2024/25 Prediction Thread

[waitin425]

Eastern Conference:

Florida
Rangers
Bruins
Jersey
Leafs
Canes
Tampa
Habs
Wings
Isles
Caps
Sens
Sabres
Philly
Pitts
Jackets

Western Conference:

Stars - Presidents Trophy
Oilers
Canucks
Preds
Avs
Jets
Knights
Wild
Kings
Blues
Utah
Kraken
Ducks
Hawks
Flames
Sharks

Conference Finals:

Rangers over Jersey
Oilers over Predators

SCF:

Oilers over Rangers

Hart - McDavid
Art Ross - McDavid - 154 pts
Rocket - McDavid - 68 goals
Calder - Stankoven
Norris - Q Hughes
Vezina - Shesty
Selke - Suzuki
Adams - MSL
Conn Smythe - McDavid


Obvious Habs fan, picking my team to surprise everyone and squeek in. Suzuki will have breakout season and win the Selke and MSL wins Adams based on dragging this team to the playoffs.

Jersey will have a bounce back year.

Hard to bet against the Stars...they are crazy deep, but I think McDavid goes nutso and beats them. I have them taking the Presidents Trophy.

Also....this season will be the pinnacle of McDavid's career. He will win every trophy he can possibly win this year, including the cup and cement himself as part of the big __ players.

Couple of side notes....

Bedard goes over 100 points
First coach fired is Sullivan

Click to read more...

 

[Viqsi]

You're predicting the largest gap between Montreal and Columbus in the last decade, after they've been virtually in lockstep w/r/t playoff status all that time and even closer in the draft order in back to back years. There's homerism and then there's just batshit insanity.

Seriously:
2015-16: Columbus 27th, Montreal 22nd (MTL ahead by 5; both miss)
2016-17: Columbus 5th, Montreal 9th (CBJ ahead by 4; both in)
2017-18: Columbus 15th, Montreal 28th (CBJ ahead by 13; only CBJ in)
2018-19: Columbus 13th, Montreal 14th (CBJ ahead by 1; only CBJ in (MTL just barely misses; the East was vicious that year))
2019-20: Columbus 12th, Montreal 24th (CBJ ahead by 12; both in because that COVID play-in)
2020-21: Columbus 27th, Montreal 18th (MTL ahead by 9; only MTL in (they just barely make it because North Division))
2021-22: Columbus 21st, Montreal 32nd (CBJ ahead by 11; both miss)
2022-23: Columbus 31st, Montreal 28th (MTL ahead by 3; both miss)
2023-24: Columbus 29th, Montreal 28th (MTL ahead by 1; both miss)
2024-25 per the OP prediction: Columbus ~32nd, Montreal ~16th (MTL ahead by half the damn League; only MTL in)


(EDIT: fixed some of the finishes as I did some miscounting; I started out with draft pick differences then pivoted to standings and so got some mixed up.)

 

[Golden_Jet]

Habs to high

 

[hangman005]

Vegas are going to look really stupid when Logan Thompson wins the Rocket Richard this year.

 

[Lshap]

You're predicting the largest gap between Montreal and Columbus in the last decade, after they've been virtually in lockstep w/r/t playoff status all that time and even closer in the draft order in back to back years. There's homerism and then there's just batshit insanity.

Seriously:
2015-16: Columbus 27th, Montreal 22nd (MTL ahead by 5; both miss)
2016-17: Columbus 5th, Montreal 9th (CBJ ahead by 4; both in)
2017-18: Columbus 15th, Montreal 28th (CBJ ahead by 13; only CBJ in)
2018-19: Columbus 13th, Montreal 14th (CBJ ahead by 1; only CBJ in (MTL just barely misses; the East was vicious that year))
2019-20: Columbus 12th, Montreal 24th (CBJ ahead by 12; both in because that COVID play-in)
2020-21: Columbus 27th, Montreal 18th (MTL ahead by 9; only MTL in (they just barely make it because North Division))
2021-22: Columbus 21st, Montreal 32nd (CBJ ahead by 11; both miss)
2022-23: Columbus 31st, Montreal 28th (MTL ahead by 3; both miss)
2023-24: Columbus 29th, Montreal 28th (MTL ahead by 1; both miss)
2024-25 per the OP prediction: Columbus ~32nd, Montreal ~16th (MTL ahead by half the damn League; only MTL in)


(EDIT: fixed some of the finishes as I did some miscounting; I started out with draft pick differences then pivoted to standings and so got some mixed up.)

Interesting - I didn't know Montreal and Columbus were so closely aligned over the years! Still, I doubt your argument is they're predestined to remain in each other's orbit... although it does have a romantic 'Twin flame' vibe about it.

Montreal is farther along in its rebuild than Columbus, so I'd expect to see separation between them in the standings. I guess that means Montreal is moving on... and we're breaking up. I'll miss our times together. I won't miss the cannon.

 

[Viqsi]

Interesting - I didn't know Montreal and Columbus were so closely aligned over the years! Still, I doubt your argument is they're predestined to remain in each other's orbit... although it does have a romantic 'Twin flame' vibe about it.

Montreal is farther along in its rebuild than Columbus, so I'd expect to see separation between them in the standings. I guess that means Montreal is moving on... and we're breaking up. I hope we don't have to ghost each other, although if you can avoid shooting off that damn cannon it would be appreciated.

I am not convinced of the bolded. The teams have been in a similar state in many ways other than the standings for a while now - similar prospect pool quality and coverage, for example, and similar numbers of good young players already in the core developing. Heck, we've even had similar Seasons Lost Due To Insane Amounts Of Injuries. If you need a notable difference, one could point out that Columbus arguably started its rebuild one year earlier (although, as we all know, prospect development isn't linear). It's certainly possible for one or the other to take off and leave the other behind depending on when kids break out and all, but by and large absent motivated reasoning (NYAH NYAH OUR KIDS ARE BETTER ) I don't think either team is going to be really taking off until we're facing eachother in the ECF or something.

 

[voyageur]

I'll bite

EAST
1. NY Rangers
2. New Jersey
3. Philly
WC2 Carolina

1. Boston
2. Toronto
3. Detroit
WC1 Florida

9. Isles
10. Montreal
11. Tampa
12. Washington
13. Buffalo
14. Ottawa (Tkachuk traded)
15. Pittsburgh (Crosby traded, if it's to Colorado put them in take Winnipeg out)
16.Columbus




WEST
1. Vancouver
2. Seattle
3. L.A.
WC1 Edmonton

1. Dallas
2. Nashville
3. St. Louis
WC2 Winnipeg

9. Vegas
10. Colorado
11. Minnesota
12. Utah
13. Chicago
14. San Jose
15. Anaheim
16. Calgary (Rasmus Andersson gets traded to Leafs)

 

[Coffey]

WEST
1. Vancouver
2. Seattle
3. L.A.
WC1 Edmonton

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I'm not going to bother with the West, it's a shit show, it's likely a battle of the bottom 5 that's going to be the obvious teams - Calgary, San Jose, Anaheim, Chicago, and Utah. The rest is up for grabs and enough teams have made moves to make it more muddled, maybe a couple of teams regress - Oilers definitely will not be 1st in the West.

East

1. Florida
2. Rangers
3. Boston
4. Devils
5. Toronto
6. Ottawa
7. Tampa Bay
8. Buffalo
9. Carolina
10. Detroit
11. Islanders
12. Washington
13. Pittsburgh
14. Columbus
15. Philadelphia
16. Montreal

 

[Elias2626]

M1. NY Rangers
M2. New Jersey
M3. Carolina

A1. Florida
A2. Toronto
A3. Boston

WC1. Tampa Bay
WC2. Washington

Detroit
NY Islanders
Ottawa
Buffalo
Philadelphia
Columbus
Pittsburgh
Montreal

C1. Dallas
C2. Colorado
C3. Nashville

P1. Edmonton
P2. Vancouver
P3. Vegas

WC1. Winnipeg
WC2. Minnesota

Los Angeles
Seattle
Utah
St. louis
Chicago
San Jose
Calgary
Anaheim

 

[SannywithoutCompy]

I am not convinced of the bolded. The teams have been in a similar state in many ways other than the standings for a while now - similar prospect pool quality and coverage, for example, and similar numbers of good young players already in the core developing. Heck, we've even had similar Seasons Lost Due To Insane Amounts Of Injuries. If you need a notable difference, one could point out that Columbus arguably started its rebuild one year earlier (although, as we all know, prospect development isn't linear). It's certainly possible for one or the other to take off and leave the other behind depending on when kids break out and all, but by and large absent motivated reasoning (NYAH NYAH OUR KIDS ARE BETTER ) I don't think either team is going to be really taking off until we're facing eachother in the ECF or something.

I don't think Montreal will make the playoffs, but I do think if healthy (big if for both of our teams lol) they will finish above Columbus. I think it'll be a bottom 10 vs bottom 5 situation just because of forward depth and goaltending, as I think our defense is probably relatively even.

 

[Viqsi]

I don't think Montreal will make the playoffs, but I do think if healthy (big if for both of our teams lol) they will finish above Columbus. I think it'll be a bottom 10 vs bottom 5 situation just because of forward depth and goaltending, as I think our defense is probably relatively even.

Given the "if healthy" qualifier, yeah, I could see that. But we all know how likely that is.