Pucks of a Feather
Fansided

Checking In On My Bold Pre-Season Predictions

By Jonathan Maxfield

ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 3: Jakob Silfverberg #33 of the Anaheim Ducks and Wild Wing high-five as Silfverberg is recognized as a star of the game after defeating the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in the game at Honda Center on March 3, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Foster Snell/NHLI via Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CA - MARCH 3: Jakob Silfverberg #33 of the Anaheim Ducks and Wild Wing high-five as Silfverberg is recognized as a star of the game after defeating the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 in the game at Honda Center on March 3, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Foster Snell/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Anaheim Ducks
ANAHEIM, CA – MARCH 10: Drew Doughty #8 of the Los Angeles Kings battles for the puck against Max Jones #49 of the Anaheim Ducks during the game on March 10, 2019 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Debora Robinson/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Prediction 3: The Central Division Will Win Both Wild Card Positions

The Western Conference this season has been a mixed bag, and a dumpster fire of the worst kind. The West is simply not good this season a few teams withstanding. The 2 teams at the top of the Central Division currently (The Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators) would only be 1 point clear of the wild-card spot in the East, and the 3rd place team in both the Pacific and Central Division wouldn’t even be in the playoffs if they were in the East. Even so, the prediction here was that both teams in the wild-card spots at the end of the season would be from the Central Division, and as we sit here now, that is the case. The Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche currently hold the two spots with only the Arizona Coyotes within true striking distance (They sit 1 point back)

The Dallas Stars are one win away from clinching a playoff spot, and while the Avalanche are only one point clear of the Coyotes, they have a game in hand, however, the Coyotes only play 2 playoff teams in their final 3 games, while the Avalanche plays 3 playoff teams in their final 4.

Result of Hot Take: Like the previous prediction, this one is up in the air currently, but I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if this one stayed true (Although I would like to see Arizona in the playoffs personally)

Prediction 4: The Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings will miss the playoffs

This one was fairly controversial to start the season, most fans of the Ducks saw them at the very least pushing for a wild-card spot, same with the Kings. It’s not hard to see why this take was controversial, to find the last time that both of these teams missed the playoffs you have to go back all the way to 2003-04. The following 13 NHL seasons one or both of the Kings and Ducks made the playoffs. It’s quite crazy to think about that and to see how the mighty have fallen. But as things stand right now, the Ducks and Kings are the two worst teams in the Western Conference, and both have been officially eliminated from the playoffs at this point.

Result of Hot Take: Dead on, both the Ducks and Kings have been eliminated from the playoffs, both teams will look to the off-season to re-tool and build towards next season, but this season is over for both of them.

Prediction 5: Vegas will regress pretty significantly and miss the playoffs

The “Cinderella Story” of last season, the Vegas Golden Knights were the darling of the NHL, they made it to the Stanley Cup Final in their maiden voyage and had expectations sky-high entering this season. A lot of people saw the Knights as a fluke, a one-hit wonder, and while I didn’t explicitly think that they were a fluke, I thought that the losses of David Perron and James Neal would have a significant impact on the team, and I wasn’t sold that William Karlsson who led the team in Goals and points in their inaugural season would be able to repeat his impressive start.

Result of Hot Take: Wrong, but not entirely. The Knights have regressed fairly significantly. They’re  9 wins and 18 points away from last season’s final total. Both Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson are down several points (18 for Marchessault and 23 for Marchessault and Karlsson respectively) from their last season’s total. As well, I made these predictions on July 1st, and I would have changed my tune a bit had I known that the Knights would acquire both Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone this season.

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