As we approach Christmas, the NHL season will hit its halfway mark in the coming month. Most teams have now played 30 or more games, and the standings and playoff picture are actually starting to mean something. Here are three bold predictions for the remainder of the NHL season.
Oilers Will Miss Playoffs
The start of this season was a nightmare for the Edmonton Oilers. Over their first 18 games, the team went 5-12-1, bad enough for ownership to decide to move on from head coach Jay Woodcroft. The team was able to rattle off an eight-game win streak following American Thanksgiving under new head coach Kris Knoblauch, and it looked like they were back on track and ready to contend in the West. This impressive run, however, has come to a crashing end. The Oilers have shown that they have too many holes in their roster to win consistently enough to make the playoffs.
The Oilers have now dropped their past three games, allowing three, five, and seven goals over that span. Goaltending has proven to be a major issue for them thus far this season, and there is no indication that it is going to get any better over the coming months (unless the team were to make a trade). One of the team’s goalies to start the season, Jack Campbell, is now in the American Hockey League. Stuart Skinner has not been meaningfully better, posting a goals against average (GAA) of above three and a lukewarm save percentage (SV%) of .884. Unless the Oilers make a move – it appears that will be difficult given their cap situation – the Oilers’ goaltending disaster is enough to keep them from making the playoffs this season.
Canucks Will Win Presidents’ Trophy
The Vancouver Canucks have been perhaps the biggest story in the NHL this year. They currently sit with 46 points, second most in the league behind the Las Vegas Golden Knights who have 47. However, the Canucks have shown that they are the most complete team in the NHL. They score the most goals per game in the league and allow the second-fewest, currently holding onto a goal differential that is the best in the NHL. The team is deep, but they also have star power.
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Captain Quinn Hughes and defenseman Filip Hronek sit first and second in the league in plus/minus. Winger Brock Boeser has the second-most goals in the league behind only Auston Matthews, and center J.T. Miller is third in the league in points. They are strong in net as well: goalie Thatcher Demko leads the league in wins and has a spectacular GAA of 2.34. This team is as solid as they come, and they have shown thus far this year that they have what it takes to win the Presidents’ Trophy.
Lightning Will Miss the Playoffs
The Tampa Bay Lightning have not looked like themselves this season. They have only won back-to-back games three times in the 33 games they have played so far in 2023-24, a far cry away from the dominant team we saw reach three consecutive Stanley Cups between 2020 and 2022. The team is 4-11 this season following a win: they have been unable to build any momentum whatsoever, and they currently sit on the outside looking in of a crowded Eastern Conference playoff picture.
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The team has gotten production from their bottom six, which has been inconsistent at best this season, and star defenseman Mikhail Sergachev just went down with an injury that appears to be serious enough for him to miss meaningful time. While there is still time for the Lightning to turn it around, things are not looking up, and it appears that 2023-24 may just not be their season.
Wrapping Up
The 2023-24 NHL season has been an entertaining one thus far, and there is no shortage of storylines to look out for as we head towards the second half of the season. The Oilers and Lightning, two of the dominant teams of years past, are in danger of missing the playoffs entirely this season. The Vancouver Canucks, on the other hand, appear primed to make a run at the Presidents’ Trophy and will look to make a splash in the postseason.