My Ten Bold Predictions At (Near) The Halfway Point

In a change of pace from the usual posts, I’m going to take a look at my ten bold predictions from the preseason and how they’re shaping up.  I will link the original post at the end of this one, but I will go through all of them in this one and look at their chances of coming through.  Some have a lot of hope, and some make me look like a fool.  To be fair, that’s how bold predictions should go!  Let’s get to it!

1) Brandon Hagel gets 90 points.

We start off with a major sweat!  I was all in on Hagel going into the season, and he is currently right on pace for 90 points.  “I think he gets around 35 goals and around 55 assists with elite PIM to boot.”  And that’s me quoting me!  He’s currently on pace for 37+54.  I’m glad my Sabres decided Hagel wasn’t worth an ELC five years ago.  Hagel is a top 20 player on the season right now and thriving in his current role.

2) Matvei Michkov scores 30 goals.

There’s a little bit of hope here, but it’s mostly been trending in the wrong direction.  Michkov has 14 goals so far, so a goal scoring binge could make it interesting.  The problem is that he’s playing 14-15 minutes regularly now because Torts is going to Torts.  The longer Philly stays in the playoff race, the more unlikely this is.  I’m still all in on Michkov in the long term, but my expectations are tepid for the second half.

3) Vegas will have multiple months where Eichel is their only holdable forward in 12’ers.

There’s also a chance here.  Vegas has only had two holdable forwards for the most part, Eichel and Stone.  Stone already missed exactly a month due to injury, and he hasn’t exactly been the healthiest player.  As good as Dorofeyev has been, he hasn’t been a hold, and neither has Hertl or anyone else.  This will purely come down to health because Stone has been that good.

4) 4) Joonas Korpisalo is a top 15 goalie despite Swayman signing a long term extension.

Insert the Bill Lumbergh “oooohhh, yeaaaahhhh” gif here.  I couldn’t have been any more of this one.  Because it’s my prediction, I will solely put this on goalie variance and not that Korpisalo has proven himself to be a bad NHL goalie who had a random hot streak.

5) For the first time in NHL history, two defensemen have 100+ points in the same season.

This would have real hope if Hughes didn’t get injured.  As of now, Makar and Werenski are on pace for around 90 points.  Hughes is playing at exactly a 100 point pace per 82 games, but we can’t get those games back.  Nobody else is even approaching a point per game.  I thought this was my boldest prediction so I was hoping for a sweat, but that looks very unlikely.

6) For the first time since 95-96, at least six players will score 50+ goals, two of which will be players who haven’t scored 50 before.

We’re going to need a lot of hot streaks here to have a chance.  Draisaitl should smash 50 goals, and it wouldn’t be the first time.  Scheifele, Reinhart, and Nylander are all playing at a 47 goal pace, with only Reinhart scoring 50 before. Point is on pace for right around 50 despite the missed time.  Caufield, Guentzel, Kucherov and Pastrnak look to have the best outside chances.  It’s a shame Kaprizov is injured because he looked close to a lock.  Ovechkin has played to that level as well.  My guess is this falls short, but maybe it’ll come down to the bitter end.

7) Brandt Clarke and Erik Gustafsson, both going outside of the top 50 defensemen in drafts, are both top 30 defensemen and holds for the entire season.

There’s a good chance that this is one out of two.  Clarke is currently the #15 overall defenseman on the season, with a decent but unspectacular stat line across the board.  I did include Clarke as a potential sell for the second half because of Doughty’s impending return, but there’s some wiggle room for top 30.  It simply hasn’t happened for Gustafsson in Detroit as I had hoped.  He has been better with McClellan in charge, including four points in his last five games, but he sure as hell wasn’t a first half hold.

8) Only three teams in the Metro (Rangers, Hurricanes, Devils) make the playoffs.

Washington has made me look like a fool, as have the Rangers to a lesser extent.  Washington is a stone cold playoff lock.  I did say I liked Ottawa as a potential playoff team, and that could happen, but Columbus being in the last spot currently is a stunning development I didn’t consider, with Montreal in a similar boat as Columbus.

9) We get at least two new playoff teams in the West as well, one of which will be Utah.

It looks very likely that Minnesota will get back into the playoffs in Nashville’s place.  I didn’t foresee the Nashville collapse, but it helps this cause.  The problem is Utah has been a .500 team.  They’re not dead in the water being 6 points behind Calgary right now, especially with the Canucks in turmoil, but I suspect that they end up on the outside looking in.

10) Alex Ovechkin becomes the goal scoring king, scoring 42+ goals to pass Gretzky

That this is still in play despite Ovechkin missing 16 games shows well he has played.  Their blue line has been fantastic, as I had mentioned as my main hope in the post, but I underestimated how good their other forwards were going to be.  I really hope he gets it this season despite the missed time, as that would be an incredible way to become the goal scoring king.

Streamer of the Week Under 50% owned – Kaapo Kakko currently has a five game point streak, scoring eight total points in that stretch.  He’s played at least 17 minutes in each of his last three games.  The Sabres are without UPL today, and the Pens are a great matchup later in the week.  The Kraken do only have three games which isn’t ideal, but I wanted to take advantage of the hot streak.  If you want someone with four games instead, consider Dorofeyev.

Streamer of the Week Under 10% owned – Adam Lowry moved onto the second line with Names day to day.  Playing with Ehlers is a big help to his value.  More importantly, there are two light days this week (Wednesday and Friday) and the Jets are the only team that plays on both of them.  The schedule is a big factor here, so hopefully Lowry can pot a couple points.

Three Point Challenge:  We will do Tuesday’s games per usual.  You can’t select MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Rantanen, Marner, Kucherov, McDavid, Eichel, Connor, J. Hughes, or Konecny.  I’ll go with Reinhart against the Ducks.