Athletic rankings of 32 teams heading into the season

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

NHL season previews 2023-24: Counting down the teams from worst to first

The Athletic’s 2023-24 edition of the team season previews, a deep dive into what to expect from each team.

theathletic.com

Definitely a few headscratchers in this one

32. Sharks
31. Habs
30. Hawks
29. Ducks
28. Flyers
27. Jackets
26. Blues
25. Caps
24. Coyotes
23. Wings
22. Sabres
21. Preds
20. Kraken
19. Islanders
18. Canucks
17. Senators
16. Kings
15. Lightning
14. Jets
13. Flames
12. Pens
11. Wild
10. Panthers
9. Bruins
8. Devils
7. Knights
6. Avs
5. Leafs
4. Stars
3. Rangers
2. Oilers
1. Canes

Click to read more...

 

[Tralfamadore]

Flames at 5!???

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Flames at 5!???

And at 13!

 

[Guttersniped]

Flames at 5!???

And at 13!

 

[Weltschmerz]

I wonder why people are still paying for that nonsens.

 

[Sticksandsun]

I don't really get this list. The Oilers, who have never won a game round 3 with McDavid and only added Connor Brown, have higher odds to win than Vegas, who won the Cup easily and lost 1 guy? Toronto at 5? Because this is the year?

Also Sabres at 22 and Kings at 16 seem very off, how does Winnipeg slot in at 14?

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Flames at 5!???

What are you talking about? Leafs are at 5

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

3. Rangers
8. Devils

Lol what? Rangers are even slower than last year, when the devils skated them into the ground in the playoffs.

 

[sabremike]

So after missing the playoffs by a single point with goaltending that was worse than if they had just used a shooter tutor (couldn't possibly be worse) and defense that again COULD NOT POSSIBLY BE WORSE this season we will fall off by nearly 20 points and end up with the dregs of the league.

Crap like this is what gives the fancy stats types a bad name.

 

[NyQuil]

What are you talking about? Leafs are at 5

Clearly the OP corrected it already.

 

[deleted user]

Lol.

 

[NyQuil]

Rangers, Pens, Wild, Bruins, maybe the Preds a bit high?

Sabres, Jackets a bit low?

 

[sabremike]

3. Rangers
8. Devils

Lol what? Rangers are even slower than last year, when the devils skated them into the ground in the playoffs.

I am convinced that the point of these things is "Skip Bayless Journalism" which is produce insane scorching hot takes like a pro wrestling heel to rile people up to get clicks.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

I don't really get this list. The Oilers, who have never won a game round 3 with McDavid and only added Connor Brown, have higher odds to win than Vegas, who won the Cup easily and lost 1 guy? Toronto at 5? Because this is the year?

Also Sabres at 22 and Kings at 16 seem very off, how does Winnipeg slot in at 14?

My Cup final is (very edgy I know) Stars-Canes. I think the notion is that these things don't factor in what has happened past years. Like Edmonton just hasn't gotten the job done but they always look good on paper, same with the Leafs who always lose round 1 (2 I guess now). That type of thing isn't accounted for. I think far more egregious is the Rangers at 3 lol, not sure what happened there.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I wonder why people are still paying for that nonsens.

i got it for 1$ a month, then when I went to quit they gave me another year for 1$ a month. like you know why not

 

[InjuredChoker]

I don't really get this list. The Oilers, who have never won a game round 3 with McDavid and only added Connor Brown, have higher odds to win than Vegas, who won the Cup easily and lost 1 guy? Toronto at 5? Because this is the year?

Also Sabres at 22 and Kings at 16 seem very off, how does Winnipeg slot in at 14?

It is predicted regular season finish.

edit. playoffs are also taken into account, but regular season weighs a lot more.

 

[Three On Zero]

3. Rangers
8. Devils

Lol what? Rangers are even slower than last year, when the devils skated them into the ground in the playoffs.

Devils should quite easily be in the top 5, Rangers closer to the 10-15 range

 

[HBK27]

I am convinced that the point of these things is "Skip Bayless Journalism" which is produce insane scorching hot takes like a pro wrestling heel to rile people up to get clicks.

As much as I'd like to shit on The Athletic (as the quality of the site has deteriorated significantly in the past 3 years), what you're alluding to is not at all the case here as these projections are purely based on Dom's model and they generally do call out some of the potential flaws from the model that contribute to some of the quirky rankings within the actual articles.

Case in point for the Devils, Hamilton gets dinged for a poor 2021-2022 season (new team that overall struggled and an injury really negatively impacted his play) along with Schmid getting lit up on that same team as a 21 year old rookie.

 

[norrisnick]

I wonder why people are still paying for that nonsens.

Especially when you don't have to.

 

[Guttersniped]

It is predicted regular season finish.

edit. playoffs are also taken into account, but regular season weighs a lot more.

It’s got nothing to do with how teams will do in the playoffs.

The teams with the most points are ranked the highest, except some of the Western teams ranked a bit higher because it’s a bit less competitive for playoff spots.

 

[LOFIN]

From the surface, it's a decent projection. Look at it more in tiers, not as a straight ranking:

And it's based on analytics, so sure there are going to be some flaws in the model. I think it's reasonable to expect the Devils be ahead of the Rangers, considering how last season went and even looking at this pre-season. But 3v8 makes it sound more dramatic than it is. They are ranked in the same tier.

 

[Guttersniped]

I don't really get this list. The Oilers, who have never won a game round 3 with McDavid and only added Connor Brown, have higher odds to win than Vegas, who won the Cup easily and lost 1 guy? Toronto at 5? Because this is the year?

Also Sabres at 22 and Kings at 16 seem very off, how does Winnipeg slot in at 14?

This is the year that Toronto wins the Atlantic? Probably? Because that’s why they’re 5th.

This is basically where Vegas has teams ending up, not sure why everyone is acting like his model is predicting weird shit.

 

[sabremike]

This is the year that Toronto wins the Atlantic? Probably? Because that’s why they’re 5th.

This is basically where Vegas has teams ending up, not sure why everyone is acting like his model is predicting weird shit.

Gambling has nothing to do with predicting outcomes, it is about getting enough bets on something so that the house makes money.

 

[The90]

3. Rangers
8. Devils

Lol what? Rangers are even slower than last year, when the devils skated them into the ground in the playoffs.

No horse in this race, but I thought that was odd, too.

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

Rangers, Pens, Wild, Bruins, maybe the Preds a bit high?

Sabres, Jackets a bit low?

Last few years we (Minnesota) have finished 11th, 5th and 9th in the league. With no major roster changes, it's probably pretty reasonable to think that we're not going to fall on our own, but other teams will have to actively jump us.