Some words do a lot of work for you.
Dropping a pre-season prediction for every NHL team can leave you feeling more exposed than a goalie who’s wandered a little too far from his crease. Breathe a thought into the world and it’s your butt that’s on the line when the take turns green.
Enter the word “bold.”
A prediction is one thing, but when you preface it with a word that says, “Buckle up, we’re getting a little crazy here,” it allows your slightly unhinged alter ego to take over and let fly with some ideas that might otherwise stay supressed.
It’s like telling a fourth-liner hopped up on smelling salts to get out there and win the game.
So with our caveat firmly in place, let’s drop 32 nuggets that skew a little (to a lot) spicey.
Anaheim Ducks: A team that finished with two 20 goal-scorers last season (Troy Terry and Frank Vatrano) will have seven this year as the Ducks offence takes a big step forward. In addition to Terry and Vatrano getting back to the 20-goal mark, Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, Alex Killorn and rookie Cutter Gauthier will also get there.
Boston Bruins: A career year for Charlie McAvoy results in a Norris Trophy win.
Buffalo Sabres: Four of the Sabres’ top-six forwards — Tage Thompson, Alex Tuch, Jack Quinn and J.J. Peterka — will exceed 30 goals.
Calgary Flames: Despite a strong rookie season from Dustin Wolf, the Flames will finish near the bottom of the league and draft in the top three for the first time since moving to Calgary from Atlanta 45 years ago.
Carolina Hurricanes: Seth Jarvis will become just the third player wearing a Carolina Hurricanes uniform to register a 40-goal season, then Andrei Svechnikov will become the fourth, following Eric Staal (twice) and Jeff O’Neil.
Chicago Blackhawks: Piggybacking off Connor Bedard’s progress, Taylor Hall will have his best season since winning the 2018 MVP, finishing with a line of 25-40-65.
Colorado Avalanche: Justus Annunen will be the Avs’ undisputed starter by mid-November and never look back, posting a .917 save percentage this season.
Columbus Blue Jackets: The Jackets’ first goal of the season will be scored by Sean Monahan at 13:13 of the first period and there won’t be a dry eye inside or outside the building.
Dallas Stars: The all-in Stars will bite down and trade from an area of strength — young forwards — to address an area of need — the right side of the defence — and deal Mavrik Bourque to the Flames for Rasmus Andersson.
Detroit Red Wings: The Wings will continue to push for playoff action by acquiring local boy Cam Fowler to bolster the defence corps. Fowler can slide into a second-pair role with Detroit thanks to the stepforward Simon Edvinsson is about to have in his first full NHL campaign.
Edmonton Oilers: Jeff Skinner — the 2011 rookie of the year — will score two goals in his first career NHL playoff game.
Florida Panthers: Two Panthers will have 20-goal swings; Sam Reinhart will drop from 57 to 37 goals, while Matthew Tkachuk will spike from 26 to 46.
Los Angeles Kings: The Kings won’t lose to the Oilers in the first round of the playoffs… because ongoing goaltending issues will cause them to miss the second wild card by a single point.
Minnesota Wild: Zeev Buium — drafted 12th overall in June — will sign with the Wild after his college season ends and immediately make it clear Minny is set up on the back end for 15 years with Brock Faber on the right side and Buium on the left.
Montreal Canadiens: The Habs have a 31-year Cup drought. That will continue. Believe or not, they also have a 52-year Calder Trophy drought. That will end with Lane Hutson putting together Montreal’s first rookie-of-the-year campaign since Ken Dryden in 1972.
Nashville Predators: Filip Forsberg will become the first 50-goal scorer in franchise history by hitting the number bang-on. Jonathan Marchessault will score exactly half that many in his first year with the Preds and Steven Stamkos will more or less split the difference with 37.
New Jersey Devils: Jack Hughes will record 130 points and be a Hart and Ted Lindsay finalist.
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New York Islanders: Despite some concern around his health status, Ilya Sorokin will be just fine. So fine, in fact, he’ll secure the Vezina Trophy with a stellar second half of the season.
New York Rangers: The now-or-never Rangers will send Kaapo Kakko to the Jets as part of a package to obtain Nikolaj Ehlers.
Ottawa Senators: Brady Tkachuk will improve his goal total by 10 to 47, netting one more than the 46 his brother, Matthew, scores.
Philadelphia Flyers: Cam York and Jamie Drysdale will both become 50-point defencemen.
Pittsburgh Penguins: This old, brittle lineup will buckle and the Pens will tumble down the standings. The silver lining, though, is 20 years after drafting Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh’s lottery luck will strike again and the Pens will draft first overall in 2025.
San Jose Sharks: Summer acquisition Jake Walman will get all kinds of ice time and score 20 goals from the back end.
Seattle Kraken: Shane Wright will show why he was a fourth-overall draft pick in 2022.
St. Louis Blues: Robert Thomas will record his first 100-point season.
Tampa Bay Lightning: The Bolts will win the Atlantic Division with 107 points, thanks to a strong bounce-back year from Andrei Vasilevskiy and the seamless fit with Jake Guentzel.
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Toronto Maple Leafs: All the crease consternation will be for naught; Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz will prove to be one of the best duos in the league.
Utah Hockey Club: Utah Hockey Club will make the playoffs. Repeat, Utah Hockey Club will make the playoffs.
Vancouver Canucks: Newcomer Jake DeBrusk will set a career-high with 35 goals.
Vegas Golden Knights: After scraping into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs as a wild card team, the Golden Knights — with Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl getting full seasons in Vegas, and a healthy Shea Theodore having a huge bounce-back year — will surge back up the standings and finish with 111 points, one less than Edmonton for top spot in the Pacific.
Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin will leave us all hanging by scoring 40 goals this year, putting him one behind Wayne Gretzky’s all-time mark of 894 heading into next season.
Winnipeg Jets: Gabe Vilardi plays 82 and scores 35.
