The Official 2020-2021 Season Talk Thread

[Majingir]

Season starts January 13th 2021!

Hockey is back! For some teams, it will have been 10 months since they've last played!

[bhurst99]

The Canadian (North) division will be fun. Going to be lots of hate in those games. I would expect Ottawa to miss the playoffs but any of the other teams could win the division. It will be a full meltdown in the other two Canadian cities that miss the playoffs -- and that will be half the fun.

[Majingir]

Quote: Originally Posted by bhurst99

The Canadian (North) division will be fun. Going to be lots of hate in those games. I would expect Ottawa to miss the playoffs but any of the other teams could win the division. It will be a full meltdown in the other two Canadian cities that miss the playoffs -- and that will be half the fun.

I'd say Leafs,Oilers,Flames and Jets make it.

Wouldn't call Habs missing it a meltdown, they got lucky to even make playoffs with the expanded expanded format last season.

Canucks is a diff story though.

[Qb]

So I just saw the proposed season would be divisional games only, so 8 games against each team for 3 of the 4 divisions. Then the playoffs will also be divisional 1v4 & 2v3 (which I prefer but that's my late 80s/90s youth bias). If familiarity breeds contempt, there will be plenty of bad blood come playoff time.

[Majingir]

My guess at playoff teams:
Leafs,Oilers,Jets,Flames for North
Caps,Pens,Bruins,Flyers for East
Lightning,Stars,Preds,Canes for Central
Knights,Blues,Avs for West (its anyone's guess at the 4 seed)

[nikethebike]

What are your guess at top scorers this season with the new format?
Will McDavid and Draisaitl still be favourites or will McKinnon be the favourite due to the division he is in. What do you think?
One thing is for certain though and that is that this won't be decided on even terms so to speak.

[Majingir]

Quote: Originally Posted by nikethebike

What are your guess at top scorers this season with the new format? Will McDavid and Draisaitl still be favourites or will McKinnon be the favourite due to the division he is in. What do you think? One thing is for certain though and that is that this won't be decided on even terms so to speak.

McDavid will score a natural hat trick vs the Leafs at some point in the year.

Given strength of divisions, I think MacKinnon will finish with most points.

Matthews finishes with most goals.

[bhurst99]

What's the over/under on how many games get wiped out by COVID? I imagine playoffs will be decided on points per game. Hockey doesn't have the luxury of playing condensed (seven inning) double headers like baseball or play once a week like the NFL where you can move around the schedule.

I get that the taxi squads are there to help fill in voids created by COVID positive players that need to sit out but the amount of injuries we're going to see as a result of the quick training camps, no exhibition games, nine month layoffs for some of these teams, and ridiculously condensed 58-game schedule will be mind boggling. I know these guys are in great shape but still it's going to be a challenging environment to play in.