Avs, Flames are the ever-unpredictable NHL West’s top seeds

In assessing the status of his Pacific Division champion Calgary Flames, coach Darryl Sutter may have at the same time aptly captured the unpredictable state of the entire Western Conference once the playoffs open on Monday.

“We’re good. We’ve been consistent all year,” Sutter said. “The key is being healthy and know what we’re up against. There’s a big storm coming here this week.”

Sutter’s point was for the Flames to not take for granted their first-round opponent, the Dallas Stars, who made the jump from ninth to seventh during a frantic final week in becoming the NHL’s final team to clinch a playoff berth.

As storm warnings go, the playoffs have traditionally stirred up havoc for the top seeds in the West, in which only one division champ — Vegas in its first season of existence, 2018 — reached the Stanley Cup Final since the top-seeded Chicago Blackhawks won the title in 2013. The Blues finished fifth in the West when they won the Cup in 2019, the 2014 Cup-wining Los Angeles Kings were sixth, while Nashville was eighth when losing the championship to Pittsburgh in 2017.

This year’s field doesn’t include Vegas for the first time in franchise history, while Calgary and Colorado are the top two seeds, but with a recent history of early round playoff collapses. The Kings return to the playoff for the first time in four years.

And brace yourselves for Central Division rivals Minnesota and St. Louis meeting in a first-round matchup which has the makings of being a bruiser.

In Denver, the Central-Division champion Avalanche are seeking to put past frustrations behind a year after the Presidents’ Trophy-winning team was knocked out in the second round by Vegas. Colorado, which hasn’t advanced past the second round since losing the Western Conference final to Detroit in 2002, will open against eighth-seeded Nashville.

“It’s not something that I’m thinking about anymore. It’s a new group this year. We have new opportunities and a new…