Before the 2022-23 season, I attempted to rank the Western Conference teams from one to sixteen and put them in tiers of being contenders, playoff-bound, bubble teams, risers or bottom dwellers.

I then re-ranked the teams at the halfway point here. Vegas started the season at #5 and moved up to #1 in January 2023 and ended up winning the Stanley Cup

We will conduct the same exercise before the 2023-24 season and see how teams did and where they are now.

The 2022-23 Pre-season rankings are in parenthesis to compare where these teams were at this point last year.

Out of the Playoffs

#16 – Chicago Blackhawks (#15 2022-23 Pre-season)

While Chicago instantly improved with their pick of Connor Bedard, it won't be nearly enough to get them into the playoffs. There is a very good chance that the Blackhawks are in the bottom five once again. They accomplished exactly what they wanted to by getting Bedard.

The team will be looking to unload Petr Mrazek, Jarred Tinordi, Nikita Zaitsev, Colin Blackwell, Jason Dickinson, Corey Perry, Nick Foligno and Tyler Johnson at or before the trade deadline as all of them are set to become unrestricted free agents.

We could see increased production from Taylor Hall, Taylor Raddysh, Seth Jones and a full-time role for Lukas Reichel.

Their top prospects are Kevin Korchinski, Frank Nazar, Oliver Moore and Wyatt Kaiser. Korchinski and Kaiser have a chance to make this team in October.

If Mrazek is dealt, Jaxson Stauber seems like the next in line for the NHL. Chicago has two very good goaltender prospects Drew Commesso and Adam Gajan.

This team hit bottom in 2022-23 but should slowly start moving up.

#15 – San Jose Sharks (#14)

The Sharks are still paying for the sins of their former GM Doug Wilson, signing so many veterans to long, expensive contracts with very limiting no-trade clauses. It drove the market price down for Timo Meier, Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns when the players asked out.

The Sharks still have Logan Couture and Marc-Eduoard Vlasic signed for the next four and three years respectively both with limited no-trade clauses that allow them to limit the field to three teams.

As it stands, San Jose has Tomas Hertl, Logan Couture and Mario Ferraro as core pieces, which is not ideal when compared to other rosters.

They will hope to find out if Fabian Zetterlund and Filip Zadina can both make an impact at this level.

We could see the NHL emergence of William Karlsson, Thomas Bordeleau, Henry Thrun and Shakir Mukhamadullin.

Other top prospects are Will Smith, Quentin Musty and Filip Bystedt so the cupboards are starting to get refilled a little.

The Sharks are still on the way down a little and could see bottom this year.

#14 – Anaheim Ducks (#12) – Risers

The Ducks made some curious moves last season to be more competitive and they backfired for the most part.

They have repeated a similar summer with the additions of Alex Killorn and Radko Gudas with four and three-year commitments respectively. The difference this season is that Trevor Zegras, Troy Terry, Mason McTavish and the return of Jamie Drysdale should have progressed from 2022-23.

It was well-reported that John Gibson wanted out this summer, but we will find out if that was true by the deadline. They also have Adam Henrique and Jakob Silfverberg to deal with as both will be UFA.

Anaheim has a great prospect pool with Leo Carlsson, Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, Jacob Perreault, Nathan Gaucher and Brayden Tracey.

The Ducks should make some progress this year and look to be on the bubble in 2024-25, but that is reliant on Zellweger and Mintyukov being good young players in the NHL and John Gibson staying and getting his game back.

#13 – Arizona Coyotes (#16) – Risers

The Coyotes have done the right thing over the past two drafts by stockpiling high picks with five first-rounders, three second-rounders and six third-rounders. Now they just need to practise patience and let those picks develop.

Arizona should be a very young team in 2023-24 even though they brought in Jason Zucker, Alexander Kerfoot and Matt Dumba. They also brought back Nick Bjugstad and Troy Stecher.

Trading Jakob Chychrun hurt in the short term but should help this team in a few years. Sean Durzi was acquired from the Kings and could provide some offensive help from defense.

Clayton Keller took a significant step in 2022-23 and will hope to duplicate 80 points or more. If Nick Schmaltz could play more than 65 games we might see 70 points this year. The addition of Zucker could push Matias Maccelli to the third line which would make it difficult for Maccelli to get 49 points in 64 games again.

Young players who are on the rise on this roster are Barrett Hayton, Logan Cooley, Jack McBain, Dylan Guenther and perhaps one or two of Durzi, J.J. Moser and Juuso Valimaki.

In my mind, this is a make-it-or-break year for Victor Soderstrom and with the additions of Dumba, Durzi and Stecher on the right side, it doesn't bode well for his time in Arizona or in the NHL.

The top prospects remaining in Arizona are Conor Geekie, Daniil But, Dmitri Simashev and Maveric Lamoureux.

If Arizona is patient they won't make the playoffs this year or next but should be able to swing around the bottom like a boomerang in a few years.

On the Bubble

#12 – Seattle Kraken (#13) – Risers

The Kraken surprised most people in 2022-23 by going 46-28-8 for 100 points in only their second season in the NHL. They had the sixth best away record in the league at 26-11-4 and ended up 7th overall in the West. They shocked Colorado in the first round and took Dallas to seven games in the second round.

They peaked at #5 in my rankings at the mid-season mark in 2022-23 but I have them back to #12 in the pre-season for 2023-24.

They still have the same issues on paper as they had last year and I have my doubts that they can maintain their pace from 2022-23 once again. They are a very well balanced roster, but have question marks on defense and in goal.

We might see more out of Oliver Bjorkstrand, Andre Burakovsky, Eeli Tolvanen and perhaps Kailer Yamamoto. Matty Beniers is still on the rise, but I think that Shane Wright might need some time in the AHL before he becomes a regular in the NHL. But, he could earn his spot during the pre-season.

My worries are players who have peaked or are on their way down which could include Jared McCann, Jordan Eberle, Vince Dunn and Adam Larsson.

Top prospects in Seattle are Shane Wright, Eduard Sale, Jagger Firkus and Ryker Evans.

I think Seattle will still be in the playoff chase, but unless they get an influx of progression from a young player or Phillip Grubauer or Chris Driedger take the reins with a 91.0 save percentage, I'm not sure how they can duplicate.

To be fair, I did say that all of last season as well, and they never levelled off.

#11 – Winnipeg Jets (#9)

The Jets are a team in transition with the departure of Blake Wheeler and Pierre-Luc Dubois. They are likely to move Mark Scheifele, Nino Niederreiter, Brendan Dillon, Dylan DeMelo and Connor Hellebuyck at some point as they are all impending UFAs.

They added Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari from the Kings, but short-term they have taken a step back.

The Jets are in a similar predicament as Nashville was in 2022-23 and they will need to decide on their UFAs sooner than later.

The Jets top prospects are Chaz Lucius, Brad Lambert, Ville Heinola, Rutger McGroarty and Colby Barlow. Heinola is running out of time in Winnipeg as this will be the last year he is waivers exempt.

Personally, I think their window has closed and there could be a lot of movement in 2023-24 which should see them on the outside of the playoffs.

#10 – St. Louis Blues (#6)

St. Louis missed the playoffs in 2022-23 for the first time since 2017-18 and were under .500 for the first time since 2007-08.

The Blues still have some very good players on their roster in Pavel Buchnevich, Justin Faulk, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn, but aside from Thomas and Kyrou they don't have many players still on the rise.

They added Kevin Hayes so the Blues should be very solid down the middle but they did nothing to address their defense and will hope that Jordan Binnington gets back to the level he was in 2020-21. That was the same hope they had going into 2022-23 and it didn't come to fruition.

St. Louis have a few players who could put up some improved numbers but have struggled recently in Jakub Vrana and Tyson Barrie.

The Blues top prospects are Zachary Bolduc, Zach Dean, Scott Perunovich, Dalibor Dvorsky, Jimmy Snuggerud, Otto Stenberg and Theo Lindstein. Perunovich is waiver exempt for the last year. 

While they should improve on their record from last season, they would need everyone to be at the top of their games to get into the playoffs.

#9 – Minnesota Wild (#8)

In 2021-22, the Wild had 53 wins and 116 points followed by 46 wins and 103 points in 2022-23. They lost both times in the first round of the playoffs.

The Wild have a three-year window right now as Kirill Kaprizov has that many years under contract until he becomes unrestricted.

Minnesota has done little externally to improve their roster from 2022-23 and have added Pat Maroon to help out their fourth line.

They are hoping that Marco Rossi and Brock Faber are ready for regular roles in the NHL and Matt Boldy and Calen Addison continue to progress. Addison was a regular scratch in the last quarter and didn't dress for a game in the playoffs. The good news for him is that the Wild didn't add anyone else to run the power play.

Minnesota's top prospects are Liam Ohgren, Marco Rossi, Carson Lambos, Charlie Stramel, Danila Yurov and goalie Jesper Wallstedt.

The reliance on Kaprizov is paramount to this team getting back into the playoffs. I don't think they will match 46 wins with this roster, but with Kaprizov alone they should get to 40 and be on the edge of the playoffs.

Next week, we will look at the remaining top eight teams in the West.

Thanks very much for reading and if you have any comments or suggestions, please leave them below or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15