What happened?

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 ...

So we are reaching the half-way point in the season time to review my third annual absurd and bizarre but fundamentally correct predictions for the 2017-2018 nhl season that I posted in September: 1) Connor Mcdavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan Mckinnon, and Jonathan Drouin will challenge for the Art Ross. Will they get 100 points? Every year I expect a 120 point season and it just doesn't happen. Kinda pleased with this prediction. I can see Mackinnon and Mcdavid catching up to the leaders and surpassing them by year’s end. The young legs and talent will take over. I am especially pleased with my Mackinnon choice that many were calling a dud. The concussed Matthews may still make the top ten. Now for Drouin. Maybe I was one year too early and was not expecting the total mess that are the habs. I also did not expect the Pacioretty meltdown and Weber to be injured. 2) I predict a 3 way fight for the Norris. My choices from last year are back in PK Subban and Victor Hedman. My surpri...

The NHL season and the NHL brand may be heading towards its most interesting and suspenseful season in over a decade. We have established stars trying to maintain their elevated standing in the league, traded franchise players hoping to invigorate their new destinations, high flying rookies adding a new energy and verve, and GM's and coaches hoping to hold on to their jobs. PK Subban and Shea Weber have been pitted against each other through no doing of their own. Both Nashville and Montreal have been close to the Stanley Cup final in the last few years but have been unable to get over the hump. Both teams think they got the missing link that will lead to Cup glory. Each player wants to desperately win the Cup to cement their legacy. Weber is the much more respected player by coaches and players, meanwhile PK has been making his own waves with his personality. Weber has been clearly more productive in the early stages of the season leading the habs to first place overall. PK ha...