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I Will Never Write An Obligatory Blog About NHL Predictions

October 7, 2015, 10:00 PM ET [10 Comments]
Ty Anderson
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Everybody’s doing it, so here are my picks for the 2015-16 NHL season.



Eastern Conference


Atlantic Division

1. Tampa Bay Lightning - These guys are still the class of the Atlantic, and maybe even the East as a whole. They still have Steven Stamkos, the Triplets, and Big Ben Bishop in net. A larger role in the offense for second-year pro Jonathan Drouin should only help a Tampa club that didn’t lose much of anything over the offseason.

2. Montreal Canadiens - The Habs are a system team, of course. (Is there any competitive team out there that’s not a system team when you really think about it?) And what works for the Canadiens is, of course, their all-world goaltender in Carey Price. He’s an absolute monster, and while I think his numbers and the Habs’ numbers as a whole will dip, the Atlantic is still ‘meh’ enough for these guys to comfortably make the postseason. The big concern with Montreal is obviously their scoring, but I expect an Alex Galchenyuk and Alex Semine one-two punch on the second line to settle that a little bit.

3. Boston Bruins - You’re going to read a lot about the downfall of the Black and Gold. Sorry, still not buying it. The B’s had career-worst years from just about everybody on their core, and yes, captain Zdeno Chara is a year older, but there’s just too much talent between a David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, Loui Eriksson and goaltender Tuukka Rask for anybody to seriously consider these guys to be a bottom-feeder in this division. They won’t light the world on fire, I don’t think, but thinking they won’t be in the mix for third place or a wild card spot is actually kinda hilarious.

4. Detroit Red Wings - I like the Red Wings’ younger pieces -- Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, and Dylan Larkin -- but you can only have so many kids ready to be stars. Jimmy Howard has looked sharp thus far. But Pavel Datsyuk is already hurting. Johan Franzen is one hit away from calling it quits on his career, and Mike Green is.. well.. Mike Green. (For the record, this is a pick I can see myself being totally wrong about five months from now when I see Detroit running away with the Atlantic crown.)

5. Florida Panthers - Watch for these guys to be among the most exciting group in the East. Aaron Ekblad is a budding superstar, and head coach Gerard Gallant will only bring more out of him. Still, there’s a little bit of a ways to go, and they’ll finish just on the outside of the postseason picture.

6. Buffalo Sabres - The framework for success is officially in place for the Sabres. They have a bonafide scoring one-two punch in Evander Kane and second-overall pick Jack Eichel. They have a great second-line piece in Ryan O’Reilly, and they believe they have their No. 1 goaltender in Robin Lehner. They’ll be fun to watch, no doubt, but their defense is still a work in progress, and will prove to be the biggest growing pain in the Sabres’ jump out of the rebuild.

7. Ottawa Senators - Isn’t this kinda what the Sens do? Make the playoffs, disappoint the following year. Make the playoffs, disappoint the following year. It’s like laundry. I just think so much went right for the Senators last year when they needed it to, and I’m not sure you find that luck every season.

8. Toronto Maple Leafs - There’s gonna be pain.

Metropolitan Division

1. Washington Capitals - The Caps have slowly become a Western Conference club in the Eastern Conference. Barry Trotz has brought a coaching style that gets the absolute most out of his players in all three zones, a roster that’s only bolstered by offseason additions of TJ Oshie and Justin Williams. Oh, and that Alexander Ovechkin guy is pretty good, too. But the reason I like the Caps? Goaltender Braden Holtby. He’s quietly become a model of consistency in a formerly forever changing D.C. crease.

2. New York Rangers - Life’s never too bad when you have the King in net. Henrik Lundqvist is enough to keep the Rangers afloat near the top of the division in my book, even with some of the Blueshirts’ offseason departures. Plus, you’re inching closer and closer towards ‘the end’ of the Cup window on Broadway, so expect their front office to do anything and everything to make another Cup happen.

3. Pittsburgh Penguins - Honestly, Phil Kessel might score 50 on that first line with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz. Their second line? Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist. Swapping Brandon Sutter for Nick Bonino is another huge win for the Pens, too. Their defense (with the exception of Rob Scuderi) is mobile and a seemingly perfect fit for today’s NHL as well. In essence, there’s not a team better equipped to routine win 11-goal games than this year’s Pittsburgh squad.

4. New York Islanders (WC1) - It’s hard not to love the Isles’ depth down the middle in John Tavares, Frans Nielsen, and Mikhail Grabovski. Their top-four defense features some legitimate power in Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic, and Nick Leddy. They took a major step forward last year, but the Blue and Orange won’t sneak up on teams this year. While the Islanders are ridiculously accustomed to skating as the underdog, that’s no longer the case. They’ll take everyone’s best punch on a nightly basis, and while I think they’re still very much a playoff team, how they handle that flip-script will be key.

5. Columbus Blue Jackets (WC2) - This a forward group with a bunch of experience, and a bunch of character. Brandon Saad only helps that. Their defense is young and still developing. Sergei Bobrovsky, if healthy, is one of the best goalies in the league. These guys could be serious sleepers in the East.

6. Philadelphia Flyers - I don’t know how to describe the Flyers, to be honest. You obviously like the one-two punch of a Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. Wayne Simmonds is another one, too. The goaltending of Steve Mason at five-on-five play went under everybody’s radar, it seemed. But the rest of the Flyers are either approaching where the club needs them to be … or way beyond it.

7. Carolina Hurricanes - No amount of post-goal sound effects will be able to stop teams from scoring on the painfully average (and average for years now) Cam Ward this season. Weird prediction: Eric Staal gets traded at the deadline. To where, you might ask? I’ll take the LA Kings. I’m throwin’ darts, baby.

8. New Jersey Devils - Cory Schneider and the Devils are not as bad as you think. It’s just that their division is really, really good. Lots of bumps in the road for a younger blueline.

Western Conference


Central Division

1. St. Louis Blues - Business as usual for the Blues, honestly. This is still one of the best regular season clubs in the NHL. Vladimir Tarasenko is a freak, and although the club swapped Oshie for Troy Brouwer, there’s nothing that leads you to believe that this group is set for a meteoric fall out of the Central.

2. Dallas Stars - The Stars already had one of the league’s best one-two punches in Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin (and their second line combo of Ales Hemsky and Jason Spezza isn’t too bad, either). And now they’ve added both Patrick Sharp and defenseman Johnny Oduya to the mix, and goaltender Antti Niemi comes to town with the ability to replace Kari Lehtonen if the Stars stumble out of the gate. That’s a lot of experience for a club that is inching closer and closer to taking that next step. With these guys, they should be set to take that step.

3. Chicago Blackhawks - The post-Cup cap crunch once again hit the Blackhawks in a big way. In perhaps the biggest way since 2010, too. But the core remains intact, and should be enough to keep the ‘Hawks in the Central playoff bracket. That said, it wouldn’t necessarily shock me if the ‘Hawks finish the year two spots up from here. Or even two spots down, for that matter.

4. Minnesota Wild (WC1) - Is Devan Dubnyk the real deal? I don’t know. But I think the Wild are good enough to finish in the four-spot regardless. I mean hell, they’ve done it before. Mike Yeo is definitely on the hot seat to begin the year though, so that’ll be an interesting storyline to watch to say the least.

5. Nashville Predators - I’m still not overly impressed with anything the Predators do. The division seemed to get better, and in the most Nashville Predator thing to Nashville Predator, the Preds took a chance on Cody Hodgson and inked veteran defenseman Barret Jackman. Maybe it works.

6. Winnipeg Jets - My only question is who trades for Big Buff when the Jets eliminate themselves early by way of continuously giving starts to Ondrej Pavelec?

7. Colorado Avalanche - The Ryan O’Reilly trade should have brought more to the table than a third-pairing defenseman and 13th forward. Patrick Roy needs to find a way to utilize this roster into something. But even then, these guys looked overmatched, especially on the backend.

Pacific Division

1. Anaheim Ducks - In a position where they can split up the Getzlaf and Perry combo without even mentioning Ryan Kesler, these Ducks are deep as hell, and should be an absolute force this season. I still have my questions about the net, but those can be put on hold ‘til April, I think.

2. Los Angeles Kings - The Kings have lost a lot, I’ll admit. But they gained a motivated, in-contract-year Milan Lucic. He’s going to make a huge splash on the LA top-six, I think.

3. Calgary Flames - It’s as if the Flames heard everybody talk about how their success isn’t built to last given the analytics stacked against ‘em and decided to make two major boosts to it by way of a signing of Michael Frolik and trade-and-sign of defenseman Dougie Hamilton. This defense is deep and capable of leading the charge the other way. That’ll put a lot of twos in the standings in 2015-16.

4. San Jose Sharks (WC2) - Like the Bruins last year, I just think there’s too much talent on this Sharks roster for these guys to be as bad as they were in 2014-15 once again. Having an official captain in Joe Pavelski gives the San Jose locker room an actual voice to lead, and a new coach should invigorate veterans like Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton -- and a set position for Brent Burns should help, too.

5. Edmonton Oilers - McDavid, McDavid, McDavid. Yeah, the Oilers have their new superstar of tomorrow in Connor McDavid, and as great as that is, the more important get for the Oilers -- at least in the now -- comes on the point in defenseman Andrej Sekera and goaltender Cam Talbot. These are the pieces the Oilers desperately needed in their pursuit of leaving the league’s basement.

6. Vancouver Canucks - Vancouver’s big offseason signing was Matt Bartkowski. Matt. Bartkowski.

7. Arizona Coyotes - Auston Matthews, you’re coming home.

Playoffs

In the East, I’m going to go with a Capitals versus Islanders conference final with the Capitals prevailing in seven games, while I think the Kings will take down the Stars in a six-game series. And for the Cup, I’m going to take the Capitals downing the Kings in a heavy, heavy seven-game battle.

Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
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