2019-2020 NHL season thread

Almost to the All-Star break (two games tonight) ... let's have fun with what we think the playoff field will look like come the second week of April. Feel free to quote this in three months to mock it.

EAST
M1 Washington vs. W2 Philadelphia
M2 Pittsburgh vs. M3 Carolina
A1 Tampa Bay vs. W1 N.Y. Islanders
A2 Boston vs. A3 Florida

Leafs are so banged up on D (where they weren't good to begin with), I can see them really struggling to catch Florida for third, though it will be close. I think the two wild cards will be super close between Carolina, Columbus and Philly but I think the Jackets lose out by a nose hair.

WEST
C1 St. Louis vs. W2 Nashville
C2 Colorado vs. C3 Dallas
P1 (throws darts) Vancouver? vs. W1 Vegas
P2 Edmonton vs. P3 Arizona

Good luck trying to prognosticate the Pacific. That P3 could easily be one of five teams. Nashville has only played 47 games where most of the other WC contenders have played 50-52, so I'll take the Preds to get their shit together and sneak in to the last wild card spot, where they'll be a bitch of an out for the defending champs.

 

All I really noticed without research is that the awful Pacific Division has 5 teams with more points than fourth-place Winnipeg in the Central. Wonder if the awful Pacific can nab both wild cards in the West.

 

And none of them would qualify for the playoffs in the East as it stands. Mediocre might be a better word for it.

 

True and true.

 

Harris: The NHL Pros Who Look Like Me, Including 3 Black Detroit Red Wings

 

Oops, misfired. I would not be at all surprised if the two wild cards come from the Pacific.

 

He didn't play in the NHL, but Mike Eruzione continues to monetize the 1980 Olympics. He's got another book out. Has earned who knows how many thousands of $$$ on the lecture/speaking circuit. Jim Craig, too.

I know for a fact there's resentment among some former teammates. Hopefully, Eruzione and/or Craig are helping Mark Pavelich in some way, if nothing else helping with his legal bills.

 

More and more I think about it, you may be right against Columbus. Would rather they didn't make it. That's the one team I can see beating the Caps in round 1 (assuming that the Penguins don't fall to the WC, which I don't see happening). I probably shouldn't assume the Caps winning the Metro, either, considering they still have four (!) games left with Pittsburgh.

I forgot about the Dougie Hamilton injury in Carolina too. That's a huge blow for the Canes.

 

I have seen comments from 1980 teammates that seemed to reflect perhaps some resentment, but more a sense of bemusement about how Eruzione has continued to live a life so singularly focused on one moment in 1980. Most of those guys seem to appreciate what they did but also understand that it shouldn't define their whole lives.

 

Eruzione is my idol. He has not done a day's work since the Miracle on Ice and he's made a good living at it.