2019-20 NHL Predictions

Here we are for yet another start to the hockey season. Will the Blues repeat as Cup champions? Will the Lightning finally break through? Will a new contender emerge? Here are my predictions for the 2019-20 NHL Season.

Metropolitan Division
1. Washington Capitals- 102 points
2. Philadelphia Flyers- 100 points
3. Pittsburgh Penguins- 97 points
4. Carolina Hurricanes- 94 points (Wild Card #1)
5. New York Rangers- 92 points (Wild Card #2)
6. New Jersey Devils- 90 points
7. New York Islanders- 85 points
8. Columbus Blue Jackets- 80 points

This is certainly the deepest division in the league. The Washington Capitals have won this divison the past four seasons and I think they'll make it five straight seasons. Alex Ovechkin is still around to score his fair share of goals and Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, TJ Oshie, and Tom Wilson will help Ovechkin and the offense go. The defense is still solid led by John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov, and Michal Kempny. Braden Holtby is still around in goal. The Philadelphia Flyers are a good bet to bounce back from last year's disappointment and they have a new coach in Alain Vigneault. Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, and free agent pickup Kevin Hayes lead the way offensively. Their defense is young and getting better by Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov, and veteran Matt Niskanen. Carter Hart is one of the up and coming goalies in this league and he could possibly win a Vezina Trophy some day. The Pittsburgh Penguins are a team who's window is closing. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are still around and the offense also has the likes of Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, and newcomer Alex Galchenyuk. The defense is not as good as it once was with Kris Letang's game in decline and they also have the likes of Justin Schultz and Brian Dumoulin. Matt Murray is still very good in goal, but he was compromised last season thanks to the defense not being as strong. The Carolina Hurricanes are a team that may take a step back, but I still think this is a playoff team. Sebastian Aho is a star in this league and he has some good forwards around him such as Andrei Svechnikov, Nino Niederreiter, and Teuvo Teravainen. The defense is sneakily very good led by Dougie Hamilton, Jaccob Slavin, and Joel Edmundsson. My one concern about the Canes is whether the duo of Petr Mrazek and James Reimer can get the job done in a big spot. The New York Rangers are certainly one of the teams thats improved the most this summer. Rookie Kaapo Kakko and free agent pickup Artemi Panarin join Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad to form a lethal foursome offensively. The defense will be improved with trade acquisitions Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox to go with Brady Skjei and Tony De'Angelo. Henrik Lundqvist's game has been in decline for a few years now, but with a better defense, he could turn back the clock a little bit. The New Jersey Devils should be better than they were a season ago. Taylor Hall is in a contract year and he, rookie Jack Hughes, and Nico Hischier will be a nice trio offensively. Their defense will be improved with the trade acquisition PK Subban to go with Sami Vatenen and Damon Severson. Cory Schneider needs to have a good season in goal after a few down seasons. The New York Islanders had a great season last year, but I expect a step back. Anders Lee was brought back and he, Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson, Jordan Eberle, and Josh Bailey is a nice offensive core. The defense is not that great with the likes of Ryan Pulock, Nick Leddy, and Johnny Boychuk. They downgraded at goalie from Robin Lehner to Semyon Varlamov to go with Thomas Greiss, who is mediocre at best. The Columbus Blue Jackets will take a step back with key free agent losses. Their offense has some talent with Pierre-Luc Dubois, Cam Atkinson, and Nick Foligno. Their defense has a nice duo on their top pairing in Seth Jones and Zach Werenski. Replacing Sergei Brovovksy in net is Joonas Korpisalo.

Atlantic Division
1. Tampa Bay Lightning (105 points)
2. Toronto Maple Leafs (103 points)
3. Boston Bruins (100 points)
4. Florida Panthers (91 points)
5. Buffalo Sabres (85 points)
6. Montreal Canadiens (82 points)
7. Detroit Red Wings (70 points)
8. Ottawa Senators (65 points)

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a team that's trying to rebound from an embarrassing sweep at the
hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round, but they won this division the last two seasons and I think they take it again. Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, and Steven Stamkos lead the way offensively. Their defense is loaded with Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh, and Mikael Sergachev. Andre Vasileskiy is awesome in goal. The Toronto Maple Leafs are a team that's poised for a big season. John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander is perhaps the best four-some in terms of forward teammates in the league. Their defense is vastly improved with Tyson Barrie coming over in a trade to go with Morgan Reilly and Jake Muzzin. Frederick Andersen is a goalie that's been erratic at times, but a better defense will help him. The Boston Bruins made the Stanley Cup Final a season ago and I think they have a chance to go back if things break right. Their offense is loaded led by Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Pasternak, and Jake DeBrusk. Their defense is solid led by Zdeno Chara, Charlie McAvoy, and Torey Krug. Tukka Rask is still around in goal and he's someone who's quietly declining. The Florida Panthers are a team looking to make it to the postseason for the first time in four seasons. Their offense is solid led by Aleksnder Barkov,
Jonathan Huberdeau, and Vincent Trocheck. Their defense is not that great, but serviceable led by
Aaron Ekblad and Keith Yandle. The Buffalo Sabres are a team that is trying to end a seven year playoff drought. Jack Eichel, Casey Mittlestadt, Jeff Skinner, and Sam Reinhardt lead the way offensively. Their defense is better than it's been in past years with newcomer Colin Miller joining Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolainen, Marco Scandella, and Brandon Montour. Their weakness is in goal and their starter is supposed to be Carter Hutton. The Montreal Canadiens had a surprisingly decent season a year ago, but I think they take a step back. Max Domi, Brendan Gallagher, and Tomas Tatar lead the way offensively. Their defense is actually not bad led by Shea Weber and Jeff Petry. Carey Price is still in goal and he's not what he was five years ago, but he can steal some games that the Habs shouldn't win. The Detroit Red Wings are in a rebuild and aren't even close to contending. Their top line is projected to be Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, and Tyler Bertuzzi. Their defense isn't great with the likes of Mike Green and Danny DeKeyser. Jimmy Howard is still around in goal. The Ottawa Senators are a team with a new coach in DJ Smith and is in a rebuild still too. They need to continue to develop talented guys such as Collin White and Brady Tkachuk. Their
defense still is left to be desired and the only guy who I really like is Thomas Chabot. Craig
Anderson is not a bad goalie and could be trade bait if the Sens decide to have a sell-off again.

Central Division
1. Colorado Avalanche (107 points)
2. St. Louis Blues (105 points)
3. Nashville Predators (100 points)
4. Dallas Stars (97 points) (Wild Card #1)
5. Winnipeg Jets (95 points) (Wild Card #2)
6. Chicago Blackhawks (85 points)
7. Minnesota Wild (74 points)

This division is absolutely loaded and my pick to win it is the Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are loaded offensively led by their top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Ratenen, and Gabriel
Landeskog. Their defense is very solid too led by rookie Cale Makar, Samuel Girard, and Erik
Johnson. Philipp Gaubauer is their new starting goalie with Semyon Valramov moving on from the team. The St. Louis Blues are the reigning Stanley Cup champions and they should be back in the mix again. Their offense is among the better ones in the league with Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O'Reilly, and Jaden Schwartz leading the way. Their defense is among the best in the game too led by Alex Pietrangelo, Colton Parayko, Joel Edmunsson, and offseason addition Vince Dunn. Jordan Binnington was amazing in the teams Stanley Cup run last year and my question is can he repeat his success from a season ago? The Nashville Predators are a team that's still solid in the West. Matt Duchene was added to this offense that already has Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, and Viktor Avridsson. Their defense is still good sans trading away PK Subban and guys like Roman Josi, Ryan Ellis, and rookie Dante Fabbro will lead the way on that unit. Pekka Rinne is still in net and he's someone that is getting up there in age at 36. The Dallas Stars should be a team that should return to the postseason. Their offense will be better adding Joe Pavelski to go with Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov. Their defense is really good with their top pairing of John Klingberg and
Miro Hiskanen. Ben Bishop is one of the more underrated goalies in the league. The Winnipeg Jets
are a team that may take a step back this season. Their offense is still really good led by Patrik Laine, Kyle Connor, Blake Wheeler, and Mark Scheifele. Their defense has lost a ton including Jacob Trouba in a trade, Dustin Byfuglien isn't even with the team to start the season, and Josh Morrisey is their best option right now. Connor Hellebuyck is someone that wasn't as good last year as he was two seasons ago. The Chicago Blackhawks are a team that really should be in a rebuilding phase, but still have a lot of championship experienced veterans on their team. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Alex DiBrincat all had great seasons last year, but I'm not sold Toews will be as good this season. Their defense is obviously aging with Duncan Kieth and Brent Seabrook still there and the team added Olli Matta this offseason via trade. Corey Crawford is still in goal although he's had health issues over the last few seasons and the pickup of Robin Lehner was smart. The Minnesota Wild are a team in a transition phase. Their offense isn't very good with guys like Eric Staal and Zach Parise getting up there in age although they did sign Mats Zuccarello this summer and Jason Zucker is still around after being in trade rumors all summer. Their defense is pretty solid though led by Matt Dumba, Ryan Suter, and Jared Sprugeron. Devan Dubnyk is solid in net as well.

Pacific Division
1. Vegas Golden Knights (110 points)
2. San Jose Sharks (97 points)
3. Calgary Flames (94 points)
4. Vancouver Canucks (88 points)
5. Edmonton Oilers (85 points)
6. Arizona Coyotes (82 points)
7. Anaheim Ducks (73 points)
8. Los Angeles Kings (67 points)

This division is arguably the weakest in the league (although the Atlantic could be the weakest if a few teams are worse than I project). The Vegas Golden Knights are my pick to win this division for the second time in their brief history. Their offense is awesome led by William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, Max Pacioretty, and Mark Stone. Despite losing Colin Miller, their defense is still good led by Shea Theodore and Nate Schmidt. Marc-Andre Fleury is still around in goal and he's someone that's aging. The San Jose Sharks are a team that really is relying on some younger players to make jumps this season with some of their veterans aging. Their offense is solid led by Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, Logan Couture, Evander Kane, and Kevin Lablanc. Their defense is still solid led by Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Martin Jones is still in goal and he must be better than his sub-.900 save percentage from a season ago. The Calgary Flames are a team that wants to build on a successful season from a year ago. Their offense is great led by Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monohan, and Matthew Tkachuk. Their defense is solid led by Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie, and Noah Hanafin. David Rittich showed promise in net last season and Cam Talbot is backing him up. The Vancouver Canucks are a team that I expect to improve this season. Their offense has a nice core led by Elias Petterson, Brock Boesser, and Bo Horvat. Their defense will be better with rookie Quinn Hughes, free agent add Tyler Myers, and Alex Edler. Jacob Markstrom showed promise in net last season. The Edmonton Oilers are a team that looks to bounce back from yet another disappointing season. Connor McDavid is the best player in the world and he has Leon Draisitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and new addition James Neal around him on offense. Their defense still isn't good with guys like Darnell Nurse and Oscar Klefbom. In goal now is veteran Mike Smith. The Arizona Coyotes showed improvement last season and look to build on a it. Their offense has potential led by Clayton Keller, Derek Stepan, Christian Dvorak, and trade acquisition Phil Kessel. The defense took a step forward a year ago led by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Alex Goligoski. Their goaltending duo of Darcy Kuemper and Annti Raanta has potential too and I'm not sold on Kuemper repeating last seasons success. The Anaheim Ducks are a team that's in a transition and could look like a different team if they have a trade deadline sell-off. Corey Perry is gone, but Ryan Getzlaf, Rickard Rakell, Jakob Silfverberg, and Adam Henrique are still around. Their defense is pretty solid led by Hampus Lindholm, Cam Fowler, and Josh Manson. Their goalie John Gibson is one of the more underrated ones in the game. The Los Angeles Kings are a team that's on the verge of enduring a major rebuild. Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Tyler Tiffoli, and Ilya Kovalchuk lead the way offensively. On defense, you have Drew Doughty and Alec Martinez as your top pairing. Jonathan Quick is still in net and he could be trade bait as well as a lot of players on this team.

2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs
- Quarterfinals
(A1) Tampa Bay Lightning vs (WC2) New York Rangers: The up-and-coming Rangers promising season comes to an end against a Lightning team full of ex-Rangers on it comes out not wanting a repeat of last season happening.
Prediction: Lightning in four games.

(A2) Toronto Maple Leafs vs (A3) Boston Bruins: Death, Taxes, Leafs/Bruins in the First Round. Rinse, Rise, Repeat. This is among the best rivalries in the sport and I think the improved Leafs will finally break through here.
Prediction: Maple Leafs in six games.

(M1) Washington Capitals vs (WC1) Carolina Hurricanes: Here we have a rematch of last seasons first round matchup. This time, I believe the Caps get their revenge led by Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby.
Prediction: Capitals in six games.

(M2) Philadelphia Flyers vs (M3) Pittsburgh Penguins: One of the best rivalries in the sport takes center stage here. The up-and-coming Flyers will get the better end of the aging Pens this time around.
Prediction: Flyers in six games.

(C1) Colorado Avalanche vs (WC1) Dallas Stars: This should be an entertaining playoff series between two good West teams. The trio of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantenen, and Gabriel Landeskog will prevail over Ben Bishop and the Stars.
Prediction: Avalanche in six games.

(C2) St. Louis Blues vs (C3) Nashville Predators: This is the best of my projected first round series's. Both of these teams are great all around and I'm going to take the reigning champions to prevail here as Pekka Rinne's playoff struggles will continue.
Prediction: Blues in seven games.

(P1) Vegas Golden Knights vs (WC2) Winnipeg Jets: This would have been a much better series if it were last year, but I don't think the Jets can keep up with the Knights this time around in this Western Final rematch from two years ago.
Prediction: Knights in five games.

(P2) San Jose Sharks vs (P3) Calgary Flames: This should be a fun first round with a ton of goals scored. I'm going to go with a team that has had the better postseason pedigree and that is the Sharks.
Prediction: Sharks in six games.

- Semifinal
(A1) Tampa Bay Lightning vs (A2) Toronto Maple Leafs: These two teams are going to score a ton in this series, but I'm going to go with the upset here with the Leafs as the Bolts go home earlier than expected yet again.
Prediction: Maple Leafs in seven games.

(M1) Washington Capitals vs (M2) Philadelphia Flyers: This should be a fantastic series between these division rivals. I'm going to go with Ovechkin and company to advance here.
Prediction: Capitals in seven games.

(C1) Colorado Avalanche vs (C2) St. Louis Blues: This series is going to be excellent between tees division rivals. The Blues bid for a repeat comes to an end against a great Avalanche team.
Prediction: Avalanche in seven games.

(P1) Vegas Golden Knights vs (P2) San Jose Sharks: This has emerged as a great rivalry over the last two years in the league and they'd meet here for a third year in a row. This time around, give me the better team and that is the Knights.
Prediction: Knights in six games.

- Conference Final
(M1) Washington Capitals vs (A2) Toronto Maple Leafs: This should be a very interesting Conference Final. I really like how the Leafs put their team together and I think they make the Final for the first time in over fifty years.
Prediction: Maple Leafs in six games.

(P1) Vegas Golden Knights vs (C1) Colorado Avalanche: This should be an excellent series between two great Western Conference teams. Tough call, but give me the MacKinnon, Rantenen, Landeskog trio to lead the Avs to the Final for the first time since 2001.
Prediction: Avalanche in six games.

- Stanley Cup Final
(C1) Colorado Avalanche vs (A2) Toronto Maple Leafs: This should be an interesting final between two teams that haven't won in over a decade. The ironic thing here is that these two teams made a big trade this summer headlined by Nazem Kadri going to Colorado and Tyson Barrie going to Toronto. That said, I'm going with the Avalanche to win their third Cup in franchise history in what should be a fantastic series.
Prediction: Avalanche in six games.