With the 2018-2019 NHL season starting in seven days, the glitz and glamour of the Vegas Golden Knights and the 2017-2018 NHL season in the books, we can now look ahead to a division by division breakdown and ultimately who I believe will capture the Stanley Cup this year. Let’s dive right in with the Eastern Conference…

Atlantic Division:

2017-2018 standings:
Tampa Bay Lightning
Boston Bruins
Toronto Maple Leafs
Florida Panthers
Detroit Red Wings
Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres

The Hot Take: Tampa Bay will stay in first and Toronto and Boston will flip-flop second and third place, resulting in a rematch of the epic seven-game series they played this past spring. Other than this one change, I see the Buffalo Sabres making a rise in the division as they acquired Swedish superstar Rasmus Dahlin in the 2018 Draft. After trading perennial All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson, the Ottawa Senators are in full rebuild mode, as are the Canadiens. I can see the Florida Panthers and Detroit Red Wings sticking in the playoff race for a while, but at the end of the day, they are just mediocre teams.

My prediction:
Tampa Bay Lightning
Toronto Maple Leafs
Boston Bruins
Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers
Buffalo Sabres
Ottawa Senators

Metropolitan Division:

2017-18 standings:
Washington Capitals (Defending Stanley Cup Champions)
Pittsburgh Penguins
Philadelphia Flyers
Columbus Blue Jackets
New Jersey Devils
Carolina Hurricanes
New York Islanders
New York Rangers

Quite possibly the best division in the NHL, the Metropolitan Division is always a dogfight. There are five legit playoff teams: Capitals, Penguins, Flyers, Blue Jackets and the Devils. Okay, now that we have the good teams let’s transition to the “weak” teams. Expect my Rangers to have a decent season and finish in fifth or sixth. The Islanders will struggle immensely without their heart and soul, John Tavares. The Hurricanes are the Hurricanes and they cannot figure out how to win with a glut of talent on their team. This is a tough division to predict, but the Capitals and Penguins are locks to make the playoffs. After that, the Devils added nothing to their playoff team from last year, so they are a wild card team at best. Same goes for the Blue Jackets, who are just a good team but nothing more. Ultimately, I have Penguins, Capitals, and then the solid young Flyers team, which Junior Justin Horn has called, “a team that will be in the top 3 in the Metro behind the Pens and Caps,” coming out of the Metro.

My prediction:
Pittsburgh Penguins
Washington Capitals
Philadelphia Flyers
New Jersey Devils
Columbus Blue Jackets
New York Rangers
Carolina Hurricanes
New York Islanders

Western Conference:
Central Division:

2017-18 standings:
Nashville Predators
Winnipeg Jets
Minnesota Wild
Colorado Avalanche
St. Louis Blues
Dallas Stars
Chicago Blackhawks

Another very deep and talented Division with a lot to figure out. Everyone knows that the Predators and Jets are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. Right off the bat, I expect the Preds to finish first and the Jets to come in a close second. After those two is where the fun really starts…. the Colorado Avalanche made huge improvements last year under Jared Bednar, and Nathan Mackinnon is THE BEST player no one talks about. This man has beyond shifty speed and he reminds me of McDavid when he skates. I expect the Avalanche to continue to develop their young core and to finish in third this season. The Dallas Stars will come in a close fourth, but with their aging core, I could see room for a big regression. The Blues are always a tricky team to predict because they play solid at times and look like a formidable playoff team but always wind up crashing back to Earth in the second half of the season. For that reason of inconsistency, they will be in the cellar of the Central. Last but not least, the Chicago Blackhawks. Everyone has lovely memories of the core of Toews, Kane, Keith, Seabrook and Crawford winning Cups in 2010,2013, and 2015, but those days are over. The cap-strapped Blackhawks will be unable to do anything as long as they have those five players taking up a large chunk of their salary cap. Teams these days win on young and cheap talent with a couple of stars leading the way. Unfortunately for the Blackhawks, they cannot get out from their bad contracts (i.e. Seabrook who was a healthy scratch at times last year).

My prediction:
Nashville Predators
Winnipeg Jets
Colorado Avalanche
Minnesota Wild
Dallas Stars
St. Louis Blues
Chicago Blackhawks

Pacific Division:

2017-18 standings:
Las Vegas Golden Knights
Anaheim Ducks
San Jose Sharks
Los Angeles Kings
Calgary Flames
Edmonton Oilers
Vancouver Canucks
Arizona Coyotes

One team comes to mind when someone says the Pacific Division… THE Las Vegas Golden Knights. Only the first expansion team to ever make it to the Stanley Cup Finals…you know, no big deal. But in all seriousness, Vegas cannot and I think will not get back to the Cup Final. It was a magical run and they rode it as far as they could. Are they a very good team? Yes. Can they beat the likes of Nashville, Winnipeg, and San Jose? I think not. Speaking of, the San Jose Sharks, man! They got Erik Karlsson and paired him with a core that already had Brent Burns, Logan Couture, Martin Jones, Joe Thornton, and Joe Pavelski. Wow is the word that comes to mind. I’m so high on the Sharks I have them as the Western Conference Champion, but we will save that for a little later. The Pacific also has some bottom of the league type teams, such as the Arizona Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks, and even the Edmonton Oilers as of last year. I fully expect Connor McDavid, the best player in the world, to spearhead an Oilers resurgence after an awesome season two years ago. While McDavid is leading an Oilers resurgence, teams like the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames will be stuck in mediocrity in this division. However, these teams are good enough to challenge the Anaheim Ducks, who have an interesting dynamic after finishing first in the division last year and getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs. With all this being said….my predictions are:

San Jose Sharks
Anaheim Ducks
Los Angeles Kings
Edmonton Oilers
Calgary Flames
Vancouver Canucks
Arizona Coyotes

Wild Cards:

Eastern Conference:
Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils:
The Devils are the same Devils of last year and Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier will continue to carry the team and their mediocre goaltending to another Wild Card birth.
Columbus will ride the amazing play of Seth Jones and Sergei Bobrovsky to a Wild Card Birth as well, although with Seth Jones slated to miss the first few weeks of the season with an MCL injury my prediction could be wrong, but I will stand by the Metro Division having two wild cards again this year.
Western Conference:
Edmonton Oilers and Minnesota Wild:
Hear me out, McDavid is going to have a monster year and put up 115 points and win another Art Ross Trophy. I feel that the Oilers under performed as a whole last year as they were coming off a successful playoff run and will right the ship this year.
The Minnesota Wild are always a solid, yet unspectacular team, but they always find their way into and out of the playoffs quickly so I feel that this season will be no different.

MY STANLEY CUP CHAMPION IS……… The San Jose Sharks winning in Game 6 against the Pittsburgh Penguins