end and capable offensively. Rudolfs Balcers is a good fit at 3RW. I like this 3rd line. Between Bonino, Leonard and Balcers its a very good shutdown line. The don't suck line is next. Andrew Cogliano. Pass. Perfect bottom 6 LW. Dylan Gambrell. Pass. Matthew Nieto. Pass. Overall its a very good 4th line. Really good bottom 6. The forward group has an underwhelming first line, but is rock solid after that. Mario Ferraro is a capable top 4 defender. 1LD might be a stretch but I think he's just fine for playing top 4 minutes. Brent Burns. I expect offensive regression this year. He's a 40 point guy right now and he turns 37 in March. I think 25-30 points is reasonable and without as much offensive production this year that'll make him a 2RD playing 1RD. This first pair is a second pair. Knyzhov should be fine at 2LD this year at least I'd think. Erik Karlsson took a step back last year but I still think he's capable of top pairing minutes. He's pretty great for a 2RD. This is a good second pair. Radim Simek is probably capable of top pair minutes and he's playing 3LD. Could play 1LD if you needed him. Marc Edouard Vlasic. He sucks. He's fallen a long way from his title of NHL's premier defensive defensemen. Third pairing guy now. This third pair is actually really good all things considered. This defence overall is okay. All pairs are very decent. In net Hill and Reimer could be a decent combo. Both are at best 1B so it won't be anything special but it may get the job done. Not terrific in net, but not awful. On the PP1 its Kane-Hertl-Meier-Burns-Karlsson. Pretty good PP. Overall this team has an underwhelming 1st line, a good 2nd line, a rock solid bottom 6, decent 1st pair, good 2nd pair, good 3rd pair, below average goaltending and a good PP. Its not a terrible team. The first line, first pair and goaltending could all very well be doable. I think it all adds up to a below average team.
Seattle Kraken - Didn't exist last year, have since added their entire roster. At 1C, I think Yanni Gourde is a great two-way top 6C with actual potential to do a good job at 1C. Jaden Schwartz is an elite defensive middle 6 winger playing 1LW. Jordan Eberle is a competent defensive 1RW who is also one of the best playmaking wingers in the league. First line isn't great. Schwartz and Gourde are out of their leagues but Eberle is where he should be. On the second line, Jared McCann at 2C. Jared McCann is a high end 2C who's elite defensively and has a bit of a scoring touch. Calle Jarnkrok is a defensive 3LW playing 2LW. Joonas Donskoi is a good 3RW. 2nd line is a 3rd line besides McCann. Overall the top 6 is underwhelming. Most players don't fit their current roles. At 3C Alex Weinberg is a bottom 6C who isn't very good. Brandon Tanev is a great fit at 3LW, exactly where he is. Mason Appleton is a good two middle 6 winger who should excel in his current role at 3RW. 3rd line is the first line that should be a decent line for their spot in the lineup. The don't suck line is next. Morgan Geekie. Pass. Colin Blackwell. Pass, he could play 2C. Nathan Bastian. Pass. Its a good 4th line. On defence, you have Vince Dunn at 1LD. He's an elite defensive 2LD who's shown flashes of 1LD ability. Adam Larsson is an elite defensive, incompetent offensive 2RD playing 1RD. Wicked good shutdown pairing but should be a second pair rather than a first. Mark Giordano took a sizeable step back last year to a guy who is probably just a 2LD. Jamie Oleksiak is an incredibly underrated elite shutdown guy who could play first pair minutes if you needed it. Great fit here. On the 3rd pair Carson Soucy is a solid bottom 4 d-man who should be good at 3LD. Haydn Fleury is in a similar boat. Good 3rd pair. Overall, I like this d-core, deep with 6 good d-men but no elite d-men. In net, Grubuaer and Driedger are both great starting goaltenders. Goaltending is a strength for this team. On PP1 its McCann-Eberle-Schwartz-Donskoi-Giordano. Only Eberle and Gio have not horrid PP metrics. Truly, complete hot garbage. Overall this team has a second line at first line, a third line at second line, an average third line and a good 4th line up front. They have a really good defensive corps and are rock solid in net. The PP sucks. I think they'll really give teams hell because they'll be impossible to score on. That said, they won't be able to score. They'll be the NHL's most boring team.
Vancouver Canucks - 7th in the North last year, have since swapped Jake Virtanen, Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, Travis Boyd, Jayce Hawryluk, Jimmy Vesey, Nate Schmidt, Alex Edler, Jalen Chatfield and Braden Holtby for Conor Garland, Jason Dickinson, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Tucker Poolman, Luke Schenn and Jaroslav Halak............. I think we can all agree the only viable conclusion to that sentence is what the f*ck.
At 1C you have Elias Pettersen who is an all around very complete player that I think will take the actual step towards top 10 NHL C this year that the media has wrongly labelled him with so far. On his wing is JT Miller who is an all-offence 1LW. On the right side is Brock Boeser who is an elite offensive 1RW. Really good first line that will score some goals. At 2C is Bo Horvat who is an elite offensive 1C in my mind. On his wing is Nils Hogalnder. One of the best playmaking wingers in the NHL already and is a 1LW all day. Conor Garland is also a great playdriving 1RW playing 2RW. One of the NHL's best second lines and is a first line on many other teams. On the third line, Jason Dickinson is a perfect defensive 3C. On his wing, Tanner Pearson isn't too good at much of anything. He's a 4th liner in my mind playing 3LW. On the RW is Vasili Podklozin. He had an NHLe of 20 last year so I think we can expect 4RW results this year. Overall, this 3rd line sucks and is a 4th line. Onto the actual 4th line. The don't suck line. Sutter. Pass. Motte. Pass. Highmore. Pass. Its a good 4th line. Onto the defence. Quinn Hughes at 1LD. To be honest, I think he sucks. He's a 2LD who also happens to be a complete liability defensively. On the right side is Travis Hamonic who is I guess a decent defensive third pairing guy but he's playing 1RD. This first pair sucks. The second pair. OEL is one of the worst d-men in the NHL. Tyler Myers is a good second pair offensive option if he's with a lockdown guy but he isn't, making the second pair garbage as well. The third pair is somehow better than the second. Rathbone can play top 4 minutes as can Poolman and putting them together means all offence Rathbone and all defence Poolman would actually form a capable second pair. Overall the top 4 is hot garbage but the third pair is good. In net, Demko is a very good NHL starting goalie and Halak is a wicked good backup. They are set in net. On the PP is Garland-Horvat-Boeser-Hughes-Pettersen. Its an elite PP. Overall, this team has an elite top 6, bad 3rd line, good 4th line, hot garbage defence, but they are good in net and have a good PP.
Vegas Golden Knights - 2nd in the West last year, have since swapped Tomas Nosek, Cody Glass, Ryan Reaves, Nick Holden and Marc-Andre Fleury for Evgenii Dadonov, Nolan Patrick, Brett Howden and Laurent Brossoit. At 1C is Chandler Stephenson. I think he's a good 2C but by no means is he a 1C. He has a really good scoring touch though which will mesh very well with Pacioretty and Stone's elite playmaking. Max Pacioretty is an elite 1LW who's a great playmaker and one of the NHL's best goal scorers. On RW1, Mark Stone is one of the NHL's best wingers and he is elite in every component. This is a very good 1st line even though Stephenson is a 2C. All players have a scoring touch and Pacioretty and Stone add elite playmaking to that while Stone also adds elite defense. At 2C William Karlsson is a great play driver but not too great at anything else. I think he's a high end 2C. On his left side, Marchessault is a first line quality LW who's an elite playmaker. Reilly Smith at RW is also a great playmaker but is more of a 2RW. It's a very good 2nd line. On the 3rd line, Janmark is a bad defender and bad play driver but has a little bit of a scoring touch. Decent 3LW. Nolan Patrick is a good 3C but is incapable of scoring a goal. Evgeny Dadonov is a great offensive 2RW who should be great at 3RW. When Tuch comes back in January this should be an elite 3rd line. It'd be a great second line once you add Tuch. Especially if Patrick can have a good season which he very well may. Until Tuch is here it's just a decent 3rd line. If you add a player like Alex Tuch to this 3rd line that gives you another offensive top 6 line. On the 4th line, I typically call it a don't suck line. Not here. Janmark will eventually push Howden out of the lineup once Tuch returns. Once that happens, Janmark-Roy-Carrier would be a very high end 3rd line giving Vegas 4 lines that can score on you at any point in the game. Besides the fact the only defensive forwards here are Stone and Tuch this is a damn near perfect forward group. Alec Martinez at 1LD is elite offensively and more than capable of being a 1LD. Alex Pietrangelo at 1RD is one of the best d-men in the NHL. An elite #1 on any team. On the second pair, Brayden McNabb is a perfect #4 d-men, elite defensively, non-event offensively. Shea Theodore on his right side is a top 10 NHL d-men playing 2RD. At 3LD, Nic Hague is the NHL's biggest analytical darling I've ever seen. Completely unsustainable results but the fact he even posted them shows he is capable of playing top 4 minutes if need be. Zach Whitecloud is the perfect 3RD. Non event offensively but elite shutdown numbers. Arguably the NHL's best 3rd pair. Super good defensive core. In net, Lehner is an elite starter and Brossoit is a very good backup who has posted starter quality results for 2 of the last 3 years. Great tandem. On PP1 you have Stone-Karlsson-Marchessault-Pietrangelo-Pacioretty. Elite PP. Pietrangelo has historically been a terrible PP QB though which is something that could keep this from being the NHL's best. Shea Theodore however is one of the NHL's best PP QBs. This teams is elite top to bottom. Only holes are a true 1C and a defensive forward line.
Standings
1. Vegas
2. Calgary
3. Seattle
4. Vancouver
5. Edmonton
6. Los Angeles
7. San Jose
8. Anaheim
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