One Month In - The Pacific

Finally we've made it all the way from the East Coast to the West Coast as we get to examine how the teams in the Pacific Division have been fairing so far this year.  This is a division that has been very strong and competitive for over a decade and seen many Stanley Cup Champions and runners up in that time.  So far this year the teams have truly shocked the hockey world both with good performances and bad ones.  They have also had the first coach fired this season as well just a few days ago.  So lets break it down.

Pacific Division Standings as of 11-6-18 @ 7:30 P.M.

Sitting in 1st place is not a team one would have expected coming into the season as the Calgary Flames are the current owners of that spot.  Now I had them as an honorable mention for most improved teams coming into the season.  And in my preseason power rankings I had them very low, at spot 24.  They had been my team to make the playoffs finally the last few years and make some noise but after disappointing over and over, I just had to drop them.  But alas here we are!  The Flames are currently tied for the league lead in goals for at 52. Factoring in on a majority of their goals are all the familiar names in Gaudreau, Monahan, Tkachuk, and Lindholm up front and Giordano on the back end.  After that there is a steep fall off though.  The PP is mediocre though at best and the PK is the worst in the division, once again, numbers that must improve in the long run.  The somewhat surprising play has been in goal though and it ain't in the form of Mike Smith (told ya).  Smith is basically a .500 goalie with horrible numbers (3.71GAA/.871SV%) but David Rittich has stepped in and all but stolen the starting role.  Rittich has been carrying the team like a true starter posting a 2.23GAA and a .927SV%.

2nd place may be a bigger surprise that the current 1st place team.  Sitting in 2nd are the Vancouver Canucks!  Who?!  Yeah...the Canucks.  This is a team that was meant to challenge for worst team in the league and fight for that number one pick this coming summer...but not so fast.  They're being led by what looks to be the run away favorite for the Calder Trophy this year in Elias Pettersson (Who literally just blasted a rocket past Jimmy Howard).  They're getting some solid production as well out of Horvat and Boeser who both have 11pts, but it wont be enough to hold them this high in the standings.  Their special teams have definitely been keeping them in it though.  The PP is 3rd in the division at 20.5% and the PK is 3rd at 82.1% .  These are good numbers and they'll have to keep them up since they're generally being out shot by about 5 shots per game at this point...a bad trend.

3rd place is home to the Edmonton Oilers, a team we would have expected to be there.  Carried obviously by Connor McJesus, he is basically willing the team to be competitive.  The Nuge and Draisaitl have been performing well too though, with 16 and 15 pts respectively so far.  After that though, another team with a steep fall of in production.  A fun one to notice though is Alex Chiasson who has 6 goals in only 9 games...they may have something there.  Lucic surely isn't helping the cause though with 4 pts and a minus-6 in 14 games.  And though the team has the best PP in the division at 22% their PK is the 2nd worst at 72.1%.  Even more troubling is the play of Cam Talbot. He has 5-5-1 record with a 2.93 GAA and a .899 SV%.  Rookie goaltender Mikko Koskinen has posted some solid numbers so far though, albeit in only 3 games.  With all 3 games being wins he has a 2.01 GAA and a .935 SV%.  Great numbers...very small sample size.

In 4th place we have the San Jose Sharks.  On of those long time contender teams that has never really gotten over the hump, they should still be feared and respected.   This is a team full of veterans and game breakers and it shows in the balance results up and down this line up.  Would anyone have guessed that Tiemo Meier would be tied for the team lead in points?  Probably not, most would be asking who that is.  The summers 2nd biggest acquisition, Karlsson, has not really performed to expectation though.  His 7pts in 14 games isn't bad, but as a d-man, that minus- 9 certainly is.But the team is 2nd in goals for in the Pacific with 46.  The have the 2nd best PP and PK with 21.3% and 87.8%, and that's good for the 3rd best PK in the entire league as well.  They're even out shooting their opponents by almost 10 sots per game.  If these trends continue expect them to replace one of these current teams in the top-3.  Note as well that their current position in the standings is not good enough for either wild card playoff spot at the current moment.

Floating aimlessly in their pond are the 5th place Anaheim Ducks.  This is a team that simple cant put the puck in the net...but they're not even the worst team in the division at that!  Their true leader in Ryan Getzlaf has 10pts in 9 games, but the problem is keeping him in the line up these last few years.  Officially Rakell has the team lead in points with just 11 in 15 games.  In goal both Gibson and Miller have post solid SV% with .935 and .932 respectively.  But the overall GAA are a little high at 2.36 and 2.44 each.  Reason being for the high GAA with the lower SV% is that they're allowing 37 shots against per game which is the 2nd most in the league.  But this is made much worse by the fact they're hardly getting 25 shots themselves per night.  For those keeping track, that's 12 more shots against per night!  The PP and PK are actually respectable though and that is what has been helping to keep them afloat at this point, but don't expect it to last long.

6th place is where the Arizona Coyotes sit.  They're in a weird spot mostly due to the fact that they were shut out in 3 of their 1st 4 games of the season but since then have been on a tear for the most part, in all their wins they've scored 4 or more goals.  The overall stat lines don't jump out at you as Keller who is their leading scorer only has 10 pts thus far.  Galchenyuk who is back in the line up after an injury has 5 pts in his 6 games so that is certainly helping the team as well.  Most impressively though is that the team has 7 short hand goals already this season!  To go along with that they have the 2nd best PK in the league with a 90.2% (90.4% is the best).  And they've allowed a league low 29 GA!  If you take a look at their goal tending too those are fantastic numbers!  In Kuempers 4 games he has a 2.02 GAA and a .936SV% and in Raanta's 9 games he has a 2.10 GAA and a .929 SV%.  If they can get their PP working and find a bit more 5-on-5 offense I would expect them to jump a few spots and push for a wild card spot.

Last years history making Cinderella story currently is in the 7th place spot, they'd be your Vegas Golden Knights.  After last years season where they all came in with a chip on their shoulder and out worked just about every team they played...things are going basically in the complete opposite direction.  They let a few key players walk, but also replaced them this off season with arguably better players.  On of those is Paul Stastny who is on the IR and is expected to be for a while.  The other key pick up in Pacioretty has not been able to meet expectation just yet either with only 2 goals in 10 games.  They're led though by the same trio as last year though in Marchy, Karlsson, and Smith.  Alex Tuch has only managed 6 games this season but has 5pts in those games.  The Flower has not been the same either and can you blame him? He is putting up a 2.51 GAA and a 901 SV% currently.  That's a bit below where you'd expect him to be.  As a team they're just snake bitten though.  They're averaging 33.5 SF/G but only scoring 2.3 GF/G.  All while only allowing 25.2 SA/G, but they have a 2.7 GA/G.  And while the PK is middle of the pack, the PP is 4th worst in the league.  Maybe if they can get the PP fixed that will fix most of their problems and get them back i the playoff hunt.

And finally team 31 of 31...your Los Angeles Kings!  They're the 1st team this season to fire their coach,  followed shortly by Chicago.  But lets keep this on the Kings shall we. A league worst (at the moment anyway) goal differential of minus-17.  A league worst in GF/G with only 28 goals scored all season long.  The 6th worst PP in the league at 14.9%.  The PK is actually middle of the pack at 81.1%.  In goal Jonathan Quick is out of the line up once again...don't think it will be much of a difference though as he was win less in 4 games with a 4.55 GAA and a .845 SV%.  Jack Campbell has taken over though and has been somewhat respectable with a 2.67 GAA and a .912 SV%.  Upfront there is not a single plus player in the line up and Ilya Kovalchuk is their leading producer with 11pts in 13 games. I guess the only thing left to so here is start analyzing the trade bait and find a fit for some of these guys.

And that will finally conclude the breakdown of the standings at this point and how each team has gotten to where they are now.  I know I may not have covered everything or every story line with every team, it'd be damn near impossible!  But I'll be damned if I didn't cover a lot more than I expected to at the same time! The only thing left to do is sit back now and watch the rest of the season unfold and see what changes and what doesn't.  As I've said, there certainly have been plenty of surprises both good and bad this season and it is only one month in, we're far from finished!