2019-2020 Hockey forecast anybody got crystal ball polish

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It’s October, a chilly rainy day, and after watching the country music series by Ken Burns my crystal ball is having a foggy mountain breakdown. So here is my cloudy outlook and fifth annual fundamentally inane and profoundly half sane predictions for the 2019-2020 nhl season:

1) Steven Stamkos or Sidney Crosby will win the scoring championship if they stay healthy. In the top ten I expect to see Marner, Mackinnon, Mcdavid, Barzal, Gaudreau, Stone, and Kucherov. Is this the year somebody reaches 150 points?



2) The Norris will be a battle of swedes as Hedman and Karlsson should battle for it. Never can count out Brent Burns and the emergence of Morgan Reilly. One of them might win it. Rasmus Dahlin may make it a trio of Swedes.

3) The Maurice Richard trophy will go either to Matthews or Mackinnon. Matthews has been injury prone so if he does not play a full season it might go to Mackinnon. Long shots are Stamkos, Pacioretty, and Draisatl. For Draisatl, it depends if he plays all season with Mcdavid.




4)  The axis of evil will follow last year’s tendencies as Toronto and Boston make the playoffs and are contenders for Lord Stanley (egad again). The flyers have an outside chance of making the playoffs as veteran coaches Vigneault and Therrien straighten out the ship. The red wings even with Yzerman have a ways to go before they are competitive again.

 5) Sidney Crosby will surprise this year and have a statistically sound season. He needs 54 goals to reach 500 so don’t be surprised if he goes for it. Ovechkin should begin to see a decline in his game (wishful thinking on my part). 

 6) Who will win the Cup this year? Still unsure, I will not be shocked if Tampa and Vegas are in the final. Leafs and Sharks could be division finalists.

 7) In my time travels, Habs season will depend on what Kotkaniemi and Drouin do. It could be a long season if these two show as little as they did in the preseason. Max Domi is gradually becoming the team leader and if he does not fight often or lose badly he could become a Bobby Clarke type leader on the team. If the habs do not contend the likely outcome will be that Bergevin will be canned. The frugal Molson will have no choice. 


8) If the habs do not contend there could be a swing towards a total rebuild and therefore many of the established players could be on their way out. We know that Bergevin will never trade Price, Gallagher, or Weber so it all depends who is the GM at the end of the season.

 9) Every year you wonder what underdog team will emerge and in the east there are numerous teams that have upgraded including the Sabres, Devils, Panthers, and the Rangers, and anyone of these teams could make the playoffs. Columbus on the other hand...

 10) Hughes or Kakko could be the Calder winner depending on their playing time. 


11) Donald Trump will resign by the the time the Stanley Cup is handed out. Ok vafanculo I predicted that the last two years...and the winner of the Canadian federal election will be no one...


Health Advisory:  one can still hallucinate on cannabis legally this year and these predictions could collapse if injuries occur or time travellers interfere with the universe as it should unfold..or any more blackface pics show up

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