NHL Vibe Check: Reacting to B/R App Users' Season Predictions
Yโall came out swinging with your bold predictions heading into the 2022-23 season. I loved the range from team to team, and I loved that most of the predictions straddle the line between bold and conceivable.
Letโs address the most popular opinions.
Buffalo Finally Returns to the Playoffs
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Shawndaugherty: The Buffalo Sabres finally return to the playoffs
Thereโs a recurrent logical fallacy surrounding the Buffalo Sabres that Iโve fallen victim to a few times over the past few years but have finally learned to avoid. It goes something like, โThe team in the midst of the longest playoff drought in NHL history (11 seasons) is due to make the playoffs, right? At some point, theyโve gotta get back in there.โ
Unfortunately for the lovely people of Buffalo, struggling for a long time doesnโt automatically boost playoff probability, and you can point to any of the 7,000 sports betting apps as proof. Besides, the East is stacked with playoff teams that largely improved in the offseason, and there are plenty of fringe teams like the Ottawa Senators, the Sabres and dare I say the Detroit Red Wings.
The fringe teams of the Eastern Conference are far more compelling than the fringe teams of the Western Conference, though, and Iโd fully agree with Shawnโs prediction if Buffalo were on the West Coast. But thatโs the last thing my dear Buffalonians would ever want, isn't it? The Los Angeles Kings have Pete Davidson showing up to a game two hours late. The Sabres have your grandfather jumping headfirst onto a table and lighting something on fire at 7 in the morning.
The Sabres faithful will not take the easy way out.
Itโs not out of the question to say the Sabres are going to return to the playoffs this year. Iโve loved Tage Thompson and some of the younger guys right off the bat, and I think weโre writing off Rasmus Dahlin way too soonโhe isnโt even 23! Dahlin is going to have a breakout year, and the Sabres are going to set themselves up for consistent success, which is way better than making the playoffs just to say you made the playoffs.
The Leafs Win a Round
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GMKISOK: The Leafs win a round
The Toronto Maple Leafs are goodโgreat, even! And yet here we are, considering a prediction that theyโll win a playoff round โbold.โ This is in part due to how competitive the Eastern Conference is, as referenced above. Itโs also in part due to the Leafs being cursed, which Iโm sort of starting to believe despite any logical fallacy.
I do think this is the year they advance to the second round, though, and if it happens itโll be incredible. As I said in my pre-preseason predictions, Matt Murray is a stable goalie who will have a great year with a great team. He then stopped 65 out of 67 shots in the preseason.
People love to minimize Murrayโs accomplishments for whatever reason, but he was an instrumental part of winning two Cups while playing with a great team in Pittsburgh. These Leafs are also a great team that has been through enough adversity. And as much as I joke around about Leafs fans, I will be right there with you singing on the streets if and when Toronto advances to Round 2 this season.
Kirill Kaprizov Is a Hart Finalist
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foxhole23: Kyle Connor wins the rocket and Kaprizov wins the Hart
Bold on Connor, but I don't think he wins the Richard Trophy.
I do actually think Kirill Kaprizov has a shot at the Rocket and the Hart this season. He finished seventh in the Hart voting last year and was on my ballot because I take the award literally and he carried Minnesota on his back at times. He had 47 goals and 61 assists for 108 points in 81 games in 2021-22, and he also had seven goals and eight points in six playoff games.
The point totals speak for themselves, but if youโve seen the man cook, you know heโs the next NHL star. Itโs hard to fully agree heโll win the Hart considering the presence of Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews and the politics surrounding NHL awards, but if I genuinely had to pick an elite player who I think will carry his team the most, itโs Kaprizov. And thatโs how I interpret the Hart Trophy.
Young Talent Lead Kraken to Playoffs
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Robdog22: Shane Wright and Matty Beniers take the Kraken to the playoffs
OK, Robdog22, I have a proposition for you. What if itโs better if they donโt?
Sure, the Kraken could exceed expectations and make the playoffs. I donโt think they will, but the first two first-round picks in franchise history are extremely talented and stranger things have happened.
But what if itโs better that Wright, Beniers and goaltender Philipp Grubauer all have three stunning seasons that elevate the Seattle Kraken to relevancy but still allow them to make a few more trades? What if we let Wright and Beniers have fun and get comfortable before we put pressure on them, readying them to be the pillars of a perennial playoff organization?
I donโt know Wright personally, but I do know what it feels like to operate out of spite. And as powerful as that feeling is, itโs very short-lived. If Iโm a Kraken fan, Iโd rather he use his lower-than-expected draft ranking as motivation to get better as a player who can become a long-term representative of the Kraken, as opposed to using that energy to get to the playoffs immediately and then burn out.
Moritz Seider Is a Norris Finalist
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BBrown09301985: Moritz Seider will be a finalist for the Norris
I think this is truly the first time โName+BunchOfNumbersโ is logging on to agree with me, and I want to shout out BBrown09301985 for that. Every year, I like to think of a take thatโs bold enough to be spicy but mild enough to still happen, and this is it for me.
The Red Wings have improved, and Seider can only benefit from that. On Monday, we had a highlight-reel battle between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin on the Bleacher Report app, and the one and only Pavel Barber was providing his insight. I told him the one player Iโm most excited to see play this season is Mo Seider, and Barber mentioned Seider is particularly good at evading hits from the opposition. Of all the things Seider excels atโscoring, blocking shots, making hits of his ownโI failed to consider that heโs also stupendous at simply not getting hit.
I have very high expectations for this kid and think heโll reach them.
Penguins Miss the Playoffs
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Audi71: Pens Miss the Playoffs
Itโs been 17 years since the Penguins werenโt in the playoffs. Their coreโSidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin and Kris Letangโhas been there through it all. Iโve naysayed them plenty of times and ended up wrong, but thatโs a testament to how theyโve defied the odds.In the same way I called out the illogical notion that the Sabres are due to make the playoffs, I'll call out the illogical notion that the Penguins are due to miss the playoffs. I will say, however, that the process of aging makes it more believable that the Penguins could miss the playoffs.
Crosby, Malkin and Letang are the longest-standing trio in NHL history, and I love that for them. I love that management kept them together. Itโs just as likely that they'll make the playoffs this year as it is they'll miss, and Iโm all for ending this legacy with class or continuing it.
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