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

The Coyotes, unlike the Stars, have brought in a key piece of the puzzle, bringing in Olli Jokinen in an midsummer trade with the Florida Panthers. Adding Jokinen to the likes of Shane Doan, Derek Morris, and Ed Jovanovski, has given Phoenix a solid veteran base. 

Not only are these four guys still premiere players in this league, but they can, along with Coach Gretzky, develop the younger players faster than most with their years of experience. Phoenix is still a few pieces away, but teams shouldn't overlook the Coyotes on their schedule.

And, finally the fifth Pacific Divsion team, the Los Angeles Kings—a team similar to Phoenix, and one should not be overlooked. For the Kings, it starts with All-Star center Anze Kopitar, who is quickly becoming one of the top centers in the western conference. 

But the Kings have more offensive play-makers, including Alexander Frolov, Dustin Brown, and Patrick O'Sullivan. On defense they have acquired defensman Matt Greene from the Oilers to go along with promising youngster Jack Johnson, and veterans Tom Preissing and Sean O'Donnell. 

As with Phoenix, the Kings are still a few pieces short of a playoff contender, but have made moves to make them more competitive this season.

Now after taking a look at the five teams in the pacific, the REAL reason there will not be three teams from this division making the playoffs is because of two teams that missed out on the playoffs last year—the Chicago Blackhawks on the Columbus Blue Jackets. They will join Detroit as the three teams representing the Central Division in the playoffs.  

The Blackhawks have two number-one goaltenders this year in Cristobal Huet and Nikolai Khabibulin, which could make them much like the San Jose team of a couple of season ago. They have young studs in Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews, Patrick Sharp—and if veteran Martin Havlat can stay healthy, the Blackhawks could have a potent offense.  

That firepower will play alongside a defense which added Brian Campbell to the mix, who will provide huge dividends on the Blackhawk power play. This team is a trendy pick to make the playoffs, and I agree 100 percent.

The Columbus Blue Jackets—that's right, I said it, the Columbus Blue Jackets—will make the playoffs this season. Columbus used to be all about All-Star forward Rick Nash, but now the Blue-Jacket front office has put players around him, picking up RJ Umberger, Raffi Torres, Kristian Huselius, and Mike Commodore. 

All of them play in front of goaltender Pascal Leclaire, who had a 2.25 GAA, .919 save percentage and nine shutouts last season. This team, like Chicago, is dangerous this year, and look for them to be playing deep into April in 2009.

To conclude, three teams from the Central, as well as three from the Northwest Division will make the playoffs, leaving two spots open for the Pacific. Who gets bounced early from that division? We will just have to wait and see.

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