The Athletic NHL staff give their early predictions

[transplant99]

A few of the Flame relevant ones...


Stanley Cup champion

Colorado Avalanche
38.6
Carolina Hurricanes
31.8
Florida Panthers
6.8
Edmonton Oilers
4.5
New York Rangers
4.5
St. Louis Blues
4.5
Tampa Bay Lightning
4.5
Pittsburgh Penguins
2.3
Toronto Maple Leafs
2.3

Dark horse
A team that missed the playoffs in 2021-22 and could be a real contender in 2022-23.


Vegas Golden Knights
36.4
Ottawa Senators
18.2
Columbus Blue Jackets
11.4
Detroit Red Wings
11.4
Vancouver Canucks
11.4
New Jersey Devils
6.8
New York Islanders
4.5

Biggest drop-off
A team that made the playoffs in 2021-22 but won’t be back.

Minnesota Wild
20.0
Calgary Flames
16.7
Florida Panthers
16.7
Boston Bruins
13.3
Dallas Stars
6.7
Washington Capitals
6.7
Edmonton Oilers
3.3
New York Rangers
3.3
Pittsburgh Penguins
3.3
St. Louis Blues
3.3
Tampa Bay Lightning
3.3
Toronto Maple Leafs
3.3

First coach fired


Lindy Ruff
31.8
Dave Hakstol
18.2
Sheldon Keefe
13.6
D.J. Smith
11.4
Bruce Boudreau
4.5
Peter Laviolette
4.5
Brad Larsen
2.3
Dallas Eakins
2.3
Dean Evason
2.3
John Hynes
2.3
John Tortorella
2.3
Mike Sullivan
2.3
Todd McLellan
2.3


Vezina winner

Igor Shesterkin
50.0
Andrei Vasilevskiy
27.3
Ilya Sorokin
6.8
Thatcher Demko
6.8
Juuse Saros
4.5
Frederik Andersen
2.3
Jacob Markstrom
2.3

Hart winner

Connor McDavid
75.0
Cale Makar
11.4
Auston Matthews
4.5
Aleksander Barkov
2.3
Artemi Panarin
2.3
Johnny Gaudreau
2.3
Nathan MacKinnon
2.3

All-Stars most likely to be traded

Patrick Kane
93.3
J.T. Miller
83.3
Vladimir Tarasenko
83.3
Jonathan Quick
46.7
Timo Meier
36.7
Jonathan Huberdeau
26.7
David Pastrnak
20.0

West playoff field

Colorado Avalanche*
100.0
Edmonton Oilers*
100.0
St. Louis Blues*
100.0
Minnesota Wild*
83.3
Vegas Golden Knights
83.3
Nashville Predators*
83.3
Los Angeles Kings*
76.7
Calgary Flames*
73.3

https://theathletic.com/3440852/2022...we304dotdyulll

[transplant99]

Just realized this article is a month old....so if already posted...apologies.

[dino7c]

Month old could explain the lack of Flames respect...still

Imagine paying to hear people over rate the Oilers

[activeStick]

Wow no love for the Flames! Very surprising, actually.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by activeStick

Wow no love for the Flames! Very surprising, actually.

Not when you realize that the article is a month old.

Sent from my SM-G986W using Tapatalk

[dissentowner]

Ya, with the Kadri signing and Huberdeau commitment I imagine this will be different when they do their next one.

[midniteowl]

Why is Woody Woodpecker's name not on the first coach fire list?

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by midniteowl

Why is Woody Woodpecker's name not on the first coach fire list?

The media loves the Oilers. Every year they pick them to do great things and every year they are wrong

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

The media loves the Oilers. Every year they pick them to do great things and every year they are wrong

Sex Pistols syndrome.

In 1977, a lot of bad music journalists and critics talked themselves into believing that the Sex Pistols were the next Beatles and would therefore be just as big. The Sex Pistols then promptly self-destructed. For bonus points, instead of being the leaders of the next ‘British Invasion’, their only studio album peaked at 106 on the Billboard charts.

If Gretzky was John Lennon, McDavid is Johnny Rotten.

[Barnet Flame]

Johnny Rotten has been compared to a lot of things, but WTF did he do to you to deserve this?

[FlatLandFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Barnet Flame

Johnny Rotten has been compared to a lot of things, but WTF did he do to you to deserve this?

As my family in England would say "He's a shallow twat that one"

[Ashasx]

Columbus as a #3 darkhorse doesn't make much sense to me. Gaudreau is a fantastic player, but they lost Bjorkstrand who is unbelievably underrated, and they were no where close to the playoffs last season.

They also have arguably the worst centre depth in the league.

85 points seems like a good O/U.

[Canada 02]

Blue Jackets lost 18 one goal games last season. Adding an elite player, they must be hoping that they can win some of those games or at least get the loser points

They were an 81 pt team. I'd take the over on 85

[Mass_nerder]

As soon as I saw Huberdeau on the 'all-stars most likely to be traded' having the flames on the outside looking in made a lot more sense.

[TheIronMaiden]

The Oilers success will depend on two things.

1. Health
2. Average goaltending.

[iggyloob12]

I read that one last night when the article popped into my Twitter feed as an ad. Took me a bit to realize it was published before the Kadri signing.

[blankall]

Initially I was baffled at why they thought Huberdeau was going to be traded...then I realized it was a month old and that Huberdeau had indeed been traded, and that was their best prediction.

But yes, 1 month ago, I think we'd all agree that the Flames were in deep doo doo. Things have changed.

Also, has it been less than a month since all this crap went down? Feels like Gaudreau playing for the Flames is already in the distant past.

[djsFlames]

Oh hey this reminds me to cancel my Athletic subscription.

Thanks!

[djsFlames]

Gaudreau was 7 weeks ago.

Tkachuk was 6.

Huberdeau extension was 4.

Kadri 2.

And t-minus 2 until Weegar .

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Oh hey this reminds me to cancel my Athletic subscription.

Thanks!

I always cancel my auto renew just before my one year expires. Then I go without for about a month before they beg me to come back for 9.99 for the entire year instead of something like 79.99. So any of my fellow CPers that didn't know this I hope it saves you some money.