New NHL regular season predictions
HodgePodge by Charlie Hodge
It’s the first week of October and I’m not prattling on about gardens, politics, or drinking beer in local restaurants so … it must be hockey season.
Better yet – it’s time for the HodgePodge Multiple Choice Participation Hockey Pool, also known as the ‘Laugh at Charlie’s Stupid Hockey Predictions’ column.
Having hockey fun can be so easy. Let me help you with that.
Yup, get your bar fridge plugged in or cooler stuffed with ice, TV trays cleaned off and filled, and channel changer batteries checked because it’s time for that fine Canadian tradition – the NHL hockey season. Tell any family members that are not hockey pundits you will see them come June (if the playoffs are done by then). Remind them that you love them.
The only thing as much fun as watching hockey is being part of a hockey pool or multiple pools. Especially if you can get a couple of real dumb hockey people involved and then take their money. (That’s why I get involved every year in the Media Hockey Pool. It’s kind of like taking candy from a baby – only these babies drink beer. I haven’t worked full time for media for more than a decade but because of this column I’m given some sort of alumni status, and they invite me in – but I digress).
Most of the guys in the Media Hockey Pool belong(ed) to newspapers so, well, say no more. (Some of us retired from full time newspaper work before the disease spread too deep). Pat and a couple others are simply ink-stained wretches with years and years of newspaper damage behind them, retired for them by their former chain-link corporate bosses. It’s sad but what can you do?
Dan prints the paper in the ‘back shop’ and there are hazardous fumes involved in that work – so that clarifies Dan’s issue.
Then there is Zip who quite often forgets to get to the hockey pool draft so someone else draft’s him a terrible club.
No one really knows what ‘Happy’ does for work or pleasure – but he’s always happy. Good thing because he’s a big boy and it is never nice to beat a big guy in a hockey pool if he has no sense of ha-ha.
Al always shows up for the draft all the way from Grand Forks, but it doesn’t matter. Some guys in the pool kindly suggest the reason Al doesn’t do well in the standings is because he had a tumour the size of a golf ball taken out of his brain several years ago. Others suggest that’s an exaggeration because Al’s brain was probably not the size of a golf ball to begin with and he was really bad in hockey pools long before the tumour. But I digress yet again. My point being is they would all do well to take heed of my brilliant thoughts and predictions.
So here we are, as always, prepared to share insight for any hockey pool fans needing help. It’s time for ‘Laugh at Charlie’s Stupid Hockey Predictions’. I annually put myself through the embarrassing ritual of making these predictions. This is the point where you, the reader, can decide how much participation in the game you want to make.
You can:
- Skim read it, think it’s a pile of junk and throw it in the corner.
- Clip this out and stick it on your (beer) fridge and then laugh at me throughout the playoffs. (For some pathetic reason I find this amusing, and so do others). Hope you have fun. Get out your highlight pen and scissors. (No running).
- Fully participate by boldly posting your own predictions on said fridge.
- Fully participate by boldly posting your predictions on said fridge and sending me a copy to put in a future HodgePodge.
So here is how I predict the four divisions will finish:
Pacific Division: Edmonton, Vancouver, Vegas, L.A., Seattle, Calgary, Anaheim, San Jose.
Central Division: Colorado, Dallas, Nashville, Winnipeg, Minnesota, Utah, St. Louis, Chicago.
Atlantic: Florida, Toronto, Boston, Tampa, Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Detroit.
Metropolitan: Carolina, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh, New Jersey, Washington, Islanders, Philadelphia, Columbus.
It will be a wild year of high scoring and injuries.
Connor McDavid will lead the league in scoring amassing 56 goals and 157 points. Draisaitl will finish with 55 goals148 points, and Mathews with a boggling 69 goals and 124 points in a season that sees scoring soar. Nathan McKinnon, Mitch Marner, Sebastian Aho, and Nikita Kucherov will have stupendous years though McKinnon will battle through injuries.
Colorado’s Cale Makar will lead the leagues’ defenceman in scoring closely followed by Quinn Hughes.
Despite all the scoring injures will hurt both Edmonton and Toronto once again enabling their winning division titles.
So that’s the regular season. We can play this whole game again come playoff.
The final eight clubs in the Stanley cup showdown will include Carolina, Toronto, Florida, and the Rangers in Eastern Division and Dallas, Edmonton, Colorado, and the Canucks out of the Western Division.
Logic says it will be Carolina and Colorado facing off for the cup but my heart says we will see a Toronto – Edmonton final so that is where I am going to put my heart and my predictions. Leafs win the cup!
As stated last year my Leaf prediction is based on the fact that I believe God is a hockey fan, and more than that, a Leaf fan. The lack of Cup victories since the early 1960’s was merely punishment for the club allowing the evil Harold Ballard and the Smythe clan to take control of the team for so long. Now, however, it seems the club’s years of abandonment and suffering are over and players like Auston Mathews and Mitch Marner are poised to play Moses returning the club out of the wasteland.
So there you are. Grab your scissors and a magnet and have extra fun for the shortened season.
