Now the fun starts. You’ve seen the statistics by arena, schedule breakdown, and have been provided with fantasy tips to help you win. The prep work is over with. Do your decisions align with these 32 bold fantasy predictions? One for each team. Let’s go!
Bold Fantasy Predictions – Atlantic Division
The tandem of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman will be outstanding, helping the Bruins squeak into the postseason despite a lack of points from their centremen. Tuukka Rask will return to the NHL but will play on a different team for the first time in his career.
Jeff Skinner will return to form, scoring more than 30 goals for a Sabres team that won’t struggle to find offence. Craig Anderson and Dustin Tokarski will be their demise, giving Buffalo hopefuls a shot at landing the number one overall pick.
Alex Nedeljkovic will follow up a fantastic season with a dreadful one, losing the starting job to Thomas Greiss early on. With the play of Greiss and an outstanding 50-point season from Filip Zadina, the Red Wings will take a step in the right direction, finishing ahead of both Buffalo and Ottawa in the division standings.
Owen Tippett will finish third in team scoring with 55 points and have more than 140 hits, making his fantasy stock rise significantly. The Panthers will make the playoffs thanks to Sergei Bobrovsky, who will finish the season with a better save percentage than Spencer Knight.
Calder Trophy favourite Cole Caufield will have fewer goals than Tyler Toffoli, Mike Hoffman, Brendan Gallagher and newcomer Christian Dvorak – who will lead the Habs in points. The Canadiens will go on a late-season surge backed by the play of Carey Price, fresh off a Gold Medal at the Olympics, but will ultimately miss the playoffs.
A 20-goal season will see Shane Pinto nominated for the Calder Trophy, but poor goaltending and a struggling offence will riddle this team all season long. The Brady Tkachuk saga will leak into November.
Anthony Cirelli will finish the season with 67 points, helping linemate Steven Stamkos to his first 50-goal season since he scored 60 ten years ago.
The Maple Leafs’ powerplay will thrive once Rasmus Sandin takes over as the quarterback. Michael Bunting will score more goals than fellow rookie Cole Caufield as the Leafs cruise into the playoffs on the back of John Tavares’s first 90-point season.
Bold Fantasy Predictions – Metropolitan Division
The Hurricanes will lead the NHL in goals as both Martin Necas and Jesperi Kotkaniemi have breakout seasons. Frederik Andersen will be nominated for the Vezina.
Max Domi and Patrik Laine will both finish the season with more than 55-points, but it won’t be in a Blue Jackets uniform. They will each be dealt at the deadline. The team, despite being only six points out of a playoff spot, will have too many teams to climb over.
Jack Hughes will break out for 70 points while Ryan Graves will become a fantasy gem in bangers leagues, accumulating 35 points, 160 shots, 191 blocks and 160 hits in his first season as a Devil.
Oliver Wahlstrom will finish second in team scoring to only Mathew Barzal and accumulate over 150 hits in the process. Ilya Sorokin will win the starting job and play over 50 games.
Adam Fox will be the first defenceman to reach 85 points since Brian Leetch did it in 1995-1996, 25 years ago for the Rangers.
The Flyers will trade pending unrestricted free agent Claude Giroux at the deadline as the Flyers find themselves near the bottom of the division thanks to Carter Hart’s sub .900 SV% for the second year in a row.
36-year-old Jeff Carter will pull his weight with Evgeni Malkin out of the lineup, scoring 30 goals as the Penguins’ second-line centre for most of the season.
Alex Ovechkin will score 50 goals for the ninth time in his career, taking sole possession of third place on the all-time goals list. Linemate Evgeny Kuznetsov will piggyback off his success with 50+ assists.
Bold Fantasy Predictions – Central Division
By the end of the season, Ryan Dzingel will lead the Coyotes in goals with 23. Shayne Gostisbehere will finish the season with more goals than Jakob Chychrun.
Seth Jones will have a career-high 60 points as both he and Marc-Andre Fleury help the Blackhawks to a 50-win season. Jones will win the Norris and Fleury will win back-to-back Vezina’s.
Nathan MacKinnon will have 100 points with a month left in the season. Cale Makar will play less than 60 games and be deemed ‘injury prone’ moving forward.
Jamie Benn, Alexander Radulov and Tyler Seguin will combine for over 200 points. Jake Oettinger will eventually take the net and hold it for the remainder of the season (and beyond).
Phil Tomasino will be the only bright spot on the Predators as they fail to pick up wins thanks to poor goaltending from Juuse Saros.
The Kirill Kaprizov encore will be better than everyone expects thanks to a new bonafide centreman in Joel Eriksson Ek. The two will combine for more than 150 points.
Torey Krug will very quietly reach 60 points, the highest point total of his career. A 30-goal resurgence from Vladimir Tarasenko will get the Blues back to the postseason.
Mark Scheifele will eclipse the 90-point plateau for the first time in his career as Pierre-Luc Dubois continues to struggle in a Jets uniform.
Bold Fantasy Predictions – Pacific Division
Trevor Zegras will lead all rookie forwards with 57 points and win the Calder Trophy while his linemate Troy Terry leads the Ducks in goals with 27.
Despite a breakout 50-point season from Andrew Mangiapane, Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan will both struggle to find their form. “Johnny Hockey” will be a Bruin at the trade deadline.
Jesse Puljujarvi will breakout for more than 60 points as Mikko Koskinen (with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of course) carries the Oilers comfortably into the postseason.
Drew Doughty will have more than 50 points for just the fourth time in his career. Arthur Kaliyev will have 20 goals as a rookie.
The Sharks will continue their decline and Tomas Hertl will be dealt at the deadline. Rookie Jonathan Dahlen will have at least 40 points.
The Kraken will make the postseason on the backs of Jared McCann’s 60-point season and Chris Driedger’s 25 wins.
Elias Pettersson and the Canucks will bounce back. He will have over 85 points and newcomer Oliver Ekman-Larsson will surpass his career-high of 34 assists as Travis Green earns the Jack Adams.
Finally, Shea Theodore finishes second in scoring among defensemen with 67 points. Mark Stone wins the cup in an overtime thriller at the T-Mobile Arena in Vegas.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
