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2021 NHL Season Predictions: Standings, Playoffs and Awards

Who will win the Stanley Cup?

By Tom Hunter
Colorado Avalanche v Toronto Maple Leafs Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images

With the 2021 NHL season upon us, it’s time for the obligatory predictions. The Colorado Avalanche enter the season as the betting favorite to win the Stanley Cup and by all accounts, the team is embracing it. They’re a skilled team led by a superstar, a budding Norris Trophy candidate and have a supporting cast that is significantly deeper than last season. That said, anything can happen in an NHL season, particularity one with as many unknowns as this one.

With new divisions, the Avalanche will be doing a ton of traveling this season and they will be counting on their goalies to both stay healthy, and provide a solid backstop for a talented but young defense group.

With a ton of league-wide roster movement over the past few months, this promises to be an incredibly exciting season both in Denver and around the NHL. For the record, I did nail my prediction of Tampa Bay Lightning over the Dallas Stars for the Stanley Cup in my preseason predictions last year.

Now let’s let’s see if I can get close again this season.

Standings

Honda West Division

  1. Colorado Avalanche
  2. Vegas Golden Knights
  3. St. Louis Blues
  4. Minnesota Wild
  5. San Jose Sharks
  6. Arizona Coyotes
  7. Anaheim Ducks
  8. Los Angeles Kings

Scotia North Division

  1. Toronto Maple Leafs
  2. Winnipeg Jets
  3. Calgary Flames
  4. Edmonton Oilers
  5. Montreal Canadiens
  6. Vancouver Canucks
  7. Ottawa Senators

MassMutual East Division

  1. Philadelphia Flyers
  2. Washington Capitals
  3. Boston Bruins
  4. Pittsburgh Penguins
  5. Buffalo Sabres
  6. New Jersey Devils
  7. New York Rangers
  8. New York Islanders

Discover Central Division

Tampa Bay Lightning

  1. Florida Panthers
  2. Tampa Bay Lightning
  3. Carolina Hurricanes
  4. Nashville Predators
  5. Dallas Stars
  6. Columbus Blue Jackets
  7. Chicago Blackhawks
  8. Detroit Red Wings

Playoffs

With re-alignment and a new format for the playoffs, we still don’t know exactly how the postseason tournament will be structured. With that in mind, I am picking Toronto, Washington, Colorado and Carolina as the final four.

The Avalanche make a run but it will be Washington over Colorado for the Stanley Cup.

Awards

Hart Trophy: Nathan MacKinnon (runner up: Auston Matthews)

Art Ross Trophy: Nathan MacKinnon (runner up: Connor McDavid)

Richard Trophy: Auston Matthews (runner up: Andrei Svechnikov)

Norris Trophy: Jaccob Slavin (runner up: Miro Heiskanen)

Calder Trophy: Jack Studnika (runner up: Josh Norris)

Vezina Trophy: Ilya Samsonov (runner up: Tristan Jarry)

Jack Adams Award: Alain Vigneault (runner up: Jared Bednar)

Selke Trophy: Anthony Cirelli (runner up: Sean Couturier )

Lady Byng Trophy: Jonathan Marchessault (runner up: Mitch Marner)

Ted Lindsey Award: Nathan MacKinnon (runner up: Auston Matthews)

If you want more of my spicy prognostications, check out my 10 Bold Predictions for the 2021 NHL season, here.