2013 NHL Western Conference Preview

At long, long last the National Hockey League will return to the ice this Saturday night to kick off the 2013 regular season. So with the new CBA in place, the length of the new agreement is ten years, so fans won't have to worry about another possible lockout for a decade. So now with hockey back on the ice, there is a few changes made for this season. Obviously there isn't enough time to play a full 82 game schedule so their will be a 48 game season that starts on January 19th, with the regular season concluding on April 27th. The Stanley Cup Finals will be concluded the latest June 28th. Also because of such a short schedule there will be no games played between conferences. It means that teams from the Eastern Conference will play only teams form the East, and the Western Conference can play only teams in the West. Since I don't want to bore anybody with the exact details of the CBA, we are going to skip that and go straight into predictions for all 30 NHL teams for this upcoming season. We are going to look at each division and predict where each team finishes in the division and why. We start things off in the Western Conference.

We start things off in the West with the Pacific Division. This division is home to the defending Stanley Cup Champions the Los Angeles Kings. Two other teams made it out of the Pacific from last year, that being the Sharks and Coyotes. Here is how I see the Pacific Division playing out this year.

1. Los Angeles Kings
-Absolutely nothing has change for the Kings since they won the Cup last June. The entire roster is in tact and its healthy. This time last year the Kings had a bit of a banged up hockey team with Simone Gagne and Jeff Carter hurt, plus had an early distraction with Drew Doughty and his contract dispute. Now that is all behind them, and everybody is healthy and on the same page. Kings are almost a lock to win the Pacific and make the playoffs again.

2. San Jose Sharks
-The Sharks have experience on their side with the likes of Joe Thorton, Patrick Marleau and Martin Havlat, although those guys aren't putting up numbers like they used to. Still with the likes of Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe it will help take the pressure off the big three to produce. The only question mark I have is how deep the goaltending is behind Antto Niemi. Despite that San Jose is looking like a solid contender for the playoffs again.

3. Dallas Stars
-Dallas took a bit of a hit in the offseason losing the likes of Sheldon Souray, Steve Ott and Mike Ribeiro, but they made up for it by adding in talent like Derek Roy, Jaromir Jagr and Ray Whitney. Goalie Kari Lehtonen is going to take the load of the goaltending once again, but it looks as though the Stars aren't very deep in goal. Dallas looks like it has enough to make a solid push for a possible playoff spot this year.

4. Phoenix Coyotes
-The Coyotes shocked everybody last year in getting all the way to the West finals against the Kings. This year the goaltending in Phoenix is still the same as last year. Phoenix still has a solid blue line to work with too with the likes of Keith Yandel, Derek Morris and Rostislav Klesla. Only problem in Phoenix is they lost a lot on offense to compete, as they lost Lankow, Rosoval, and Whitney.n Phoenix has enough on defense to compete but it won't be enough to get them into the playoffs.

5 Anaheim Ducks
-The Ducks still have some firepower up front with guys like Teemu Selanne, Ryan Getzlaf, Sakiu Koviu, Bobby Ryan, and Cory Perry. Outside of those five guys there isn't much more in terms of scoring depth. Anaheim's blue line looks to be average at best and in goal Jonas Hiller will be carrying the bulk of the time in net. Anaheim will finish last once again in the division.

Next up we move on to the Northwest Division. Last year only one team made the playoffs coming out of the Northwest and that was the Vancouver Canucks. Here is how I see the Pacific Division playing out this season.

1. Vancouver Canucks
-Vancouver has virtually the same lineup they did last season, except they took a bit of a hit on the blue line. Sami Salo and Aaron Rome are both gone via free agency. To replace the loss Jason Garrison was brought in as a free agent from the Panthers. With his playmaking ability and big shot, Garrison can add some stability to the blueline. Vancouver still has a powerhouse offense in tact and they can light it up on any given night. The Canuck offense is very well balanced. Only question marks in Vancouver is what to do about goaltending with both Roberto Luongo and Cory Schneider fighting for playing time. Despite a possible goaltending battle Vancouver is set for another playoff bound year.

2. Minnesota Wild
-Minnesota totally reworked their team after last season. Last year the Wild were average on defense but had the worst offense in the NHL. Adding in guys like Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, who were the two biggest free agent signings from the offseason, will really help the Wild out. Goaltending in Minnesota is going to be set for a long time. Offensively the Wild look vastly improved and have a pretty good balance to them. They have a scoring touch with guys like Parise, Koivu and Setoguchi, as well as grinders like Clutterbuck and Konopka. Wild will make a strong showing and look like a playoff team.

3. Calgary Flames
-The Flames missed the playoffs last year by 5 points and looked like they were close to getting in. Over the offseason they took a bit of a hit loosing both David Moss and Olli Jokinen. With the loss of Jokinen, it was replaced by Jiri Hudler from Detroit, and to replace Moss the Flames brought in Denis Wideman from Washington. New Flames coach Bob Hartley has a decent, but aging, team on his hands. He still has the heart and soul of the club in Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff. Kiprusoff has nothing really behind him in net and he isn't getting younger. Calgary still has a solid blue lien to keep them hanging in. The offense has a decent mix but doesn't look like it might be enough to get the Flames into the playoffs.

4. Edmonton Oilers
-The youth movement in Edmonton is still taking shape. They re-signed a lot of their young talent back into the fold as well as some of their returning veteran players. Goaltending in Edmonton is still in question. Nikolai Khabibulin is 40 and isn't as great a netminder as he once was. Devan Dubnyk hasn't himself to be truly ready to take the #1 goalie job in Edmonton. Offensively the Oilers look like they should be able to stick around for a while. Ryan Smyth seems to still have something in the tank and guys like Shawn Horcoff, Ales Hemsky, Sam Gange, and young guns like Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will step up to help fill the opposing net. However the Oiler blueline looks like it has a few holes still and as mentioned before goaltending is still a question mark. Sorry Oilers fans but it looks like it might be another year out of the playoffs.

5. Colorado Avalanche
-Colorado seems to have fallen off the radar a bit in the West. You look back ten years and the Avs were once a dominant team in the conference. Now things have kinda fallen off for the Avs. This past offseason Colorado didn't loose too much talent wise, and they did spend a bit of money. The biggest acquisition for Colorado was P.A. Parrenteau from the Islanders. The team also spent money to bring back guys like Milan Hejduk, Matt Duchene, and Erik Johnson. There is a nice mix of veterans and youth in Denver. But there a few problems the Avs are faced with. Between Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Semyon Varlamov, there is no clear cut #1 goalie.Colorado's blue line looks spotty and there doesn't seem to be a clear cut leader on offense, or even a balanced attack for that matter. Colorado has gotten better but they still have a ways to go before becoming real contenders.

We wrap up this Western Conference preview with a look at the final division in the West, the always tough Central Division. Last year four of the five teams in this division made the playoffs, the only one who missed out was the Columbus Blue Jackets. Here's how I see the Central Division playing out this year.

1. St. Louis Blues
-Last year the Blues won the Central and came within two points of being the best team in the entire conference. This year will be different. St Louis didn't lose much talent in the offseason, only losing Jason Arrnot and Carlo Colaiacovo. The rest of the team from last year is back in Szt Louis and ready to go. The Blues have the best one two punch in the West as far as goalies go in Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak so stopping the puck doesn't seem to be much of an issue. The blueline is a tad bit weaker than it was last year but with Alex Pietrangelo leading the charge they should be able to hold up. The Blues offense clicked nicely last year and they look to do it again this year. St Louis still has guys like David Backes, Alex Steen, Andy McDonald and Jamie Langenbruner to lead the charge. Now they have an added element into the mix in the form of rookie Vladimir Tarasenko. The Blues look to be one of the front runners to come out of the West this season.

2. Chicago Blackhawks
-Last year the Hawks came away with a 4th place finish in the division and 6th overall in the West. Chicago got a lot better on the blue line this past offseason with the signings of Michal Rozsival and Sheldon Brookbank. Throw those guys in with the likes of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook and Chicago has something good going on their blue line. As far as goaltending goes, it still seems to be a bit of a question mark. The Hawks had a true #1 goalie in Antti Nimi when they won the Cup in 2010, but after letting him go the following offseason the hawks have struggled to find a #1 goalie. Ray Emery doesn't seem like he really wants the job and Corey Crawford doesn't look ready to take the job outright yet. Chicago still has a potent offense with guys like Kane Towes and a healthy Hossa. Chicago has enough talent to make it back into the playoffs again this year.

3. Detroit Red Wings
-Last year Detroit finished 3rd in the Central and 5th overall in the West. This past offseason was a total disaster in the Motor City. The Wings saw the retirement of Nick Lidstrom, and Tomas Holmstrom, plus the departure of Ty Conklin, Brad Stuart and Jiri Hudler. With Lidstrom and Stuart both gone, they needed to be replaced, so the Wings went out and drafted Brendan Smith and picked up Carlo Colaiacovo. With all that being said, the Wings defense is in trouble this year. Their is an upside though. Jimmy Howard is still the starting goalie for the Wings, and he now has Jonas Gustavsson as his backup. Detroit still also has one of the deepest offenses in the entire league. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg still lead the charge, and have a good supporting cast with the likes of Todd Bertuzzi, Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula. The Wings will make the playoffs again, but I really don't see them as a strong contender for the cup.

4. Nashville Predators
-Last year Nashville was the 2nd best team in the division and finished 4th in the conference. But since their season ended in the 2nd round of last years playoffs, things have taken a slightly negative turn. The Predators lost one of their top defenseman in Ryan Suter, who signed with the Wild, and one of their more dynamic scoring threats in Alexander Radulov who signed to play back over in Russia. Still there are plenty of good things to look forward to in Nashville this year. Vezina finalist Pekka Rinne will be back tending nets again in the Music City, so goaltending won't be an issue. As for the blue line, they still have captain Shea Weber roaming the lines and along with Hal Gil and Scott Hannan, they defnese isn't as good as it has been but it can still be a force. Offensively, the Preds should be able to keep them in the playoff hunt the entire year. They still have scoring punch with guys like Mike Fisher, Martin Erat and Sergei Kostitsyn. But it won't be enough to get them over the final hump.

5. Columbus Blue Jackets
-Last year the Jackets finish with the worst record in not only the Eastern Conference but the entire league. So what do they do this offseason? Oh they just trade away their best player and the only star on the team in Rick Nash to the Rangers. In return for Nash, the Jackets picked up Artem Anisimov, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Erixon and draft picks. The Jackets had no offense last year and again it will be the same problem this year in they will have a lot of trouble scoring. Columbus was able to bolster their blue line just a bit when they signed Adrian Aucoin. With Aucoin, Jack Johnson and James Wisniewski the Jackets have a decent looking defense corps this season. And with Steve Mason and Sergi Bobrovsky set to be stopping the pucks, Columbus has a decent tandem in net. But with the lack of scoring the Jackets have, they will once again be in the basement of the West.

So at long last the divisions in the West have been broken down. We end this prediction page with how I see the Western Conference finishing this season.

1. St Louis Blues
2. Los Angeles Kings
3. Vancouver Canucks
4. Minnesota Wild
5. Chicago Blackhawks
6. San Jose Sharks
7. Detroit Red Wings
8. Dallas Stars
9. Nashville Predators
10. Phoenix Coyotes
11. Calgary Flames
12. Anaheim Ducks
13. Colorado Avalanche
14. Edmonton Oilers
15. Columbus Blue Jackets


So there you have my predictions for the Western Conference! Stay tuned for predictions for the Eastern Conference!