We’ve had enough of a sample size to get a good grasp on what each team is so far through the 2026-27 NHL season.
There was a lot of talk about how a shortened camp and exhibition season have had an effect on teams, but now that each team is around 10 games played, most of those issues should’ve been straightened out for the most part.
So now that we’ve had enough of a sample size to make judgments on teams for the most part, here is my biggest concern for each team in the Western Conference.
Anaheim Ducks
Biggest Concern: Five-on-five goal scoring
The Anaheim Ducks have had an alright start since a rough offseason. I was highly critical, mostly of their blue line, but what has ailed the Ducks so far has been the lack of offence at five-on-five.
Although they sit 6th in the league for power-play percentage (PP%), they’re just 24th in goals scored, which obviously means the goal-scoring troubles have come at even strength. The Ducks are 27th in five-on-five goal scoring.
Special teams are important, and the power play has been great, but they’re going to need to find goals at even strength. Last season, they were in the middle of the pack in terms of even-strength goal scoring, ranking 15th, but the forwards did face some turnover in the offseason.
It’ll be a department that I will be paying attention to throughout the season.
Calgary Flames
Biggest Concern: Dustin Wolf
It’s hard to find a biggest concern for a team that is trying to lose, but when you have a season like the Calgary Flames will likely have, you’re just watching for individual performances.
Two seasons ago, Dustin Wolf nearly willed the Flames into the playoffs, and while last season didn’t go as well, it’s been even worse so far this season.
Wolf has started just five games, so there’s plenty of time to turn it around, but in four of his five starts he hasn’t allowed fewer than four goals. The lack of support is obviously a factor in his play, but he hasn’t been saving the Flames much.
Through the five games, he has a negative-7.42 goals saved above average (GSAA) and a negative-5.97 goals saved above expected (GSAx). They’re going to need much more from Wolf.
Chicago Blackhawks
Biggest Concern: Bleeding high-danger chances
My expectations for the Chicago Blackhawks this season were to hang around the wild card race so they can play some meaningful hockey late in the season. I think my expectations were a bit lofty, unfortunately.
This season, while there have been bright spots with some of the youth, they have been handing great scoring chances to the opponent, which is very similar to last season. During last season, the Blackhawks allowed the most high-danger scoring opportunities, and so far this season they’ve allowed the third most.
They’re a young team that’s going to have to outscore their issues, but it’s going to be hard to keep up with how much they’re relying on Spencer Knight.
Colorado Avalanche
Biggest Concern: The power play
The power play was shockingly bad last season when you compare the results to the personnel the Colorado Avalanche put out on the ice. They finished 27th in the league in PP% but still made the Western Conference Final before ultimately being swept by the Vegas Golden Knights, where they scored just one power-play goal. This season, they’re sitting at 19th, which is an improvement but still not great.
I understand they made the Western Conference Final with that atrocious power play, but they’re going to need it in these tight series late in the playoffs.
The other topic I debated picking was MacKenzie Blackwood not looking as good as last season, but I think he can get it back on the rails at some point.
Dallas Stars
Biggest Concern: Goal scoring
Last season, the Dallas Stars finished ninth in the league in goals scored as well as second in PP%. The offensive production was there for what we have gotten used to as an elite team in the Western Conference, but when you look into it a little bit deeper, you’ll realize that the power play was doing a lot of work for them.
They ranked just 16th in even-strength goal scoring last season, and without the power play being elite this season, they’re sitting 28th in goals scored and 27th in even-strength goals scored.
Considering they’re going to have to compete with teams who can score the lights out like the Edmonton Oilers and Utah Mammoth, they’re going to need to find the back of the net.
Luckily, they’ve done well to keep the puck out of the net, allowing the fewest goals this season with just 12 in eight games played.
Edmonton Oilers
Biggest Concern: Scoring doesn’t seem sustainable
Before the season, I would’ve predicted this category would’ve been goaltending, but Devon Levi has been fantastic after a rough first game. Another thing I’m surprised about is that I’m a little bit pessimistic about the Edmonton Oilers’ offence.
Through eight games played, they sit 27th in the league in high-danger chances created, but fourth in goals scored. They’ve scored 37 goals, which is outrageous, but roughly 66 percent of them have been split amongst four players: Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and Vasily Podkolzin.
To put that into perspective, the Avalanche were the highest-scoring team last season. Their top four goal scorers made up roughly 49 percent of their goals.
Now listen, players like McDavid and Draisaitl will score goals from chances that nobody else can, but the two guys I’m looking at for regression are Podkolzin and Bouchard.
Podkolzin has scored seven goals in eight games, and playing on a line with McDavid will definitely help your offensive output, but his shooting percentage (S%) sits at a staggering 22.2 percent. I don’t see how a career 11.5 percent shooter will maintain this rate.
The Bouchard regression is different. He’s one of the best defencemen in the league and will create scoring chances for forwards as well as score more than about 95 percent of defencemen in the NHL. Although he’ll score more than a normal defenceman, his S% is also 22.2 percent, which is even more staggering than Podkolzin’s considering he’s a defenceman.
When the shooting regression hits Bouchard and Podkolzin, who is going to pick up the slack? The answer I’m looking at is Zach Hyman, who has played just two games due to injury, but with all the injuries he’s dealt with over the last couple of seasons, I still think he is a question mark.
Los Angeles Kings
Biggest Concern: Lack of scoring with an aging roster
This era of LA Kings hockey might be the worst place to be as a fan. They make the playoffs every year, usually lose to the same team in the first round, sometimes heartbreaking and sometimes it’s quick and embarrassing.
Now general manager Ken Holland has built the oldest roster in the NHL with a lack of high-end talent that can’t keep up with the top end of the Western Conference.
This season, the Kings are dead last in the league in goals scored and sit 19th in high-danger chances created. With an aging roster and young players who may not have panned out as expected, I think the Kings are staring down the barrel of a rebuild.
Minnesota Wild
Biggest Concern: Quinn Hughes
I wanted to keep all these topics about the on-ice issues for the most part, but I’m not sure how I can ignore the Quinn Hughes conversation.
Last season, Minnesota Wild general manager (GM) Bill Guerin made the trade of the year, moving Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round pick that turned into Adam Novotny to the Vancouver Canucks for Hughes.
Heading into the offseason, two of the biggest stories were that Cale Makar and Hughes were both eligible for extensions. Although it took longer than expected, Makar signed an eight-year deal with an average annual value of $9 million. We are now here on Oct. 22, and Hughes has still not signed his own extension.
After losing in just five games to the Avalanche in the second round last season, we’re looking at a team that doesn’t have the centre depth to win and could potentially see the second-best defenceman in the NHL walking. On top of that, they traded a huge part of their future to bring him in.
Nashville Predators
Biggest Concern: Five-on-five play
The Nashville Predators have been getting caved in at even strength. Through eight games, they sit 3-2-3 and have scored just 10 goals in comparison to the 15 they’ve allowed. On top of that, they’ve generated just 61 high-danger chances in comparison to 72 against. They’ve also accumulated the lowest expected goals for (xGF) at even strength with just 13.85.
New Preds GM Chris MacFarland didn’t do much to address the old roster with the lack of scoring upside in the offseason, and we’re seeing the results play out in real time.
San Jose Sharks
Biggest Concern: Goaltending
The San Jose Sharks were one of the most picked teams to make the jump into the playoffs this season, but I think it’s going to be tough to do without keeping the puck out of the net.
Part of the problem is the defensive play, but they really need more from their goalies than they’ve gotten early in the season.
Through six games, Yaroslav Askarov has put up a negative-4.21 GSAA, 3.96 GSAx and a .865 save percentage (SV%). His partner Alex Nedeljkovic has been better, putting up 3.11 GSAA, 4 GSAx and a .917 SV% through four games.
Although Nedeljkovic has been pretty solid, they traded a big package to Nashville for Askarov, who they see as the goalie of the future.
If they’re going to make the playoffs, both goalies are going to have to steal some games for this young roster.
Seattle Kraken
Biggest Concern: Their good start is fraudulent
The Seattle Kraken are 6-3-1 through 10 games, and that is much stronger of a start than I would’ve thought they’d have. That being said, I’m not sure how much I believe it’s sustainable.
Their PDO is the fourth highest in the league (PDO measures S% plus SV%), which eventually should balance out and then we’ll see the real Kraken.
Their six wins have also come against the Flames twice, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals. The only really good win there would be the 5-3 win over the Capitals.
They have also allowed more than they’ve created with just a 47.3 goals for percentage (GF%), which, when you pair all of this together, on top of a mediocre roster, should mean the winning isn’t sustainable.
St. Louis Blues
Biggest Concern: They might just be mid
Looking at the stats so far for the St. Louis Blues was pretty funny. You look at their record, and they’re 4-4-1, their goal differential is zero, and their xGF% is 52.5. So much of this team is just fine, and when you look at their roster, they have bright spots, and I like a lot of their forwards, but nothing really jumps off the page.
This start comes off of just barely missing out on the final wild card spot last season. Their PDO is a little bit below average, but when you look at the talent on the roster, I don’t think it’s unfair to think it can hover around where it is currently.
Utah Mammoth
Biggest Concern: Penalty kill
The Mammoth are a team that can skate and score; that’s what they were last season, and they still are this season.
Where they’ve struggled is keeping the puck out of their net; well, that’s at least what I thought. Last season at five-on-five, they came in around the middle of the pack in goals against. This season, they rank 15th at five-on-five but 22nd overall.
The penalty kill has been a problem both this season and last. They ranked 19th in the league in penalty kill percentage (PK%), but this season it’s tanked even further to 29th. They score at one of the best rates in the league, but if they’re going to be a threat in the playoffs, they have to figure out the penalty kill.
Vancouver Canucks
Biggest Concern: Zeev Buium
The Canucks were always going to be one of the worst teams in the league this season, so the results aren’t concerning. What is concerning is how the biggest piece of the return from the Hughes trade is performing.
Buium has been drowning while he’s been out there with a brutal xGF% of 36.9 and an even worse 34.4 GF%. Young defencemen on bad teams rarely have good statistics, but these are staggeringly bad.
There needs to be progression with the young players in seasons like these, and if there isn’t an improvement, then it becomes extremely concerning long-term.
Vegas Golden Knights
Biggest Concern: Penalty Kill
The Vegas Golden Knights ranked seventh in the NHL in PK% last season, but this season it has dramatically fallen to 24th. I wouldn’t say I’m too concerned that it’ll stay the same all season, but they’re 8-3-0, and everything else seems to be going well in Vegas, outside of the goaltending that has been about average.
Winnipeg Jets
Biggest Concern: Is there enough offensive production on the roster?
The Winnipeg Jets were an early pleasant surprise at the very beginning of the season, going 3-1-1 through their first five games. In their last four games, they’ve gone 1-2-1 and have scored more than two goals only once.
The Jets rank 12th in high-danger chances for and 24th in goals scored. They aren’t scoring nearly enough to keep up, even with their goaltending giving them better performances than we could’ve seen coming.
I expect the good teams to straighten these things out, but it’s interesting to see which teams are struggling with certain things nonetheless.
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