2020/ 2021 Season Prognostecation

[Derek Sutton]

With camps set to open, lets see your predictions!

Flames Centric

Flames Points: 70
Flames Wins: 32
Markstrom Starts: 37
Flames Point Leader, total: Gudreau, 54
New Flame Forward With Biggest Impact: Simon
First Flame Traded Away: Ryan, not until deadline day


Around the League, Regular Season

Canadian Division Champion: Leafs
West Division Champion: Avalanche
Central Division Champion: Tampa Bay
East Division Champion: Flyers
Presidents Trophy: Leafs
Last Place Team: Detroit


Scoring Champion: Mackinnon, 68pts
Norris: Hedman
Calder: Stutzle
Vezina MARKSTROM

Best Off Season Signing: Markstrom
Worst Off Season Signing: Pietrangelo, Vegas
First Player Suspended: Evander Kane, violating Covid protocol
Number of Games Canceled do to Covid: 12

Stanley Cup Winner: Avalanche over.... Flyers or Lightning or (puke) Canucks

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Derek Sutton

Stanley Cup Winner: Avalanche over.... Flyers or Lightning or (puke) Canucks

two things wrong with this:

1) Canucks won't make the playoffs
2) Even if they did, they couldn't meet the Avs in the Cup final

[MoneyGuy]

Avalanche win the cup over the Lightning.

Edit: the misspelling in the thread title troubles me.

[Canada 02]

I believe in round 3 of the playoffs, 1 plays 4, 2 plays 3, regardless of the division
so yes, you could have two western teams in the Cup

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

two things wrong with this:

1) Canucks won't make the playoffs
2) Even if they did, they couldn't meet the Avs in the Cup final

How will the playoffs work?
The league will have a traditional 16-team, best-of-seven playoff format this year, though it will look a bit different thanks to the divisional realignment. The top four teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs and be placed into divisional brackets for the first few rounds of the playoffs (No.1 seed vs. No. 4 seed, No. 2 seed vs. No. 3 seed).

The four teams that advance to the Stanley Cup Semifinal (known as the Conference Final in a normal year) will be seeded by their regular season points total, with the No. 1 vs. No. 4 seed and No. 2 vs. No. 3.

This format means, in theory, this year's Stanley Cup Final could feature two teams that typically play in the same conference in a traditional season.

[topfiverecords]

Can we get a Prognostication thread? Would be fun.

[dying4acup]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Can we get a Prognostication thread? Would be fun.

I think this is it 🤔

[Monahammer]

I'll play:

Flames Centric

Flames Points: 69 (nice...)
Flames Wins: 32
Markstrom Starts: 35
Flames Point Leader, total: Tkachuk- 60
New Flame Forward With Biggest Impact: Leivo
First Flame Traded Away: Gaudreau


Around the League, Regular Season

Canadian Division Champion: Flames
West Division Champion: Avalanche
Central Division Champion: Tampa Bay
East Division Champion: NYI
Presidents Trophy: Avalanche
Last Place Team: Arizona (Detroit close 2nd)


Scoring Champion: McDavid- 75 points
Norris: Makar
Calder: Valimaki
Vezina: Carter Hart

Best Off Season Signing: Markstrom
Worst Off Season Signing: Josh Anderson
First Player Suspended: Evander Kane
Number of Games Canceled do to Covid: 13

Stanley Cup Winner: Avalanche

[PegCityFlamesFan]

4 posts in the thread is derailed. Thankfully it wasn't about trading Bennett or Backlund.

[Enoch Root]

Leafs and Flames fight for the top 2 spots. TOR finishes 3 points ahead of CGY.

VAN, MTL, EDM fight for 3rd and 4th. Only 1 of EDM or VAN makes the playoffs.

WPG is also in the mix for 3rd and 4th if Helly plays like last year.

OTT will be closer to the pack, but still looking up.

Leivo moves up to Monahan's line and plays at a 60pt pace while there.

[Robbob]

https://theathletic.com/2281009/2020...shared-article

For the North, Dom looks like he has them tiered like this.

Leafs

Habs
Flames
Oilers

Canucks
Jets

Sens

Don't know if I agree the leafs are that far ahead of the teams.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Robbob

https://theathletic.com/2281009/2020...shared-article

For the North, Dom looks like he has them tiered like this.

Leafs

Habs
Flames
Oilers

Canucks
Jets

Sens

Don't know if I agree the leafs are that far ahead of the teams.

I like the Habs prediction, I think they will do well. That said, have to disagree on the Oilers, this year because of all the back to backs, having two solid goaltenders is more important than ever, it wont take long for teams to figure out how to beat Smith and High Glove Side.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Robbob

https://theathletic.com/2281009/2020...shared-article

For the North, Dom looks like he has them tiered like this.

Leafs

Habs
Flames
Oilers

Canucks
Jets

Sens

Don't know if I agree the leafs are that far ahead of the teams.

I have a hard time imagining that the Oilers with their defence and goaltending could be a top-four team in the Division. Add to that the near certainty that they will not set another record for powerplay success, and they and the Canucks look like the best candidates to take a step back this season.

Think about it like this: the Oilers are the only team since the lockout to have a powerplay rating over 29%. Twelve teams in that time have managed ratings better than 25%, but none better than 27%. Only two teams—the 2008–10 Washington Capitals, and the 2018–20 Boston Bruins—have managed to pass the 25% mark in back-to-back seasons. The 2019–20 Oilers powerplay was a unicorn. It is not happening again this year.

[Roof-Daddy]

I think the Habs will be better than most do. Especially if Price and Weber are on their games.

IMO, Ottawa will be a young, speedy, scrappy pain in the ass to play against and will not be as easy an out as many expect.

It'll be interesting to see what TO does now that they aren't in the same division as Boston and Tampa, who always seem to force the Leafs into playing 3rd fiddle.

The pessimist in me thinks the Flames will once again fail to be anything more than decidedly average, despite improvements "on paper". That's just how they roll.

Van has lots of young, up and coming elite players at key positions, but their d took a hit, and goaltending is a huge question mark. If Holtby and the young goalie play well, that team should be in the mix for a playoff spot.

Winnipeg has elite goaltending, but I expect them to take a step back.

Edmonton is nothing more than McDavid/Draisaitl backed up by flaming hot garbage as per usual. McDingle should be enough to keep them in the hunt for a playoff spot in a shortened season.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

...The pessimist in me thinks the Flames will once again fail to be anything more than decidedly average, despite improvements "on paper". That's just how they roll...

It is funny that you say this, because the last time the Flames made improvements "on paper" they won the Division. Last off season they made some arguably lateral moves in swapping out Neal for Lucic and Mike Smith for Cam Talbot, but then they also suffered a pretty critical setback with Valimaki's season-ending injury. I actually tend to think we should expect improvements from the Flames this year precisely because of how last season played out—with several of their best players having unusually poor seasons—combined with the pretty sizeable improvements they have made.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I have a hard time imagining that the Oilers with their defence and goaltending could be a top-four team in the Division. Add to that the near certainty that they will not set another record for powerplay success, and they and the Canucks look like the best candidates to take a step back this season.

Think about it like this: the Oilers are the only team since the lockout to have a powerplay rating over 29%. Twelve teams in that time have managed ratings better than 25%, but none better than 27%. Only two teams—the 2008–10 Washington Capitals, and the 2018–20 Boston Bruins—have managed to pass the 25% mark in back-to-back seasons. The 2019–20 Oilers powerplay was a unicorn. It is not happening again this year.

It's not that they are a top 4 team, it's just that there are only 2 good teams.

Two of VAN, EDM, MTL, WPG will make the playoffs. And it could be ANY 2. IMO, the most likely of those 4 is probably EDM. But all of them are no good, so it's a dog's breakfast no matter how you slice it.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

It's not that they are a top 4 team, it's just that there are only 2 good teams.

Two of VAN, EDM, MTL, WPG will make the playoffs. And it could be ANY 2. IMO, the most likely of those 4 is probably EDM. But all of them are no good, so it's a dog's breakfast no matter how you slice it.

Yeah, I can see that. I still think I have Winnipeg ahead of the Oilers. the Jets had won the same number of games as the Oilers last year, and probably only because they lost two of their top-four players for the final three games of the season.