The Oilers made last year’s edition of the list both times, and it very nearly paid off with their run to the Stanley Cup Final. The fact that they were one of the best teams in the league at both ends of the ice, along with boasting the talents of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, meant it was no surprise that Edmonton fell just one win short of a championship.

However, the Oilers have seen a slight step back from last year. They’re about the same standing in the league in terms of their 5v5 xGA/60 (tied for eighth last year vs. tied for ninth this year), but they’ve generated chances at a much lower rate (first last year vs. seventh this year). A big reason for that was the changes they made in the offseason, which sacrificed a lot of their foot speed and made them an older team as a result. That puts a lot of their offensive creation on the hands of their stars, and while they’re more than capable of it, they’ll need some help if they want to be a Cup contender.

With a new head coach and a few changes to the roster, the Kings are back to being a strong play-driving team, and are currently the best team at preventing chances. But, those offensive concerns still remain, especially when their current 2.78 GF/60 minutes is a slight overperformance of the chances they’re actually creating. Considering that they’ve also seen slow starts from some of their players that they expect production from, particularly Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield, it’s easy to see how this is setting the stage for another playoff disappointment.

The last time the Kings won the Cup, they were lacking that scoring touch and made a move to land Marian Gaborik, so perhaps they need to do something like that to help their chances.