THE CLOVER VALLEY…  It has been popular opinion over the past few seasons, with lots of supporting data, that the NHL Western Conference is overall the tougher, more competitive conference in the league. And if you factor in that the West has won four of the last five Stanley Cup tournaments, you have a pretty solid case.

My Magic 8 Ball is telling me that things will be no different this season. As I look at potential East-West SC Final match-ups, I see a couple of clubs that could give any potential West entrant quite a series, but I don’t see one that could oust the West from their championship perch right now. I see a mix of six to eight teams with a strong chance to get into the Final, and out of the Eastern teams in that group, I just don’t have the feeling that they could have enough juice to hoist the Cup. Here is how I see the Wild West from 1-14:

1. LOS ANGELES KINGS. The defending champs are the pick of many analysts to re-up as the SC winners again. All things considered, I can’t find any reason to go against the grain on that. The fact that it hasn’t been done since the nineties will only motivate this club. Not too many off-season changes, though they did lock up Marian Gaborik long-term for acceptable dollars to the club. This team will float through the regular season once again, and then they will amp it up at playoff time and… poof! They will repeat. 27th in goals for last year, 27th in PP, 11th in PK, but 1st in goals against. Like Coach Daryl Sutter says, it’s a 3-2 league…

2. ANAHEIM DUCKS. There have been many changes on the Duck for this season. Vets Selanne and Koivu are gone; so are G/Hiller, C/Bonino, C/Perreault, D/Robidas, D/Sbisa, and C/Winnik. They have been replaced by W/Heatley, C/Kesler, G/Labarbera, D/Stoner, and C/Thompson. What is the net-net? In goal the club is going with Frederik Anderson, who has a total of 30-odd games of NHL experience. Same for his penciled-in backup John Gibson. For forwards and D-men, they probably lost more than they gained. While I think Coach Bruce Boudreau will get a great regular season out of his club again, they will flail in the playoff…

3. ST. LOUIS BLUES. In looking at the Note of the recent past, I believe their playoff failures can be traced to the lack of an upper-level scoring forward, a player with star power. They are big, they are tough, and they have had good defensive ability and net minding. They have seemed to lack those big-game performers that belie the supremacy of their regular-season performance. They have realigned at forward, though (Stastny, Lindstrom, Lehtera, and Jaskin), gotten rid of some slowness on D (Polak), and have turned the net over to Elliott and Allen. Will this help them at SC time??

4. CHICGAO BLACKHAWKS. The Hawks missed out on another SC Final trip on a fluky Game 7 OT deflection goal that propelled the Kings to the Final and the title. Once again strapped by salary cap considerations, the team was handcuffed in the off-season. They had to make some decisions to get under the cap, as opposed to being able to do some shopping. However, they still ice one of the most formidable 10-player core groups in the show, and that should serve them well. They lost Leddy, Bollig, Handzus, and Khabiboulin and added Brad Richards and TJ Brennan. Does Richie add anything to the mix? Hard to say…

5. MINNESOTA WILD. The Wild were on the doorstep last year and outplayed the Hawks for substantial stretches in their second-round series, only to lose on a lucky puck bounce and blown coverage. They have added goal scorer Thomas Vanek and journeyman F/Ryan Carter; they lost D/Stoner, F/Heatley, F/Moulson, and F/McCormick. I would say that they are slightly ahead except for the loss of Stoner’s grit. With a solid vet core and up and coming youth F/Granlund, F/Coyle, F/Neidereitter, F/Zucker, F/Fontaine, F/Haula, D/Brodin, D/Folin, D/Dumba, and more, the club will make another move upward this year. The only unsettled issue is between the pipes. With Josh Harding’s pre-camp injury, the job goes to Darcy Kuemper and veteran Niklas Backstrom. This will be an exciting speed club…

6. NASHVILLE PREDATORS. New coach (Peter Laviolette), new forwards (Neal, Ribeiro, Roy, and Jokinen), and the Preds will have outstanding goalie Pekke Rinne at the start of this season, not only at the end. They already have power at the ‘D’ position (Weber, Jones, Josi, and Volchenkov), and I believe they will benefit from a new voice behind the bench. The one thing that could hold them back is lack of depth at the center spot. Other than that, I think this team will be better than last year by far…

7. DALLAS NORTHSTARS. This is a team that absolutely benefited in the roster plus-minus game in the off-season. They lost F/Chiasson, F/Whitney, F/Jeffrey, G/Thomas, and D/Rome. However, they gained F/Spezza, career PPG player F/Hemsky, F/Eaves, and G/Lindholm. With Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin up front and a solid supporting cast around them now, I see Coach Lindy “Crime Dog” Ruff taking this club upward. G/Lindholm, if on top of his game, can take some pressure off of Kari Lehtonen. Seguin could be a top-five scorer this year…

8. SAN JOSE SHARK. Not sure what to say about this franchise. They didn’t do much in the off-season. They brought in muscle with John Scott and added Ty McGinn. They let go of D/Boyle, D/Stuart, and F/Havlat and hacked off a lot of fans by letting commentator Drew Remenda go. Their biggest moves appeared to be stripping Big Joe Thornton of the ‘C’ from his sweater, and Patrick Marleau of his ‘A.’ They moved Brent Burns back to ‘D’ as well. Can former UMD hero G/Stalock perform at a number-one level, or does he need more experience? My question to GM Dougie Wilson: is that all ya got? Still, this club could be a monster regular-season performer and a miserable flop in the playoff. The changes that didn’t happen this off-season WILL happen next… PEACE

NEXT WEEK: Teams 9-14 and a bit more on the local Minnesota Wild! OVER & OUT!

Marc Elliott is a sports opinion writer who splits his time between Minnesota and his hometown in Illinois.