Nashville Predators: Way too early Western Conference Power Rankings

(Photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Photo by Jeanine Leech/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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(Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)

Vancouver Canucks (1-0-0 2 pts)

Vancouver rounds out the top-10 having claimed a 3-2 victory in their lone game of the season over the Oilers. Bo Horvat has emerged as a bright, young star on a team that could really use some bright, young stars. He tallied a career-high 20 goals a season ago and has already netted two to open the year. Jacob Markstrom is finally getting his chance as the No. 1 goaltender having spent the last four seasons with the club getting spot starts. Loui Eriksson is in his second year in Vancouver and needs to bounce back from what was a poor season.

So far there isn’t much to evaluate for the Canucks but this week will be a good measuring stick. The NHL was friendly, scheduling their first four contests at home. This week Vancouver squares off with a winless Senators team, a winless Jets team and their biggest test of the week in Calgary. The Canucks have the chance to get off to an extremely fast start and ride that momentum up the standings. I don’t see them sustaining any long-term success in a division owned by Connor McDavid, but they could potentially squeak into the playoffs depending on how well Markstrom does as the man.