The NHL season is less than 10 games old, and already each game is as important as the next, especially in a division as tight as the Pacific.

With teams like the Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings all competing for playoff spots, along with teams like the Anaheim Ducks and Seattle Kraken, who could threaten to steal a Wild Card spot. The playoff picture will be highly competitive moving forward, which makes every win just as important as the next.

To no one’s surprise, the Golden Knights sit atop the division with 12 points, a four-point lead on the second-place Canucks.

While it shouldn’t come as a shock that the Golden Knights are leading the division when you consider the fact they added a 100-point star in Mitch Marner this offseason, what is surprising is the early-season tale of the Kings.

Through seven games, the Kings sit sixth in the division with a 2-3-2 record, only ahead of the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks.

The Kings lost three of their last four games before defeating the St. Louis Blues. While LA will likely figure things out eventually, it’s crucial for the Canucks to take advantage of their division rivals’ slow start, especially as the playoff picture begins to tighten in the following months.

While there’s no exact reason that pinpoints the Kings’ slow start, the downgrade on defence and their struggling goaltender stand out.

Both Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg have a sub .885 save percentage this season. The team is also missing captain Anze Kopitar, who is a significant blow not only to the team’s offence but also to a key leader both on and off the ice.

You could also point to some of the Kings’ offseason acquisitions as a reason for their slow start. The Kings signed both Cody Ceci and Brian Dumolin to long-term deals, which are questionable given the age of these players and their defensive capabilities. They also traded away defencemen Jordan Spence, who one could argue is better than Ceci and Dumolin.

When looking at what’s going wrong with the Kings, a lack of offence stands out. Sure, the Kings have never been an offensive powerhouse, as they are more known for grinding out wins through defensive performances. Beyond their top players, there isn’t much offensive depth for the Kings. It’s hard to ignore the skill of Adrian Kempe, Kevin Fiala and Quinton Byfield, along with the potential of Andrei Kuzmenko scoring another 40 goals. However, it’s bleak after that. In a division like the Pacific, it’s hard for the Kings to compete with offensive powerhouses like the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights.

Meanwhile, the Canucks currently sit in second place in the division, but as we know, it’s a long season. As we’ve seen in the past, a playoff spot can be determined by only a few points. The Canucks started the season with a big win over the Calgary Flames, but faltered with two straight losses against the Edmonton Oilers and St. Louis Blues. The team has since bounced back, winning three of its last four games on this road trip. The true test comes now for the Canucks, as the team is currently suffering from several injuries and absences, including forwards Filip Chytil, Brock Boeser, Jonathan Lekkermäki and Teddy Blueger.

The Canucks are notorious for making final pushes towards the playoffs in the last months of the season, only to come up just a point or two short. As a long-time observer of the team, it would be nice to see them develop a solid foundation from the jump, taking advantage of one of their divisional opponents’ struggles rather than scrambling for wins in the final stretch of the season – easier said than done now with their laundry list of injuries.

Last season, the Canucks missed the playoffs by only six points, which is why even early-season victories can be important come crunch time.

The Canucks are set to take on the Kings for the first time this season on November 29th at Crypto.com Arena for what will be a crucial matchup for both teams.