As the 2021 NHL season approaches, the West Division and its teams are prepared for a tough grind of a season. The division is home to several playoff contenders and young teams, including three of the round-robin teams from this summer’s playoffs.

While the three round-robin teams are sure to be the heavyweights, anything can happen in the 56 game season. Some teams may be able to surprise in the smaller sample size, while others can possibly disappoint. How do our writers think the 2021 NHL West Division will wind up?

#8: Anaheim Ducks

At the bottom of the 2021 NHL West Division are the Anaheim Ducks, who suffered a bit of a stalling out last year. The team was expected to rebuild a bit, but several names stalled out in development, including Sam Steel and Troy Terry. John Gibson once again tried to keep the team afloat, but he didn’t have much help in front of him. With the team’s struggles, two key names to their future in Ondrej Kase and Brett Ritchie were traded to Boston in separate deals. Although they got a first-round pick back from the former trade, they have to swallow the remaining years of David Backes’ deal. Add Ryan Getzlaf entering his age 35 seasons, and the Ducks are in somewhat of a murky situation.

As the team looks to develop its core, the team made several depth moves to help the youth. To the blue line comes Kevin Shattenkirk and Derrick Grant at forward. Ryan Miller also returns to the team as their backup goaltender and Anthony Stolarz as for the taxi squad. Even though Anaheim may be en route for a bad year, help may be on the way soon. Prospect Trevor Zegras was phenomenal for Team USA in the World Juniors, and Jamie Drysdale was selected in this year’s draft. With them and other names such as Jackson LaCombe, Henry Thrun, and Sam Colangelo on the way, this will be a big year for Anaheim’s development. They are rebuilding, but don’t be surprised if one of their prospects has a breakout.

#7: Los Angeles Kings

At number seven comes Anaheim’s neighbor in the Los Angeles Kings. Like the Ducks, last year was a bit of a down year for them as L.A. was looking to begin a rebuild. With most of their aging core locked up long term, they had cap issues up their sleeves, but they did get a nice return for Tyler Toffoli. However, the team did enjoy some bright spots in the development of Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, and Matt Roy. Cal Petersen also showed flashes of potential between the pipes last year as well. With future pieces on the way, the Kings might be on the way out of the mud soon.

This offseason wasn’t really filled with major splashes, but bringing in veterans at the skater positions. On defense comes Olli Maatta in a trade from Pittsburgh. At forward comes Andreas Athanasiou on a prove-it contract. Not many major splashes were made, but prospects will likely be the names to watch this year. Quinton Byfield was taken number two in this year’s draft and will be looking to make an immediate impact. Tobias Bjornfot and Alex Turcotte are also recent first-round picks looking to make the leap this season as well. It will be a year of decline for the older names, but the young pieces will be names to watch heading into 2021.

#6. San Jose Sharks

Completing the California trifecta at number six are the San Jose Sharks. After expectations of being competitive once again, the team completely self-imploded. Many key pieces were injured for the long term or underperformed, and Martin Jones was one of the worst goalies in hockey last season. All these failures resulted in the Sharks finishing dead last in the Pacific. If things couldn’t get worse for them, their first-round pick belonged to the Ottawa Senators due to the Erik Karlsson trade, and so they didn’t get one of the top prospects in this year’s draft.

With the team locked into several long term, high cap hit contracts, the team didn’t add a ton of star power like previous years. The team was able to get Ryan Donato in a trade with Minnesota and re-sign Patrick Marleau once again. However, the team did next to nothing to solve the goaltending issues and brought in another inconsistent goalie in Devan Dubnyk. Add a lack of change on the defensive side of the puck, and the Sharks are an enigma heading into this year. If all goes well, they have some upside. However, barring a major turnaround, San Jose may be in for a punishment year.

#5: Arizona Coyotes

The last of the non-playoff teams in the 2021 NHL West Division is the Arizona Coyotes. While the team made dramatic steps to become a contender in the 2019 calendar year, the team took a step back to where they were in 2020. Their former GM John Chayka even resigned from his post during the suspension, adding more fuel to the turmoil they were in. After a breakneck pace in the 2019 playoff race and a strong start in the next season, Arizona looked poised for a return to the postseason. However, even with the acquisition of Taylor Hall, the team stalled out when the calendar flipped. Although the team struggled, they were able to knock out the Predators in the play-in round. However, the machine of the Colorado Avalanche stood in their way and annihilated them in five games.

After that, the Coyotes faced punishments. They lost their first-rounder in the Taylor Hall trade, lost their second this year and first next year due to illegally hosting prospect workouts, and the team may also be in cap hell. The team lost another pick in the form of Mitchell Miller’s rights being dropped by the club after allegations of bullying in high school emerged.

After losing Taylor Hall, the Coyotes didn’t do much big game hunting. They brought in several middle six options in Derick Brassard and Drake Caggiula in free agency. Although Darcy Kuemper and Antti Raanta are a strong goalie tandem, they like San Jose are odd to predict. If all goes well, they have an upside as a four seed. However, the question is do they have enough to contend.

#4: Minnesota Wild

Kicking off the playoff teams in the 2021 NHL West Division are the Minnesota Wild. Their last season was very similar to the Nashville Predators’ season. The team was okay with some quality performers, including the breakout of Kevin Fiala, but the team lacked a true game-changer. Zach Parise was getting old and Mats Zuccarello disappointed in his first season in Minnesota. It didn’t help that Dubnyk hit a hard decline either. As a result of the team’s struggles, Bruce Boudreau was fired for Dean Evason, and Evason got the team rolling a bit before the season stopped. However, the team ran into a younger, faster Vancouver Canucks squad and got knocked out in four games of a Qualifier series.

With the team locked into suspect contracts, it was hard for the team to truly make big changes. The team was able to shed Dubnyk’s salary, but they lost Ryan Donato via trade and longtime captain Mikko Koivu to free agency. Replacing Dubnyk in net is Cam Talbot on a three-year contract, and Nick Bonino and Marcus Johansson replace Luke Kunin and Eric Staal at center. Nick Bjugstad also joins the team via trade. However, the big addition for them was Russian rookie Kirill Kaprisov from the KHL. The offseason was filled with lateral moves, so the team is expected to stay right where they were before. They will be a contender for playoffs, but not a true Stanley Cup contender.

#3: St. Louis Blues

At number three is one of the round-robin teams from the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs: the St. Louis Blues. The team started the season white-hot after finally winning a Stanley Cup, finishing first place in the Central and Western Conference in the regular season. Even without Vladimir Tarasenko for most of the year, the team was on a roll with a well strong team. However, once the postseason started, the team lost the touch that it had before the stoppage. Even with Tarasenko back in the lineup, the goaltending struggled and the Blues slipped to the four seed. As a result, the Blues couldn’t keep up with a hungry Canucks team and were eliminated in six games.

The offseason was an odd one for the team. For one, their captain and one of the best defensemen in hockey in Alex Pietrangelo left for the Golden Knights in free agency. However, the team was able to get a quality replacement in Torey Krug on a long term agreement. The team was able to sign Kyle Clifford for the bottom six, but the team made a very late splash by acquiring Mike Hoffman on a pro tryout. Although the two sides haven’t agreed to an NHL contract, that should be coming soon. However, these moves all came at the expense of Alex Steen’s retirement. Overall, most of the Cup-winning team remains, but the question now lies in will losing Pietrangelo be too much for them to overcome.

#2: Vegas Golden Knights

The runner-up in this division is the Pacific Division champion of last season in the Vegas Golden Knights. Last year was a great year for the team, but it didn’t seem like it at first. The team was very much in the playoff race in January, but it was very much sputtering around the Wild Card spots. With the talent on display, there was enough concern for the guys at the top to fire Gerard Gallant unexpectedly for Peter DeBoer. It was perplexing, to say the least, but the move was able to get the Knights rolling again to the top seed in the Pacific.

When the round-robin began, Vegas steamrolled to the top seed in the West and bested the Blackhawks in six games of round one. In round two, the Golden Knights went up 3-1 on the Vancouver Canucks before losing two in a row to Thatcher Demko’s heroics. He made them work for it in game seven, but Vegas pulled away, in the end, to win the series in the deciding game. However, the scoring of Vegas went flat in the Conference Final against the Dallas Stars. As a result, the Knights were upset in five games to Dallas.

In the offseason, the team was up against the cap. Several hefty contracts almost prevented the team from making big moves, but Vegas tried their best to make it work. Nate Schmidt and Paul Stastny were each traded to Vancouver and Winnipeg respectively. However, the cap created from the deals helped Vegas to sign an elite name in Pietrangelo to replace Schmidt. After the goaltending struggles of Marc-Andre Fleury last season, they were able to acquire Robin Lehner from Chicago and succeeded in keeping him around to a 5×5 contract. Even with these moves, Vegas is still right around the cap ceiling, and with Fleury staying put, they will have to bite that bullet for one more year. Regardless of cap issues, Vegas has as much talent a team can buy and will be a legitimate threat once again.

#1. Colorado Avalanche

Finishing off the list as the 2021 NHL West Division champion are the Colorado Avalanche. After several years of fringe playoff contention, the team made major strides to become a true contender last season. The line of Rantanen-Mackinnon-Landeskog did its thing, but the team was arguably the deepest in hockey. Nazem Kadri did wonders for the center depth, and Andre Burakovsky added scoring to the top six as well. The defense was also strong with Cale Makar enjoying a phenomenal rookie year with Sam Girard and Ryan Graves around him. In the postseason, the team still finished number two in the seeding games and dominated the Coyotes in five games. However, the team wasn’t at 100% against Dallas, missing their goaltenders and Landeskog among others. As a result, the team couldn’t finish off the Dallas Stars and lost in a seven-game thriller.

In the offseason, the team was able to get even better than it already was before. The team acquired Brandon Saad and Devon Toews in deals with Blackhawks and Islanders respectively to bolster the forward and defense core. Another rookie in Bowen Byram may also be ready to take the next step as a rookie defenseman as well. As a result, Colorado remains stacked as one of the best teams in hockey, and they are our pick to finish number one in the 2021 NHL West Division.

Conference Finalist:

The top two potential teams to represent the 2021 NHL West Division in the Conference Finals are the Golden Knights and the Avalanche. However, our Conference Finalist is the Vegas Golden Knights. Both of these teams have very deep rosters and make for very entertaining hockey to watch. However, Vegas has the advantage in one particular area: goaltending. Robin Lehner has emerged as an elite netminder in the past two seasons and has been a great addition for Vegas. Pavel Francouz and Philipp Grubauer are each solid goalies, but their production doesn’t match up as well against Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury. Both teams have high-end talent on offense and defense, but the play in net will decide a seven-game series between these two, and Vegas will get the best of Colorado in this regard.

Matthew Page

I am a first year student at Hofstra University and an avid Islanders fan. I have been writing for Drive4Five since March 2020. My family has been season ticket holders for the team since 2016, and hockey is my favorite sport. As I expand my knowledge in the field of Journalism, I am writing to express my love for the Islanders and the NHL.