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Who has been the biggest surprise this season? Biggest let down?

GrandmaCookie

GrandmaCookie

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Feb 10, 2019
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This is not another thread to brag about #48, but I think the biggest surprise this season might have been Lane Hutson. An undersized late second round pick coming into the league and doing what he did has surprised a lot of people.

Alex Ovechkin beating Gretzky record as soon as 2024-2025 is another big suprise I think not a lot of people saw coming.

Other name worth mentioning would be Holloway, Potras, PLD, Knies. I obviously forget others young players blossoming this season.

Elias Pettersson is the first name that comes to mind for biggest let down. Roman Josi had a somewhat disappointing season by his standard too.

Curious to know others opinion on that, or you can just name biggest surprise and biggest letdown for your team.
 
Biggest surprise is absolutely ovy destroying the league this year

My memory is poor but didn’t he have an awful start to the season last year?
 
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Obvious surprise is Columbus still hanging onto playoff hopes when their entire season has been hampered by injuries and the loss of Johnny. They were supposed to be the dead ringer for the 1st overall pick chance but now basically the only team left in the East who has an (extremely small) shot to take down Montreal. Fantilli on his way to becoming a true franchise player, Z being in conversation for Norris, Marchenko becoming a line driving winger outside goaltending (which seems like the short king Jet might be the hero we need next year) the team is on its way to being a true threat in the next year or two.
 
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In the East, I don't think there are that many surprises.

The downfall of the Rangers is a big one. It's not shocking they didn't have a great season again, but I'm sure not many expected them to miss the playoffs.

The Caps being first in the East may be a bit of a surprise, but if you had told me early in the season that they would be a top team in the Metro, I wouldn't have found that hard to believe.

I didn't expect the Habs to be a playoff team again so soon and Columbus has done better than I expected. I wasn't very high on BOS (I thought they could miss the playoffs) but can't say I expected them to be at the bottom of the East so far into the season. Not shocked the Pens missed the playoffs again, but I didn't expect them to be quite as bad as they have been.

I'm not amazed that the Leafs are first in their division. I don't think FLA has tried that hard this year and TB and CAR are good teams having good seasons.


As far as the WC is concerned, I definitely wasn't expecting the Jets to have such a dominant season. I also didn't think LA would be so good. Didn't expect STL to make the playoffs or VAN to fall so much.

All in all, Bedard's sophomore season probably didn't quite meet many people's expectations. CHI has done him no favors, though.
 
Biggest letdown has to be for Utah fans...Still no name for their team....It's like their team is a bastard child.
 
VaporTrail said:
Biggest letdown has to be for Utah fans...Still no name for their team....It's like their team is a bastard child.
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What you don't like that very creative name 🤣

They do this in other sports, but calling a hockey team hockey club is so damn stupid.
 
Washington and Winnipeg are both biggest surprises but I don't think anyone thought Washington wouldn't be better, just not to this degree. Winnipeg people thought got significantly worse in the offseason.

Also -- Lane Hutson is not a surprise. He's been hyped to no end and put up two insanely good post-draft years after widely being regarded as the biggest faller in his draft year. This wasn't a guy coming out of nowhere
 
Positive surprise: Washington Capitals
Negative surprise: New York Rangers
 
Another vote for Ovechkin and, by extension, the Capitals. Expecting Ovi to score 42 (and counting) goals at 39 wasn't a serious expectation. Having him miss a month with injury made that seem impossible. And yet...

Having Washington finish at the top of the EC is an added "F-You!" to everyone who dismissed them as a cheap supporting cast to Ovechkin's goal record.
 
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Lshap said:
Another vote for Ovechkin and, by extension, the Capitals. Expecting Ovi to score 42 (and counting) goals at 39 wasn't a serious expectation. Having him miss a month with injury made that seem impossible. And yet...

Having Washington finish at the top of the EC is an added "F-You!" to everyone who dismissed them as a cheap supporting cast to Ovechkin's goal record.
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Yeah, no surprise about Ovechkin, but the resurrection of the Caps to the top of the division/Conference wasn't seen. Props to them.

Biggest let down by far is the NYR's and a vote for Boston as well, and the Canucks.
 
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As unsurprising as it was surprising was the Flames having plot armor to end up nearly missing a playoff spot which they had no business fighting for in the first place, aka Dustin Wolf being this good. We need to suck more next year for long term success though.
 
Ugene Magic said:
Yeah, no surprise about Ovechkin, but the resurrection of the Caps to the top of the division/Conference wasn't seen. Props to them.

Biggest let down by far is the NYR's and a vote for Boston as well, and the Canucks.
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There are a few major slides that nobody saw coming. I agree, the Rangers are #1. Vancouver probably #2. I think a lot of people had Boston sliding out of the playoffs, although I don't remember anyone predicting such a big slide. Nashville was also a big bust, considering the big off-season hype.

As far as positive surprises, aside from Washington, probably Ottawa and Montreal defying expectations.
 
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Biggest surprise -Teams
Habs having a chance at making the playoffs. Everyone had them near the bottom of the league again.
Rangers biggest disappointment.
Biggest surprise -Players.
Hutson the 62nd OA pick who is the #1 consensus on winning the Calder.
Most disappointing Not sure on who to go with.
 
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Ovechkin for me, thought he wouldnt break it until next season. Biggest let down has to be New York Rangers, based on how good they were last year, now missing the playoffs.
 
The biggest non surprises are stamkos and the predators. Just goes to show you spending big money in free agency in the nhl isn’t a wise idea.
 
IMG_4250.jpeg
 
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