NHL 2021 Can Lightning Strike Thrice?

NHL 2021 Tampa Looking For The Hat Trick

The 2021 NHL season is about to get underway and there will be a bit of extra interest this year for the neutral anyway given The Tampa Bay Lightning is looking to win the Stanley Cup for the third season running. This would put them in some exalted company as only three teams have managed the feat before!

The New York Islanders were the last team to manage the feat, winning it between 1980 & 1983. Before that Canada takes the honours thanks to the Toronto Maple Leafs & Montreal Canadians.  So can they?

Well, they will start the season as favourites, however, they have lost a few players of note in free agency. Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde and Barclay Goodrow have departed for ice rinks new and will be missed. Fortunately (for Tampa) two have not gone to likely rivals with Coleman joining the Flames & Gourde joining the Seattle Kraken.

Goodrow joining the New York Islanders may be more of a concern though and they might end up facing him in the postseason. They have added Corry Perry though who will bring some veteran leadership and of course, will know them well having been on the losing side to them in both the last two Stanley Cup Finals.

Eastern Conference

In the East, we expect good showings from Toronto who are near perennial 1st rounders (although they don’t get any further). They lost Zach Hyman to the Edmonton Oilers, however, they did make some moves themselves. We particularly like the addition of goaltender Petr Mrázek and Michael Bunting adds some nice depth on the left-wing. They should make the playoffs and could sneak the division.

The Metropolitan Division looks like belonging to the New York Islanders who have spent most of their cap space retaining talent. They managed to resign three of their better players Anthony Beauvillier, Ilya Sorokin and best of all Casey Cizikas. This continuity should serve them well in what doesn’t look like a particularly strong division this year. The Washington Capitals will be hoping to go on one last run with Alexander Ovechkin, and they might end up being their closest pursuers.

Western Conference

In the West, the Colorado Avalanche look like the team to beat. They are stacked at every position and although the Central does look competitive it will be a surprise if they don’t take the title. Their already formidable defense has been strengthened by the addition of Ryan Murray and Jack Johnson and they have talented youngsters coming through too like Bo Byram. They will be hard to beat and should they make a deep run.

Their main challengers might be the Vegas Golden Knights, who knocked them out in round two of the playoffs last season. They may have lost a few players but still look by far the best team in the Pacific and it will be no surprise to us if they win the division with some ease.

The Edmonton Oilers who of course snagged Zach Hyman in free agency may be the best of the chasing pack. The Pacific Division will be of interest to the neutral this year as it welcomes the NHL’s latest franchise the Seattle Kraken into its midst. We doubt they will fare as well as the Golden Knights did in their first season and although we would love to be positive for them we don’t think they will make the playoffs.

The Playoffs

Although it has not been formally announced yet we expect the playoffs to revert to the traditional format this season in which the top three in each division get in and then a wild card winner from the next two best teams.

The Wildcard race could be fun and it is probably easier to say which teams won’t be in the race than list the ones who should be. In the East, the Columbus Blue Jackets look to be in a full rebuild and we expect them to struggle, while the Senators & Red Wings may also find wins hard to come by.

Over in the west both Arizona and Anaheim look like they are planning for a tilt in a couple of years’ time and the Predators, Sharks & new Boys the Seattle Krakens don’t look built to compete. Otherwise, pick any four!

Anyway here is how we see the divisions panning out in 2021…

ATLANTIC DIVISION

1 Toronto Maple Leafs*

2 Tampa Bay Lightning*

3 Boston Bruins*

4 Florida Panthers

5 Montreal Canadiens 

6 Buffalo Sabres

7 Detroit Red Wings

8 Ottawa Senators

METROPOLITAN DIVISION

1 New York Islanders*

2 Washington Capitals*

3 Carolina Hurricanes* 

4 Philadelphia Flyers 

5 Pittsburgh Penguins

6 New York Rangers

7 New Jersey Devils

8 Columbus Blue Jackets 

Eastern Conference Wild Cards –

Philadelphia Flyers

Florida Panthers

CENTRAL DIVISION

1 Colorado Avalanche*

2 Winnipeg Jets*

3 Dallas Stars*

4 St. Louis Blues  

5 Minnesota Wild

6 Chicago Blackhawks

7 Nashville Predators 

8 Arizona Coyotes

PACIFIC DIVISION

1 Vegas Golden Knights*

2 Edmonton Oilers* 

3 Vancouver Canucks* 

4 LA Kings 

5 Calgary Flames

6 Seattle Kraken

7 San Jose Sharks

8 Anaheim Ducks

Western Conference Wild Cards –

St Louis Blues & LA Kings

Stanley Cup Final Prediction

Colorado Avalanche beats New York Islanders

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