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And those are the teams which didn’t make the playoffs in the West. As for the playoff teams, the aforementioned top-five favoured the status quo; but Nashville, which looks ready to take the next step, traded Shea Weber for P.K. Subban, then drafted another B.C. product in defenceman Dante Fabbro. The Cup finalists from San Jose added speedy forward Mikkel Boedker to their stacked lineup. And while Minnesota wasn’t a big player, they still signed centre Eric Staal.

All of this leaves the Canucks where? We can debate who improved the most — Edmonton or Calgary — but both teams appear to have done more than the Orcans. Arizona and Winnipeg are still too young, but their ETA isn’t that far off. Colorado is a wild card, but two years ago they looked like the team of the future.

As for the playoff teams, it’s conceivable that Minnesota and Anaheim slide. St. Louis, for its part, doesn’t look as formidable, but the Blues also finished second to Dallas in the regular season. How far can they fall?

While we’re asking questions, here’s another one: How far can the Canucks rise? Job No. 1 for this team is scoring more goals and while Eriksson will help, he doesn’t solve the problem. The Canucks scored the second-fewest goals in the NHL last season with a paltry 191. To entertain any thought of a playoff berth they have to find some 40 more goals in their lineup while cutting their goals-against by a similar margin.

That’s not impossible. But it will be bloody difficult. To do it, they’ll need across-the-board improvement while hoping/praying this isn’t the year where the Sedins hit the wall. They’ll need their kids to accelerate their development. They’ll need Gudbranson and Eriksson to have an immediate impact. They’ll need a fully functioning power play. And they’ll need elite goaltending through all 82 games.

That’s a lot to ask of one team. But here’s the scary part. It still might not be enough.

ewilles@postmedia.com

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