On the eve of the NHL 2018-19 Regular Season, this is the chance for every prophet to come up with their predictions for the year. Crazy things happen in sports every year, and this upcoming campaign will probably be no different. There will be dark horses. There will be unsung heroes. There will be teams that emerge out of the blue. However despite the unknown, I also do believe that this is a good time to take advantage of opportunities that were created based on last season’s performances, and this season’s anticipated nature.

Here are my five NHL Regular season Win Total Predictions: 

 

Edmonton Oilers:

The Edmonton Oilers will be trying to rebound from an extremely disappointing 2017-18 campaign. Disappointing is an understatement. The Oilers were at one point, tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins as Stanley Cup Favorites in a few sportsbooks before last season started. After a rough start, the young squad was unable to rebound, and this resulted in a 3rd last place finish with 78 points in the Pacific Division.

The failure to excel last season is still leaving a lot of hockey followers scratching their heads on how the Oilers dropped off so much from their previous season, which resulted in 103 points and a Conference Semifinal appearance. The core remained the same. The competition was not anticipated to get much better nor worse. The team still saw success from generational superstar Connor McDavid, who repeated as the back to back Art Ross Trophy Winner. So why the 25 point difference for the worse?

My take is that the Oilers let their unfamiliarity with success get the best of them, and this resulted in a bit of an entitled attitude coming into last season. All eyes were on them, and expectations were high. When the first ten games did not go well, resiliency really became a test that many of the players had never experienced before. This year, their Win Total Setting has been extremely deflated based on last years performance. However, much of the core remains the same, including superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Also, several key players including: Milan Lucic, Adam Larsson, Cam Talbot, and Oscar Klefbom, were dealing with either significant injuries or situations. They are all reported to be healthy. A notable departure would include Patrick Maroon, who was a supporting contributor in the 2016-17 season success, and was traded at the Trade deadline last season. Another significant loss would be Andrej Sekera, who will remain on the Injured Reserve for a huge portion of the upcoming season. Other than that, it can be argued that the overhaul of the defensive coaching staff can help to offset these absences. Power Forward Milan Lucic has also spent a large part of the offseason getting into better shape for speed and conditioning, and has reportedly lost at least 10 lbs in the process.

I do believe that the last campaign was a poor reflection of this club’s potential, while the prior campaign may have been an overachievement of the team’s natural ability in such an early stage of contention. Assuming the team has any dignity, they should at the very least land somewhere in between in 2018-19, and battle for a playoff spot. 90 wins is highly achievable, especially in a conference where everything is more or less up for grabs.

OVER 90.5 Wins

 

Los Angeles Kings:

Many have anticipated a decline with this Los Angeles Kings hockey club that enjoyed two Stanley Cup Championships in the 2010s. While some signs of decline have been noticed, some aspects of rejuvenation are also present.

The Kings have been a bubble playoff team throughout the 2010s, and continue to be so with a playoff appearance last year through 98 Regular Season points. This year, their bar has been set at 92.5, which is quite low for a team that has maintained playoff contention year after year. With Superstar Defenseman Drew Doughty choosing to remain with the club through a long term contract, and the acquisition of former NHL Sniper and current KHL Superstar Ilya Kovalchuk, this team may have gotten the spark to put them right back into Championship contention.

Although this is a Regular Season prop, and the Kings do not necessarily need to rack up points into a top seed standing in order to succeed in the Playoffs, I believe that they will have all the tools needed to make the Playoffs again this year..and they will likely need over 95 points to do so.

With anticipated improvement and high motivation, I expect the Kings to exceed their record from last season or at least remain at par with it.

OVER 92.5 Wins

 

Florida Panthers:

The Florida Panthers are not often a team that is talked about, and there are a few reasons for this. First off, apart from their Stanley Cup Appearance in the 1995-96 Season, the Panthers have not seen much success in the Regular Season nor the Playoffs in the duration of their existence. Second, the Fort Lauderdale Metropolitan area is not exactly your number one hockey hotbed.

However, this Panthers club has been silently collecting some of the top prospects and First Round Picks over the past few years, and were starting to turn some heads last year with some high profile players in every position. Aaron Ekblad, Vincent Trocheck, Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, and newly added Matt Hoffman, are just a few of the more elite potential names that should see anticipated progress year in and year out.

Florida also has an advantage of playing in what is expected to be the most lopsided division in the NHL, and should land somewhere in the middle. The team missed the playoffs by one point last season, and I would be surprised if they do not surpass their point total of 96 last year.

OVER 94.5 Wins

 

Las Vegas Golden Knights:

The Las Vegas Golden Knights had so many storylines going in their mind blowing inaugural season which saw an unbelievable 109 point finish and a Stanley Cup Final Appearance in 2017-18. I won’t even get into the stories, but the bottom line is that they performed beyond anyone’s wildest expectations despite being the last place ranked team coming into the season.

A little opposite to the Edmonton Oilers, the Knights have an inflated win total with the assumption that they will at least come close to repeating last season’s success.

A lot of things went right for Vegas last year, ranging from motivation following a tragedy, to their home arena advantages which opponents found extreme unfamiliarity in. As much as I hate to take away from the commendable effort of a Vegas team which operated with no real strategic structure ,nor known threatening elite superstars to start, I think that they caught lightning in a bottle last season which will likely not be as substantial coming into this one.

While Vegas may still be a playoff contender, I think the bar is set quite high at 97.5, in a division that vastly underachieved last year and is seeing the Sharks significantly improve coming into this season. The acquisition of Canadiens Captain Max Pacioretty has results to be desired. I see them experiencing a lot more struggle this season, as I believe that the honeymoon phase was over when they fell apart in the Stanley Cup Final.

UNDER 97.5 Wins

 

San Jose Sharks:

The San Jose Sharks have found ways to remain highly relevant in regular seasons ever since their league entry back in the early 90s, and nothing should change for the worse. I’m sure most hockey followers are aware, but the NorCal club won what we can relate to as the EK65 Sweepstakes, as they were the team who were able to land the trade to acquire highly sought after and arguably the best offensive defenseman in the league, Erik Karlsson. Another significant factor is the retaining of Power Forward Evander Kane, who was one of their most productive forwards since their acquisition of him last year.

While I am not buying into any hype that Karlsson is the man to put this team over the top to a Stanley Cup Championship, I do believe he will do wonders for a strong regular season team that already has a sound defensive structure put in place. The Sharks have ranked in the top five in CORSI numbers under Head Coach Pete DeBoer, and will likely continue to succeed through a puck possession game with their new weapon on the blue line. Why they would be anticipated by the books to drop 2.5 points this season is beyond me, and I do not see any year for San Jose being an over-achievement in the Regular Season. The Sharks should keep doing what they do best, and that is get into the playoffs comfortably, and now it should be even easier.

OVER 97.5 Wins

I am just glad that hockey is back. Let’s see how this all unfolds.