ROOS LETS LOOSE POLL: 15 Fearless Forecasts for 2020-21

[RizzeeDizzee]

Opening night is nearly upon us, and as is tradition I'm making 15 Fearless Forecasts for the upcoming season. The associated column will publish on Wednesday, but I'm opening this poll now for people to get a preview of the predictions and to start casing their votes on which they believe will come true. Everyone is also encouraged to make forecasts of their own, which can be added as replies to this post.

As a reminder, these are called "Fearless" forecasts for a reason, as they're meant to be a bit more daring than garden variety predictions. Below is a full list of the 15 Forecasts, as some are abbreviated in the poll.

The rules for voting are simple - you should vote for as many of the forecasts that you believe will come true, whether that is one, some, or all of them. If you think that none will come to pass, then choose the "none of the above will occur" voting option instead.

Best of luck to your fantasy teams this season, and be well.

1) Kevin Fiala’s points per game scoring rate will be lower than it was in 2019-20
2) Thomas Chabot will score at a 67+ point full season pace
3) Tony DeAngelo will not be one of the top 20 defensemen scorers
4) One of Victor Olofsson and Dominik Kubalik will not score at a 45 point full season pace
5) Matt Murray will win more games than Ilya Samsonov
6) Quinn Hughes will yet again score at least twice as many points as younger brother Jack
7) Pavel Buchnevich will be a point per game player
8) Miro Heiskanen will have fewer points in the 2020-21 regular season than he did in the 2020 playoffs
9) Jakub Vrana will outpoint Alex Ovechkin
10) Sergei Bobrovsky will finish in the top five in goalie wins
11) At least 30 players will average at least a point per game
12) Nathan MacKinnon will finish outside the top five in scoring and/or points per game
13) Carter Hart will win the Vezina Trophy
14) Auston Matthews will finish the season with a 0.75 goals per game average
15) The Strome brothers will combine to score at a point per game level (i.e., their combined total points will at least equal their combined total games played)

[pmorrow]

I voted none of the above.

I see the person before me (only 2 votes) voted for everything. I hope/assume they thought they were voting for them to NOT happen.

[Dr.Brad]

So I picked the easy one. Heiskanen had 26 pts in 27 playoff games. Nah I don’t see 0.96 ppg. Even 26 points in 56 games (presuming no injury or Covid time missed) wouldn’t be a guarantee, but I think he’ll hit 30.

Then, the either-or. Olofsson or Kubalik. One of these guys will find line 3, and suddenly they’re a flash in the pan.

[RizzeeDizzee]

I voted none of the above.

I see the person before me (only 2 votes) voted for everything. I hope/assume they thought they were voting for them to NOT happen.

That was me - of course I voted for all of them, as they're my predictions....lol

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So I picked the easy one. Heiskanen had 26 pts in 27 playoff games. Nah I don’t see 0.96 ppg. Even 26 points in 56 games (presuming no injury or Covid time missed) wouldn’t be a guarantee, but I think he’ll hit 30.

Then, the either-or. Olofsson or Kubalik. One of these guys will find line 3, and suddenly they’re a flash in the pan.

For Heiskanen, it's total points, not scoring rate, so he'd need to score under 26 points. I'll clarify in the initial post.

[tweetdrivr]

I did not vote for Bobrovsky. I think he’s toast. I did vote for Vrana out pointing Ovechkin. He just needs to get the PP time. I also voted for Matthews goal scoring spree - he’s going to eat much of the North division alive. He is my Rocket Richard pick. I do also think Fiala, Olofson,Kubalik, and DeAngelo are all in for some regression and so voted for those.

[pmorrow]

That was me - of course I voted for all of them, as they're my predictions....lol

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For Heiskanen, it's total points, not scoring rate, so he'd need to score under 26 points. I'll clarify in the initial post.

Haha oh okay I wasn't sure if you voted in them. They all can happen but I couldn't find one I felt was on the balance of probabilities likelier to happen than not. I could see the oloffson one though if I had a do over. I can also see Mackinnon but again I'd say that would be a surprise to me if he wasn't. Could he slip to 7th or 8th, yeah I could see that.

[RizzeeDizzee]

Haha oh okay I wasn't sure if you voted in them. They all can happen but I couldn't find one I felt was on the balance of probabilities likelier to happen than not. I could see the oloffson one though if I had a do over. I can also see Mackinnon but again I'd say that would be a surprise to me if he wasn't. Could he slip to 7th or 8th, yeah I could see that.

I'd be unhappy if no one voted for none of the above, as that would mean they weren't fearless enough...lol

[newfcollins]

Two things:

1) Kevin Fiala’s points per game scoring rate will be lower than it was in 2019-20: In the question or poll, can you give us an idea of what his points-per-game rate was last year? I know he struggled at the start, then went hot. But no idea of his overall points-per-game.

11) At least 30 players will average at least a point per game: I'm assuming there's a minimum games played to this? Last year, for example, Tarasenko was a point-per-game player (10 points in 10 games). So was Guentzel (43 in 39). So as Morgan Geekie (4 in 2). I'm not asking to be glib. Depending on the cutoff, it will change my answer.

[hockeyrobot]

I voted for the Strome one and the Deangelo one.

[chuckcouples]

I voted for Fiala, Tony Deangelo, 30 Point per game players, MacKinnon out of top 5 and the Strome Brothers point per game. I assumed it meant 0.5 points per game each but that makes no sense since they were both over that number last year so I regret choosing this one.

[PenguinHunter]

I voted dot Hart and for the Strome brothers

[RizzeeDizzee]

I clarified the point about the Strome brothers and how I meant their combined points will at least equal their combined games.

I'm surprised at how many votes the Matthews prediction is getting. Don't get me wrong, I think he can do it, but in the history of the NHL a center has only averaged 0.75 goals per game while playing 40+ games a total of four times - twice each by Gretzky and Lemieux. So the fact that they only each did so twice and no one else has ever done it makes it a longshot.

And here's a question for everyone before the column goes live. If Hart does indeed win the Vezina he'd be the second youngest to do so since 1990. Without looking, who was the youngest?