Pacific Division Preview, Canadian Teams - Calgary, Edmonton & Vancouver

Calgary Flames

2023-24 Regular Season Record: 38-39-5 (81 points, T-5 in Pacific Division)

2023-24 Season Result: Missed Stanley Cup Playoffs by 17 points

Additions: Kevin Bahl, Jake Bean, Ryan Lomberg, Anthony Mantha

Subtractions: Dylan Dube, AJ Greer, Oliver Kylington, Andrew Mangiapane, Jacob Markstrom, Jordan Oesterle

The Flames enter the season in a “retooling” phase, according their General Manager Craig Conroy. After having gone out with the old (veteran NHLers) and in with the new across the past 10-plus months, the Flames are hoping for a young core to produce around some of their established remaining veterans. Five heavy-minute staples from the Flames roster will not be returning from last year’s team. With the departures of Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Andrew Mangiapane and Jakob Markstrom, Conroy has looked to lean on the young talent that they have both acquired in their trades and have been developing these past few years.

As mentioned in the notable departures, the Flames' biggest offseason move was trading away longtime starting goalie Jakob Markstrom to make space for the promising young Dustin Wolf. Wolf, the 2023 AHL MVP and a two-time AHL Goalie of the Year award winner, who has been knocking on the door. The former Junior King should get his chance this season. Wolf enters the upcoming season having played 17 games for the Flames last year and has gone an astounding 95-31-9 from 2021-24 in the AHL. Alongside Wolf in the Flames net this season will be Daniel Vladar who has carried the backup role behind Markstrom the past three seasons.

Looking at the younger talent to highlight for the Flames going into the season begins with the newly paid Yegor Sharangovich. The trend of the Flames trading away more established NHL'ers goes back further than just last season and Sharangovich is example number one. Acquired in the summer of 2023, Sharangovich was the key piece back from the New Jersey Devils when sending former King Tyler Toffoli the other way. In his first year with the Flames, Sharangovich set career highs in goals (31), assists (28) and points (59), ranking second on the team in points as led the team in the goalscoring department. Sharangovich was re-upped this summer, signing a five-year, $28.75M ($5.75) deal that will kick in next season. Fellow forward Andrei Kuzmenko, who the Flames acquired from the Canucks last season is also expected to provide depth scoring after tallying 25 points (14-11=25) in 29 games for the Flames. Furthermore, former first-round selection Connor Zary and power forward Martin Pospisil, who racked over 100 penalty minutes in just 63 games last season, will play consistent minutes and have high ceilings when it comes to impacting a game.

Two other noteworthy signings from the Flames include last year’s Stanley Cup champion Ryan Lomberg and three-time 20-goal scorer Anthony Mantha. With much attention on the forwards this offseason, the Flames will look to climb into the top half of the NHL’s scoring department after ranking 19th last season with 3.09 goals per game.

Edmonton Oilers

2023-24 Regular Season Record: 49-27-6 (104 points, 2nd in Pacific Division)

2023-24 Season Result: Eliminated in Stanley Cup Finals

Additions: Viktor Arvidsson, Ty Emberson, Vasily Podkolzin, Jeff Skinner

Subtractions: Phillip Broberg, Cody Ceci, Vincent Desharnais, Dylan Holloway, Ryan McLeod

The Oilers came within one game of hoisting the Stanley Cup last season and in turn had a relatively short but still active offseason.

Looking at the team on the ice, not only have the Oilers kept their core together, but they've restocked with depth around their star players. The two biggest additions the Oilers made this summer were veteran forwards Viktor Arvidsson and Jeff Skinner. The 31-year-old Arvidsson comes to Edmonton on a two-year, $8M ($4M AAV) deal from the Kings. Arvidsson has had plenty of health issues that have kept him from playing a full season, appearing in just 18 of the Kings 82 regular season games. He also missed time in both of his prior seasons in Los Angeles. Skinner also comes to Edmonton by the way of free agency and signed a one-year, $3M contract for the upcoming season. Skinner, 32, is a former 40-goal scorer and has averaged 30.33 goals a season across his last three years. Both Arvidsson and Skinner are projected to slot into a top-6 role with Leon Draisaitl centering the newcomers. Speaking of Draisaitl, the German superstar was entering his eighth and final year of a $68M ($8.5M AAV) contract, but just signed another eight-year extension worth $112M ($14M AAV) earlier this month.

While two additions entered the lineup, it was a late offseason surprise in Edmonton when the Oilers didn’t match either qualifying offer sheet on two former first-round picks. After a summer of no offers from the Oilers end, Edmonton’s two first-round picks in 2019, Philip Broberg (8th overall) and Dylan Holloway (14th overall) both accepted two-year deals with the St. Louis Blues. Both Broberg and Holloway had impressive moments for the Oilers during their run to the Stanley Cup finals but come the 2024-25 season they’ll both be in a different shade of blue. In return, the Oilers received second and third-round draft pucks in the upcoming 2025 NHL Draft.

As for the Oilers goaltending, the duo of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard will remain the same, with Skinner expected to lead the way once again as the starter.

Vancouver Canucks

2023-24 Regular Season Record: 50-23-9 (109 pts, 1st in Pacific Division)

2023-24 Season Result: Eliminated in Second Round of Stanley Cup Playoffs

Additions: Jake DeBrusk, Vincent Desharnais, Derek Forbert, Danton Heinen, Kiefer Sherwood, Daniel Sprong

Subtractions: Ian Cole, Casey DeSmith, Sam Lafferty, Ilya Mikheyev, Vasily Podkolzin

One year after winning the Pacific Division for the first time in their franchise’s history, the Canucks have their sights set on a repeat. One game away from reaching the Western Conference Finals last season, the Canucks disappointingly exited the playoffs in the second round when they fell 3-2 to their Canadian counterparts, the Oilers, in Game 7 on home ice. Now heading into the upcoming 2024-25 campaign with their Head Coach Rick Tocchet entering his second full season as the bench boss, this year’s Canucks roster will have to pick up after some valuable pieces took their talents east to the Boston Bruins.

After giving up four draft picks and three players combined to the Calgary Flames to acquire both Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov during the 2023-24 season, neither player returned to the Canucks for the 2024-25 campaign, leaving valuable ice time to be filled. Expected to fill 15-20 minutes of that vacant icetime is top-6 forward Jake DeBrusk who signed a seven-year, $38.5M ($5.5M AAV) this offseason. As an unrestricted free agent with multiple teams interested in him this past summer, DeBrusk got to choose where he wanted to play and he ultimately chose the Canucks. DeBrusk brings more speed to the Canucks, something Vancouver’s management publicly wanted to go after this offseason. The Canucks also one-upped the Bruins this offseason in the friendly feud when it came to adding their former players by also signings depth forward Danton Heinen and former King Derek Forbort. Forbort is expected to play a role in replacing Zadorov, along with former Oiler Vincent Desharnais. Also sticking around Vancouver after signing an extension with the Canucks are defensemen Filip Hronek, who put pen to paper on an eight-year, $58M ($7.25M AAV) deal and the very tall Tyler Myers, who inked a three-year, $9M ($3M AAV) deal.

Lastly, the Canucks goaltending will feature the duo of one of the league’s best in Thatcher Demko, who is expected to be healthy to begin the season after being unable to stay in net after Game 1 of the first round in the playoffs and the 23-year-old Arturs Silovs, who took the Canucks net in 10 of the 13 playoff games and impressed.