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Apparently I love having other fanbases get mad at me, so here are my very early 2019-20 standings predictions. And just remember, if I have your team lower than you thought, it’s
obviously because I hate them.
Atlantic Division:
1. Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Toronto Maple Leafs
3. Boston Bruins
4. Buffalo Sabres*
5. Florida Panthers
6. Montreal Canadiens
7. Detroit Red Wings
8. Ottawa Senators
Seeds 1, 7, and 8 seemed pretty easy to me, as the Lightning are incredible and the Senators and Red Wings are clearly a class below everyone else. I think the Maple Leafs are due to finish just ahead of the Bruins one of these years, although it will be close, as both are still very good teams. Any one of the Sabres, Panthers, or Canadiens could finish 4th, but I really like Buffalo’s acquisitions of Henri Jokiharju, Colin Miller, Marcus Johansson, and Jimmy Vesey, and now they legitimately have a very strong defense corps.
The Panthers also made splashes and I think the battle for the final playoff spot could come down to the wire, but my gut says Buffalo squeaks in here. Ask me on a different day and my answer might be different though.
Metropolitan Division:
1. Washington Capitals
2. Carolina Hurricanes
3. Pittsburgh Penguins
4. Philadelphia Flyers*
5. Columbus Blue Jackets
6. New York Rangers
7. New Jersey Devils
8. New York Islanders
This is definitely the hardest division to predict. The Capitals seem like a good bet to repeat as division champions, but besides that, it’s very open. I think the Hurricanes got deeper by adding Ryan Dzingel and Erik Haula, plus their young players are just going to get better, so I like their chances of finishing high. You can’t bet against the Penguins making the playoffs, and the Flyers have tons of talent upfront plus they finally have a potentially elite goalie in Carter Hart.
The Blue Jackets still have some solid pieces such as Seth Jones, Zach Werenski, Cam Atkinson, and Pierre-Luc Dubois, but their goaltending could be awful, and they aren’t nearly as deep after losing all of their top free agents. I can see the Rangers taking a step forward but they won’t quite be good enough to make the playoffs. I really like what the Devils did by adding PK Subban, Nikita Gusev, and Wayne Simmonds (plus Jack Hughes), but I don’t think they are quite a playoff team just yet. Having said that, I didn’t like having to put them 7th because they aren’t nearly as bad as 7th (Detroit) in the Atlantic.
Having the Islanders last will definitely upset some people, but hey, there aren’t really any obvious answers for 8th in this division. The bottom-five teams all have flaws, and I just think the Islanders are due for some massive regression. New York had a 56.06 GF% last season but just a 50.03 xGF%, meaning they vastly outperformed what their shot totals and chances looked like. They lost Robin Lehner and replaced him with an older and wildly inconsistent Semyon Varlamov so that right there could be a massive blow. Furthermore, although they have a few good defensmen, I just don’t see how their defense corps will be nearly as good, which will lead to many more goals against. After all, they were dead last in goals against in 2017-18. Most people had them pegged as cellar-dwellers last year, and while they proved naysayers wrong, I just don’t think it is sustainable considering who their cast consists of.
Central Division:
1. Nashville Predators
2. Colorado Avalanche
3. Winnipeg Jets
4. St. Louis Blues*
5. Dallas Stars*
6. Chicago Blackhawks
7. Minnesota Wild
I feel pretty down on the Blackhawks and Wild, but besides those two, picking the top five was very difficult. There are a lot of good teams in this division, and I don’t see how any fewer than five teams make the playoffs, especially when you look at the weak teams in the Pacific. The Predators are still very well balanced and added Matt Duchene to the lineup that needed some firepower, so I like them to repeat as division winners. The Avalanche still don’t have the depth I would prefer, but they got better in that department, and Cale Makar and Sam Girard could make a huge difference for them. The Jets are also quite stacked at forward and have a chance to win the division, but I think they will finish just behind.
I still really like the Blues as I had them as my division winners last season, but I can definitely envision a bit of a Stanley Cup hangover. Lastly, the Stars will squeak in with the final wildcard spot. The Central could go so many ways, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this prediction is off by a mile.
Pacific Division:
1. Vegas Golden Knights
2. Calgary Flames
3. San Jose Sharks
4. Arizona Coyotes
5. Vancouver Canucks
6. Anaheim Ducks
7. Edmonton Oilers
8. LA Kings
The top three in this division seems pretty obvious to me, with any one of them having a chance to finish first. I can see Calgary and San Jose taking slight steps back while a full season of Mark Stone plus Cody Glass could really propel Vegas back into first. I think Arizona will barely miss the playoffs as they have good team defense but still need a bit more offense. The Canucks will take another small step forward, but their depth is still quite bad, the Ducks have some major flaws, the Oilers have essentially nobody surrounding Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and the Kings project to be the only team worse than the Senators somehow:
I see only three true playoff teams in this division, making it easily the worst out of the four.
What do you think the standings will look like?
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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