Enough talk about analytics, old school hockey, or anything else. It's just all about the Cup.

Toronto Maple Leafs +700
Last year: 49-26-7 (3rd Atlantic)
Playoffs: Eliminated 1st round
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

The defense is just too weak. Reilly and Gardiner provide some decent offense, but relying on castoffs and ancients like Maricin, Hainsey, Zaitsev et all seems like a recipe for trying to win every game 7-6, and Stanley don't play that way.

Tampa Bay Lightning +850
Last year: 54-23-5 (1st Atlantic)
Playoffs: Eliminated 3rd round
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

Hard to come up with a plausible reason, but here's one - when has Steven Stamkos led a team to victory ever? Despite being a point per game regular season player for his career, he falls to .77/game in the playoffs. Not exactly an example of your captain stepping up.

Winnipeg Jets +850
Last year: 52-20-10 (2nd Central)
Playoffs: Eliminated 3rd round
Last championship:

Yeah, that's right. the Avro Cup. Fight me if you don't like it.

Why won't they win?

Some of the key pieces on this team are pretty old, notably Wheeler, Little, and Buff. Hellyebuck was great last year, but he got paid this offseason and it's not clear that he can continue this level of play. The team may also feel extra pressure because their window is now defined by some of the cap decisions they've made.

Nashville Predators +1100
Last year: 53-18-11 (1st Central)
Playoffs: Eliminated 2nd round
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

Unlike the Jets and Leafs, who have strength at forward and some questions on defense, the Preds have an outstanding defense with Subban, Ellis, Josi, and Ekholm, but questions about scoring up front. Forsberg is an electric talent, Arvidsson is a nice piece, but Johansen seems obsessed with streetfighting Kesler, and then what else is there?

Vegas Golden Knights +1100
Last year: 51-24-7 (1st Pacific)
Playoffs: Eliminated Finals
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

It's called regression. MAF had a .927 save percentage last year, the highest of his career. Further, a bunch of AHL backups gave pretty close to league average goaltending as well. Did I mention a guy with 16 career goals suddenly shot 23.4% and scored 42 times? Oh, and their #Dman in TOI is suspended for a quarter of the season. The question this year will be whether they even make the playoffs. Forget winning the Cup.

Washington Capitals +1100
Last year: 49-26-7 (1st Metro)
Playoffs: Won Stanley Cup
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

The obvious answer is the hangover (literal, not figurative). The second answer is the hangover (figurative, not literal). A team that had been branded chokers or Crosby's bitches for so long finally breaks through and wins it all. Is the hunger still there beyond post drinking munchies? On a more hockey related note, the defense looks underwhelming, and despite his playoff run, Holtby had a very mediocre regular season last year, with a .907 SV% (thats one point behind luminaries such as Robin Lehner and Jaroslav Halak), and their saviour of a backup is gone to Colorado.

Boston Bruins +1100
Last year: 50-20-12 (2nd Atlantic)
Playoffs: Eliminated 2nd round
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

The core of this team is old. Chara 41, Bergeron 33, Krejci 32, Millar 30, Marchand 30. Rask is 31 and probably should be replaced already. Their only player who would be considered to be in his prime is Krug, is out indefinitely with an injury that won't even be re-evaluated for 3 weeks.

Pittsburgh Penguins +1200
Last year: 47-29-6 (2nd Metro)
Playoffs: Eliminated 2nd round
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

Another team aging insanely fast. Crosby, Malkin, Letang, Kessell all into their 30s, and can be sure they don't have a guaranteed stroll through the second round anymore. Also of concern - remember when I said Braden Holtby had a .907 SV%? Matt Murray had exactly that in his first post-MAF year, and there may be some concern about whether or not he can actually handle the load as a pure #1 for a full season.

San Jose Sharks +1200
Last year: 45-27-10 (3rd Pacific)
Playoffs: Eliminated 1st round
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

Another team with a big defense, excellent goaltending, and some questions up front. Their two leading scorers last year were 33 and 32 years old, and only four players exceeded 40 points last year. Karlsson should help this, but it doesn't seem like anyone is asking whether Karlsson's impact is just a bit overrated considering he just came off the worst season of his career, and will likely see some of his usage changed in SJ due to the presence of Burns.

St. Louis Blues +2000
Last year: 44-32-6 (5th Central)
Playoffs: None
Last championship:


Why won't they win?

They're the Blues. Always just an ok team. Their forwards are just ok, their defense is just ok, and their goaltending is just ok. They'll be around the 6th seed and maybe vastly exceed all expectations and make it to the second round where they will be summarily dispatched by a real contender.

Rest of the odds and a comment:

Los Angeles Kings +2600 - old teams with average goalies like Quick don't win.
Philadelphia Flyers +2600 - undervalued at this price; they have a lot of very young players who could easily break out. Can they get goaltending?
Edmonton Oilers +3000 - sigh. Peter Chiarelli is directly responsible for one of the zeros in +3000.
Anaheim Ducks +3000 - lol no. Gibson will have to be insane for them to even make the playoffs.
Dallas Stars +3000 - one line teams can succeed in the regular season. Not the playoffs.
Columbus Blue Jackets +3000 - once Panarin and Bobrovsky are traded, this number will be hilarious.
Calgary Flames +3300 - trading Hamilton was a cut off your nose to spite your face move, and James Neal is just not the difference maker people seem to think
Chicago Blackhawks +3500 - enjoy that cap, boys. This is your team for a good while, and it's not getting better.
Minnesota Wild +3500 - their window is officially closed. A truly competent management would tear this down now.
Colorado Avalanche +4000 - they're coming. Not this year. but soon. If Grubauer can take over for Varlamov, their medium-long term outlook is exceptional, especially after Ottawa ships them Hughes.
New Jersey Devils +4000 - Cory Schneider might be the most overrated player in the league. I love me some Taylor Hall but I can't see him making this happen again.
Florida Panthers +4500 - The popular breakout team pick every year. At some point, you have to accept they are what they are, which is not good enough.
New York Rangers +8500 - when you say you're rebuilding, it's not exactly conducive to winning. The only drama for them this year will be whether King Henrik is shipped out.
Carolina Hurricanes +10000 - I actually like them better now that Darling is out for a while. He's not the answer in net, and they need to find the answer.
Montreal Canadiens +10000 - This team needs to hire opposite-Constanza, because I basically hate every move they make. Kotkaniemi was wrong and Domi for Galchenyuk was insane.
Buffalo Sabres +10000 - count me as a believer in the Sabres. That is mighty high end talent they have.
New York Islanders +10000 - I like the team a lot more than the GM, who is clueless about everything. Expect a sell off at the deadline.
Arizona Coyotes +10000 - I picked them below as a playoff team. I am not sure why.
Vancouver Canucks +12500 - the only goal this season is to win the lottery and unite the Hughes brothers.
Detroit Red Wings +20000 - waiting on Stevie Y to come on board.
Ottawa Senators +20000 - jesus. Not having their first may mean they pull out all the stops to non-tank this year, damaging themselves even further. It's going to be quite a few years before this team is anywhere.

My Hot Takes for the Year:

Art Ross: Auston Matthews - PP points will be racked up
Rocket Richard: Connor McDavid - no one else on this team can score
Hart: Connor McDavid - if they make the playoffs, he's a lock
Norris: PK Subban - I would pick him every year just for the quotes
Calder: Kailer Yamamoto - he'll be with McDavid soon enough
Vezina: Carey Price - his W/L record will be horrific but the analytics guys will win the argument based on SV% and HDSV%

Eastern Conference Playoff teams (no particular order):
Washington
Pittsburgh
Leafs
Panthers
Sabres
Flyers
Bruins
Lightning

Western Conference Playoff teams (no particular order):
Predators
Jets
Blues
Stars
Sharks
Oilers
Coyotes
Kings

Well done. I think it’s the AVCO cup, I remember it pretty well, still.

There’s at least two cups, like there are multiple Stanley Cups, one in the Manitoba Hockey Wall of Fame and one at the head-office of AVCO.

Wikipedia says there are 3, one in Winnipeg [this keeps moving, right now at the IcePlex], one at the HHOF and one at the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame.

Nice OP

About Winnipeg’s preason, goalies look bad, should feel bad.

Defence seemed to not know their assignments. Kulikov injured, looked injured. There really should be no holes there, like 8 men deep, but only the top 3 guys looked good. They tried Myers at 2LD and that needs months. Poolman looked like poop. Chiarot played his best 3 or 4 years ago at 1LD with Buff, playing simple, so do that.

There are so many good forwards it’s almost a shame we can’t have 5 or 6 lines. Lots of guys are going to have hurt feelings.

Minnesota looked overwhelming.

They could end up really far down the standings out of the gate in a still pretty tough Central Division if trends continue.

In for KARLSSON

good OP but you forgot Pastrnak

let us NHL

yeah I was going to get around to making the thread, but I was busy with work.




EC: Lightning
WC: Perds

SC: Perds

Hart: McDavid
Richard: Ovechkin
Art Ross: McDavid
Norris: Hedman
Vezina: Bob
Calder:Pettersson
Jack Adams: Babcock
Conn Smythe: Forsberg

So Seattle is getting an expansion team in the next few years

LETS
GO
RANG
ERS.

Clap.
Clap.
Clap. Clap. Clap.

nineteen forty
Clap.
Clap.
Clap. Clap. Clap.

man I wish Mario had been healthy in 1994, we'd still be chanting that.

Hot takes prediction: Pens miss playoffs

Why the Kings will miss the playoffs:
Last season - Hart level season for Kopitar + Norris level for Doughty + Vezina level for Quick + only 1 player missed significant time (Carter) = 8th seed. Not going to get that fortunate again.

Me too but the other one

Looks to me like they just told Phil that the Leafs were Cup favorites.



Leaf bandwagoners skewing the odds Conor McGregor style. No way are the Leafs Cup favorites. We'll do some crushing in the regular season for sure but come playoffs time our youth inexperience and weak D will have a lot to prove. Plus until further notice we still are the Leafs.

Marner is going to crush this year though (book it) and Matthews the same if he stays healthy. We are going to be a handful.

I don't see how this happens unless both Crosby and Malkin get hurt (that happened before, but they made the playoffs). They have Brassard if one of them gets hurt.

In 2006, former Norris winner Chris Pronger joined former Norris winner Scott Niedermayer on the Anaheim Ducks.

You know what happened that year? THEY WON THE MF'ING STANLEY CUP

2019: YEAR OF THE CHARK

Carolina's defense looks ridiculously good and deep on paper. Their offense is a little suspect but if Svechnikov is good as a rookie and Aho does well at center (I think they are trying him at center this year) maybe they could surprise this year.

but ya real bad goalies might be too much to overcome.

Pens should be one of the best teams in the league I think. Roster looks really deep especially at forward. Defense might be a little iffy and but could be OK if this Riikola guy they signed from Finland is really as good as they say he looked during pre-season.

Adding a bunch of pictures that were missing from the OP.

those rings are so so so so sick

Solid OP

Miro for Calder obv

Has Ovechkin stopped drinking yet

In for the Leafing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not since 2002

wow, 20 games for Tommy Idiot
was fully expecting him to get like 4 and them going "WE TOTALLY THREW THE BOOK AT HIM" like usual
now watch him appeal this down to 8 or something


and in other news, Karl Alzner a healthy scratch on opening night




is that bad?

Yeah, 20 is actually decent length, colour me surprised. Hopefully inevitable appeal fails.

Habs begin trek towards Hughes. A journey of a 1000 miles begins with a single step!

Although really if they are serious about trying for Hughes then Alzner should be dressed.