Athletic Season Contest

[hockeyrobot]

This is irrelevant now but I need to remember to post it here next year. The Athletic ran a very cool season long trivia pool.

Here is how it works....

For each of the regular questions, you can earn one point for the correct answer, two points for the second correct answer (for a total of three) and so on, all the way up to a maximum of 15 points if you run the table with five correct answers.

• HOWEVER, one wrong answer gives you a zero for the entire question. Going 1-for-1 and getting one point is better than 4-for-5 and zero, so just how confident do you want to be?

The questions
1. Name up to five teams that will make the playoffs.

2. Name up to five teams that will not make the playoffs.

3. Name up to five teams that will finish in the middle 16 of the regular-season standings (i.e. between 9th and 24th).

4. Name up to five coaches who will not be fired or otherwise leave their job before July 1, 2024, NOT including any coach who has held their current job for less than one year.

5. Name up to five GMs who will not be fired or otherwise leave their job before July 1, 2024, NOT including any GM who has held their current job for less than two years.

6. Name up to five goaltenders who will start at least 50 games this season.

7. Name up to five rookies who will finish in the top 10 of Calder balloting.

8. Name up to five defensemen who will finish in the top 10 of Norris balloting.

9. Name up to five players who will finish in the top 15 of Hart Trophy voting.

10. Name up to five players who are currently on an NHL roster who will change teams between puck drop on opening night and the end of the first day of 2024 free agency. This means they must be on a new roster via trade, free agency, waivers or whatever else, but does not include retirement, leaving the league entirely, or being an unsigned free agent.

Optional bonus question:
11. For 15 bonus points, name one and only one player who will finish this season with at least 100 points, and who is not an Edmonton Oiler. Remember, you don’t have to answer the bonus if you don’t want to, and a wrong answer wipes out your entire entry.

[TheDard]

That is a unique challenge.
I would've felt comfortable answering the first 3 questions. But questions 4 to 6 I would have been stuck on what to answer.
Then questions 7 to 11 I would have been willing to answer.

So I guess I would have answered 3 questions.

[niconasr]

Mcindoe has been doing this for 4 years I believe and it's gotten better each time. As a whole, it shows how predicting stuff is useless because we get a bunch of things wrong. I enter every year and haven't done well at all! The first two questions are the easy ones and then it's all downhill from there!

[hockeyrobot]

Mcindoe has been doing this for 4 years I believe and it's gotten better each time. As a whole, it shows how predicting stuff is useless because we get a bunch of things wrong. I enter every year and haven't done well at all! The first two questions are the easy ones and then it's all downhill from there!

Haha yep. I wiped my whole thing out by taking Hughes for the bonus

[loppantorkel]

I thought I had entered this as well, but had totally forgotten about it. Apparently I hadn't forgotten anything.

If you missed it - the Athletic has a playoff version in kind of similar, but simpler, fashion too - "List as many or as few playoff teams as you’d like, in order of how many games they will win during the 2024 postseason, from most wins to fewest." Get one out of order and you're out. https://theathletic.com/5415268/2024/04/19/nhl-playoffs-prediction-contest/

[LawMan]

This is GREAT!
Please post it next year.
Each question starts with a "this is sooo easy" and then by answer 4 you're like "oh man do I risk it"

The keep answering to risk it element is a great potential game show!