Pensburgh Staff 2019-20 Season Predictions

A new season means everywhere you look, you see predictions from writers, media members, etc....and it’s no different here. Where do we expect teams to finish? Who is gonna take home the Stanley Cup at the end of the year? Here are our thoughts:

Jim:

Atlantic Division

1. Tampa Bay
2. Boston
3. Toronto

Metropolitan Division

1. Washington
2. Pittsburgh
3. Carolina

Wild Cards

1. Florida
2. Philadelphia

Pacific Division

1. Vegas
2. San Jose
3. Calgary

Central Division

1. Colorado
2. Nashville
3. Dallas

Wild Cards

1. St. Louis
2. Arizona

Stanley Cup Final

Tampa Bay Lightning over the Vegas Golden Knights

I’ll just go ahead and choose the what I think are the two deepest teams to go the furthest, even though anything can happen. Tampa really shouldn’t lose, but then again, the best team in the league often does lose in the playoffs because hockey is a silly game where weird things and injuries and good and bad goalie performances can make or break anyone. You can find the rest of my picks and division rankings sure to go wrong here.

Kait:

Atlantic Division

1. Tampa Bay
2. Boston
3. Toronto

Metropolitan Division

1. Washington
2. Pittsburgh
3. Carolina

Wild Cards

1. Florida
2. NY Rangers

Pacific Division

1. San Jose
2. Vegas
3. Calgary

Central Division

1. Colorado
2. St. Louis
3. Dallas

Wild Cards

1. Nashville
2. Chicago

Stanley Cup Final

Vegas Golden Knights over the Boston Bruins

I’m really liking the Golden Knights (especially since they got the Cup final brutally stolen away from them last year), even though the general consensus around the league is that the Lightning are going to learn from their embarrassing postseason meltdown and use it as fire fuel. I totally think Tampa morphs their outlook because of that. They exploded out of the regular season gates too quickly in 2018-19 and burned red hot for a bit too long. This season, I expect them to adopt a sort of Pittsburgh-like approach, and take the first half of the regular season with a little less ambition. Kucherov got his trophies, so I expect his eyes will be set on the big one this time around. The Lightning will then ultimately fall apart in the conference championship as they always do, making way for the Bruins’ revenge tour. On the flip side, the West is going to be fun, and I’m looking forward to seeing the Avalanche rip through their division and make decent headway in the standings come playoff time. For funsies, I picked Vegas to win it all, because I feel it’s time for a changing of the guard with the dominant East. The Western Conference finally gets over their self-created hill, and Vegas wins it all.

Robbie:

Atlantic Division

1. Tampa Bay
2. Toronto
3. Boston

Metropolitan Division

1. Washington
2. Pittsburgh
3. Carolina

Wild Cards

1. Columbus
2. Florida

Pacific Division

1. Vegas
2. San Jose
3. Calgary

Central Division

1. Colorado
2. St. Louis
3. Dallas

Wild Cards

1. Nashville
2. Arizona

Stanley Cup Final

Vegas Golden Knights over the Tampa Bay Lightning

Will the third season be the charm for the Golden Knights? In my opinion, yes. If not for a historic collapse in Game 7 last year, I think Vegas is the favorite to win the West and possibly the Cup. They are loaded from top to bottom and are the only team in the Pacific who did not take a step back this offseason. In the Central, it’s time for the Avalanche to take the next step and (bonus prediction) Nathan MacKinnon puts together an MVP campaign. Give me Vegas and Colorado in the West Final with the Golden Knights coming out on top.

Heading east, the Lightning remain on top of the putrid Atlantic but don’t run away like they did last season. Playing meaningful games into early spring will be a great benefit to them in the long run. A lot of teams in the Metro improved, but are still a year or two away from seriously competing and replacing the old guard of Washington and Pittsburgh. Can’t wait for that second round matchup again to see who faces the Lightning in the conference final. Lightning beat whoever survives that slugfest.

My Stanley Cup champion is the Vegas Golden Knights after winning a seven game thriller over the Tampa Bay Lightning in one of the best Finals series in recent memory. Jonathan Marchessault wins the Conn Smythe.

Garrett:

Atlantic Division

1. Tampa Bay
2. Boston
3. Toronto

Metropolitan Division

1. Washington
2. Pittsburgh
3. Carolina

Wild Cards

1. NY Rangers
2. Florida

Pacific Division

1. Vegas
2. Calgary
3. San Jose

Central Division

1. Colorado
2. Nashville
3. St. Louis

Wild Cards

1. Winnipeg
2. Arizona

Stanley Cup Final

Tampa Bay Lightning over the Colorado Avalanche

Tampa Bay actually gets it right this season and goes all the way to finally win the Stanley Cup. Colorado’s youth has set them up to be a force for years to come, but their time is not yet.

The Penguins are almost certainly a lock to make it into the postseason, but won’t be able to match up with their other Eastern Conference foes.

Mike:

Atlantic Division

1. Boston
2. Tampa Bay
3. Toronto

Metropolitan Division

1. Carolina
2. Washington
3. Pittsburgh

Wild Cards

1. NJ Devils
2. Florida

Pacific Division

1. Vegas
2. San Jose
3. Calgary

Central Division

1. Colorado
2. Nashville
3. St. Louis

Wild Cards

1. Arizona
2. Dallas

Stanley Cup Final

Boston Bruins over Vegas Golden Knights

After a trip to the Stanley Cup Final a year ago and falling short in Game 7, I think this is the year the Bruins get it done, prevailing over a Vegas team that I don’t see many shortcomings in. I also see this as the year that someone other than the Penguins or the Hurricanes win the Metro Division. Who isn’t up for another round of Penguins and Capitals in the playoffs? Playoff Phil Kessel in the desert will be a thing to look for.

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Let your picks be known now in the comments before the season really gets going if you want to put your prognostications on the record.