Whom do we like to make the playoffs, win the divisions and go all the way this season?
Nothing stirs up emotion in hockey fans like predictions, particularly when it comes to forecasting the standings, who makes the playoffs and who wins the Stanley Cup. Hope springs eternal before any games are played. No one wants their dreams crushed in October. Surely, in laying out our staff projections for 2023-24, we’ll ruffle some feathers.
At the same time, we should all know by now to expect the unexpected. Five teams who missed the playoffs in 2021-22 made the playoffs in 2022-23. The No. 8 seed in the East upset the winningest regular-season team of all-time and made it to the Stanley Cup Final. At least one of the big swings in the predictions below could thus prove to be right come the spring.
Here are Daily Faceoff’s team predictions for 2023-24, as voted on by Matt Larkin, Frank Seravalli, Steven Ellis, Brock Seguin, Nick Alberga and Jason Gregor. Playoff teams are marked with asterisks.Despite the Atlantic’s reputation as the most competitive in hockey, none of us predicted that five playoff seeds would come from there.