Originally posted on Daily Faceoff
Fortune favors the bold. Or so the saying goes. Hockey is notoriously the most difficult sport to predict – where every year at least a handful of playoff teams turnover, some of which we least expect. The unexplainable is to be expected.
That’s why making bold proclamations to start each season is a fool’s errand. But this is supposed to be fun. The only rule: No obvious predictions. You have to step out on the ledge.
Hockey is back. And so are we with a rite of fall, 32 bold predictions for the 2024-25 NHL season:
1. The Buffalo Sabres will end the longest playoff drought in North American pro sports at 13 years. Buffalo has arguably the best top-four defense corps in the East and young stars up front. A proud hockey market comes alive again.
2. With that, the Tampa Bay Lightning will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2017. The cyclical nature of the salary cap world can’t be outrun or avoided; all incredible runs come to an end at some point. There’s bound to be a redistribution of points in the Atlantic Division this season.
3. J.T. Miller will become the first Vancouver Canuck since Ryan Kesler to capture the Selke Trophy. Money Miller quote to Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre: “I don’t want my ceiling to be based on points. I may play an even better 200-foot game this year and have 20 less points. That’s not a failure to me. I want to be a really good 200-foot player in the league.” Winner’s mindset.
4. Low key Must-Watch Game of the Year: Anaheim at Philadelphia on Saturday, January 11. Best of luck, Cutter Gauthier, hope the shield fits in your carry-on.
5. Barry Trotz will take home the Jim Gregory GM of the Year Award, becoming the first person to ever win the Jack Adams (2016, 2019) and GM of the Year. Nashville is in the Stanley Cup contender conversation again thanks to Trotz.
6. Connor McDavid will become the third fastest player to 1,000 points in NHL history. He’s 18 away, and he’ll do it by Oct. 22 against Carolina, passing Mike Bossy for third all-time (652 games). McDavid will take home his fourth Hart Trophy. Someday, we’re going to look back on McDavid’s greatness and marvel at the idea that he only won three Harts during this stretch.
7. Detroit’s Derek Lalonde will be the first coach fired. Feels like there are already signs of friction between Lalonde and Red Wings management. And the temperature is rising in Detroit to make the playoffs.
8. The Great Eight will need eight goals in 2025-26, the final year of his contract, to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record of 893. Alex Ovechkin will score 34 this season, three more than last year.
9. The Washington Capitals will return to the playoffs on the back of the NHL’s most improved defense. Matt Roy was the signing of the summer, a true underrated pure defender. Add in Jakob Chychrun and it was a big summer for the Caps, who also have the best value goalie tandem in the league.
10. Brock Nelson, Yanni Gourde and Cam Fowler will be the hottest 2025 Trade Deadline commodities. Deadline Day is Friday, March 7.
11. Utah Hockey Club will qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs in their first year. GM Bill Armstrong was right: No team is better prepared for the present and future. Their highest-priced player makes $8.15 million. They’ve got draft picks (assets) to trade. They have more prospects than they can sign. And players are going to clamor to live in Salt Lake City.
12. New Jersey’s Sheldon Keefe will take home the 2025 Jack Adams Award as coach of the year. The Devils are going to win the Metropolitan Division, armed with a vastly improved back end that’s the perfect blend of young and old. The only thing they need is health.
13. After a proper period of mourning, the Lady Byng Trophy will be renamed in memory of Johnny (and Matthew) Gaudreau. Lady Byng had a great 100-year run. John won the Byng in 2017 and was a true gentleman of the game. It would also be appropriate for on-ice officials to vote on the award.
14. With a little help from Gaudreau, the Columbus Blue Jackets will win the 2025 Draft Lottery. It’s the only consolation prize on a brutal year, but hope and help is on the way. Bananas that the Blue Jackets have never won the Lottery.
15. Team USA will win the 4 Nations Face-Off on home ice in Boston on Feb. 20. MVP: Connor Hellebuyck. Yes, the first best-on-best international hockey in 11 years will be as delicious as it sounds, and just the appetizer one year ahead of the 2026 Olympics. The tournament runs Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston in lieu of All-Star Weekend.
16. Playoff teams: Boston, Buffalo, Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, New York Rangers, Toronto, Washington / Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Nashville, Vancouver, Vegas, Utah, Winnipeg.
17. The Philadelphia Flyers will have more points this season than the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins are going to need to play with more pace in order to have a shot at the playoffs.
18. Bet365 Stone Cold Mortal Lock: Matvei Michkov over 47.5 points. The Flyers’ prized rookie is a certified junkyard dog, a player who competes like a bastard, something that will make coach John Tortorella fall in love. Michkov isn’t ready to shoulder an entire organization yet, but he’s the real deal.
19. But Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson will take home the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year. Hutson and Michkov will be neck-and-neck for points this season, but Hutson will dazzle with his vision, edge work and creativity. (The Habs are going to be more competitive than you realize.)
20. The NHL and NHL Players’ Association will agree to make neck protection mandatory starting with the 2025-26 season. Player comfort shouldn’t be prioritized over player safety.
21. After a two-year hiatus, Colorado’s Cale Makar will win the Norris Trophy. His career-best 90-point season kind of got lost in the shuffle behind a spectacular year from Quinn Hughes. It’s incredible that Makar is well north of a career point-per-game player in the playoffs, too. The Avalanche are one of the NHL’s biggest wild cards this season – dependent on Gabriel Landeskog and Val Nichushkin to return and produce.
22. Auston Matthews goals: 61. He’ll narrowly edge McDavid for the Rocket Richard.
23. Mitch Marner will headline the crop of 2025 Free Agents. The Leafs will be moving in a different direction next offseason, forced to finally act on foundation-shaking changes.
24. The New York Rangers will make Igor Shesterkin the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history at $11.25 million per season. That will surpass Carey Price’s previous record of $10.5 million. Devoting 12 percent of next season’s salary cap to a goaltender who will be on the bench for 33 percent of the season is tough to swallow, but it’s a necessary evil. Can’t win without goaltending.
25. Jason Robertson will bounce back with his second-career 100-point season as the model-of-consistency Dallas Stars win the Central Division. Robertson quietly dipped from 109 points to 80 last year. Just getting back north of 40 goals will make up for a bunch of those points.
26. The Seattle Kraken will bump Ron Francis to president of hockey operations and promote Jason Botterill to GM. Now in Year 4, there’s quietly pressure building for the Kraken to progress. They know they need to make hay in the market before the NBA inevitably returns.
27. Regular season regressions: Carolina, Vancouver, Winnipeg. All three are still playoff teams, but it won’t go as swimmingly this season.
28. The NHL and NHL Players’ Association will sign a Collective Bargaining Agreement extension before the Stanley Cup playoffs begin, achieving labor peace through 2032. Expect the NHL to green light a formal expansion process shortly after that – with the league returning to Arizona within a five-year period.
29. No. 1 Pick Projections: Connor Bedard will hit 100 points in his sophomore season, while Macklin Celebrini arrives in the NHL with 57. Both the Blackhawks and Sharks will enjoy 15+ point improvements in the standings.
30. Amazon Prime’s Coast to Coast on Thursday nights will become appointment streaming in Canada. It’s hockey’s version of NFL Red Zone, whipping around from game-to-game, and it’s the perfect league-wide complement on a traditional busy night of the schedule.
31. On the back of a nasty back end, the Boston Bruins will win the East and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the second time in seven years. It’s a defense no one will like playing against. They’re giants. And size on the blueline wins in the playoffs. Charlie McAvoy is the smallest at 6-foot-1.
32. The Edmonton Oilers will end Canada’s Stanley Cup drought at 32 years. They will repeat what the Florida Panthers accomplished, becoming the second straight team to lose in the Cup Final the year prior and then vanquish their loss the following year. It’s a matter of when and not if – McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are not going to be denied.
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Originally posted on Daily Faceoff
Published: 1 month ago
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