League-wide Predictions

[Randall Flagg]

It's that time of year again!! Prospect Tournament begins at the end of this coming week, the preseason begins two weeks from Monday. I'll write down a format and you can fill in your predictions! 

Atlantic Division Winner:
Metropolitan Division Winner:
Central Division Winner:
Pacific Division Winner:
President's Trophy:

Stanley Cup Champion:
Stanley Cup runner-up:
Conn Smythe:

Hart:
Art Ross:
Norris:
Vezina:
Selke:
Calder:
Jack Adams:
(You can add the other awards, these are the ones I care about)
Biggest surprise (team):
Biggest surprise (player):
Biggest disappointment (team):
Biggest disappointment (player):
Biggest name traded during season:
First coach fired:
Bottom 3 teams:

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Atlantic ... Tampa Bay

Metro ... Pittsburgh

Central ... Winnipeg

Pacific ... San Jose

Presidents ... Tampa Bay

Cup ... Tampa Bay

Brides Maid ... Winnipeg

Conn Smythe ... Stamkos

Hart ... Stamkos

Norris ... E.K.

Vezina ... ?

Selke ... ?

Calder ... our newest toy

Jack Adams ... ?

Not sure about the rest.

 

 

[Randall Flagg]

i'm actually going to tryand predict the whole standings:
Atlantic
1.) Toronto
2.) Tampa
3. Boston

Metropolitan
1.) Pittsburgh
2.) Washington 
3.) Columbus

Wild Card
1.) Florida
2.) New Jersey
----------------------
Carolina (close)
Philadelphia (close)
NYI 
Buffalo
NYR
Detroit
Montreal
Ottawa

Central
1.) Winnipeg
2.) St. Louis
3.) Nashville

Pacific
1.) Anaheim (I like their defense too much and think the division is weak)
2.) Vegas
3.) Calgary

Wild Card
1.) San Jose
2.) Edmonton
----------------------------
Minnesota
LAK
Dallas
Arizona
Colorado
Chicago
Vancouver

President's Trophy: Toronto

Stanley Cup Champion: Tampa
Stanley Cup runner-up: Winnipeg
Conn Smythe: Victor Hedman

Hart: Connor McDavid
Art Ross: Connor McDavid (113 Points)
Norris: Victor Hedman again
Vezina: Bobrovsky
Selke: Barkov
Calder: Pettersson
Jack Adams: Bill Peters

Biggest surprise (team): Calgary
Biggest surprise (player): Aho (LW) hits 80 points
Biggest disappointment (team): Colorado crashes 
Biggest disappointment (player): William Karlsson doesn't break 60 points or 30 goals
Biggest name traded during season: Tyler Seguin ?
First coach fired: Hakstoll because he sucks
Bottom 3 teams: all from the atlantic: Detroit, then Montreal, then Ottawa in last.

Nice finals choices, NS ?

[Hoss]

Atlantic:

1. Tampa Bay

2. Toronto

3. Boston

Metro:

1. Philadelphia

2. Pittsburgh

3. Washington

East Wild Card:

1. Florida

2. New Jersey

 

Central:

1. Nashville

2. Winnipeg

3. St. Louis

Pacific:

1. San Jose

2. Calgary

3. Edmonton

West Wild Card:

1. Anaheim

2. LA

 

East Playoffs:

1 Tampa Bay over WC2 New Jersey

WC1 Florida over 1 Philadelphia

3 Washington over 2 Pittsburgh

2 Toronto over 3 Boston

1 Tampa Bay over 2 Toronto

WC1 Florida over 3 Washington

1 Tampa Bay over WC1 Florida

 

West Playoffs:

1 Nashville over WC2 Los Angeles

1 San Jose over WC1 Anaheim

2 Calgary over 3 Edmonton

3 St. Louis over 2 Winnipeg

1 Nashville over 2 Calgary

1 San Jose over 3 St Louis

1 San Jose over 1 Nashville

 

Stanley Cup:

San Jose over Tampa Bay

President's Trophy: Nashville Predators

Stanley Cup Champion: San Jose Sharks
Stanley Cup runner-up: Tampa Bay Lightning
Conn Smythe: Logan Couture

Hart: Connor McDavid
Art Ross: Connor McDavid
Norris: PK Subban
Vezina: Vaslivsky
Selke: Sean Couturier
Calder: Rasmus Dahlin
Jack Adams: Bill Peters (Calgary)
Biggest surprise (team): Calgary
Biggest surprise (player): Filip Forsberg Falls just short of the Hart
Biggest disappointment (team): Columbus
Biggest disappointment (player): 
Biggest name traded during season: Erik Karlsson (Tampa), Artemi Panarin (New Jersey as a rental), Tyler Seguin (San Jose)
First coach fired: John Tortorella
Bottom 3 teams: Vancouver, Ottawa and Carolina

Edited September 1, 2018 by Hoss

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

Atlantic- Tampa

Metro- Pittsburgh

Central- Nashville

Pacific- San Jose

Presidents- Tampa

Cup winner- Pittsburgh

Runner-up- San Jose

Conn Smythe- Malkin

Hart-Malkin

Art Ross- Kucherov

Norris- Brent Burns

Vezina- Rinne

Selke- Kopitar

Calder- Dahlin

Jack Adams- Peters

Surprise team- Calgary

Surprise Player- Eichel

Disappointment Team- Florida

Disappointment Player- W. Karlsson

Big name traded- Panarin

1st coach fired- Boucher

Bottom 3 teams- Ottawa/ Montreal/ Arizona

 

[ubkev]

Atlantic - Boston

Met - Pittsburgh

WC - New Jersey & Florida

Central - St Louis

Pacific - Vegas

WC - San Jose & Minnesota

President's Trophy - Pittsburgh

SC Champs - Pittsburgh

SC losers - Nashville

Smythe - Crosby

Hart: McDavid

Ross: McDavid

Norris: PK

Vezina: Bob

Calder: Mitts

Adams: eh

[Randall Flagg]

We should also do a Sabres-specific prediction thread but I'll leave that for someone else to make.

[thewookie1]

Atlantic Division Winner: Tampa Bay
Metropolitan Division Winner: Washington
Central Division Winner: Winnipeg
Pacific Division Winner: San Jose
President's Trophy: Tampa Bay

Stanley Cup Champion: Tampa Bay
Stanley Cup runner-up: Nashville
Conn Smythe: Kucherov

Calder: Mitts
Jack Adams: Phil Housley
(You can add the other awards, these are the ones I care about)
Biggest surprise (team): Buffalo
Biggest surprise (player): Lindholm (CGY)
Biggest disappointment (team): Columbus/Edmonton
Biggest disappointment (player): Kovulchuck
Biggest name traded during season: Karlsson
First coach fired: Claude Julien
Bottom 3 teams: Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, NYR, NYI

 

1. TB 114pts

2. BUF 99pts (tiebreakers)

3. BOS 99pts

WC1: TOR 98pts

1. WSH 110 pts

2. PIT 104 pts

3. PHI 102 pts

WC2: CAR 95 pts

 

TB > CAR

BUF > BOS

WSH > TOR

PIT > PHI

TB > BUF

WSH > PIT

TB > WSH

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

So far (it is early but...) it seems we mostly agree that Calgary will be the "surprise team" so if they do well....are they still the surprise team ??? LOL

[Eleven]

20 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

It's that time of year again!! Prospect Tournament begins at the end of this coming week, the preseason begins two weeks from Monday. I'll write down a format and you can fill in your predictions! 

Atlantic Division Winner:  TAMPA
Metropolitan Division Winner:  PITTSBURGH
Central Division Winner:  NASHVILLE
Pacific Division Winner:  VANCOUVER--HA JUST KIDDING--ANAHEIM
President's Trophy:  PITTSBURGH

Stanley Cup Champion:  PITTSBURGH
Stanley Cup runner-up:  WINNIPEG
Conn Smythe:   HELLEBUYCK

Hart:  CROSBY
Art Ross:  MCDAVID
Norris:  DAHLIN
Vezina:  HELLEBUYCK
Selke:  BERGERON
Calder:  DAHLIN
Jack Adams:  MAURICE
(You can add the other awards, these are the ones I care about)
Biggest surprise (team):  WHAT DOES THIS MEAN
Biggest surprise (player):  WHAT DOES THIS MEAN
Biggest disappointment (team):  RANGERS
Biggest disappointment (player):  E. KANE
Biggest name traded during season:  KARLSSON
First coach fired:  GREEN
Bottom 3 teams:  OTTAWA, ARIZONA, VANCOUVER

 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Wowser!!

We have our first Dahlin Calder and Norris predicter.

Welcome to the board, Hopeful Eleven.

[SabresFanInRochester]

Atlantic Division Winner: Tampa
Metropolitan Division Winner: Washington
Central Division Winner: St. Louis
Pacific Division Winner: San Jose
President's Trophy: Tampa

Stanley Cup Champion: St. Louis
Stanley Cup runner-up: Columbus
Conn Smythe: Tarasenko

Hart: McDavid
Art Ross: McDavid
Norris: Hedman
Vezina: Bobrovsky
Selke: Bergeron
Calder: Middlestadt
Jack Adams: Phil Housley
(You can add the other awards, these are the ones I care about)
Biggest surprise (team): Sabres (yeah, I'm a homer)
Biggest surprise (player): Middlestadt
Biggest disappointment (team): Chicago
Biggest disappointment (player): Matt Murray
Biggest name traded during season: Seguin
First coach fired: Todd McLellan
Bottom 3 teams: Ottawa, Detroit, NY Rangers

[GASabresIUFAN]

How is this for a predicition.  The Sabres have about a 40% chance of making the playoffs.

I figure 6 teams from the East are shoe-ins; TB, Tor, Bos, Phi, Pitt and Wash.

5 teams will likely stink; Ott, Mon, NyR, NyI, and Det.

That leaves 5 teams in the middle fighting for two slots. Fla, CBJ, and NJ top the list with Buffalo and Car.  

[dudacek]

4 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

How is this for a predicition.  The Sabres have about a 40% chance of making the playoffs.

I figure 6 teams from the East are shoe-ins; TB, Tor, Bos, Phi, Pitt and Wash.

5 teams will likely stink; Ott, Mon, NyR, NyI, and Det.

That leaves 5 teams in the middle fighting for two slots. Fla, CBJ, and NJ top the list with Buffalo and Car.  

Give or take a team or two, this seems to be developing into a bit of a mainstream consensus.

Very few expect Buffalo to make it, but people seem to think they should move above the dregs.

[Thorny]

22 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Give or take a team or two, this seems to be developing into a bit of a mainstream consensus.

Very few expect Buffalo to make it, but people seem to think they should move above the dregs.

I find myself straying from this view. I think that the next step up for the Sabres is going to be that "leap forward' season - that is to say, I think that when the time comes, they are going to go from bad to good, surprise some people, and then maybe take a step back, rather than progress from bad to mediocre, and finally to good. 

My prediction: the Sabres are either going to be below .500 this season, or in the playoffs. 

Edited September 5, 2018 by Thorny

[Randall Flagg]

I still think we're a bottom 5 team. 

[dudacek]

We’re a bottom five team for me until they show us otherwise.

Don’t think they should be given the talent, but a lot of that is young; it needs to mature and it needs to be coached. And the goaltending for me is a cipher.

 

[Weave]

Legit questions on D.  Legit questions in goal.  Legit concerns re: coaching.

No way I can predict what this team will do.

[mjd1001]

This is the first year in a LONG time that not many people are predicting the Bruins to fade...so to me that means this is the year they actually do. They will struggle to make the playoffs, if then even do make it.

Dallas and Florida are both going to be a lot better than people think. Both are playoff teams barring any major injuries.

L.A. is going to disappoint, they will have a season this year like Chicago had last year.

Buffalo?  I feel the same way about the Sabres that I do about the Bills.  I do not think they are a playoff team, but I have as little of a grasp on EXACTLY what I think they will be as I have in years. To me this is just a 'sit back with no expectations and watch'  kind of year.

[dudacek]

The combination of new faces and perennial disappointments makes it extraordinarily hard to predict the Sabres this year.

[WildCard]

1 hour ago, Randall Flagg said:

I still think we're a bottom 5 team. 

Detroit, Montreal, Arizona, Vancouver, Ottawa

Not a chance we're a bottom 5 team

[Randall Flagg]

1 minute ago, WildCard said:

Detroit, Montreal, Arizona, Vancouver, Ottawa

Not a chance we're a bottom 5 team

I guarantee you would have put more money on that being the case last year than you are willing to this year. Don't lie ?

Edited September 6, 2018 by Randall Flagg

[WildCard]

Just now, Randall Flagg said:

I guarantee you would have put more money on that being the case last year than you are willing to this year.

Good thing I'm never wrong twice in a row

[Randall Flagg]

I'm actually more inclined to believe we're the worst team in the NHL than I am to believe that we're going to be a wild card team

[pi2000]

Atlantic Division Winner:  TBL
Metropolitan Division Winner:  CBJ
Central Division Winner:  WPG
Pacific Division Winner: SJS
President's Trophy: SJS

Stanley Cup Champion: SJS
Stanley Cup runner-up: TBL
Conn Smythe: B. Burns

Hart: McDavid
Art Ross: McDavid
Norris: Doughty
Vezina: Bobrovsky
Selke: O'Reilly
Calder: Mittlestadt
Jack Adams: deBoer
(You can add the other awards, these are the ones I care about)
Biggest surprise (team): ARI
Biggest surprise (player): K. Connor
Biggest disappointment (team):  TOR
Biggest disappointment (player):  A. Matthews (who else?)
Biggest name traded during season:  A. Ovechkin
First coach fired:  Housley
Bottom 3 teams:  VAN, MTL, OTT