The Canucks, Sharks & Kings, the West's most notorious underachievers, have lots to prove next year.
For years we have been saying the West is the best.
Even though the Stanley Cup was won by the Boston Bruins, an Eastern Conference team last season, and has been distributed evenly between the Eastern and Western Conferences with five winners each over the past 10 seasons, most would agree the best teams and top contenders the past few years have been in the West.
That trend may continue next season, but only time will tell. One thing is certain, however, three teams facing the most pressure to win are in the West: The Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings.
The Canucks were all the rage last season, winning the President's Trophy as regular season champs, but ultimately the year was a huge disappointment as they blew a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup final and lost a seven-game series to the Bruins. Instead of celebrating Canada's first Stanley Cup championship since the Montreal Canadiens won it in 1992-93, the Canucks now face questions moving forward.
The Sedin twins are tremendous regular season talents, but can Daniel and Henrik get it done at crunch time? There is no denying they failed to deliver in the final.
Are the Canucks tough enough? The Bruins thoroughly dominated the physical side of the final and punctuated their toughness by wining Game 7 on the road - no easy feat.
Can Roberto Luongo lead a team to glory? Yes he has a gold medal from the 2010 Winter Olympics in his trophy case, but most would agree while he played well in the Games, he was the benefactor of playing on a star-studded team whose main job was to simply not lose games for his club.
There is every reason to believe the Canucks will be back in the mix of things next season and they should be hungrier than ever based on last season's disappointing ending. However, GM Mike Gillis really hasn't done much to change things so unless the twins and Luongo take their games to the next level in the playoffs, is a better outcome really in the cards?
You could easily make the point no GM in the NHL will face more scrutiny next season than Doug Wilson of the Sharks. Wilson has been very proactive the past few years in an attempt to fine tune his club which annually has been considered among the league's top Cup favorites. And yet he (and Sharks followers) have faced nothing but disappointment.
A few years ago Wilson thought he found the final piece of the puzzle when he added sharp shooter Dany Heatley from the Ottawa Senators. Heatley, who had back-to-back 50-goal seasons in Ottawa, slipped to 41 and 39 in his final two seasons with the Senators and then scored 39 in his first season with San Jose. Last season the veteran trigger man managed just 26 in 80 games and had only three goals in 18 playoff games. Wilson had seen enough and shipped him to Minnesota in exchange for another former star that has fallen on hard times, Martin Havlat. The 30-year-old Czech right winger led Minnesota in scoring last season, but has never really lived up to the promise he showed as a flashy puck-handler with the Senators early in his career.
The Sharks also acquired defenceman Brent Burns who has star potential, but had grown somewhat stale in Minnesota. He could be a difference maker for them.
On paper the Sharks continue to be one of the NHL's most impressive teams, yet when next season begins people will once again be asking if a team led by Joe Thornton can win it all and if the goaltending tandem of Antti Niemi and Antero Niittymaki is good enough to win four rounds of playoffs. Thornton, once a regular among the NHL's top 10 scorers, finished 24th last season with just 70 points in 80 games. To his credit he did manage 17 points in 18 post-season games, but until he wins the Cup, there will be questions about his inability to raise the level of his game in the playoffs.
The Kings are an interesting study. On one hand you have to admire the way GM Dean Lombardi has patiently built his team around youth and draft picks. Still, when you have only made the playoffs twice in the past eight seasons, and lost out in the first round last season, the pressure from ownership to make the leap to Cup contenders must be huge.
Lombardi is very calculated in his moves. He brought in veteran Ryan Smyth to try to teach Anze Kopitar about dedication and winning. Now he has added former Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards in an attempt to expedite things. That move, though, has a little controversy attached to it. Early in his career Richards was considered one of the game's best two-way players and best young leaders. However, in the past two years there have been stories about his lack of dedication to winning off the ice and it would be foolish to suggest a team like the Flyers would give up on a great leader and impact player if there wasn't some truth to the situation. Great leaders don't grow on trees and teams don't part with them easily.
Richards was a non-factor as the Flyers were bounced from the playoffs in the second round. He scored just one goal in 11 playoff games. At 26 years old, Richards' best years should be ahead, but if he thinks he can party hardy and be a success, he's California dreaming.
Lombardi's greatest challenge this year will be reigning in his potential young star and if the Kings don't go deep into the playoffs, then Richards and the rest of the gang could become somebody else's problem.
It's too early to tell if the West is still the best, but when it comes to pressure to succeed next season, there's no denying Vancouver, San Jose and Los Angeles top the list.
