10 Fearless Forecasts for 2016-17 - vote and post yours here

[Goldendelicious]

Nathan Beaulieu scores 12 and hits 40+ points this season

...mainly really hope he does because this is his prime opportunity to do so for the Habs.

[newfcollins]

Here's 10 from me.

1. Karlsson stays healthy, but finishes with less than 65 points
2. Halak finishes top five in wins and shutouts
3. Both Sedins fail to reach 50 points and Bo Horvat leads the Canucks in points
4. None of the Maple Leaf rookies or 2016 draft picks are Calder candidates
5. Mark Streit gets at least 50 points
6. Trouba is not traded and sits the entire season
7. Colorado finishes first in the West
8. Brent Burns is traded as he announces he will be testing the free agent market
9. Pekka Rinne is traded to Philadelphia
10. An injured player is traded to Las Vegas for a draft pick and spends the rest of the year on the IR

[PenguinHunter]

Here's 10 from me.

1. Karlsson stays healthy, but finishes with less than 65 points
2. Halak finishes top five in wins and shutouts
3. Both Sedins fail to reach 50 points and Bo Horvat leads the Canucks in points
4. None of the Maple Leaf rookies or 2016 draft picks are Calder candidates
5. Mark Streit gets at least 50 points
6. Trouba is not traded and sits the entire season
7. Colorado finishes first in the West
8. Brent Burns is traded as he announces he will be testing the free agent market
9. Pekka Rinne is traded to Philadelphia
10. An injured player is traded to Las Vegas for a draft pick and spends the rest of the year on the IR

Are you a closet Flyers fan? I wish both of the bolded ones come true... except I cannot see Rinne... who would the Flyers be able to trade that Nashville needs. Flyers don't have much cap room.

[newfcollins]

Are you a closet Flyers fan? I wish both of the bolded ones come true... except I cannot see Rinne... who would the Flyers be able to trade that Nashville needs. Flyers don't have much cap room.

Ha ha. No. But I mentioned in a top 10 column in August that Streit could have a bounceback year. My reasoning (keep in mind this was before the preseason and before Provorov making the squad):

Everyone is raving about Shayne Gostisbehere but people should also be paying attention to Streit. Just like Andrei Markov had a bit of a career resurgence when playing with the much young P.K. Subban, the same will happen for Streit this year. In the last 23 games of the season, Streit played regularly with Ghost on both the power play and even strength with Streit posting 11 points, four power play points and 46 shots in that timeframe. Even better is that he still saw 3:34 of power play ice time per game and 22:39 overall. He'll push for 45 to 50 points this year.

As well, Nashville has about $6 million in cap space. My belief is Rinne struggles, so Nashville trades him. Philly seems like a good landing spot if Mason struggles or gets injured. But Nashville would have to take back a top player or a cap dump.

[Eskimo Brother]

Not sure how that Rinne trade goes down, but if Rinne disappoints and Nashville decides they are going all in next season, then maybe they do see it as an opportunity to shore up the weakest link, and trade for Bishop.

[lucafen4]

I missed the vote, so I'll make my own:

1. Matthews puts up 80+pts
2. Arizona WINS the Pacific
3. Vancouver, while 8 points out of a playoff spot at the trade deadline - Trade to IMPROVE the team and make a run
4. Gostisbehere leads all Dmen in scoring
5. Radulov hits 80pts
6. McDavid scores 50 goals & 120pts
7. two of LA, SJ, ANH miss the playoffs
8. Columbus makes the playoffs and Torts is a Jack Adams finalist
9. Abdelkader scores 30 goals
10. Senators buy out Phaneuf at seasons end.

[newfcollins]

Not sure how that Rinne trade goes down, but if Rinne disappoints and Nashville decides they are going all in next season, then maybe they do see it as an opportunity to shore up the weakest link, and trade for Bishop.

Problem is, Tampa wouldn't be able to take Rinne for two more years after this one at $7 million. They have enough cap issues as it is.

[RizzeeDizzee]

Here's 10 from me.

1. Karlsson stays healthy, but finishes with less than 65 points
2. Halak finishes top five in wins and shutouts
3. Both Sedins fail to reach 50 points and Bo Horvat leads the Canucks in points
4. None of the Maple Leaf rookies or 2016 draft picks are Calder candidates
5. Mark Streit gets at least 50 points
6. Trouba is not traded and sits the entire season
7. Colorado finishes first in the West
8. Brent Burns is traded as he announces he will be testing the free agent market
9. Pekka Rinne is traded to Philadelphia
10. An injured player is traded to Las Vegas for a draft pick and spends the rest of the year on the IR

I kid you not - I originally had exactly your #2 in my list but opted to drop it due to Halak's showing at the WCOH. Don't get me wrong - I still think it's fearless considering his injury issues and Greiss being in the picture, but I just figured I'd go in a different direction for the column.

- - - Updated - - -

I missed the vote, so I'll make my own:

1. Matthews puts up 80+pts
2. Arizona WINS the Pacific
3. Vancouver, while 8 points out of a playoff spot at the trade deadline - Trade to IMPROVE the team and make a run
4. Gostisbehere leads all Dmen in scoring
5. Radulov hits 80pts
6. McDavid scores 50 goals & 120pts
7. two of LA, SJ, ANH miss the playoffs
8. Columbus makes the playoffs and Torts is a Jack Adams finalist
9. Abdelkader scores 30 goals
10. Senators buy out Phaneuf at seasons end.

Someone check the time stamp on this post.....lol

[RizzeeDizzee]

I'm bumping this so folks can see how I - and they - did with their 2016-17 fearless forecasts. I had a couple of BIG misses (Barrie and Muzzin), but I was either on the ball or in the right neighborhood with roughly half of them, including by pegging the Ehlers and Hedman "breakouts." it will be down to the wire on several (Flyers forwards, Josi/Weber, Bernier/Mrazek) to see if my predictions come true or were just very close.

[horrorfan]

Some ugly picks in here:

Might as well add my bold predictions:

1. Toronto and Vancouver are the only Canadian teams to miss the playoffs. Not bad as likely the quantity correct. Got Vancouver right, but Toronto is likely in and Winnipeg is out. PUSH
2. Joe Pavelski wins the Rocket Richard with 46 goals, one ahead of Tarasenko and two ahead of Ovechkin. He's been solid but nowhere near this prediction.
MISS
3. Artemi Panarin outpoints Patrick Kane. Another solid season for Panarin but not close to Kane's production. MISS
4. Martin Jones wins the Vezina and solidifies himself as part of the elite group of goalies going into 2017/18 fantasy leagues. Not quite as good this year. MISS
5. Ryan Johansen becomes the first Predator to score 80+ points since Paul Kariya in 2005/06. What was I thinking? MISS
6. Kris Letang plays 80+ games and wins the Norris. See above comment. MISS
7. Craig Anderson is a top 10 goalie, helping Ottawa finish 2nd in the Atlantic Division (between the Florida teams).Although not the Florida teams, Anderson has been a top 10 goalie when he's played and the Sens are in second. I'm taking it. HIT
8. Dylan Larkin follows up his solid rookie season by leading the Wings with 64 points. BIG MISS
9. The Islanders beat Chicago to win the Stanley Cup. Islanders haha! MISS
10. I win the Rocky Horror Roto Show for the first time (one of these years this will come true - I hope!) I'm in 9th out of 12. BIG MISS

[2014olympicgold]

I went with Bernier out winning Mrazek. Carlyle put Bernier in over Reimer constantly despite performance, and I think Gibson is too soft to push through injuries so he?ll lose some time playing.

I never liked how Gibson was just given the No1 position despite never out shining Andersen.

Bernier 19wins, Mrazek 17wins

[RizzeeDizzee]

Check out my special Cage Match column this week, where I cover how I actually fared on these forecasts and see what fantasy lessons can be learned from the outcomes. Worth a read, IMO: http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-h...ess-forecasts/

Please share your thoughts here, whether on my forecasts, on ones you made, what you think of this past seasons in fantasy, and what might be on tap for 2017-18.

[lucafen4]

I missed the vote, so I'll make my own:

1. Matthews puts up 80+pts
2. Arizona WINS the Pacific
3. Vancouver, while 8 points out of a playoff spot at the trade deadline - Trade to IMPROVE the team and make a run
4. Gostisbehere leads all Dmen in scoring
5. Radulov hits 80pts
6. McDavid scores 50 goals & 120pts
7. two of LA, SJ, ANH miss the playoffs
8. Columbus makes the playoffs and Torts is a Jack Adams finalist
9. Abdelkader scores 30 goals
10. Senators buy out Phaneuf at seasons end.

Matthews was close... also close on #7 50% right... - Nailed #8... and #3, there were rumours of Van doing exactly this right up until the Hansen trade

[2014olympicgold]

I went with Bernier out winning Mrazek. Carlyle put Bernier in over Reimer constantly despite performance, and I think Gibson is too soft to push through injuries so he?ll lose some time playing.

I never liked how Gibson was just given the No1 position despite never out shining Andersen.

Mrazek 18w
Bernier 21W


Andersen 33W