The NHL season is underway, and so we must make our annual tradition of putting predictions on paper that will inevitably make us look stupid in a year’s time. Let’s get to it!
Previously
Here’s how we did last season
Best: Three of us picked Edmonton returning to the Cup Final! Cale Makar was an easy choice for the Norris. Of course San Jose and Chicago would still be bad!
Worst: Dale picked the Rangers to win the Metro and PD and Pinji went worse by picking them to win the Eastern Conference. As a quick reminder, the Rags missed the playoffs entirely, traded their captain Jacob Trouba and longtime stalwart Chris Kreider, and replaced Peter Laviolette with Mike Sullivan. Woops! Surely we won’t make that mistake again! Not only did no one pick Connor Hellebuyck to win the Vezina, we didn’t expect him to win the Hart Trophy either as the league MVP.
The Picks
Here’s the new batch of takes for this season, including a bonus this year of the Olympic medalists. Share your own predictions in the comments!
| . | PD | Dalerrific | BurkusCircus52 | Pinji | NeilB |
| Metro 1 | Carolina | Carolina | Carolina | Carolina | Carolina |
| Metro 2 | New Jersey | New Jersey | Washington | New Jersey | New Jersey |
| Metro 3 | Columbus | Washington | Columbus | Washington | Columbus |
| Metro 4 | Washington | Columbus | New Jersey | Columbus | Washington |
| Metro 5 | NY Rangers | NY Islanders | NY Rangers | Rangers | NY Islanders |
| Metro 6 | Philadelphia | NY Rangers | NY Islanders | Pittsburgh | NY Rangers |
| Metro 7 | NY Islanders | Pittsburgh | Philadelphia | NY Islanders | Philadelphia |
| Metro 8 | Pittsburgh | Philadelphia | Pittsburgh | Philadephia | Pittsburgh |
| Atlantic 1 | Toronto | Tampa Bay | Tampa Bay | Tampa | Toronto |
| Atlantic 2 | Montreal | Toronto | Florida | Toronto | Tampa |
| Atlantic 3 | Tampa Bay | Florida | Ottawa | Ottawa | Florida |
| Atlantic 4 | Florida | Ottawa | Toronto | Florida | Buffalo |
| Atlantic 5 | Ottawa | Detroit | Montreal | Detroit | Ottawa |
| Atlantic 6 | Detroit | Montreal | Detroit | Buffalo | Montreal |
| Atlantic 7 | Buffalo | Buffalo | Boston | Montreal | Detroit |
| Atlantic 8 | Boston | Boston | Buffalo | Boston | Boston |
| Central 1 | Dallas | Colorado | Dallas | Colorado | Dallas |
| Central 2 | Colorado | Winnipeg | Winnipeg | Dallas | Colorado |
| Central 3 | Winnipeg | Dallas | Colorado | Winnipeg | Winnipeg |
| Central 4 | Minnesota | Utah | Minnesota | Minnesota | Minnesota |
| Central 5 | Utah | Minnesota | St. Louis | St. Louis | St Louis |
| Central 6 | St. Louis | St. Louis | Utah | Utah | St. Louis |
| Central 7 | Nashville | Nashville | Nashville | Nashville | Nashville |
| Central 8 | Chicago | Chicago | Chicago | Chicago | Chicago |
| Pacific 1 | Vegas | Vegas | Vegas | Edmonton | Edmonton |
| Pacific 2 | Edmonton | Edmonton | Edmonton | Vegas | Vegas |
| Pacific 3 | Calgary | Los Angeles | Los Angeles | Anaheim | Vancouver |
| Pacific 4 | Anaheim | Vancouver | Anaheim | Los Angeles | Los Angeles |
| Pacific 5 | Los Angeles | Anaheim | Vancouver | Vancouver | Anaheim |
| Pacific 6 | Vancouver | San Jose | San Jose | Calgary | Calgary |
| Pacific 7 | Seattle | Calgary | Calgary | San Jose | Seattle |
| Pacific 8 | San Jose | Seattle | Seattle | Seattle | San Jose |
| ECF | Carolina > Florida | Carolina > Toronto | Florida > Carolina | Tampa > Carolina | Edmonton >Winnipeg |
| WCF | Vegas > Colorado | Colorado > Edmonton | Dallas > Edmonton | Vegas > Colorado | Tampa > Carolina |
| Stanley Cup | Vegas > Carolina | Colorado > Carolina | Florida > Dallas | Vegas > Tampa | Edmonton > Carolina |
| Hart | McDavid | MacKinnon | Point | McDavid | McJesus |
| Norris | Werenski | Q. Hughes | Makar | Makar | Just Quinn Baby |
| Vezina | Shesterkin | Vasilevskiy | Oettenger | Vasilevskiy | Winnipeg’s version of H Bomber Guy* |
| Calder | Nikishin | Demidov | Demidov | Buium | Oh please anyone else, but probably the Demigod |
| CBJ O/U 85.5 | Over | Over | Over | Over | Over |
| Olympic Gold | Canada | USA | USA | USA | Canada |
| Olympic Silver | USA | Canada | Canada | Canada | Finland |
| Olympic Bronze | Czechia | Sweden | Germany | Sweden | USA |