When he looked into the abyss and said, "I can't make an argument for Vancouver," it had me dead, lmaoo😂

Proof that the East and West are equally strong: both had a team in the Stanley Cup Finals!

Sometimes, I'm so tired from sleeping, I just have to sleep more.

"I could, but you guys love me, and you know it." He's not wrong. ❤

No need to apologize to us here in columbus. We are just happy that someone acknowledged we exist.

i hope to see some of Buffalo Ottawa Utah and Detroit break the playoff droughts this year.

Flyers missed the playoffs by 1 single point last season, then added Michkov. Most expect a step back this season, but dead last in the East would be crazy.

I just finished the contract video so the upload was just in time

THG, please sign a personal affidavit and have it notarized that NJ will not win the cup 😅 ty. Sincerely, all Devils fans.

The Bruins bring in one of the top two way centers in the league in Lindholm, and get Poitras back from injury to solve their center problem. They also bring in a top defenseman in Zadorov, as well as Lohrei now up for the whole year. They've improved on both offense and defense. They give up Ullmark in goal, but Swayman had moved past him as the number one goalie anyways, resulting in little change in goal. Last year's rookies, Beecher and Brazeau, and this year's rookies Merkulov and Lysell have breakout potential. They've improved and you have them moving down? They should once again challenge for 1st, and will be better set up for the playoffs with increased speed and size, and they won't have $5M in salary sitting on the bench in Ullmark.

Love that Admirals jersey.

If you watched the Panthers vs Wings games last year, you'd know that's an EXTREMELY enticing matchup. Alternatively, if things actually DO work for once for Ottawa, Tkachuk bowl would also be insane. (Never forget the "Everyone on the ice gets a 10 minute misconduct")

Trust the process, my fellow Habs. Trust the process.

I miss having it just be the top 8 in each conference with 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6, and 4 vs 5 with teams being re-seeded after the first round.

For Colorado in first, are you assuming Landeskog and Nichushkin are available? I think they'd be a longshot for first without them!

I remember last year when everyone said the Flyers were going to be dead last as well.

In the east, Tampa is only a 20 game injury to Hedman away from struggling to make the playoffs. They just don't have another guy on the backend who can drive play

Sabres gotta make it this year man. It's getting ridiculous

Can we do a series called “where are Shannon’s cats?”, you can point them out during the segment and give fun tidbits about them 😂

Damn, my Sharks did not move LMAO

Sens wings games will be great this year. I think/hope they end the year battling for the last spot.

My hot take is the Hawks finish ahead of St Louis and have 20 more points than they did last season. Not enough for a wild card spot but a noticeable improvement than last year

Caps have improved a lot, and I think Ovie actually has a better year - they squeak in with just a -20 goal differential this time ;-)

Oh my god, Shannon using a cloth and not his finger. He’s moving up in the world!!

Top tier thumbnail Buffalo vs. Philly in the ECF this year

If Detroit makes the playoffs with that dcore Larkin gets the Hart trophy for sure. Would be great to see some new teams make the playoffs out of the East finally

I cannot imagine Oilers anywhere but the top. Sorry Shannon, they're just too deep.

Red wings being at 9th still burns me up so bad.

After watching pre-season rankings for a few years now, I found that the main failing is being overly attached to the previous season's standings. I think some teams in the East are going to fall a lot more. Maybe a suggestion, split each conference into three tiers (5 teams in top tier, 6 teams fighting for playoffs, 5 teams tanking) and predict if there will be any movement between these three tiers.

Perfect description of a cat right there 🤣

Islander vs kings…..one of them has to win.. damn . Also 9th is probably right for us sadly, we really did get worse this offseason on paper. Masterclass Rob…..

You’re too high on Tampa! Pretty sure they miss the playoffs!!

Put the CBJ at the bottom and work your way up.

My standings purely looking at the line ups as things stand right now: East: Metro: 1) NYR 2) Carolina 3) Pittsburgh 4) NYI 5) NJD 6) Washington 7) Philadelphia 8) Columbus (only the top 3 will make the playoffs, but NYR will take 1st in the conference again); Atlantic: 1) Florida 2) Toronto 3) Boston 4) Detroit 5) Tampa Bay 6) Ottawa 7) Montreal 8) Buffalo (the top 5 will make the playoffs with Tampa getting NYR in the first round and Detroit getting Florida). West: Pacific: 1) Edmonton 2) Vegas 3) Vancouver 4) Los Angeles 5) Seattle 6) San Jose 7) Anaheim 8) Calgary (top 4 make the playoffs and Edmonton will take the President's trophy, but LA will end up being the lower seed wild card); Central: 1) Nashville 2) Dallas 3) Winnipeg 4) Colorado 5) St. Louis 6) Chicago 7) Minnesota 8) Utah (top 4 make the playoffs and Colorado gets the higher seed wild card). Playoffs: First Round: NYR over Tampa Bay; Carolina over Pittsburgh; Detroit over Florida (calling an upset); Toronto over Boston; Edmonton over LA; Vancouver over Vegas; Nashville over Colorado; Winnipeg over Dallas. Division Finals: Carolina over NYR; Detroit over Toronto (calling a Cinderella run); Edmonton over Vancouver; Nashville over Winnipeg. Conference Finals: Carolina over Detroit; Edmonton over Nashville. Stanley Cup Finals: Edmonton over Carolina.

Ottawa has new ownership in place to start the season, a new GM, a new coach, and Staios has cleaned up several messes leftover from Dorion. Plus, he also acquired Ullmark. All advance stats show that if Ottawa had over .900 save percentage last year, they would have made the playoffs. I know, I know, there were issues with the whole team last year (Pinto suspended 41 games for instance), but I really think if they make another move or two to get veteran D-Man and/or forward, I believe that they bill finish 10 ten or better in the East. But that's just my opinion. Can't wait for the season to start!! Love your content Shannon, keep up the great work. How on earth do you put the Capitals in 9th though?! Cheers

I’m excited to see my Canadiens continue to grow and slowly getting more wins the NHL is just better when we are a good team

New Jersey over Carolina

I think Tampa will be fighting it out for a playoff spot at best. Leafs will be good in the regular season with a boost from their new coach, Marner career year (contract year), better D and very good young forwards.

Can't see Tampa being above the leafs this year

Philly could end up higher depending on how good Mitchkov is

For me your pretty close woth the esst and west...tho id have it oiler then dallas then Colorado...it will always come down to injuroes tho

that Admirals jersey is 🔥🔥🔥 love it.

I was really hoping you'd do a end-of-video shuffle and put Buffalo and San José as #1 just for old time sake

I'm going to anger a lot of Habs fans here. They brag about having their 3 guys locked up for under a certain cap hit, but they rest of us realize those are all 2nd line guys. They are still missing 3 top line guys that can get them into the playoffs.

If the Sabres can get their scoring from two years ago back, which i fully believe they will by buying out the defensive blackhole that is Skinner that Tuch and Thompson had to cover for him will allow them to be offensive more, especially with Peterka up there with them, in combination with way better team D from their bottom 6 and Dahlin taking the next step into the Norris convo and UPL going off, like he did since January, the whole year and Sabres could be well above the playoff line IMO

The only one I definitely disagree with is Vegas. They lost 2 top 6 forwards one of which is a consistent 40 goal scorer and Conn Smythe winner AND didn't replace him. I mean I guess you got Hertl? In my opinion though, Stephenson is definitely a better player with a better contract than Hertl. The Hertl trade was bad... on the bright side though Hanifin is great for them. I wouldn't see this roster as being one competing for a cup though or even being higher in the standings even when Stone gets hurt in February. I like Utahs odds being 6th more than I like Vegas being 6th. I just don't see it.

This looks great. Pretty much where I have everyone. Good work.

Colorado first is wild. Cap situation a complete mess, Nuke and Landeskog giant question marks. We will see! I'd have them 5th. Van Dal EDM top 3 imo

cant see tb finishing ahead of boston or toronto with weaker center and dman depth.

and i do love watching you talk yourself in and out of stuff

if Detroit misses I can now blame Shannon

I agree with THG that the Rangers and Florida will be at the top in the East. However, I think he should have stuck with Edmonton and Dallas in the West.

I dont see colorado finishing at the top. As it stands today i would guess 104 points. They finish behind dallas and ahead of nashville. Now is that 2nd, 3rd, or 4th....id guess 4th

if you look at the stanley cups from the past 10 years, it's only 6-4 east vs west, and fewer east teams have actually taken it all, due to 2 separate repeats

As a Sharks fan, it's hard to imagine being dead last again, but its even harder to pick out teams the Sharks might actually leap frog. I think Calgary is the only one they have a shot at.

Devils made the moves they needed to make and no curse from THG; thank you. LGD!

Colorado is the biggest what if, because of Landeskog and Nichushkin.

Capitals could definitely at least hold steady at 8th. Their goalie tandem is very good (probably even underrated) and the defense is solid. If they can get more scoring from somewhere (perhaps PLD does a good job at passing to Ovi) and if they can stay healthy, I could see them being even a bit better than last year. Certainly not contender status or anything like that, but a playoff team. Boston I think is going to fall. No scoring, no depth at forward, too much pressure on Swayman and a pretty good defense, but not game-breakingly good. I don't know if I see them falling out of the playoffs, but I could see it happen. Canes and Tampa are also going to fall down, again maybe not out of the playoffs, but closer to the line at least, so maybe the competition for playoff spots 5-8 in the East is going to be the thriller late in the season. Playoff teams in the West could be the exact same teams, but if I had to bet on one team falling on their face, I would bet on Canucks.

Shannon, as a Panther fan, Im perturbed you picked us to finish first. Im not overly superstitious, but I don’t want the President's Trophy. Im pulling for Calgary to make a run. I got a feeling Hubie is gonna have a bounce back year.

I'm a Panther fan but am surprised that you put them at #1. My thinking is that they have a target on their back and will lose some points because of it. I'm expecting a 98-102 point season (all things being equal with no major injuries). I'm a bit unsure about this because of the slump at the three quarter mark of the season that threw a monkey wrench into the standings. It looked like Florida might win the President's trophy and get closer to 120 points when that slump occurred. On the positive side, the pressure is off and some of the younger players might get a chance to excel. The negative is that they lost their two top offensive defensemen. This will hurt and offense may very well (more like, probably) drop. Bobrovsky is in the latter part of his career and is a year older and the Panthers will be using a largely untested backup. There is also a natural tendency to not give 100 percent during the regular season especially after winning the Cup and you have proven to yourself that your standing in the regular season is of minimal long term importance.

good insight but i garuntee like every other nhl season there will be suprises, and i hope the suprise is the habs proving everyone wrong and making the playoffs

COLORADO let's go!!!!! I wasn't expecting you to put CO 1st

7:05 "I will say, that the Capitals fetish there." You're welcome, everyone.

How im at as a blues fan. I'd have them below utah and Wild. So im glad you're more optimistic than i am THG😂😂

One thing I noticed- on the board, you have the East on the left side, and the West on the right: shouldn’t it be the other way around? East coast is the right side of the continent, west coast is the right? Maybe just my mental OCD, but just a thought 😂. Great vid as always, Shannon! Much love from Eastern Iowa!

As a Kings fan. Thank you for not giving us the Shannon jinx. Kings in the playoffs for sure now. 😂

I was interested to see how the rankings have changed on average in past seasons. In the post-lockout era, on average, teams go up/down by 3.5 spots in the conference rank list compared to the previous season. Some years have way more variation. For example, the 2017-2018 season saw major changes in team ranking compared to the previous season with teams like NYR, OTT, MTL, EDM and CHI taking massive drops in the standings while teams like TBL, NJD, WPG, COL, and NSH jumping up >7 spots each. Your prediction has an average change in position of only 2.2 spots which is well below the average, and likely due to recency bias where you expect teams that did well to do well again and teams that did poorly to do poorly again. There has never been a season in the post-lockout era with as little change in conference ranking as your prediction. So, in reality, I would expect there to be more change in the rankings in the 2024-2025 season than your prediction with more surprises that we didn't see coming. Also, in the post-lockout era, on average, 10 teams swap playoff spots (i.e. 5 make the post-season which missed the post-season the previous year and 5 teams miss the post-season which made the post-season the previous year). Your prediction only has 6 teams swapping spots (NYI, WSH, LAK out and DET, NJD, and SEA getting in). There have only been three other seasons in the post-lockout era where only 6 teams swapped playoff spots. So once, again I would expect a few additional surprises. My crackpot prediction includes some bigger surprises and moves (e.g. OTT jumps six spots and makes playoffs with Ullmark having a career year, WSH and PIT suffer much greater decline with aging stars, VGK regrets trading away some of its misfits and misses the playoffs, BOS misses for the first time in 8 seasons, etc.). Note that my average change in rank is only 2.8, which is still well below the post-lockout average! FLA CAR NYR TOR DET NJD TBL OTT BOS BUF NYI MTL PIT WSH PHI CBJ EDM COL DAL VAN NSH MIN SEA WPG LAK STL VGK UTA ANA CHI CGY SJS

Jets fan here. Liking all the bubble team comments so far out there on power rankings etc. They start much better when everyone thinks they will miss.

Love these videos and the thinking behind all of the picks.

I think the Avs are actually in trouble. Their uncertain cap leaves them literally one injury from disaster at every position. They could really end up struggling.

i honestly believe buffalo will finish 7th, its just gonna click this year for sure lmao

Love the ads jersey. I have the same one

Shadow in the shadow is such a legend

Respect your videos and opinions, thank you for the content and hard work! I'd personally have CBJ pretty clearly at the bottom of the East

Hey, as a Devils fan after the disaster of this year, I’ll sign on for 4th in the East. As always, good job HG!

For hockey fans in the Caribbean, the Hockey Guy is like finding pirate treasure! 🏴‍☠️

I think wings fight like hell into the playoff this year for sure.

You are a brave man to do this at this time of year. There are surprises that we cannot fathom that will happen this coming year. Who really knows, your Devils prediction last year could have been premature.

I'm surprised how high you put Tampa, feels like they've regressed. I also think the caps are gonna fall off a cliff.

Might be a hot take that does not age well, but I bet Buffalo finishes higher than most expect. Since the expectations are lower, there is less pressure. And their biggest issue last year was being too soft and easy to play against. They addressed that in the off-season.

Can you put the magnets directly on the cats, I feel like that would improve the videos quality.

I hope my flyers are the worst in the east

I think Columbus will be last in the East again.

Injuries are one of the variables you can't account for. My example is New Jersey from last year.

As a Sens fan, all I can say is, "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan, I'm going to miss Brady."

I'm no pro athlete, but I'm a month older than Sidney Crosby and I just came off a day-to-day for hurting my IT band on the sidewalk this week... Pittsburgh is done!

I'm biased, sure, but I see the Habs around #10 in the East, barring a severe injury bug.

Colorado is in Cap hell and don't really know what is going on with Nichuskin and Landeskog. They still have game breaking guys but I see them 5th or 6th personally

With so much parity, I’ve given up on predicting the season standings. Outside of the tankers and cup contenders, it’s just too tough to tell who is going to be where

Shannon…thanks for putting the Sabres #1 in the thumbnail, it means a lot.

Toronto under Tampa is wild

Wings fan and I rlly don’t know what to expect this season. Just happy Kaner chose to stay here for another season.

I think the Wings make the playoffs as wildcard 2 and lose 1st round in 5

Shannon did not like putting the Isles outside the playoffs because he knows what they’re the biggest wildcard in the league

I think you should redo this list right before the pre season just to give it the final pre predictions

Anytime Shannon makes an all NHL team video, he should just skip vancouver

if anyone's curious, 2 teams in the west dropped out from 2023 to 2024, Seattle and Minnesota. In the East, the Devils were the only ones that dropped out.

All I know going off previous trends, Dallas will have 15+ OTL’s this year 🎉

“Recency bias is always going to be an issue” 😬 The only team in the east that didn’t exemplify the above here is New Jersey. Haha

After this video, what I learned is that you need a decent board eraser.