Thoughts and Predictions on the Pacific Division

2. Vancouver Canucks

Last year Vancouver was one of the biggest surprises in the league finishing with 109 points and winning the Pacific.

After their great season they brought in Jake DeBrusk, Kiefer Sherwood, Danton Heinen, Derek Forbort, Vincent Desharnais, and Daniel Sprong. They lost Sam Lafferty, Elias Lindholm, Nikita Zadorov, Ian Cole, Casey DeSmith and traded away Vasili Podkolzin.

There has been a lot of turnover with Vancouver this offseason. They got priced out of Zadorov as well as Lindholm which was their two big in-season acquisitions last year due to the Pettersson extension kicking in. They also lost some depth pieces in Lafferty, Cole and DeSmith who played 29 games in between the pipes for Vancouver as well as two in the playoffs.

DeBrusk is a good player and will play a big role in this forward core for Vancouver. Losing Lindholm is interesting because although it sounded like they wanted to bring him back, he did struggle during his time in Vancouver. Lafferty is a fine depth piece and they won't feel the loss of Ian Cole. The one loss they may feel is Zadorov. He found a role for himself in Vancouver and played very well but Boston gave him money I wouldn't have wanted the Leafs to give him.

Ultimately what I'm saying is I don't think they lost a lot. Their new third pair of Desharnais and Forbort is rough and I'm not a fan of either signings but you can acquire third pair defenseman fairly easily if it is a significant issue.

If this season were to go terribly for Vancouver it would be because of the health of their goaltending. Both Demko and Silovs are dealing with injuries right now. Demko is a spectacular goalie, for me, he is a top 7 goalie in the league when healthy but he just hasn't been. If Demko is hurt you are now relying on Silovs who had undoubtedly a great playoff and was an unreal story, but he hasn't shown he can sustain that level consistently over a large period of time in the NHL.

Vancouver will drop back a little bit but they are still a solid team. Second in the Pacific for Vancouver and a playoff matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights.