2021 NHL regular season thread

[Cosmo]

Let's get this started. Season begins with five games on Jan. 13. All divisional. Lots of two-game sets against the same team. Fighting penalties will likely be up.

ESPN's Emily Kaplan's primer

My way-too-early playoff picks (in no particular order):
EAST: Washington, Islanders, Philly, Boston
CENTRAL: Tampa, Carolina, Nashville, Dallas
NORTH: Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Edmonton
WEST: Colorado, Vegas, St. Louis, Arizona

 

[The Big Ragu]

East: Boston, Pittsburgh, Philly, NY Rangers
Central: Tampa, Carolina, Dallas, Nashville
North: Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton
West: Colorado, Vegas, St. Louis, Minnesota

 

[Splendid Splinter]

Some goalies in the All-Canadian division will get nightmares from facing McDavid so many times in a short season.

 

[HanSenSE]

As if this season wasn't going to be long enough, Sharks open with an eight-game roadie after training in Arizona, in the hope Santa Clara County will lift restrictions on contact sports in time for a Feb. 1 home opener vs. Vegas. We talked about this a little bit in last season's thread before the shutdown, but would the league turn them into a road team?

 

[ChrisLong]

The Ducks and Kings play a five-game series April 20-May 1. Most likely, it won't be a playoff preview.

 

[MTM]

The Kings and Ducks don't play until April 20 then play five times in 12 days. The games are consecutive for Anaheim while LA has two with Arizona after the first then four more with the Ducks in six days.

Although they will more likely be playing for lottery position than playoff position, those teams don't like each other and it will get ugly.

EDIT: Chris just beat me to it.

 

[ChrisLong]

The Kings and Ducks don't play until April 20 then play five times in 12 days. The games are consecutive for Anaheim while LA has two with Arizona after the first then four more with the Ducks in six days.

Although they will more likely be playing for lottery position than playoff position, those teams don't like each other and it will get ugly.

EDIT: Chris just beat me to it.

Guilty of not looking at the Kings schedule to note they had some other games mixed in. Glad MTM has my back.
I am pretty darn ambivalent about hockey at this point. Can't go. Can't watch unless we change our whole TV setup again. I still haven't learned how to use the system we've had for about a year. The Ducks training facility is 5 minutes from where I live but nobody is allowed in. Can't even go for an order of poutine.

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

Some of your predictions are wack, but mine wouldn't be any better

 

[Cosmo]

East: Boston, Pittsburgh, Philly, NY Rangers
Central: Tampa, Carolina, Dallas, Nashville
North: Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton
West: Colorado, Vegas, St. Louis, Minnesota

I know I'm a homer, but why do you think that the Caps will miss out?

 

[Sam Mills 51]

If the Whalercanes finish best in clash behind Tampa, I think I'd be good with that.

As for the goaltenders North of the Border ... yeah, maybe they won't have nightmares of Connor McDavid. He'll flash by too fast to remember what they think they saw.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I know I'm a homer, but why do you think that the Caps will miss out?

It's not like I know anything. I was just pulling teams out of my sphincter. I think the east is tough. So it isn't that the Caps aren't good, it's that I see 7 teams from that division that could be on that list. I had a difficult time not putting Buffalo in there. And the Islanders are good, too. My main reason w/Washington is that they have a lot of name players still, but several in the core are getting old. Ovie, Backstrom, Oshie are not young. And I want to see if Samsonov is for real. They could still be good enough to win it all. ... or they could look old and tired.

 

[Cosmo]

Wow. This got real very quickly.