Wait, you're expecting the western conference to get worse?
I am expecting the Pacific to get worse. Yes. LA, Anaheim, Edmonton are not getting any better. Arizona could go either way and even a team like SJ could be in for a severe drop off as they are aging fast and if EK does not stay healthy I could see a massive drop from them. Even Calgary is a wild card with suspect goaltending and a Norris trophy winner that will be hard pressed to duplicate his season at 36 years old.
In the Central teams like Chicago, Minnesota and even Winnipeg could be in for down years in the next 2 seasons. It is not out of the realm of possibility that the Canucks make a run. Try to get a decent Dman through trade or FA and perhaps the return of Tryamkin (possibly even Pods) in a year to go along with natural progression of our young core and I like our chances.
Certainly enough silver lining to avoid the typical HFCanuck meltdown. If we are still out of the playoffs in 2 years this team will have to be torn down again anyways as it will obviously still not be good enough. At which time losing that 1st will be painful but likely not going to change our fortunes anyway.