NHL Western Conference contenders, pretenders: Wild look legit

The 2024-25 NHL season is through its first two months, and most of the league’s teams have already started to separate themselves as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders or pretenders.

Here we are going to take a look at the Western Conference.

Teams that should start planning on next season: Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Nashville Predators

Three of these teams (Chicago, San Jose and Anaheim) are deep into rebuilds and entered the season not even thinking about playoff contention. It is not a surprise they are where they are in the standings.

But Nashville? This is the most disappointing team in hockey by a wide margin, and while the talent on paper looks like a contender, the Predators have simply put themselves into such a deep hole with the worst record in hockey that it may be too late to dig out of it. 

Playoff pretenders: Calgary Flames, Utah Hockey Club, St. Louis Blues, Seattle Kraken 

Calgary has overachieved so far this season after spending the better part of the past year dealing away veterans to start a retooling. But at some point the bottom is going to fall out on this and they will settle back in toward the bottom of the standings. There is simply not enough offense here.

Seattle is simply still a woefully mediocre team. Joey Daccord has proved himself to be a capable starting goalie, but the lack of high-end talent and offense is too much to overcome. If they make the playoffs they are a one-and-done team. 

The same is true for St. Louis, which still has big concerns on defense and in goal where Jordan Binnington’s contract remains a $6 million albatross. 

Utah has a strong young core in place, and it made a serious investment to its defense this offseason (with Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino), but it is probably still a year or two away. 

Stanley Cup pretenders: Edmonton Oilers, Los Angeles Kings, Winnipeg Jets, Colorado Avalanche

A lot of these teams seem like they should be in the contender category, but there are just too many flaws. They are all playoff teams. But they have just enough issues to hold them back.

Colorado’s goaltending is a massive question mark and issue that has turned what should be a contender into a pretender.

Los Angeles is an incredible defensive team, but its offense is not good enough to compete with the high-end teams in the West, and like Colorado, it also has goalie issues.

It is really difficult to bet against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton, but the lack of depth at forward, on defense and — again — question marks in goal are going to be too much to overcome. 

Why Winnipeg — despite its great start? Because it is the Western Conference version of the Rangers. Overly dependent on goaltending, not enough depth beyond its top-tier players and not good enough 5-on-5. Those teams do not win Stanley Cups. Winnipeg has already cooled off significantly from its 15-1-0 start. 

Stanley Cup contenders: Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Vancouver Canucks, Vegas Golden Knights

The Stars have been in the Western Conference Final two years in a row and have one of the best rosters in the NHL from top-to-bottom. They have All-Stars at every position, including a top defenseman in Miro Heiskanen and a star goalie in Jake Oettinger. 

Vancouver took a huge step forward a year ago and not only has one of the best records in the Western Conference, but it has done that without the services of starting goalie Thatcher Demko. Demko is an elite goalie when healthy, and now that he is back in the lineup, they should have serious Stanley Cup aspirations. 

Vegas not only has a great roster, highlighted by star center Jack Eichel, it also has an aggressive front office and ownership that will leave no stone unturned and no salary-cap loophole unexposed when it comes to building the best possible team. 

The Wild might be the surprise here, but Kirill Kaprizov is playing at an MVP level, their goaltending is elite and they have been one of the NHL’s best defensive teams. 

Bet on one of these four teams winning the Western Conference this season.