NHL Awards: Who Should Win and Who Will Win

Tonight in Las Vegas, hockey's brightest stars will meet to celebrate the accomplishments of another great season. There are a number of deserving candidates for each of these awards; some of whom were not honored as finalists. To give those players and coaches their respective dues here is who I think should win each major award and who will probably win.

2016 Off-Season Game Plan

This week is going to be very busy for general managers across the National Hockey League. A flat cap and upcoming expansion draft have created problems for a number of teams. With only a few days remaining before the NHL Draft a.k.a the second trade deadline, what should Ken Holland be thinking about this summer?

Predicting the Eastern Conference

It has been a long summer, but hockey is almost here. Last year at this time, I gave my predictions for the Eastern Conference. I had some good picks (Tampa, Detroit, Islanders) but also had some huge misses (New Jersey, Boston, Washington). With such obvious room for improvement and another season coming up, I am back to try again.

Way Too Early 2016 Stanley Cup Betting Guide

Last night we saw the Chicago Blackhawks complete an incredibly 6 year run by winning their 3rd Stanley Cup in that time frame. But before they have even cleaned the confetti off the ice, bookies have started looking ahead to next season. Today the online gambling site Bovada released Stanley Cup odds for 2016.  This early on the odds are dictated more by recent media attention and popularity than true potential. As a result, there are a number of cases where the odds over and underestimate the team's potential to hoist the trophy next season. Using the team's current roster and expected off-season moves, I compared Bovada's odds to how I expect the team will do next season.

Opening Night Roster

This morning, Ansar Khan gave Red Wing nation a bit of hope when reporting the following lines at the team's practice

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Abdelkader.

Nyquist-Helm-Franzen

Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco

Miller-Glendening-Andersson. 

Cleary-Weiss-Nestrasil

Kronwall-Ericsson

DeKeyser-Smith

Ouellet-Quincey

Lashoff-Kindl

Shakeup in the East/ Final Playoff Predictions

Today the Islanders went all in on making the playoffs this year, trading for defencemen Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk. This trade will send ripples throughout the Eastern Conference as the Islanders continue to muddy the waters in the Metro division and the Bruins look even more vulnerable in the Atlantic.