The NHL season has now arrived and it is time to announce those unpredictable predictions that need to be made before the 2014-15 season gets into full swing.
Forecasting the NHL is just as good as predicting the weather, as much as you read the trends and movements, the less you really know. However, it wouldn’t be a preseason without some big bold statements that we can criticise all year round.
So let’s take a look into our crystal ball and see who is set to win some awards, lose their job and, of course, win the Stanley Cup.
2014-15 Art Ross Trophy (Highest Point Scorer)
Winner – Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Honourable Mentions – Sidney Crosby, Tyler Seguin
Steven Stamkos looks as though he is hitting his prime in his hockey career and was on course to score more than 100 points last year although he dramatically broke his leg crashing into his own goal after tying up Boston Bruin Dougie Hamilton.
Stamkos has announced that his broken right tibia is now one hundred per cent and has much more freedom than he had when he returned early from the injury, just four months after the incident.
The Tampa Bay Lightning captain finished the year with 40 points last season, but that was after missing 45 games. Before his injury, Stamkos was scoring at a pace that would have seen him tally over 115 points for the year, which is a haul that the Lightning fans can expect from their fearless leader in 2014-15.
2014-15 Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender)
Winner – Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
Hounarble Mentions – Carey Price, Henrik Lundqvist
It has been five years since the Vezina Trophy had been won by the same goaltender in two consecutive years. That man was the great Martin Brodeur in 2007 and 2008. It now appears time that that feat will be achieved once again, but this time by Bruins net-minder Tuukka Rask.
Rask was an unbeatable force last season and there is no reason to think anything is about to change. Rask’s 2.04 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage put him on his way to his first Vezina Trophy. With the Finn craving to win his first Stanley Cup as Boston’s number one goaltender, we can expect another stellar year from the 27-year-old.
The key to Rask’s possible back-to-back Vezina success is the fairly unchanged team that he plays behind. The Bruins have only lost one key man in Jarome Iginla to the Colorado Avalanche this offseason, but, otherwise, have kept the rest of the depth that won them the President’s Trophy by one point last season.
2014-15 Calder Memorial Trophy (Best Rookie)
Winner – Sam Reinhart, Buffalo Sabres
Hounarable Mentions – Jonathan Drouin, Evgeny Kuznetsov
Last year’s Calder Memorial Trophy-winner Nathan McKinnon had the most impressive rookie season in recent times, scoring 24 goals and 39 assists. McKinnon’s Canadian countryman Sam Reinhart is a big chance of following in his footsteps as the NHL’s rookie of the year.
Reinhart, the 2014 second overall draft pick, had a super-human performance in the WHL last season, proving to all the scouts that he was ready to make the move up into the NHL this year and that is exactly what he has done.
His skill to dictate the tempo of the game and create plays for his teammates exhibits his mature hockey sense that will help the Sabres struggling offence in 2014-15.
Reinhart’s positive effect on the Sabres may be what gets him over the line in front of his arguably more talented Calder competition. If he can prove his worth in Buffalo by settling the offence with his playmaking skills and have a clear impact that lifts the Sabres up from the bottom of the league, then he will certainly be in the running for this great honour.
2014-15 Hart Memorial Trophy (Most Valuable Player)
Winner – Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Honourable Mentions – Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Toews
If Sidney Crosby can stay healthy for the whole season then it will not be unexpected if he walks away after 2015 NHL awards night with the same hardware he left with in 2014, the Art Ross Trophy and the Hart Memorial Trophy.
Crosby is just that good. He scores, he is the game’s best playmaker, he never lets down his defenceman with his two-way hockey game and he is clutch.
There is not much more that new head coach Mike Johnston could want out of Crosby, who looks poised to be the last back-to-back winner since Washington Capital, Alexander Ovechkin in 2009 and 2010.
Pittsburgh have been a consistent regular season force in the Eastern Conference under the leadership of Crosby, and after another disappointing finals campaign you can expect that the desire inside their captain to have another 100+ point scoring season and a more successful playoffs will be on show all season long.
2014-15 First coach to be fired
Winner – Randy Carlyle, Toronto Maple Leafs
Honourable Mentions – Jack Capuano, Bob Hartley
There is not a lot of faith in the man standing on the bench in Toronto and if Randy Carlyle is to keep his job in the hockey capital of the world, the Leafs would want a quick start to the year.
It is a talented roster in Toronto with James van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel leading the way up front with captain Dion Phaneuf holding the blue line and a decent goaltending pairing in Jonathan Bernier and James Reimer. There should be no reason why the Leafs fans, who pay the highest admission price to see their team in the NHL, should miss out on another playoffs.
Since taking over the team in 2011-12, Carlyle has only led the Toronto Maple Leafs to one playoff series and that will not cut it for the original six team. If there is every a good time to use the ‘he is skating on thin ice’ expression, it is now.
2014-15 Stanley Cup Champion
Winner – Chicago Blackhawks
Honourable Mentions – Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks
The power in the NHL has definitely swung to the Western conference, as to answer the question of Stanley Cup Champion, you must decide which team from the West you are backing to make it to the final stage of the playoffs.
The East haven’t taken home a Stanley Cup since the Penguins in 2009, and it would be another hockey miracle if a team from the eastern side of North America win the cup in 2015. The battle will once again be in the West and it is more of a lucky dip to pick the winner with still 82 games to play.
The Blackhawks look most likely to avenge their Western Conference and Stanley Cup title loss in 2014, after being rolled by the fast finish of the Los Angeles Kings last season. The long-term deals to captain Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, in the offseason, have restored the faith that they are ready to take the Cup back once again to the Windy City for the third time in six years.
Kyle Cumiskey and Trevor van Riemsdyk have strengthened the defensive line of the Hawks, which is the only major changes to the roster from 2013-14. If the Hawks can hold onto some momentum heading into the playoffs and stay healthy at the back-end of the year they are as good of a chance as any in the West to take the Cup.
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