On Wednesday, the National Hockey League will drop the puck on a new season.
In cities all across North America, fans will gather in jam packed rinks to welcome back their hometown heroes. It’s a magical time of year for hockey fans. It’s that brief moment when every single team is tied for first place. When every single team is on even footing. When every single fan thinks that this could be their year.
Or something like that…
It’s honestly hard to remember a season where the Ottawa Senators came into a year with lower expectations. Outside of the first couple years as a franchise anyway. For the last six months, the league’s spotlight has been locked in on a series of off-ice blunders in the Nation’s Capital. A once proud organization is now frequently ridiculed, primarily by its own fans. Things are a little tense around here.
But the nice thing about the start of a new year is it will serve as a perfect distraction from everything that has been going on around this organization during the off-season. When the game starts on Thursday night, we can all finally just back to watching hockey.
And as we saw at moments during the preseason, there is no better cure for the off-ice drama than a little Vitamin W. The W stands for winning, by the way.
So with that in mind, we’ll kick off preview week here on SensChirp. Today, I’ll predict the league standings. Tomorrow, point projections. And on Wednesday, we’ll do our annual polling day where the readers on SensChirp have their on a number of key questions heading into the new season.
Ready? Here goes…
WESTERN CONFERENCE
CENTRAL
Winnipeg Jets– The Jets will be the talk of the town in Winnipeg because well, there really isn’t much else going on there. That and they’ll probably win the President’s Trophy.
Nashville Predators– Pekka Rinne becomes the league’s highest paid back up by December.
Colorado Avalanche– Colorado was one of the league’s most surprising teams last year and they should take another step forward. A good young team with plenty of talent throughout the roster. Now give us our pick back you monsters
PACIFIC
San Jose Sharks– Yea, they’ll be good. Whatever.
Calgary Flames– Did you know James Neal plays here? Because I just found out as I was trying to come up with an explanation for having them this high.
Vegas Golden Knights– I picked them to finish 31st last year and they almost won the Cup. So this year they’ll almost certainly miss the playoffs entirely.
WILD CARD
Dallas Stars– Jason Spezza gradual transition into a fourth line checking centre is almost complete.
St. Louis Blues– Is this the year the Blues finally get over the hump and find success in the post-season? No, no it isn’t.
***
Anaheim Ducks– The bad news is Corey Perry is out of the lineup long-term. The good news is we don’t have to look at his annoying face for a little bit.
Los Angeles Kings– Just when you think the Kings might be entering a bit of a rebuild they trade for Dion Phaneuf and then lock up Ilya Kovalchuk to a multi-year deal.
Edmonton Oilers– Connor McDavid will have more points than the Oilers do in the standings for the duration of his contract.
Minnesota Wild– Did you know the Wild had 100 points last year? Huh.
Vancouver Canucks-For the first time since the trade, Jonathan Dahlen will have more NHL points than Alex Burrows. 12 more to be exact.
Chicago Blackhawks– The Blackhawks serve as a cautionary tale to the rest of the league. Sure you might win multiple Stanley Cups and be a perennial contender for a decade but is it REALLY worth it in the end? Oh it is? Okay carry on then.
Arizona Coyotes– After another losing season, the Coyotes will finally just fire John E. Chayka and replace him with an actual calculator.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC
Toronto Maple Leafs– The Leafs have been finding new and remarkable ways to fail since 1967 and this time they get to fail at being Stanley Cup contenders! It’s sort of shocking that nobody from their 58 man front office mentioned that maybe they should acquire a defenceman this off-season.
Tampa Bay Lightning– Erik Karlsson and the Lightning will be unstoppable this year. That trade has been hung up at the league office for a few months now but once it goes through, look out!
Boston Bruins– Not sure how they do it but somehow the Bruins continue to be good without ever being really bad. No rebuild and just always sort of there. A now 60 year old Zdeno Chara continues to lead the way.
METROPOLITAN
Pittsburgh Penguins– Crosby, Malkin and whoever else is on this team will be good forever. I hate them so much.
Philadelphia Flyers– The Flyers have a great mix of talented young players and veterans that can still contribute. But for some reason, they just refuse to address their goaltending situation. Going on 20 years now. Bring back Roman Cechmanek already!
New Jersey Devils– The Devils are a young, exciting team that plays a high-tempo game perfect for today’s NHL. Weird, right?
WILD CARD
Washington Capitals– This team is about to take the term “Stanley Cup hangover” to another level. There are like six or seven guys on the Capitals that are still missing after a summer-long bender. They show up just in time to get this team back to the post-season.
Ottawa Senators– SURPRISE! Did you really think I would go through all the trouble of putting together these predictions only to have the Senators outside of the playoffs? Are you new here? Specialty teams improves, Craig Anderson bounces back, Stone and Duchene have big years, Brady Tkachuk is nominated for the Calder Trophy and the Sens shock the world. Nobody more than their own fans, of course. Oh and guess who Ottawa plays in Round 1? Buckle up.
***
Florida Panthers– Mike Hoffman will score 35 goals this year. This will make him a much better teammate than when he scored 22 last year.
Columbus Blue Jackets– I don’t know anything about the Blue Jackets but they have one of the best goalies in the league so I’ll just put them right here I guess.
New York Rangers– Gone are the days of the free-spending New York Rangers. Although that’s not entirely true because they did open the vault for Freddy Claesson this summer.
Buffalo Sabres– Not sure if the Sabres are getting better or everyone else is getting worse around them. Either way, movin’ on up!
Carolina Hurricanes– Could this finally be the year the Hurricanes contend for a playoff spot? No, absolutely not. Thanks for asking though.
Detroit Red Wings– The Red Wings have a brand new arena only they forgot to purchase a hockey team to play in it. Honest mistake.
New York Islanders– The Islanders locked up their Captain and franchise player this summer and I ready to take a run at the post-season! Just kidding, he’s gone and so is all hope for this season. Only 11 years left on DiPietro’s buyout though.
Montreal Canadiens– You know, I sort of admire Montreal’s approach to a rebuild. Just complete rebuild denial. Do all the losing and high drafting but just deny that it’s happening. Did you know that this is the FIRST year of Carey Price’s 8 year deal?! He’s making $15 million this year. Yes, really.
Sorry to spoil the outcome of the entire 2018/2019 season for you like that.
Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong in the comment section below.
