Colorado, Vegas Teams to Beat in Western Conference

Good morning. The Colorado Avalanche obtained the lion’s share (38%) of votes in yesterday’s poll as your preseason favorite to win the Central Division, with the Dallas Stars collecting a respectable 28% of votes.

We’re asking for another bold preseason prediction today, below. Whip out your spreadsheets and thinking caps, or just rely on your gut, as we want to hear your Presidents’ Trophy winner.

- Brandon Rubeo & Kevin Allen

Today’s Lineup:

• Colorado & Vegas teams to beat in Western Conference

• Connor Bedard scores 1st preseason goal

• Matthew Phillips snipes OT winner for Caps

• Derek Stepan retires

• And a lot more… 👇

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Colorado, Vegas Teams to Beat in Western Conference

Plenty of fans, and some members of the media, believe the Eastern Conference is stronger than the Western Conference.

Whether that’s true or not, Western teams have won the last two Stanley Cups.

If nothing else, that’s proof that the Western Conference is highly competitive. This is a difficult conference to project, especially this season.

Here are our picks to be division winners:

Central Division

The betting world believes in the Colorado Avalanche. Completely.

The Avalanche are the odds favorites to win their fourth consecutive Central Division title and then the Stanley Cup.

Led by Nathan MacKinnon up front and Cale Makar on defense, the Avalanche are only 16 months removed from being Stanley Cup champions.

This is a team that knows how to win, and has the personnel to make it happen. Alexandar Georgiev showed last season (with 40 wins and a .919 save percentage) that he also can be a difference-maker.

You can make a case that the Avalanche would have made a strong run to repeat last season had they not been overrun by injuries. The Avalanche had to use 43 players last season.

Key additions: C Ryan Johansen, C Ross Colton, LW Miles Woods, RW Tomas Tatar, LW Jonathan Drouin.

Question: Without Gabriel Landeskog again, do the Colorado Avalanche have enough secondary scoring?

Pacific Division

The Golden Knights hoisted the Stanley Cup four months ago and there was no urgency for this organization to make significant changes.

They didn’t.

The same gritty, hard-working bunch that figured out how to win the Stanley Cup is now entrusted with the challenge of trying to repeat.

This is a quality team. They can score and defend, and their goalies have proven they can get the job done. The Edmonton Oilers will undoubtedly challenge them for the Pacific title.

But there is no reason to believe the Golden Knights can’t win the Pacific Division.

Key additions: C Brendan Brisson, the team’s 2020 first-round draft pick, could make the team. Otherwise, this is the same team, minus Reilly Smith.

Question: Can the Golden Knights stay healthy? Mark Stone only played 48.7% of the Golden Knights’ regular-season games over the past two seasons. Injuries have plagued Stone throughout his career. Jack Eichel also has difficulty staying healthy

🚨 Connor Bedard scored his 1st goal of the preseason and added two assists in 4-2 win over Detroit. The 18-year-old superstar-to-be assisted on Connor Murphy’s 2nd period snipe, earned a secondary assist on Corey Perry’s second tuck of the night, before scoring an empty net goal with just over a minute left in regulation… certainly not the prettiest bury of his career but they all count the same, right?! Read more →

🍾 Washington Capitals forward Matthew Phillips sniped high blocker in overtime to defeat the Bruins 5-4. The 25-year-old forward listed at just 140 pounds (has to be a typo) walked David Pastrnak before cleanly beating Linus Ullmark to end the high-scoring affair. The former 6th round pick of the Calgary Flames has high hopes of making the Capitals out of training camp after putting up back-to-back 30+ goal seasons in the AHL. Read more →

At 5’7” and 140 lbs., Matthew Phillips is the smallest player in an NHL training camp this season. But who is the shortest NHL player of all-time? And the shortest in the modern era?

• Zegras' first day at Ducks training camp includes lots of work on defence

• Canucks' depth leaves Hughes without full-time partner

• Hurricanes' Derek Stepan retires after 13 NHL seasons

• Kaprizov says 'fire's been lit' for successful season with Wild

• 'Refreshing’ Savard seizing role as Flames new ‘offensive coordinator’

• Oilers' Campbell giving Skinner a good push

• Can the Sens’ Joonas Korpisalo avoid the NHL’s big-ticket UFA goalie curse?

• As Maple Leafs lineup takes shape, who’s fighting for final roster spots?

• Guentzel practices in full with Penguins for 1st time since ankle surgery

• Could several Atlantic Division teams pursue Patrick Kane?

• Defenseman footwork drill

• Simple effective stick skill to gain puck possession along the wall

Roy “Shrimp” Worters is the shortest NHL player of all-time, listed at just 5’3”… and he was a netminder 🤯

Nathan Gerbe is the shortest NHL player of the modern era, listed at 5’4”.