NHL Pacific Division: Big Three No Longer a Lock for Playoffs

In the past few NHL seasons, there have been two assumptions made by most hockey experts before the start of each year:

1. The Pacific Division is the most difficult division in the NHL.
2. Both the Kings and Coyotes will be easy matchups for opposing teams.

Think again Hockey fans, we may be in for a rude awakening. Let's take a look at the "Big Three"—Dallas, Anaheim, and San Jose. 

Dallas bounced an aging Ducks team from the playoffs last season, winning two out of three games in Anaheim, in route to four-games-to-two series victory. 

The Ducks have young studs in Getzlaf, Perry, and Kunitz, but Pronger and Niedermayer are getting up there in age, and I question how that defense will fare after losing Matheiu Schneider to Atlanta in an offseason trade. I expect this team to make the playoffs, but I don't see them getting past the first round.

Dallas, the team that knocked out both divisional foes—the Ducks and the Sharks—in the playoffs last season, is once again being overshadowed in their division. And it is hard not to—both the Ducks and Sharks have star-studded rosters, with the likes of Giguere, Nabokov, Selanne, Thornton, Pronger, Marleau, Niedermayer, Boyle...I could go on and on about those teams. 

Another year of age for some of Dallas' top players may push them out of the playoffs this season. Modano, Lehtinen, and Zubov are not getting any younger. And yes, the Stars have players in their prime, such as Morrow, Ribiero, and Richards, but I don't see enough up-and-coming talent for them to compete this year. The only prime acquisition this offseason was the pest Sean Avery—and with the rosters of the Sharks and Ducks, that may not have been enough.

The Sharks, despite a training-camp injury to young center Torrey Mitchell, are front-runners for the Pacific Division title, as they should be.

General manager Doug Wilson has addressed his team's needs this offseason. Brian Campbell signed with Chicago, so Wilson brought in Rob Blake, Dan Boyle, and Brad Lukowich to replace him. 

He has also recently put declining defenseman Kyle Mclaren on waivers, making room in the starting six for up-and-comers Marc Eduoard-Vlasic and Douglas Murray. The Sharks have proven their defense can prevent other teams from scoring and that their forwards can put the puck in the net. 

But their Achilles heel of years past is that they could not rely on offense from their defense. They have fixed that this year with the additions of Blake and Boyle. 

They also have world-class goaltending from their starter Evgeni Nabokov, an experienced backup in Brian Boucher, an enforcer in Jody Shelley, and one of the best playmakers in the league in Joe Thornton. If this team plays to its potential, they will go wire-to-wire atop the Pacific Division.

However, with all that said, this article is supposed to show that the division is different this year.

For starters, do not sleep on the Coyotes. With "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky behind the bench once again, and with Ilya Bryzgalov between the pipes, the Phoenix Coyotes will win some games that they're not supposed to this year. 

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