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Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers, for all the questions swirling around them, remain the class of the Pacific Division when it comes to success when it matters most.

Sure, McDavid is in the final year of his contract and goaltending remains an uncertainty, but they’ve won the Western Conference to reach the Stanley Cup Final each of the past two years and are favored to do so again.

“They’re a good team — they’re a great team,” Los Angeles Kings forward Adrian Kempe said. “They are arguably one of the two best teams the last two years in the playoffs, so they’re tough to beat.”

The Vegas Golden Knights after adding Mitch Marner to a core that already has won a championship figure to be the strongest challenger. Kempe’s Kings, in captain Anze Kopitar’s final NHL season, also could push the Oilers. The Anaheim Ducks look primed to make a major leap forward under new coach Joel Quenneville.

“He’s done it before: He’s won three Stanley Cups for a reason,” Ducks center Mason McTavish said. “Obviously, he’s got a great relationship with his players and he leans on them and we lean on him. Super excited to play for him and give him my all.”

On the rise

Vegas finished atop the Pacific last season with five more standings points than LA and nine more than Edmonton. Getting Marner in a sign-and-trade from Toronto and inking him to a $96 million contract through his prime only makes the Golden Knights more likely to hoist that silver chalice again.

“Tons of credit to management to be able to add a player like Mitch,” said No. 1 center Jack Eichel, who is unsigned beyond this season. “It goes to say a lot about our organization and playing here. Obviously Mitch was going to be a free agent and had, I would assume, his pick of the litter of where he wanted to play, so I think that there’s something to be said for that.”

Quenneville’s hire isn’t the only reason for optimism in Orange County. The Ducks have someone they think is a budding elite goaltender in Lukas Dostal and young talent including McTavish, Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and Jackson LaCombe.

Add to them the acquisition of veteran forward Chris Kreider, and it’s a mix that might have the Ducks playoff-bound for the first time since 2018.

“I think that’s what we really needed was those veteran guys,” said Dostal, who will get more action in net after the trade of John Gibson to Detroit. “They’re going to really help our young core.”

On the decline

Vancouver — at least for now — has one of the best defensemen in the NHL in captain Quinn Hughes. Brother Jack has made no secret about wanting to play with Quinn, who has two years left on his contract.

The Canucks lost coach Rick Tocchet, promoted Adam Foote to take his place and may need goalie Thatcher Demko to carry them many nights. J.T. Miller plays for the New York Rangers now after a schism with Elias Pettersson led to a trade, and Quinn Hughes just hopes everyone can move on from that drama.

“Our team should be in a position now where there’s no distractions,” Hughes said. “We’ve got a new coaching staff, and hopefully Demko’s healthy and we’ll be ready to go.”

Seattle also has a new coach, Lane Lambert, after the experiment with Dan Bylsma lasted only one season that ended 20 points out of the final playoff spot in the West.

“We really underperformed what we’re capable of,” said captain Jordan Eberle, who believes the Kraken “definitely need to be in the mix” for a playoff spot. That would be a surprise.

On the hot seat

Jim Hiller goes into his second full season as Kings coach, with Ken Holland taking over as general manager. Any kind of slow start could be reason enough for Holland to make a move and Peter DeBoer is available for any team that needs a midseason replacement.

Kris Knoblauch is safe in Edmonton, for now, especially given how well the team has done since taking over for Jay Woodcroft in November 2023. Anything short of another trip to the final makes it a question.

Predicted order of finish

Vegas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Calgary, Vancouver, Seattle, San Jose.

Jackson LaCombe signed an eight-year, $72 million contract extension with the Anaheim Ducks, keeping the rising young defenseman with the club through the 2033-34 season.

After just two full NHL seasons, the 24-year-old LaCombe has emerged as an elite two-way defenseman who is under consideration for the U.S. Olympic team roster.

The Ducks welcomed LaCombe’s eagerness to commit his long-term future to Anaheim before he reached restricted free agency next summer, and general manager Pat Verbeek signed him to the richest contract ever given out by the team, although others had larger average annual values.

“Both sides were looking at long-term deals, so I think it came together pretty quickly,” Verbeek told reporters in Irvine after the Ducks’ practice. “What we’re all trying to gauge the landscape of where salaries are going (with the future NHL salary cap), so I feel really comfortable with the contract and the character of Jackson LaCombe. And the player, and I still think there’s lots of upside and growth in his game. I think the best is still to come from Jackson.”

LaCombe went straight to the NHL from the University of Minnesota in April 2023, and he has recorded 16 goals and 44 assists over 148 games with Anaheim. He emerged as the Ducks’ most dependable defenseman with remarkable speed, leading the roster in ice time last season and filling a major role on their power play.

LaCombe’s teammates doused him with water when he returned to the dressing room after signing his contract at their training complex.

“I love it here,′ LaCombe told reporters. ”I love being here. I love playing here. I love all my teammates here, too, so for me it was an easy decision. ... It’s easy to live here. You could say the weather (is a positive) and the place is so nice, but just the group we have has been great for me. Everybody has been so welcoming for the last two years, so I’m grateful for that and I’m just excited to be here for a long time.”

The Ducks missed the playoffs last spring for the seventh consecutive season, but LaCombe was one of their brightest spots. His responsibilities increased dramatically after longtime Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler was traded to St. Louis last December, and LaCombe responded with exceptional transition play and consistent offensive creation with his dangerous wrist shot.

The Minnesota native’s 14 goals last season were 11th among NHL defensemen and the most by an Anaheim blueliner since Lubomir Visnovsky had 18 in the 2010-11 season.

LaCombe also stood out at the world championships in Stockholm last May, recording two goals and three assists for the gold medal-winning U.S. team.

After the Ducks made him the 39th overall pick in the 2019 draft, LaCombe became a star for the Golden Gophers, growing into a top NCAA defenseman who was physically strong enough and mentally mature enough to jump right into the NHL game.

“I think it all happened quickly,” LaCombe said. “My first year was definitely tougher, and I thought last year I played a lot better and I was happy about that. To get (the contract) done now is great.”

LaCombe is the first player to re-sign in the Ducks’ large class of restricted free agents coming up next summer. LaCombe was slated to be an RFA alongside center Leo Carlsson, left wing Cutter Gauthier and defensemen Owen Zellweger and Pavel Mintyukov.

“Jackson is the first domino to fall, and we’re working on other stuff as well,” Verbeek said.

Verbeek locked up LaCombe five days after re-signing holdout center Mason McTavish to a six-year, $42 million deal.

Hockey usually is a young man’s game. Don’t tell that to Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Brad Marchand, Corey Perry and so many others who are still on top of the NHL in their late 30s and beyond.

Crosby produced at a point-a-game pace last season at 37, the same age Marchand was when he scored six goals in the Stanley Cup Final to help Florida repeat against Edmonton, which counted 40-year-old Corey Perry as one of its better players. Alex Ovechkin broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record at 39 and should surpass the 900 mark early this season at 40.

Thanks to changes in sports science, training and technology over the past 20-plus years, the window for stars to remain in their prime is getting longer and longer. And it’s only making the sport better.

“We’re coming into an age of that,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “The science that’s changed over the last 20 years will allow these players to recover faster. ... They’re better fit, conditioned athletes over their entire lives.”

Maurice credited owners for investing a tremendous amount of money and resources into player care. His team is on the leading edge of recovery methods at all ages, which is a big part of why the league’s southernmost team is going for a threepeat.

Everyone is looking for an edge

Patrick Kane is set to turn 37 in November and is on pace this season to pass Mike Modano for the most points by a U.S.-born player. He was the first pick in the 2007 draft, three months before this year’s No. 1 choice, Matthew Schaefer, was born.

A three-time Cup champion with Chicago, Kane credits his and others’ longevity to a decision that there is no longer an offseason.

“It’s incredible the way the guys are almost treating it like a full-year job,” Kane said. “Everyone’s trying to find that edge, whether it’s nutrition or what you do in the summer, how you train, how you recover. Everyone seems to be doing something.”

Sam Reinhart saw that in Crosby and Marchand at Canada’s Olympic orientation camp when they “made it look easy.” The soon-to-be 30-year-old found it inspiring.

“It’s motivating that if you take care of yourself, you work hard, you train, you know when you’re a bit younger, there’s no reason you can’t be at your best when you are a little bit older,” Reinhart said. “It doesn’t look like they are slowing down anytime soon. They’re both machines in the gym and both looking as young and agile as ever.”

Some is luck, but more of it is work

Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman is on the younger side of this curve with his 35th birthday approaching in December, and yet at 6-foot-7 and 244 pounds, he is still among the best defensemen in the NHL. Hedman should make his Olympic debut for Sweden in February.

Hedman has been healthy for much of his career and stayed durable. He played between 76 and all 82 games over each of the past four seasons.

“I’ve been blessed not being hurt too much, but that’s training going into that,” Hedman said. “It’s a combination of a lot of things. The sports science, you can get so much data of what you need at certain points of the season, so that helps a lot. ... But I think it’s just knowing your body and trying to keep up with these young kids because the game is getting faster and faster.”

Ovechkin caught and passed Gretzky in large part because he is almost never injured. Washington’s captain missed 16 games with a broken leg and still got the job done.

“That’s one of the things that he’ll be remembered by is a lot of people talk about his durability as a player and not getting hurt,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said.

Playoffs are when the old dogs thrive

Maurice acknowledged a quarter-century after the fact that scratching eventual future Hall of Famer Paul Coffey in Carolina’s playoff opener in 1999 was a mistake. Coffey was one of the Hurricanes’ best players on the ice in Game 2, and that provided a valuable lesson on the way to back-to-back titles.

“These older players view the playoffs differently. They understand,” Maurice said. “Older guys have a perspective that young players don’t. Young players can be great, but I think you can almost be assured that you’re going to get the very best out of your older players in playoffs.”

Marchand, who rode the exercise bike in Edmonton prior to his double-overtime Game 2-winning goal in the final, has been a clutch performer his entire career in Crosby’s eyes. But the player known as “Sid the Kid” subscribes to Maurice’s theory about coming up big in the biggest moments.

“Definitely in the playoffs, I think that experience, that type of game probably lends itself to older guys who have been through it and understand it,” Crosby said. “We need us older guys to keep going.”