Written by Tomi Rantanen
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NHL Futures - 2015
The ice hockey season is upon us! NHL season 2015-2016 faces off with four games, including reigning champions Chicago taking on Eastern Conference runner-ups New York Rangers and an all-Canadian original-6 rivalry matchup between the Canadiens and Maple Leafs. It will be an action packed night right from the beginning and AccuScore will be there with the predictions all the way to June finals!
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Quite a many changes took place during the off-season, with Phil Kessel moving to Pittsburgh, Patrick Sharp to Chicago and Milan Lucic to LA, just to name a few. Also tanking Edmonton and Buffalo got what they wanted, with Conor McDavid and Jack Eichel respectively starting their rookie campaigns under new coaching staff in both teams. The magician behind Detroit’s success, HC Mike Babcock left to Toronto to carry the struggling organization, but how far will the best paid coach in NHL go?
With AccuScore simulation engine, we are able to run a full season simulation to see how the changes will affect game by game. Without further ado, here’s the full season prediction:
As we see there’s no major surprises or upsets in these predictions, but we do have a couple of differences of opinion with Vegas oddsmakers.
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At the top of the table in the Western Conference we have the champions Blackhawks with 108 points. Even though letting go of Patrick Sharp, Brandon Saad and Brad Richards the Hawks have the required depth to recover and fight for the President’s Trophy again. A lot, of course, is resting on the 35 million dollar quartet of Toews-Kane-Keith-Seabrook but there’s no reason to believe their performances would be declining. Chicago is yet again one of the favorites to win the Cup.
Another Western Conference team a tad undervalued is the Wild. Now having a proper no.1 goaltender from the start in Devan Dubnyk and prospectively more efficient power play, look for the Wild to raise some eyebrows. They’ve look great on pre-season and maybe this is the year for the State of Hockey.
At the bottom of the table we have the usual suspects. Edmonton Oilers have seen some major changes throughout the organization, but the fundamental problem still exists in the roster. They have tons of young, attacking talent but lack the leadership and defense, not to mention the unproven Cam Talbot at no. 1 goaltender. The direction might be right, but it’s yet too soon for the Oilers to make a push for playoffs.
The Eastern Conference looks set, as we have the Islanders and Blue Jackets improving while Bruins and Flyers continue struggling to make the playoffs. The Lightning and Rangers continue to build on last year’s success and have been able to keep their teams quite intact, while Canadiens added another scoring threat in Alex Semin. The Penguins have bolstered their attacking options during the summer by acquisitions of Phil Kessel and Nick Bonino, but are a little light and suspect at the defense, while coaching still raises some questions. We believe they do make the playoffs, but the Vegas line of over 100 points is likely too much.
At the bottom two top coaches try to get the best out of two bad teams. Mike Babcock in Toronto and Dan Bylsma in Buffalo will have their work cut out for them, but we are not expecting any fireworks in the first season.
Suggested season futures picks
OVER: Blackhawks, Wild, Lightning Rangers
UNDER: Oilers, Bruins, Penguins
