Bartnick previews the NHL Pacific Division for 2023-24 Vegas are the team to beat

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The Pacific Division boasts the reigning Stanley Cup Champions the Vegas Golden Knights. It also contains the best player on earth the Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid. It also has the worst team in the league the San Jose Sharks. The Pacific Division has the penthouse and the outhouse, something for everyone.

  1. The Vegas Golden Knights are the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. Jack Eichel finally lived up to his draft pedigree. Eichel was in integral player on a Cup winning team. The Knights will have a full season of Ivan Barbashev and a healthy Mark Stone. Reilly Smith is the only significant piece from last year not on the team. Alex Pietrangelo leads a steady and punishing defense. Aiden Hill is a Stanley Cup winning goaltender.
  2. The Edmonton Oilers have the best duo in hockey since prime Sid and Geno. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl do not need any more personal accolades. They are both Hall of Famers who only need a Stanley Cup. Evander Kane, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent- Hopkins are a more than competent supporting cast. The defense led by Darnell Nurse was greatly improved last season by acquiring Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard improving. Goaltenders Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell are the only thing not Cup worthy in Edmonton.
  3. The Seattle Kraken made the playoffs in their sophomore season and are hoping to do more damage this year. Matty Beniers has the look of a superstar at number one center. GM Ron Francis is surrounding him with eleven other forwards who track pucks and can bury them. Vince Dunn is an underrated number one defenseman. Brian Dumoulin brings championship experience to the blueline. Phillip Grubauer provides solid play in net.
  4. The Los Angeles Kings have been knocked out of the playoffs two years in a row by the Edmonton Oilers. Hoping to change that the Kings gave away four contributors for classic malcontent Pierre Luc-Dubois. LA still has the dynamic duo of Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe on the number one line. Kevin Fiala and Viktor Arvidsson are established scoring wingers. Dubois must make up for the Gabe Vilardi and Alex Iafallo among others. Drew Doughty is still an elite defenseman. Vlad Gavrikov is a modern day shut down defensemen. The rest of the blueline is young but with high upside. Pheonix Copley was not trusted last year in the playoffs. He probably will be this year over backup Cam Talbot.
  5. The Vancouver Canucks are the best of the bottom of the Pacific. Head Coach Rick Tocchet will get the most out of this team. Elias Pettersson , Brock Boeser, JT Miller and Andrei Kuzmenko will score goals. The question is will they defend? Defensemen Quinn Hughes always has good numbers but doesn’t pass the eye test. Thatcher Demko is the reason the Canucks finish fifth. Anything less than a stellar season from Demko and Vancouver is a lottery team.
  6. The Calgary Flames have the feel of an expansion team. Does anyone want to be there? If the Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom the Flames have a chance to be competitive. Competitive line an expansion team that has every other teams eight best player. Most of Calgary’s roster would be exposed in an expansion draft. The roster is overrated and overpaid. This year the front office will know if it was all former coach Darryl Sutter’s fault.
  7. The Anaheim Ducks have an exciting young team. The Ducks will always make the Sportscenter Top 10 but not the playoffs. Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry score in bunches. Mason McTavish and Jamie Drysdale are young studs upfront and on the backend. Radko Gudas and Ilya Lyubushkin will protect the kids thru mutual assured destruction. John Gibson will keep the Ducks in games until the New Year when he wears out from PSD. PSD is Puck Shot Directly at him.

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  8. The San Jose Sharks are a few players away from being an AHL team. Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl have been Sharks since the franchise’s glory days. They will not be around to see the franchise’s return to glory. Anthony Duclair signed there over the summer might. The defense is a group of sixrths and eigths on other teams. Kappo Kahkonen and MacKenzie Blackwell are decent netminders who can share the ugly stat burden. GM Mike Grier appears to be playing for a number one pick. A selling point if they move up to San Francisco.