{"id":82828,"date":"2022-09-30T14:18:14","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T14:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/predicting-the-nhl-from-bottom-feeders-to-stanley-cup-contenders\/"},"modified":"2022-09-30T14:18:14","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T14:18:14","slug":"predicting-the-nhl-from-bottom-feeders-to-stanley-cup-contenders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/predicting-the-nhl-from-bottom-feeders-to-stanley-cup-contenders\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting the NHL, from bottom feeders to Stanley Cup contenders"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Warning: This post contains spoilers for the entire 2022-23 season.  Don&#8217;t read any further if you want to be surprised.<\/p>\n<p>That didn&#8217;t sound convincing, but I&#8217;m trying to manifest here, so stay with me.  This is my annual attempt to sort the NHL into four divisions, based on how I&#8217;m expecting them to do this year.  We&#8217;ll have the containers, the middle-of-the-pack, and the basement dwellers.  And as always, we&#8217;ll also have the division made up of teams I can&#8217;t figure out.  Let&#8217;s just say that&#8217;s the toughest one to narrow down.<\/p>\n<p>The only hard and fast rule is that each division must have eight teams, just like the real thing.  Does that mean that some teams will get forced into divisions I don&#8217;t think they actually belong in?  yes.  Should I change it to be more accurate?  Probably.  Do I keep this rule just so I&#8217;ll have plausible deniability for the inevitable bad predictions?  This press conference is over.<\/p>\n<p>Four divisions, eight teams each, no particular order beyond that.  Let&#8217;s start from the bottom and work our way up.<\/p>\n<p>The Bottom-Feeder Division<\/p>\n<p>This absolute worst place a team can find itself.  (Read&#8217;s Pronman 2023 draft preview.) Or not!<\/p>\n<p>Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n<p>Last season: 28-42-12, 68 points, -76 goals differential, missed playoffs<\/p>\n<p>Their offseason in six words: Let&#8217;s trade everyone.  You&#8217;re next, Patrick.<\/p>\n<p>Why they&#8217;re here: Because they very clearly want to be.  Kyle Davidson has a plan, and he&#8217;s not exactly being subtle about it.  Given what he &#8216;s waiting at the end of the draft lottery rainbow, it might be the right plan, even if <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n        {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n        n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n        if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n        n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n        t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n        s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n        'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n        fbq('dataProcessingOptions', []);\n        fbq('init', '207679059578897');\n        fbq('track', 'PageView');<\/script>    .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Warning: This post contains spoilers for the entire 2022-23 season. Don&#8217;t read any further if you want to be surprised. That didn&#8217;t sound convincing, but I&#8217;m trying to manifest here, so stay with me. This is my annual attempt to sort the NHL into four divisions, based on how I&#8217;m expecting them to do this &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/predicting-the-nhl-from-bottom-feeders-to-stanley-cup-contenders\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Predicting the NHL, from bottom feeders to Stanley Cup contenders<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[5731,4795,5720,27684,5729,5724,5649,5133,4728,5726,1783,4727,5723,5730,4516,5348,2760,4730,4705,4706,1786,5722,4731,4726,3475,3566,5727,2762,4729,4732,5732,5725,5728],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55086,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/anaheim-ducks-trevor-zegras-canadian-womens-hockey-star-sarah-nurse-grace-nhl-23-cover\/","url_meta":{"origin":82828,"position":0},"title":"Anaheim Ducks&#8217; Trevor Zegras, Canadian women&#8217;s hockey star Sarah Nurse grace NHL 23 cover","date":"August 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras and Team Canada forward Sarah Nurse are the cover athletes for NHL 23, EA Sports announced Wednesday, noting that Nurse is the first women's hockey player to grace the cover of its NHL video game.\"It's something that I never even thought was in the realm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6442,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nhl-releases-2022-23-regular-season-schedule\/","url_meta":{"origin":82828,"position":1},"title":"NHL releases 2022-23 regular-season schedule","date":"July 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning will play the first game of a season-opening doubleheader televised on ESPN in the United States on Oct. 11 and the Colorado Avalanche will hold their Stanley Cup banner-raising ceremony to highlight another doubleheader on TNT in the US on Oct. 12\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13260,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nhl-free-agency-three-potential-islanders-targets\/","url_meta":{"origin":82828,"position":2},"title":"NHL free agency: Three potential Islanders targets","date":"July 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are three potential Islanders targets as NHL free agency begins on Wednesday: It would take some maneuvering from Lou Lamoriello to clear the necessary space for the superstar winger, but Gaudreau would immeasurably help the Islanders. Nothing would get them closer to a Stanley Cup than adding last year's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7658,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/minnesota-wild-signs-goaltender-marc-andre-fleury-to-a-two-year-contract\/","url_meta":{"origin":82828,"position":3},"title":"Minnesota Wild Signs Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a Two-Year Contract","date":"July 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"SAINT PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota Wild General Manager Bill Guerin today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has signed goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year, $7 million contract ($3.5 million average annual value) through the 2023-24 season.Fleury, 37 (11\/28\/84), went 28-23-5 with a 2.90 goals-against average (GAA), a .908\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11130,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/predictions-for-the-top-nhl-free-agents-including-nazem-kadri-johnny-gaudreau-evgeni-malkin\/","url_meta":{"origin":82828,"position":4},"title":"Predictions for the top NHL free agents, including Nazem Kadri, Johnny Gaudreau, Evgeni Malkin","date":"July 11, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Edmonton Oilers general manager Ken Holland has surveyed the NHL free-agent landscape every summer since 1997. What does he see as the 2022 market prepares to officially open Wednesday at noon?\"Lots of teams are tight on the cap, so it's going to be interesting,\" Holland told ESPN. \"And then other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sports&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2022\/09\/28225925\/USATSI_18578373-1024x679.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82828"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}