2016-17 NHL Season Predictions

[Randall Flagg]

Most of the big names have been traded and signed, and we have a pretty good idea of what every team will look like this fall. Mid-July might seem a bit early for this kind of thread, but WildCard did last year's around this time as well, so I'm going for it. I will be using and building on the format that he and Hoss have worked with the last couple of seasons. (And this is different from Tom Webster's, his was a prediction of the offseason)

 

Buffalo Sabres record (and placement in overall league standings): 45-29-8, for 98 points (11th overall)

Eastern Conference Standings

Atlantic Divsion:

1.) Tampa Bay Lightning (Best team in east for me, lineup looks ridiculous on paper)

2.) Florida Panthers (Lots of moves, but I do think their defense slightly improved and their kids are another year wiser)

3.) Buffalo Sabres (PLAYOFFS BABY)

4.) Ottawa Senators (EK goes nuts, Phaneuf for a full year helps their second pair, Turris healthy all year)

5.) Montreal Canadiens (Price keeps them out of basement)

6.) Boston Bruins (Enjoy, Vesey)

7.) Detroit Red Wings (They look very bad)

8.) Toronto Maple Teens Leafs (Enjoy, Babdick)

 

Metropolitan Division:

1.) Washington Capitals (Still incredibly deep and skilled, perfect regular season team)

2.) Pittsburgh Penguins (Sid)

3.) Philadelphia Flyers (I'm very high on Provorov)

4.) New York Islanders (WC) (JT, and Ladd isn't total trash just yet)

5.) Carolina Hurricanes (WC) (Love the way they play, Aho is great, too many good young defensemen, my sleeper pick for playoffs)

6.) Columbus Blue Jackets (They'll get there eventually, stud center away from having very nice future)

7.) New York Rangers (Will be one of the worst possession teams again, and Henrik is old now, and Tanner Glass)

8.) New Jersey Devils (Hall was a great addition, but they just need more firepower)

 

Western Conference Standings

Central Division

1.) Nashville Predators (adding full seasons of PK Subban and Ryan Johansen)

2.) Dallas Stars (Seguin and Benn  :wub:  :wub:  :wub: )

3.) Chicago Blackhawks (Kane, Panarin, Keith keep a team with mediocre centers afloat :angel: )

4.) St. Louis Blues (WC) (Solid team, wouldn't surprise me if they win two rounds again)

5.) Winnipeg Jets (Bottom six and bottom pair are question marks, and they may finish lower if they keep inexplicably starting Pavelec)

6.) Colorado Avalanche (Roy)

7.) Minnesota Wild (Incredibly meh)

 

Pacific Division

1.) San Jose Sharks (High risk pick, Joe could go the way of Marleau at any minute, could also see them missing playoffs)

2.) Calgary Flames (Elliot is a good goalie. Gaudreau is a god. Bennett and Monahan older, Brouwer and Frolik nice depth. Good top 3 defensemen.)

3.) Arizona Coyotes (My surprise Western team. Probably a stupid pick. Mobile defense, love the young forwards.)

4.) Los Angeles Kings (WC) (Kopitar, Carter, Doughty drag this cap-strapped, slow depth player team to a first round exit)

5.) Edmonton Oilers (McJesus scores 95 points, defense improves a lot, one year away from contending for division title)

6.) Anaheim Ducks (Older and slower, nice defense, I don't like Gibson much and the forwards honestly look pretty bad)

7.) Vancouver Canucks (just awful)

 

Eastern Conference Finals: Tampa vs Pittsburgh
Western Conference Finals: Nashville vs St. Louis (yes, this can happen with my standings)
Stanley Cup Finals: Tampa defeats Nashville.

Conn Smythe: Nikita Kucherov (Victor Hedman comes close)

 

Rocket Richard Trophy: Ovechkin, until proven otherwise.

Art Ross Trophy: Sidney Crosby

Hart Trophy: Sidney Crosby

Norris Trophy: PK Subban
Vezina Trophy: Carey Price

Jack Adams Trophy: Bill Peters

Calder Trophy: Sebastian Aho (Provorov and Puljujarvi are runners up)

 

Biggest name moved during the season: Ben Bishop

Number of Sabres in the All Star Game: 3 (Jack, ROR, Samson) 

Sabre who is a pleasant surprise: Bailey makes the team and puts up 30 points
Sabre who is a big disappointment: Foligno loses a regular roster spot to Bailey

Biggest name to retire: Jarome Iginla

First coach fired: AV in New York.

Team with best standings improvement: Arizona Coyotes
Team with biggest fall in standings: New York Rangers or Anaheim Ducks
 

Feel free to not do the full division standings, I just had a lot of time and was enjoying myself. 

Edited July 14, 2016 by Randall Flagg

[LGR4GM]

Foligno is not losing a roster spot to Justin Bailey. We have holes on the right side, not on the left. There is no reason to play Bailey on his off wing as a rookie in the NHL. 

[Randall Flagg]

Foligno is not losing a roster spot to Justin Bailey. We have holes on the right side, not on the left. There is no reason to play Bailey on his off wing as a rookie in the NHL. 

That prediction entails Foligno falling from, say, our 9th best forward, to our 13th, and being passed by Bailey along the way. if our wing depth had six lefties who were better than all but 2 righties, DB would not sit two of those lefties while starting two crap righties because of the side they prefer (quick example, not emulating what we have right now.) My disappointing Sabre prediction is that Foligno does not establish himself as one of our 12 best forwards, and Bailey outplays him as the 'mystery guy' to take the spot that opens up.

[LGR4GM]

We have 6 lefties and Moulson is getting a spot. Unless Kane flames out he gets a spot. Ennis gets a spot. Then you have Foligno and Deslauriers. My issue is you are assuming that Bailey will be better than Foligno and Deslauriers to the point he can play better than on his off wing and I don't think that will happen. Especially when that 4th line RW spot is sitting there waiting for him.

ps I like your other predictions. 

[Randall Flagg]

We have 6 lefties and Moulson is getting a spot. Unless Kane flames out he gets a spot. Ennis gets a spot. Then you have Foligno and Deslauriers. My issue is you are assuming that Bailey will be better than Foligno and Deslauriers to the point he can play better than on his off wing and I don't think that will happen. Especially when that 4th line RW spot is sitting there waiting for him.

ps I like your other predictions. 

Meh, I had to pick SOMEBODY, and I figured guys like Ennis and Girgensons would get plenty of play, and I didn't want to pick Jack or Sam because my heart cannot handle that possibility. 

[That Aud Smell]

A+ for effort and comprehensiveness.

 

But this thread has made my head spin.

 

I don't know enough about the hockey other than to venture my prediction that the Sabres will improve and be a bubble/wild card team.

[MattPie]

We have 6 lefties and Moulson is getting a spot. Unless Kane flames out he gets a spot. Ennis gets a spot. Then you have Foligno and Deslauriers. My issue is you are assuming that Bailey will be better than Foligno and Deslauriers to the point he can play better than on his off wing and I don't think that will happen. Especially when that 4th line RW spot is sitting there waiting for him.

ps I like your other predictions. 

 

I think Ennis was playing a fair bit on the RW last year, wasn't he?

[North Buffalo]

Can I wait till say April 15th? :)

[dudacek]

Can I wait till say April 15th? :)

I believe the date to focus on is August 15.

[Hoss]

Copying and pasting your beautiful template and placing my own picks.

 

Buffalo Sabres record (and placement in overall league standings): 43-30-9 (95 points)

Eastern Conference Standings

Atlantic Divsion:

1.) Tampa Bay Lightning

2.) Florida Panthers

3.) Montreal Canadiens

4.) Buffalo Sabres (WC)

5.) Boston Bruins

6.) Detroit Red Wings

7.) Ottawa Senators

8.) Toronto Maple Leafs

 

Metropolitan Division:

1.) Washington Capitals

2.) Pittsburgh Penguins

3.) New York Islanders

4.) New York Rangers (WC)

5.) Carolina Hurricanes

6.) Philadelphia Flyers

7.) New Jersey Devils

8.) Columbus Blue Jackets

 

Western Conference Standings

Central Division

1.) Dallas Stars

2.) Nashville Predators

3.) Chicago Blackhawks

4.) Minnesota Wild (WC)

5.) St. Louis Blues

6.) Colorado Avalanche

7.) Winnipeg Jets

 

Pacific Division

1.) Anaheim Ducks

2.) San Jose Sharks

3.) Edmonton Oilers

4.) Calgary Flames (WC)

5.) Los Angeles Kings

6.) Arizona Coyotes

7.) Vancouver Canucks

 

Eastern Conference Finals: Washington over Florida
Western Conference Finals: Nashville over San Jose
Stanley Cup Finals: Nashville over Washington (yes, I picked four teams who have never won the cup to be in the conference finals)

Conn Smythe: Ryan Johansen

 

Rocket Richard Trophy: Alex Ovechkin

Art Ross Trophy: Sidney Crosby

Hart Trophy: Jamie Benn finally gets his due

Norris Trophy: Aaron Ekblad
Vezina Trophy: Braden Holtby (again)

Jack Adams Trophy: Todd McLellan

Calder Trophy: Auston Matthews

 

Biggest name moved during the season: Kevin Shattenkirk

Number of Sabres in the All Star Game: 3 (Jack, ROR, Risto)

Sabre who is a pleasant surprise: Dmitry Kulikov (legit top-pairing dman with Risto)
Sabre who is a big disappointment: Reinhart only because he'll be great but the improvement won't be in production)

Biggest name to retire: Jarome Iginla

First coach fired: Claude Julien in Boston

Team with best standings improvement: Calgary
Team with biggest fall in standings: St. Louis

[WildCard]

You love you some Johansen, Hoss

[Hoss]

You love you some Johansen, Hoss

Always have, always will (unless he does something stupid then I'm coming back to delete this post)

[Randall Flagg]

If I had to put money on my predictions, I'd change them to resemble yours closely, probably. Thanks for posting!

[GASabresIUFAN]

Sabres score 250 goals, finish 3rd in the division.

 

Bailey earns the 4th line RW role out of camp and then moves ahead of Gionta on the depth chart by mid-season.

 

Biggest disappointment is Franson and he gets sentdown to the AHL.

Biggest surprise besides Bailey will be Lehner. He stays healthy and finally olays to his talent.

McCabe's play also ends all trade rumors involving Fowler.

Edited July 16, 2016 by GASabresIUFAN

[Randall Flagg]

I hope everybody is more correct about McCabe than I am.

[WildCard]

Buffalo Sabres record (and placement in overall league standings): 47-31- 3 (Thanks Okposo) , for 97 points 

Eastern Conference Standings

Atlantic Divsion:

1.) Tampa Bay Lightning

2.) Florida Panthers 

3.) Buffalo Sabres (PLAYOFFS BABY)

4.) Montreal Canadiens

5.) Boston Bruins 

6.) Detroit Red Wings

7.) Ottawa Senators 

8.) Asshats

 

Metropolitan Division:

1.) Pittsburgh Penguins

2.) Washing Capitals

3.) NYI

4.) Flyers

5.) Hurricanes

6.) NYR

7.) Devils

8.) Jackets (Torts doesn't make it through the year)

 

Western Conference Standings

Central Division

1.) Nashville Predators 

2.) Dallas Stars 

3.) Chicago Blackhawks 

4.) St. Louis Blues (WC) 

5.) Winnipeg Jets 

6.) Colorado Avalanche 

7.) Minnesota Wild 

 

-Can't argue with anything in that division

 

Pacific Division

1.) San Jose Sharks

2.) Calgary Flames (Gaudreau is a god.) I hate you for this, Flagg 

3.) Ducks

4.) Edmonton Oilers (WC)

5.) Arizona Coyotes (Goligoski, Strome....) 

6.) LA

7.) Vancouver Canucks (Sucks to be you, Miller)

 

Eastern Conference Finals: Tampa vs Washington
Western Conference Finals: Nashville vs SJ
Stanley Cup Finals: Washington > Nashville. 

Conn Smythe: Holtby

 

Rocket Richard Trophy: Ovechkin

Art Ross Trophy: Benn

Hart Trophy: Sidney Crosby

Norris Trophy: Hedman
Vezina Trophy: Martin Jones

Jack Adams Trophy: DD

Calder Trophy: Matthews

 

Biggest name moved during the season: Rick Nash

Number of Sabres in the All Star Game: 3 (Jack, ROR, Okposo) 

Sabre who is a pleasant surprise: Lehner is an actual #1
Sabre who is a big disappointment: Lehner is actually a #2. (Real pick is Ennis)

Biggest name to retire: Jarome Iginla

First coach fired: Desjardins

Team with best standings improvement: Edmonton
Team with biggest fall in standings: Rangers or Kings

[Neo]

Thank you, Randell ...

 

Some ESPN love ...

 

http://espn.go.com/nhl/powerrankings

[inkman]

Thank you, Randell ...

 

Some ESPN love ...

 

http://espn.go.com/nhl/powerrankings

Thats definitely the most optimistic analysis I've read on Buffalo. Either this guys really knows his stuff and is ahead of the curve or he's just talking out his First Niagara Center. Most everyone else view them as a bottom third team still. Tough to argue until on ice results prove everyone wrong.

[thewookie1]

Sabres make it to playoffs, shock the league by winning in the 1st round then lose in 6 in the 2nd round. Lehner and Eichel do well in the playoffs but the biggest story is Sam Reinhart's play in the playoffs being incredible. With 13 points in 12 games including a hattrick in Game 6 of the 1st round to win the series.

Edited July 31, 2016 by thewookie1

[Ducky]

Atlantic Divsion:

1.)Tampa Bay Lightning

2.) Montreal Canadiens

3.) Boston Bruins

4.) Florida Panthers

5.) Buffalo Sabres

6.) Detroit Red Wings

7.) Leafs

8.) Ottawa Senators

 

Metropolitan Division:

1.) Pittsburgh Penguins

2.) Washing Capitals

3.) NYI

4.) NYR

5.) Hurricanes

6.) Devils

7.) Flyers

8.) Jackets (last in the league)

 

Western Conference Standings

Central Division

1.) St. Louis Blues

2.) Dallas Stars 

3.) Nashville Predators

4.) Chicago Blackhawks

5.) Winnipeg Jets 

6.)  Minnesota Wild

7.)  Colorado Avalanche

 

 

 

Pacific Division

1.) Ducks

2.) LA

3.) San Jose Sharks

4.) Calgary Flames

5.) Edmonton Oilers

6.) Arizona Coyotes

7.) Vancouver Canucks

 

Bolded make the postseason

 

Eastern Conference Finals: Habs vs Isles

Western Conference Finals: Blues vs Ducks

Stanley Cup Finals: Blues > Habs. 

 

Sabres Caps Lightning Bruins Jets Sharks Hawks and Preds all get knocked out in first round.

 

[LGR4GM]

Dan Rosen of NHL.com predicts Buffalo makes the playoffs https://www.nhl.com/news/dan-rosens-over-the-boards-mailbag-august-24/c-281394666?tid=277729162

[DirtDart]

Most of the big names have been traded and signed, and we have a pretty good idea of what every team will look like this fall. Mid-July might seem a bit early for this kind of thread, but WildCard did last year's around this time as well, so I'm going for it. I will be using and building on the format that he and Hoss have worked with the last couple of seasons. (And this is different from Tom Webster's, his was a prediction of the offseason)

 

Buffalo Sabres record (and placement in overall league standings): 45-29-8, for 98 points (11th overall)

Eastern Conference Standings

Atlantic Divsion:

1.) Tampa Bay Lightning (Best team in east for me, lineup looks ridiculous on paper)

2.) Florida Panthers (Lots of moves, but I do think their defense slightly improved and their kids are another year wiser)

3.) Buffalo Sabres (PLAYOFFS BABY)

4.) Ottawa Senators (EK goes nuts, Phaneuf for a full year helps their second pair, Turris healthy all year)

5.) Montreal Canadiens (Price keeps them out of basement)

6.) Boston Bruins (Enjoy, Vesey)

7.) Detroit Red Wings (They look very bad)

8.) Toronto Maple Teens Leafs (Enjoy, Babdick)

 

Metropolitan Division:

1.) Washington Capitals (Still incredibly deep and skilled, perfect regular season team)

2.) Pittsburgh Penguins (Sid)

3.) Philadelphia Flyers (I'm very high on Provorov)

4.) New York Islanders (WC) (JT, and Ladd isn't total trash just yet)

5.) Carolina Hurricanes (WC) (Love the way they play, Aho is great, too many good young defensemen, my sleeper pick for playoffs)

6.) Columbus Blue Jackets (They'll get there eventually, stud center away from having very nice future)

7.) New York Rangers (Will be one of the worst possession teams again, and Henrik is old now, and Tanner Glass)

8.) New Jersey Devils (Hall was a great addition, but they just need more firepower)

 

Western Conference Standings

Central Division

1.) Nashville Predators (adding full seasons of PK Subban and Ryan Johansen)

2.) Dallas Stars (Seguin and Benn  :wub:  :wub:  :wub: )

3.) Chicago Blackhawks (Kane, Panarin, Keith keep a team with mediocre centers afloat :angel: )

4.) St. Louis Blues (WC) (Solid team, wouldn't surprise me if they win two rounds again)

5.) Winnipeg Jets (Bottom six and bottom pair are question marks, and they may finish lower if they keep inexplicably starting Pavelec)

6.) Colorado Avalanche (Roy)

7.) Minnesota Wild (Incredibly meh)

 

Pacific Division

1.) San Jose Sharks (High risk pick, Joe could go the way of Marleau at any minute, could also see them missing playoffs)

2.) Calgary Flames (Elliot is a good goalie. Gaudreau is a god. Bennett and Monahan older, Brouwer and Frolik nice depth. Good top 3 defensemen.)

3.) Arizona Coyotes (My surprise Western team. Probably a stupid pick. Mobile defense, love the young forwards.)

4.) Los Angeles Kings (WC) (Kopitar, Carter, Doughty drag this cap-strapped, slow depth player team to a first round exit)

5.) Edmonton Oilers (McJesus scores 95 points, defense improves a lot, one year away from contending for division title)

6.) Anaheim Ducks (Older and slower, nice defense, I don't like Gibson much and the forwards honestly look pretty bad)

7.) Vancouver Canucks (just awful)

 

Eastern Conference Finals: Tampa vs Pittsburgh

Western Conference Finals: Nashville vs St. Louis (yes, this can happen with my standings)

Stanley Cup Finals: Tampa defeats Nashville.

Conn Smythe: Nikita Kucherov (Victor Hedman comes close)

 

Rocket Richard Trophy: Ovechkin, until proven otherwise.

Art Ross Trophy: Sidney Crosby

Hart Trophy: Sidney Crosby

Norris Trophy: PK Subban

Vezina Trophy: Carey Price

Jack Adams Trophy: Bill Peters

Calder Trophy: Sebastian Aho (Provorov and Puljujarvi are runners up)

 

Biggest name moved during the season: Ben Bishop

Number of Sabres in the All Star Game: 3 (Jack, ROR, Samson) 

Sabre who is a pleasant surprise: Bailey makes the team and puts up 30 points

Sabre who is a big disappointment: Foligno loses a regular roster spot to Bailey

Biggest name to retire: Jarome Iginla

First coach fired: AV in New York.

Team with best standings improvement: Arizona Coyotes

Team with biggest fall in standings: New York Rangers or Anaheim Ducks

 

Feel free to not do the full division standings, I just had a lot of time and was enjoying myself. 

DD said " 95 + points, and a playoff spot", I am going with that...... The Sabres are the only FO in Buffalo sports that I trust.

Sabres make it to playoffs, shock the league by winning in the 1st round then lose in 6 in the 2nd round. Lehner and Eichel do well in the playoffs but the biggest story is Sam Reinhart's play in the playoffs being incredible. With 13 points in 12 games including a hattrick in Game 6 of the 1st round to win the series.

What numbers should I play this week?

[thewookie1]

DD said " 95 + points, and a playoff spot", I am going with that...... The Sabres are the only FO in Buffalo sports that I trust.

What numbers should I play this week?

 

How many you need?

 

6 24 10 17 9  2

[dudacek]

How many you need?

 

6 24 10 17 9  2

Even Ducky can't save that shameful collection of Sabres.

[thewookie1]

Even Ducky can't save that shameful collection of Sabres.

 

Wasn't meant to be Sabres just the 1st numbers I thought of