Will be tanking:
- Arizona
- Chicago
Will suck but they'll try hard and eek out some wins:
- Montreal
- Ottawa - this is my first hot take. Ottawa has a bad coach and it will depend on how long they stick with him while he is losing. DJ Smith gets away with being a bad coach because his team sucks. He won't have that excuse anymore next year.
- San Jose
- Anaheim
Will be competitive, possible bubble team
- Buffalo
- Winnipeg
- Philadelphia - Tortarella is not the type of coach that will see a roster like Philly sink to the bottom.
- Detroit
- Seattle - my second hot take.
- Minnesota, lost quite a bit in the off season.
Wouldn't surprise me if they sucked, wouldn't surprise me if they were good
- Calgary - Calgary has alternated between good and bad seasons for the better part of the last decade. Here are their point totals going back to the 2013-14 season from 13-14 to 21-22: 77, 97, 77, 94, 84, 107, 92 point pace at the time the season was suspended, on pace for an 80 point season, 111 points. The team is incapable of playing consistently at the same level for more than 1 year at a time.
- Edmonton - Same deal as Calgary. They have been a very inconsistent team since McDavid joined them. They either make the playoffs or are so bad, we wonder how a team with two MVPs candidates can be this bad.
- Vegas - Management issues aside, the team if healthy is too talented to miss the playoffs considering the division they're in but Vegas' goaltending is a question mark which can derail a team.
- New York Rangers - The Rangers have a singular point of failure, Shesterkin. They suck in front of him so he has to be a god. If he doesn't play like Shesterkin 2022 again, they're taking a step back. If he does, they could be the best team in the conference.
- Dallas - Robertson, Oettinger, Heiskanen take a step forward. Seguin gets back to ~70 points and they're back in the mix. If not, they will suck.
- Florida - Another hot take. I'm leaning towards them being good next year but last year they had career years from almost their entire forward core. That is not gonna happen this year.
- Boston - Only putting them here because they still have a lot of unawnswered questions regarding Krejci and Bergeron. If both come back, they'll be good. If neither come back they will be crap to middling.
- New Jersey could see Hughes taking a big step forward.
- Columbus, weak down the middle.
- Vancouver - Played like a 100 point team under Boudreau. But we've seen lots of teams make late season runs and not have any momentum carry over.
Will make the playoffs, and that's all you really need to have a chance.
- Nashville
- New York Islanders - New coach. Trotz made them play one of the most boring and low event styles of hockey in the league. Barzal should be unleashed next year and Sorokin should still be good. That defense core is still excellent, if unspectacular. If Kadri signs with them, I see them as a contender.
- St. Louis
- Washington
- Pittsburgh
- Los Angeles - Young up and coming team in a weak division with no clear best team.
Contenders
- Tampa Bay - Coming off three straight finals. Going back to 2015, they've made the finals 4 times and the ECF twice. Until someone knocks them early, they're contenders in my books.
- Colorado - No need to explain this one.
- Toronto - They were a 115 point team last year but the HFBoards Cinematic Universe doesn't recognize that.
- Carolina - Top to bottom, a team with no real weak spots in the lineup. I think they're the most well balanced team in the league. That said, they don't have the best of anything either. Kinda reminds me of the 2019 Blues team. Really good top to bottom with no real elite players except for Pietrangelo. In Carolina's case, I'd say Slavin is their Pietrangelo.
