The 2022-23 National Hockey League season is set to get underway here in North America tomorrow, October 11th when the New York Rangers take on the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vegas Golden Knights battle the Los Angeles Kings. The season technically has already begun when the San Jose Sharks and Nashville Predators faced each other in a pair of games in Prague on October 7th and 8th.
Today, I’m going to give my regular season predictions, along with who will win the awards at the end of the season, as well as identifying one player on each team who could be a breakout candidate. Let’s jump right into it, starting with the regular season standings.
As a reminder, the top three in each division qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as two wild card teams per conference.
Regular Season standings prediction
Italics – playoff spot; Italics+* – wildcard spot.
Atlantic
| Place | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS |
| 1st | Toronto | 82 | 54 | 22 | 6 | 114 |
| 2nd | Tampa Bay | 82 | 51 | 23 | 8 | 110 |
| 3rd | Florida | 82 | 48 | 27 | 7 | 103 |
| 4th* | Ottawa | 82 | 46 | 30 | 6 | 98 |
| 5th | Boston | 82 | 42 | 35 | 5 | 89 |
| 6th | Detroit | 82 | 39 | 40 | 3 | 81 |
| 7th | Buffalo | 82 | 38 | 39 | 5 | 80 |
| 8th | Montreal | 82 | 35 | 43 | 4 | 74 |
Metropolitan
| Place | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS |
| 1st | Carolina | 82 | 53 | 24 | 5 | 111 |
| 2nd | New York R | 82 | 50 | 25 | 7 | 107 |
| 3rd | Washington | 82 | 48 | 26 | 8 | 104 |
| 4th* | Pittsburgh | 82 | 47 | 30 | 5 | 99 |
| 5th | Columbus | 82 | 42 | 35 | 5 | 89 |
| 6th | New Jersey | 82 | 39 | 35 | 8 | 86 |
| 7th | New York I | 82 | 35 | 41 | 6 | 76 |
| 8th | Philadelphia | 82 | 28 | 50 | 4 | 60 |
Central
| Place | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS |
| 1st | Colorado | 82 | 56 | 20 | 6 | 118 |
| 2nd | Minnesota | 82 | 51 | 27 | 4 | 106 |
| 3rd | Nashville | 82 | 47 | 27 | 8 | 102 |
| 4th* | St. Louis | 82 | 44 | 28 | 10 | 98 |
| 5th | Dallas | 82 | 41 | 36 | 5 | 87 |
| 6th | Winnipeg | 82 | 39 | 38 | 5 | 83 |
| 7th | Chicago | 82 | 32 | 43 | 7 | 71 |
| 8th | Arizona | 82 | 29 | 49 | 4 | 62 |
Pacific
| Place | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | PTS |
| 1st | Edmonton | 82 | 51 | 24 | 7 | 109 |
| 2nd | Calgary | 82 | 50 | 28 | 4 | 104 |
| 3rd | Vegas | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 103 |
| 4th* | Los Angeles | 82 | 45 | 32 | 5 | 95 |
| 5th | Vancouver | 82 | 42 | 33 | 7 | 91 |
| 6th | Anaheim | 82 | 37 | 39 | 6 | 80 |
| 7th | Seattle | 82 | 34 | 43 | 5 | 73 |
| 8th | San Jose | 82 | 30 | 44 | 8 | 68 |
Awards
- Art Ross: Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers) – 143 points.
- Rocket Richard: Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs) – 58 goals.
- Hart: Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers).
- Ted Lindsay: Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers).
- Calder: Mason McTavish (Anaheim Ducks).
- Selke: Phillip Danault (Los Angeles Kings).
- Lady Byng: Jaccob Slavin (Carolina Hurricanes).
- Norris: Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche).
- Vezina: Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators).
Breakout players
| Team | Player |
| Anaheim Ducks | Isac Lundestrom (C) |
| Arizona Coyotes | Barrett Hayton (C) |
| Boston Bruins | Brandon Carlo (D) |
| Buffalo Sabres | Casey Mittelstadt (C) |
| Calgary Flames | Adam Ruzicka (C) |
| Carolina Hurricanes | Martin Necas (C) |
| Chicago Blackhawks | Philipp Kurashev (C) |
| Colorado Avalanche | Bowen Byram (D) |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | Yegor Chinakhov (RW) |
| Dallas Stars | Denis Gurianov (RW) |
| Detroit Red Wings | Pius Suter (C) |
| Edmonton Oilers | Jesse Puljujarvi (RW) |
| Florida Panthers | Eetu Luostarinen (C) |
| Los Angeles Kings | Quinton Byfield (C) |
| Minnesota Wild | Sam Steel (C) |
| Montreal Canadiens | Kirby Dach (C) |
| Nashville Predators | Eeli Tolvanen (RW) |
| New Jersey Devils | Jesper Boqvist (C) |
| New York Islanders | Oliver Wahlstrom (RW) |
| New York Rangers | Alexis Lafreniere (LW) |
| Ottawa Senators | Erik Brannstrom (D) |
| Philadelphia Flyers | Owen Tippett (RW) |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | Marcus Pettersson (D) |
| San Jose Sharks | Nico Sturm (C) |
| Seattle Kraken | Ryan Donato (C) |
| St. Louis Blues | Logan Brown (C) |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | Cal Foote (D) |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | Timothy Liljegren (D) |
| Vancouver Canucks | Nils Hoglander (LW) |
| Vegas Golden Knights | Zach Whitecloud (D) |
| Washington Capitals | Martin Fehervary (D) |
| Winnipeg Jets | Mason Appleton (C) |
Thanks to everyone who’s been reading and enjoy the 2022-23 NHL season!
-Cooper.