A very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays to everyone!

This week we will look at each team in the West to see what they would like in their stockings from Santa Claus. For some, it is a small, thoughtful gift; for others, it is the equivalent of a brand-new car.

Anaheim Ducks – 12-21-0 – 14th in the West

The Ducks would like to have a healthy Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale in their lineup so that they can finally see what those two can do along with Mason McTavish, Leo Carlsson, Troy Terry and Pavel Mintyukov. Although Carlsson's injured right now, we should get to witness this young, talented group play together at some point in the new year. Zegras played on Saturday and scored a Michigan goal, but the Ducks still lost 3-2.

The Ducks need patience and progression.

The team will hope to get good trade value from impending UFAs Adam Henrique, Jakob Silfverberg, Sam Carrick and Ilya Lyubushkin closer to the trade deadline.

Representing Anaheim in the World Juniors this year are defenders Rodwin Dionicio playing for Switzerland, Noah Warren and Tristan Luneau for Canada, Vojtech Port for Czechia and forward Carey Terrance who will play for the USA.

Arizona Coyotes – 17-14-2 – 8th

The Coyotes are currently sitting in a playoff spot and will hope that their pre-Christmas success continues. Arizona has improved their depth and strength down the middle with Nick Bjugstad, Logan Cooley, Alex Kerfoot, Jack McBain and Barrett Hayton (injured) slotting in on a nightly basis.

Arizona will hope that Clayton Keller, Mattias Maccelli, Lawson Crouse, Sean Durzi and Connor Ingram continue their fine play, and that Cooley can become more consistent as the season progresses.

The Coyotes need a top-tier defenseman.

I expect the Coyotes to fall out of playoff contention and deal their impending UFAs near the trade deadline. Jason Zucker and Matt Dumba are the two UFAs who might bring back the most for Arizona.

WJC players for Arizona are Connor Geekie for Canada, Samu Bau for Finland, Julian Lutz for Germany, Melker Thelin in goal for Sweden, Michael Hrbal in goal for Czechia and Adam Zinka for Slovakia.

Calgary Flames – 14-15-5 – 11th

The Flames desperately need Jonathan Huberdeau to find even 75% of the offense he had while in Florida for this team to have any chance at the playoffs in 2023-2024. Jacob Markstrom has been average so far and needs to elevate his game as well.

The Flames need to know if they are buying or selling.

As it stands, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev are impending UFAs and things could get very interesting towards the trade deadline.

Representing the Flames at the WJC is Samuel Honzek for Slovakia.

Chicago Blackhawks – 10-22-1 – 15th

At this point, Chicago just hopes that Connor Bedard stays healthy and produces enough to win the Calder Trophy. The last time a Blackhawk won that award was back in 2015-2016, when Artemi Panarin took it home.

The Blackhawks have some notable impending UFAs in Tyler Johnson, Anthony Beauvillier, Nick Foligno, Jason Dickinson and Petr Mrazek. Mrazek has been very good for Chicago and could be a highly sought after goalie.

The Blackhawks need a good showing from their prospects at the WJC.

Playing in the WJC for Chicago are Adam Gajan (G) and Martin Misiak for Slovakia and Sam Rinzel, Gavin Hayes, Oliver Moore and Frank Nazar for the USA.

Colorado Avalanche – 21-11-2 – 4th

The Avalanche have been surging a little of late, struggling to have everyone healthy at the same time (like most recent years).

The Avalanche will welcome back Samuel Girard in the next few games and Arturri Lehkonen in a few weeks. Even though Alexandar Georgiev has won 17 games, he has struggled a little with a save percentage of 89.8. Colorado doesn't have much depth, so they can't really afford to have underachieving players (Ryan Johansen) if they wish to win the Stanley Cup once again.

Colorado needs their important players to be healthy come playoff time.

Their 3rd and 4th lines as well as their third pairing on defense are thin enough as it is, but if Colorado is forced to fill these spots with AHL players, they become even thinner.

Colorado doesn't have any prospects playing in the WJC.

Dallas Stars – 20-8-4 – 3rd

The Stars are hoping to have a healthy Jake Oettinger in a few weeks and will hope that he gets his game back to the level it was at last year. He has a 90.1 save percentage.

Dallas hopes to have Jason Robertson get back to a 100-point pace, with Thomas Harley continuing to impress and improve each game.

The Stars have one of the best top-nine forward groups in the NHL and will hope to stay healthy. With an older group and 50 games remaining, that could be an issue.  

Dallas needs Jake Oettinger to be in form in time for the playoffs.

Dallas has a lone prospect playing in the WJC, with Aram Minnetian on defense for the USA.

Edmonton Oilers – 15-15-1 – 13th

This one seems obvious. Goaltending.

Even if Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard or Jack Campbell could provide average goaltending on a nightly basis, the Oilers would surely have three or four more wins and be in the playoff picture. I still think that they will get there, but they haven't made things easy for themselves in other areas.

The Oilers have a huge drop off after their top-five forwards and their top-three defenders. Without cap space, there is no relief in sight.

Edmonton has no prospects at the WJC this year.

Los Angeles Kings – 19-7-4 – 6th

The Kings have received outstanding goaltending from Cam Talbot, which is something they didn't get last year. Talbot is 36 years old, so they will need to manage his load wisely to prevent him from fatiguing or getting injured down the stretch.

The Kings lost Vladislav Gavrikov for a few weeks, which forced them to elevate Andreas Englund/Tobias Bjornfot for a bit. If Pierre-Luc Dubois can raise his production a little, Los Angeles has a top-nine forward group which could rival most teams (add Viktor Arvidsson and even more so).

The Kings need to go for it this year and next, as Anze Kopitar can't play forever.

The Kings have Otto Salin from Finland as their sole participant in the WJC this year.

Minnesota Wild – 15-13-4 – 10th

The Wild made a coaching change in early December and are benefitting with a record of 10-3-0 since then. They need Kirill Kaprizov to be their best player on most nights and he hasn't been (32-12-19-31), so the Wild will hope he is for the last 50 games.

The Wild need a top-four defenseman.

Filip Gustavsson had a rough start but has played very well since the coaching change and he has raised his save percentage to 90.4 after being as low as 87.0.

Players representing Minnesota at the WJC are Servac Petrovsky with Slovakia, Rasmus Kumpulainen with Finland and Liam Ohgren with Sweden.

Nashville Predators – 19-15-0 – 7th

The Predators have Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Ryan O'Reilly and Juuse Saros. After that, there is a bit of a drop to the next level on their roster.

This season is a bit of a re-tooling, and they are playing better than I would have predicted, but they might fall off this pace as the season progresses.

Nashville needs a true first-pairing defender and a top-line center from the pipeline, as O'Reilly and Josi aren't young guns.

The Predators are represented at the WJC by Matthew Wood for Canada, Kasper Kulonnummi and Jesse Kiiskinen for Finland. Defender Tanner Molendyk has had to drop out of the tournament for Canada. Molendyk could be that future top-pairing defender.

San Jose Sharks – 9-22-3- 16th

Things were looking exceptionally bleak earlier in the year when San Jose gave up 10 goals against in back-to-back games. They are still dead last in the West but have played hard in most games. I thought they might struggle to get 15 wins this year but they already have nine.

The Sharks need a lot of things, but most of all they need to be patient with their young players and hope for progression, whether that is at the NHL or AHL level. They simply can't rush players up to the NHL because they are losing.

William Eklund looks comfortable at the NHL level and should be a key piece on this roster moving forward.

Impending UFAs are Kevin Labanc, Mike Hoffman, Anthony Duclair, Alexander Barabanov and Kaapo Kahkonen. I'm not sure what value any of these players will bring in return as none of them are playoff-type players.

The Sharks have Jake Furlong with Canada, Kasper Halttunen with Finland, Mattias Havelid and Filip Bystedt with Sweden, Erik Pohlkamp and Will Smith with USA.

Seattle Kraken – 12-14-9 – 12th

The Kraken have taken a step back after their surprising run into the playoffs in 2022-2023. Players like Matty Beniers, Jordan Eberle, Brian Dumoulin and Kailer Yamamoto have struggled for the most part and will need to elevate their games for Seattle to have any chance of getting back to the playoffs this year.

Seattle needs offense, as they have scored just 95 goals in 35 games (2.71/g). They have received slightly better than average goaltending for the first time in their existence thanks to Joey Daccord.

If the Kraken fall off the pace, their impending UFAs are Jordan Eberle, Alex Wennberg, Tomas Tatar, Justin Schultz and Chris Driedger.

Playing in the WJC for the Kraken are Carson Rehkopf for Canada, Niklas Kokko (G) and Jani Nyman for Finland, Zeb Forsfjall for Sweden and Eduard Sale for Czechia.

St. Louis Blues – 17-15-1 – 9th

The Blues have four or five solid forwards who should fill out their top-six in Pavel Buchnevich, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn and Kevin Hayes. Including Schenn and Hayes here is a bit of a stretch.

The Blues need two above-average forwards to fill out their top-six. They also need an additional top-four defender after Justin Faulk, Colton Parayko and Torey Krug.

Jordan Binnington had a very good start to the season but has come back to earth and now has a save percentage of 90.0.

Impending UFAs for the Blues are Kasperi Kapanen, Sammy Blais, Oskar Sundqvist and Marco Scandella.

Representing St. Louis at the WJC are Aleksanteri Kaskimaki for Finland, Otto Stenberg for Sweden, Jakob Stancl for Czechia, Dalibor Dvorsky and Juraj Pekarcik for Slovakia, and Jimmy Snuggerud for USA.

Vancouver Canucks – 23-9-3 – 1st

The Canucks and their fan base would like the statistic 'PDO' to be as real as Santa Claus and not rear its ugly head in 2023-2024. Unfortunately, PDO is as real as Father Time and the Canucks will revert to within the historical range of 99 to 102 by the end of the season. Fortunately for the Canucks, PDO doesn't take into account the power play, penalty killing or coaching.

The Canucks need their top players to remain relatively healthy and for Andrei Kuzmenko to get out of Rick Tocchet's bad book.

Playing in the WJC for the Canucks are Tom Willander, Elias Pettersson (D) and Jonathan Lekkerimaki for Sweden.

Vegas Golden Knights – 21-9-5 – 2nd

Vegas needs to keep their heads above water while Adin Hill and Shea Theodore are out of the lineup.

The Golden Knights need a few top-six forwards to step up or emerge to go along with Jack Eichel, William Karlsson, Mark Stone, and Jonathan Marchessault. After those four, there is a bit of a drop off to Chandler Stephenson and Ivan Barbashev.

Vegas still has one of the better top-four defensive corps in the NHL with Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb. They will need all four of those players healthy for the playoffs to repeat.

Representing Vegas in the WJC are Arttu Karki for Finland, David Edstrom for Sweden and Matyas Sapovaliv for Czechia.

Winnipeg Jets – 20-9-3 – 5th

Just when it looked like the injury to Kyle Connor (out six-to-eight weeks) was going to hurt the offense, Gabriel Vilardi, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele formed the top line and went off.

The Jets need an upgrade at 6th and 7th defenseman, and they need a better fourth line if this team is going to make the playoffs and have a chance to go more than a round or two.

Playing in the WJC for the Jets are Elias Salomonsson and Fabian Wagner for Sweden and Rutger McGroarty for USA.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or players you'd like me to look at please message or follow me on Twitter @gampbler15.