I thought I would drop my season predictions here, now that we're mere days from puck drop on the regular season:
x = make playoffs
y = lead division
z = lead conference
* = lead league
e = eliminated
Atlantic:
1. y - Florida Panthers
2. x - Toronto Maple Leafs
3. x - Boston Bruins
4. x - Buffalo Sabres
5. e - Tampa Bay Lightning
6. e - Detroit Red Wings
7. e - Ottawa Senators
8. e - Montreal Canadiens
Call me crazy (being that I've picked them to finally do it 3 years in a row now), but I think Buffalo finally puts it together and snags a wildcard spot. Tampa is falling in the standing as their core is aging and Vasy gets worse and more injured every year. Losing Sergachev and Stamkos is big as well. I think Buffalo is at least a step or two ahead of the other 2 up and comers in the Atlantic (Ottawa and Detroit). If the Swayman situation isn't rectified, I could even see the Sabres leap frogging Boston.
Metro:
1. * New Jersey Devils
2. x - New York Rangers
3. x - Carolina Hurricanes
4. x - Pittsburgh Penguins
5. e - New York Islanders
6. e - Washington Capitals
7. e - Philadelphia Flyers
8. e - Columbus Blue Jackets
The Devils had a nightmare season in 23-24 after they finally broke out of a lengthy rebuild, the main issues being injuries, coaching and goaltending. The goaltending, and to a certain extent the coaching (Keefe > Ruff, still not great though) have been fixed. Given better health, particularly for their blueline, they should be a force to be reckoned with. Pittsburgh barely missed last year with a terrible powerplay and awful PDO, they've fired their powerplay coordinator (who somehow fumbled a powerplay with Crosby, Malkin and Karlsson) and with a bit better luck they should be able to best the Midlanders and Crapitals.
Central:
1. y - Dallas Stars
2. x - Colorado Avalanche
3. x - Nashville Predators
4. x - Winnipeg Jets
5. x - Minnesota Wild
6. e - St Louis Blues
7. e - Utah Hockey Club
8. e - Chicago Blackhawks
I predict the Central will be relatively similar, I see Dallas topping the division, but with their losses (and subtraction by addition of Mat Dumba) on the blue line, being not as good as last season. The Avs are more of the same, great top end that will carry them through the regular season, but a lack of forward depth and goaltending causing problems for them. Nashville got better and Winnipeg got slightly worse so I see them swapping. Everyone on Minnesota had a down year last season, so I see them rebounding to narrowly make the playoffs.
Pacific:
1. z - Edmonton Oilers
2. x - Vancouver Canucks
3. x - Vegas Golden Knights
4. e - Los Angeles Kings
5. e - Seattle Kraken
6. e - Anaheim Ducks
7. e - Calgary Flames
8. e - San Jose Sharks
I see only 3 teams making it from the Pacific as I think the Central wild card teams are just that little bit stronger than the Pacific. LA is pretty much a middling team at this point. They had some great stretches last season but they're now going to be missing Doughty for an extended period their success is going to depend on whether they have Darcy Kuemper from last year, or a couple years ago. If it's the former, they could be in trouble. I see Vegas, LA and Seattle all being close, but Vegas prevailing in the end, despite massive offseason losses. Edmonton and Vancouver being 1 and 2 are probably the placements I have the most confidence in. The PDO Nucks are still good, but likely won't have their bottom 6 scoring on every third shot, so they could take a step back, missing Demko and Silovs for at least the beginning of the year will hurt them as well, for that reason, the Oilers should win the division.
Awards:
Presidents Trophy: New Jersey Devils (Runner Ups: Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers)
Art Ross Trophy: Connor McDavid - EDM (Runner Ups: Nathan Mackinnon - COL, Kirill Kaprizov - MIN)
Rocket Richard Trophy: Auston Matthews - TOR (Runner Ups: David Pastrnak - BOS, Leon Draisaitl - EDM)
Hart Trophy: Kirill Kaprizov - MIN (Runner Ups: Sydney Crosby - PIT, Connor McDavid - EDM)
Ted Lindsay Trophy: Connor McDavid - EDM (Runner Ups: Nathan MacKinnon - COL, Kirill Kaprizov - MIN)
Norris Trophy: Cale Makar - COL (Runner Ups: Adam Fox - NYR, Quinn Hughes - VAN)
Selke Trophy: Nico Hischier - NJD (Runner Ups: Sasha Barkov - FLA, Connor McDavid - EDM)
Vezina Trophy: Igor Shesterkin - NYR (Runner Ups: Juuse Saros - NSH, Connor Hellbuyck - WPG)
Playoffs (Round 1 Only):
East:
NJD vs PIT
NYR vs CAR
FLA vs BUF
TOR vs BOS
West:
EDM vs MIN
VAN vs VGK
DAL vs WPG
COL vs NSH
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