This might be the most fun division to watch this year and I'm very eager to see what Seattle does.

1) Calgary
2) Los Angeles
3) Vegas
4) Edmonton
5) Seattle
6) Vancouver
7) Anaheim
8) San Jose

the Oilers are finishing way way higher then 4th

It's 4th. There is no "way way" higher lol

Also you're wrong. Maybe they finish 3rd over Vegas, goaltending will be the difference for both clubs. You still don't know what you're getting in Campbell yet. EDM is not finishing higher than LA or CGY. They're not close to as good as them now.

I don't know how you could possibly rationalize those rankings. Edmonton is arguably the best team in the Pacific, probably better than Calgary, DEFINITELY better than LA. Seattle is not better than Vancouver and Anaheim. Vegas is not better than Vancouver.

Edmonton is almost guaranteed to win the Pacific. Calgary is the favorite to take 2nd place. Vancouver and LA will duke it out for 3rd, I can see that going either way. I see Vegas coming in 5th, I don't feel confident in their ability to make the post-season at all with their goaltending situation in flux the way it is.

Anaheim will be competitive, but I don't see them challenging for a playoff spot. It doesn't sound like Seattle or San Jose are intent on tanking, but if either team thinks they can be competitive, than they're only kidding themselves. Seattle might be able to generate more offense than they did last year, but they're still gonna bleed a lot of goals against with that shell of a blueline. Even if Grubauer bounces back, I don't see him regaining elite form.

Edmonton probs gets 2nd. Got a feeling Oilers fans gonna be disappointed with Campbell as he had one good month then fell off. Hes not Shesterkin or Vasilesky. If he struggles or can't stay healthy that 5 year deals gonna look bad real quick. Yes he had good numbers but he had 1 season as a starter with one month of Vezina level goaltending. Like of all the goalies Campbell's probs number 5 behind Markstrom, Demko, Lehner, and a healthy Gibson. Could be just like what we saw with Koskinen and how he was treated pretty soon

As despite the last meeting if Markstrom didn't fall off that series and they had a healthy tanev probs a cgy victory. Now Calgary had Weegar and one of the best playmakers in huberdeau. Got a feeling they win the Pacific

Top 4 probs

Cgy
Edm
Van
LA

I can see the argument for Calgary having improved overall from last year with their off-season changes, but frankly I don't buy it. I think the downgrade from Tkachuk to Kadri is more likely than not to outweigh the upgrade of Gudbranson to Weegar. I think most of us are expecting some regression with Kadri, and since Calgary doesn't have the same type of high flying offense that Colorado does, it's not hard to justify such a projection. I'm not super high on Campbell either, but I don't know that I see him turning into a pumpkin. If any team is equipped to be able to live with less than elite goaltending, it's Edmonton

calgary. i could see them winning the presidents trophy.

It's pretty easy to explain my rationale with EDM... Defense, depth scoring(they're CRAZY top-heavy) and Goaltending. If they get the Campbell who was on fire? Then that changes everything, but my guess is the best they can expect is slightly above average goaltending which is fine, that's all you really need, but for finishing at the top it might not be enough.

Calgary is just too good. Their goaltending is great, they got an upgrade in defense from what was already a very good defense and a deep forward group. I don't see how they lose this division unless they get the injury bug.

LA? Well, they added Fiala and their young players are on the come-up. Plus they'll get a healthy Doughty. LA will be a cup team before you know it and I expect them to take a huge leap this year.

Seattle is absolutely going to turn heads. They may not have any top-end stars up front yet, but they arguably have one of the deepest forward groups in the league now. Their goaltending will bounce back.

If you think Seattle's forward group is deep, then I don't know what to tell you. Even if Beniers is a PPG player, that is still not enough to make the team playoff contenders

Calgary is betting on a lot of X-Factors that could go against them potentially: regressions for players like Kadri, or even Tanev or Kylington, Lindholm/Huberdeau chemistry issues

Edmonton doesn't have any depth scoring issues. I expect them to get average goaltending at worst from Campbell. Yeah, the blueline still has questions, but I don't think it's gonna kill them

I know LA added Fiala, but as for their younger guys like Byfield, Kaliyev, Kupari, Durzi, Spence etc., we can't assume that they're all gonna take a step simultaneously. Have to assume that they're all gonna develop at their own unique rates, and there will probably be some growing pains along the way. While Fiala should bring more scoring, I can see their goaltending regress, and their depth could really be tested if some of the young guys are challenged to continue to grow their games

You're betting against McDavid. Its funny how people forget Oilers beat both Calgary and LA with Mike Smith. Surely Campbell is better than Smith.

NO.

I'm not betting against McDavid. You clearly can't remove your fandom from reality. Campbell had a very Jeckyll & Hyde season last year. He was lights out ,then bottom of the barrel. EDM is VERY top-heavy. Their bottom-six lacks true production or enough players who can play a solid two-way game. The defense is well, good at generating offense, but not good at limiting chances. They gave up the 12th most shots against in the NHL; that's not good.

You CLEARLY have your Oiler Glasses on lol.

The thing with EDM is that I'm not saying they're bad or won't have playoff success. Everything you just pointed out and agreed with are reasons why in the REGULAR season they're not built to be in first place.

LA still has growing to do and yes, I'm banking on their younger players continuing their path and getting better. Goaltending? I'll concede there's a question mark there, but I think they get at worst, average goaltending. They're still deeper top to bottom than EDM.

Look at Seattle's forwards... Even IF Beniers stalls out and Wright is mediocre, they added Burakovsky who will not doubt have a impact, Bjorkstrand who's seriously awesome and Tanev was out most of last season and was killing it before the injury, so they'll get him back. Again, I'm not saying they have any stars up front yet, but 1st line through 4th line they're basically loaded with middle six wingers.

Yeah, and being loaded with middle six wingers isn't necessarily a good thing when you don't have the stars, at least not yet. Jaden Schwartz deal already looks ugly, Brandon Tanev is still an expensive bottom six forward. Their 4th line of Geekie, Donato, and Donskoi is a decent 4th line, but it's nothing exceptional.

I'm not calling Edmonton contenders either, but saying they aren't a lock for the playoffs is ludicrous when they still have Evander Kane and Jay Woodcroft around.

LA doesn't have the high end talent that Edmonton does, I don't care that they're deeper. Like I said, banking all the young guys to progress forward simultaneously without taking some steps back isn't realistic

Being loaded with middle six isn't a great thing, but having that is better than the situation for a lot of teams in the league. I don't think they're a playoff team, but I see finishing in the middle of the division.

Saying LA doesn't have the end-talent like EDM is like saying 90% of the teams in the league that don't, but still find ways to beat them. Not caring that a team is deeper is an odd take. Depth is a huge key to success in this league. Teams that intend to be serious contenders need serious depth.

Calgary or Edmonton
Calgary or Edmonton
LA
Vegas
Vancouver
San Jose
Seattle
Anaheim

That seems more realistic.

Everything I stated was pure fact the Oilers did beat both LA and Calgary. I am not saying the Oilers have great d but they rely on their top 6 to get more goals than the opponent. If you can score more goals than the opponent you win. Campbell will be a big factor in their success or downfall I agree.

CGY and LA are not the same teams as last year and just because a team beats a team one year doesn't mean they won't beat them the next. Happens ALL the time. CGY and LA largely improved while EDM, aside from different goaltending is largely the same.

How did Calgary's depth fair against Edmonton's top guns eh?

The only team I can see Seattle realistically finishing ahead of is San Jose, who I'm confident will be at the bottom of the division

Vancouver will definitely finish ahead of Vegas, they're by far the better team. Also, spots 6, 7, and 8 should go to Anaheim, Seattle, and San Jose in that order respectively

I never understand these arguments. If we used this logic then basically a team that loses in the playoffs would never win again. It's a flawed logic. In this current layout, teams will frequently face the same teams in the first round.

CGY, like more than a few teams, fall on their faces in the playoffs. Upsets happen and teams overachieve. The majorly flawed thing, like you're doing, is using it to suit your side of the argument when it happens and will ignore it when it doesn't. Just because team A beats team B in the playoffs doesn't mean it will happen again. If this logic is applied, the Caps would have never knocked out the Pens the year they won the cup since the Pens beat them every single year in the playoffs before that. They should have just given up and let the Pens have it. The Pens lost to the wings in the cup, so I guess that should have meant they should have lost again the next year, but they didn't.

More than sometimes in sport, the better team doesn't win. Whether they weren't mentally prepared, overconfident, not hungry enough, etc...

CGY is better than EDM in every single way. EDM got on a streak and CGY shat the bed. It happens and that's what is so much fun about the NHL playoffs more than any other sport. Personally, I think CGY was overconfident and could never get themselves level.

You're gonna tell me that MTL team that went to the cup was better than the teams they played? Nope. They got on a streak, they believed and were hungry. It happens.

I have no problem recognizing that Montreal's cup run was a Cinderella story, but I don't know why all of a sudden you're going on a rant about speculative factors where we have no evidence to project either way on such intangibles

This is like basically saying you can't count on any past analytics cause anything can happen. The only thing that Calgary is slightly better at than Oilers is goaltending and d. I think most people will take Oilers forward group over Calgary's any day. The thing like you saw last year in the playoffs is the Oilers have McDavid and Draisaitl which will outplay any other team's star players.

That's fair.