The NHL season will start on October 4th, thanks to the Global Series between the Devils and the Sabers. The puck drop for the NHL season is October 8th, so here are my NHL season predictions. I’ll start with my division rankings, then go on to my award predictions, Stanley Cup predictions, and lastly, who I predict will be breakout stars.

Atlantic Division

1. Boston Bruins
2. Florida Panthers
3. Ottawa Senators
4. Toronto Maple Leafs
5. Tampa Bay Lighting
6. Buffalo Sabers
7. Montreal Canadians

The Bruins have the star power to dominate this division, and I believe that as long as they can work out the Swayman mess and get him signed and back on goal, they’ll win the Atlantic Division. The Panthers, the reigning champs, get knocked down to two simply because I believe the Bruins have a better team. Ottawa will be a team that’ll come out and overachieve. I’m a big fan of the Ullmark trade; he’ll work wonders for them. I’m also expecting Tim Stützle to leap forward this year alongside their defense, whom I think will be helped out immensely with the drafting of Carter Yakemchuk. Toronto goes down to a wildcard spot. I feel like this team will underperform in every aspect of the game, and with Ottawa overachieving, Toronto will take a wildcard spot.

Unfortunately, the Lightning will miss the playoffs this year. They won’t do awful, but with Ottawa overachieving, they’ll suffer the effects. The Sabers will miss the playoffs again for the 14th time, but they will show flashes of what they’ll be in the future. The Canadians will come in last since it’s not their time yet; give them more time to develop their prospects and build a better team, and they could be a scary team in the future, just not right now.

Metropolitan Division

1. New York Rangers
2. Carolina Hurricanes
3. New Jersey Devils
4. New York Islanders
5. Philadelphia Flyers
6. Pittsburgh Penguins
7. Washington Capitals
8. Columbus Bluejackets

The New York Rangers are a lock to win the Metropolitan, and everyone knows it; I don’t think there’s even a debate on this. The Hurricanes will come in second; I’m predicting a good season by the Canes, and with Seth Jarvis joining them, they’ll give the Rangers a little competition. The Devils will make the playoffs after a disastrous season last year. They had a pretty good off-season, improving their defense and bringing in Jacob Markstrom to help fix the goalie situation, which everyone knows was nothing but a hot mess last year. The Isles will take the Wildcard once again, just like last year.

The Flyers will take the sixth spot thanks to Matvei Michkov, who’s looking like a great prospect and will make a huge impact. The Penguins will go down one spot from last year. The Capitals shouldn’t have made the playoffs last year, and T.J. Oshie on the Long-term Injury Reserve will affect them big time. The Blue Jackets will come last in the metro, but the future looks great for them as they have significant prospects, and Adam Fantilli looks like he’ll have a breakout season. 

Central Division

1. Dallas Stars
2. Colorado Avalanche
3. Nashville Predators
4. Minnesota Wild
5. Winnipeg Jets
6. Chicago Blackhawks
7. Utah Hockey Club
8. St. Louis Blues

The Stars are one of my favorite teams to win the Stanley Cup this year; they’ll have a stunning season. The Avalanche will come in second, thanks to their stellar defense. The Nashville Predators will come in third; I was a big fan of their offseason signings, especially the Steven Stamkos signing; he’ll do great things in Nashville. The Wild will get the Wildcard spot. Last year, Marco Rossi and Brock Faber were some of the best rookies in the NHL, and I predict they will get better and help improve this team; Kirill Kaprizov will have a Hart Trophy candidate season.

The Jets will miss the playoffs this year due to their loss of Sean Monohan, who was great in the games he played for them. I also don’t have a lot of faith in this team. The Blackhawks will come in fifth because Connor Bedard will have a 63-goal season, and the veteran signings will help give this young team guidance and leadership. Utah will place seventh; they didn’t do anything I liked in the off-season, and I’m not a big fan of this team this year. The Blues will come in last; I’m not a fan of the Blues team this year, and I can’t see them being very competitive. The Blackhawks are going to trash them in the Winter Classic this year.  

Pacific Division 

1. Edmonton Oilers
2. Las Angeles Kings
3. Vancouver Canucks
4. Vegas Golden Knights
5. Seattle Kraken
6. Anaheim Ducks
7. San Jose Sharks
8. Calgary Flames

The Oilers will come on top of the Pacific Division. I don’t think you can place them anywhere else, especially after coming so close to winning the Stanley Cup last year. The Kings will place second: Quinton Byfield will have a shocking breakout season. The Canucks will place third;  I was pretty happy with their off-season moves, so I think they’ll stay competitive this year. The Golden Knights will get the wild card once again; I think they’ll do pretty well, but I feel like Vegas is more of a playoff team than a regular-season team. 

Seattle will barely miss the Playoffs. I’m a fan of this team; they need a few more star power and more time to go out and be a consistent playoff team. Anaheim will come in sixth; I’m a big fan of their prospect pool. Leo Carlson, Cutter Gauthier, Pavel Mintyukov, and Tristan Luneau will shine as star players in this team, and third-round pick Beckett Senecke is a stud. The Sharks have talented prospects, too, like Will Smith and Macklin Celebrini, but they’ll need more time and help to be competitive. The Flames will come dead last in the whole NHL; I have no hope for this team. 

Calder Trophy 

1. (W) Cutter Guathier 
2. Matvei Michkov
3. Macklin Celebrini 

My Boldest prediction, but if you saw Cutter at BCU, you know he’s a STUD; he will cook with the Anaheim Ducks this year, and if Cutter gets paired up with Leo Carlsson, he’ll cook. Cutter will win the Calder, in my opinion, but just barely. Matvei Michkov will come so close to winning the Calder. If you’ve watched him in Russia and the off-season, you’d think he’d win the Calder, but I believe in Cutter more. Celebrini will come third in voting; he’ll do well this year, but his team isn’t the most support, and he isn’t Connor Bedard; he won’t pull it off without help. 

Vezina Trophy 

1. (W)  Jake Oettinger 
2. Thatcher Demko 
3. Igor Shesterkin 

Oettinger will win the Vezina with a .919 Save percentage; he’ll be one of the main reasons the Stars dominate the Central Division. Thatcher will come second. I’m expecting a big season from him and expect him to have a .914 save percentage. Shesterkin will rank third; he’ll have a .914 save percentage, so he’ll come in third because I’m just predicting Thatcher to be a better goalie than him this season.  

Hart Trophy 

1. (W) Kirill Kaprizov 
2. Connor Mcdavid
3. David Pastrnak 

With 75 goals and 48 assists, Kirill Kaprizov is your Hart Trophy recipient; I believe the 2024-25 season will be all about Kirill Kaprizov and how he helps lead this Wild team to the playoffs. Connor McDavid will come in second with a 137-point season, but the thing about McDavid is that you expect these types of points from him every season, so that’s why a 123-point season from Kirill is more Hart deserving. David Pastrnak will come in third with a 116-point season and a nice Presidents Trophy. 

James Norris Trophy 

1. (W) Adam Fox
2. Cale Makar
3. Quinn Hughes

Adam Fox is one of my favorite defenders in the NHL. He’ll average a 70-point season each year and will give forwards and centers a hard time on the ice, so I have him taking home the James Norris Trophy. Cale Makar will come in second. It’s Cale Makar; you can’t talk about the best defenders in the league without talking about him. Quinn Hughes, the current holder of the James Norris Trophy, will come in third. Hughes will do great, but his team won’t do as well as last year, which will cause him more problems and to slip in voting. 

Art Ross Trophy 

1. (W) Connor Mcdavid 
2. Kirill Kaprizov
3. David Pastrnak 

Connor McDavid will score 137 points and win the Art Trophy. Kirill Kaprizov will come in second with his 123-point season, but he’ll be chilling with his Hart Trophy. Pastrnak will come in third with his 116-point season, which might hurt since he’ll come in third for both the Art Ross and Hart races. 

President Trophy 

Boston Bruins 

The Bruins will win the President Trophy due to their great attacking, good defense, and spectacular goaltending. They will end up a solid 5-7 points ahead of the Rangers, who I think will come in second for the President Trophy. 

Stanley Cup Winner 

Dallas Stars 

The Bruins will go out thanks to the President Trophy curse. The Rangers will get upset by Ottawa, which will clear the path for the hurricane to make the finals against the Dallas Stars.  Dallas will be coming out the west beating top-tier teams like the Golden Knights, Predators, and the Oilers, and will do quick work of the Carolina Hurricanes and win their first cup in 26 years. 

Conn Smythe

Wyatt Johnson 

Wyatt Johnson will have a great tournament with a 27-point playoff run. He’ll help this Stars team make the Stanley Cup final and then completely dominate against the Carolina Hurricanes to claim the Conn Smythe Trophy. 

Breakout stars  

1. Quinton Byfield 
2. Connor Bedard 
3. Adam Fantilli 

Quinton showed us flashes of how talented he is. Quinton had a 55-point season last year; he’ll make a big boom this season. I’m predicting a solid 38 goals and 46 assists for a total of 84 points and helping this Kings team come in second place in the Pacific. Quinton will show everyone why he was the second overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft and will be a top-tier winger in the NHL. Connor Bedard will also be a breakout star with 63 goals and 34 assists for a whopping 97 points. He will show everyone why he’s the future of the NHL this season and cause other teams to fear him. Adam Fantilli is another player that I predict will have a breakout season. Last year with the BlueJackets, he scored 27 points in 49 games, which is decent for a rookie but not to the level that he was expected of him coming out of an astonishing season with the Michigan Wolverines. Fantilli will shut down all the worries about him this season. I predict he will have 48 goals and 28 assists for a 76-point season. Fantilli will be one of the main pieces in the BlueJackets’ future, and he will show us why this season.