The Pillow Fight: Just How Awful is the NHL’s Pacific Division?
After getting waxed by the Tampa Bay Lightning last night, Connor McDavid called the Pacific division “a bit of a pillow fight”. Hilarious line, but also very accurate. It’s a truly grisly picture.
Pacific Division standings as of March 22. Screenshot from Sportsnet
The division-leading Anaheim Ducks have 80 points in 69 games. For reference, this would place them 7th in the Atlantic Division, 3 spots out of the wild card race in the East. The other divisional leaders have 94, 94 and 100 points apiece. From poorly constructed aging teams like the Oilers and Knights, to rebuilding or lost franchises like the Sharks and Canucks, the Pacific is filled with roster mismanagement and flawed hockey.
Since the divisional/wildcard reformatting 13 years ago, there have been 52 divisions that have played a season in the NHL. Among those 52 teams, the 2025-26 Pacific Division ranks:
51st in Points % (0.504)
Dead last in Goal Diff/Game (-0.36)
Dead last in Win % and Regulation Win % (0.439 & 0.310)
49th in Goals Against/Game (3.27)
This is utter futility and it is a shame that one of these teams will make the conference finals, when so many other great teams need to face off in earlier rounds of the playoffs. The NHL badly needs to change the playoff format.
To wrap up this post, here is one shameful fact about each team in the Pacific Division:
The Anaheim Ducks are on pace for 27 regulation wins this year. With the exception of the COVID-shortened season, no other divisional winner has ever had under 30 regulation wins in this format.
The Edmonton Oilers have 3 of the top 12 scorers in the league. However, with all three off the ice, the team has scored only 34 goals all season long.
The Vegas Golden Knights traded for Rasmus Andersson on January 18. Since then, they’ve gone 7-14-2 with 73 goals against.
The LA Kings have 18 regulation wins in 69 games, the 2nd worst mark in the league. Thank goodness for the loser point. Save for Brandt Clarke (their youngest, best d-man), their entire defense core is signed through next season with trade protection.
Jordan Eberle leads the Seattle Kraken with 49 points in 67 games. Twelve teams have defensemen who have more points.
In the midst of a rebuild year, it’s hard to be too harsh on the Sharks. However, they are hopeless without Macklin Celebrini, who leads the team in scoring by 51 (!!!) points.
The Calgary Flames score 2.46 goals per game. This is the third lowest total in the last 5 years.
The Vancouver Canucks have featured the 3rd worst PK since 2013 and are being outscored by 1.2 goals per game. These numbers include games with Quinn Hughes on the roster, so they’re going to get worse before the end of the year.
