FanHouse Jean SebastienGiguere

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Pacific Division.

San Jose saw its Presidents' Trophy campaign come to a surprising end in the first round of the NHL playoffs, Los Angeles is still the perfect spot for Dany Heatley, and is there any hope for success on the ice in Phoenix?

After watching Vancouver play stout defense in front of All-Star goalie Roberto Luongo during a sweep of St. Louis in the first round, more was expected. The Canucks looked like a team committed to playing strong in their zone, and they knew if they could keep lanes clear for Luongo and make the extra effort to get to rebounds, they could go far.

It all blew up on them in the second round. A younger, faster, exceptionally determined Chicago team took out the Canucks in six games, and they scored 21 goals to do it. It's got some in Vancouver wondering about Luongo's future, which is the last thing that should be up in the air now.

The Stanley Cup won't be handed out until June, but this is the time we see teams make a run at the playoffs. You can't win the Cup if you don't make the playoffs. Follow us daily to find out where your favorite team stands as the season dwindles.

We keep waiting for playoff teams to separate themselves from the non-playoff pack, and nothing seems to be happening. Races are still exceptionally close, as it seems at least some teams aren't capable of getting on the kind of roll they need in order to sew up a playoff spot. Others look to be in meltdown mode at the worst possible time.

Weeks of rumors, innuendo, and e5s will finally come to a head on Wednesday. At 3pm Eastern, the NHL trade deadline will pass. You can follow all the activity with our NHL Trade Deadline Tracker.

Entering play Tuesday night, 23 NHL teams are either in a playoff position or within six points of one. While this is great for the playoff races, it's not so good for the deadline. It minimizes the number of potential sellers, drives up the trade market for the few players who should be available, and leaves us wondering if any big deals will go down. Here's a look at how the Western Conference looks heading into the deadline.

Steve Ott is a tough guy. Not in the Derek Boogaard sense, because Ott has a ton more skill, but still tough. He has already set a career high with 12 goals in just 44 games played, and Ott has won the respect of his teammates because of his willingness to take punishment in order to make plays around the net.

Ott can also be a bit of an agitator, as seen at the end of Saturday's 4-3 loss to Anaheim. He took a couple extra whacks at Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer, drawing the ire of goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere and enforcer Travis Moen.

Earlier on Friday, we brought you the absurd report that Gary Bettman, in his own ridiculous way, was attempting to save the NHL All-Star game by threatening to suspend players for declining to take part in the festivities. Apparently, Bettman means business as the league has decided to suspend Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom for the Red Wings game against Columbus on January 27.

Ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as Bud Selig's decision to use the Major League Baseball All-Star game to decide home field advantage in the World Series. It's an exhibition game, people.

The NHL All-Star game just became a little more unwatchable, as Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby has withdrawn himself from the weekend's festivities. He will be replaced by Tampa Bay Lightning forward Martin St. Louis.

Crosby, currently second in the league in scoring, has been bothered by a knee injury -- and he took a shot off his hand against Carolina on Tuesday night, just for good measure -- the past couple of weeks, and as recently as Wedneday was going to try and tough it out for the NHL's premier exhibition game. Sanity, it would seem, has prevailed, as Crosby will take full advantage of an extended break to rest his injuries. This should please the Penguins, even if it makes Gary Bettman gently sob into his pillow.

There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.

Of course, we know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven series. In addition, we still have half a season left to play. What we don't know is which team in this conference is set up to challenge either the Red Wings or Sharks. They've beaten - at least once - pretty much everyone who has stood in their way, including each other.

While the top of the conference appears to virtually locked in place at this point, there are still serious battles to be fought, especially for the last four positions in the West. Currently, eight teams are separated by just six points. St. Louis, the last-place team in the West, is just nine points out of eighth.