The Resurgence of Jonathan Quick has to be one.

For me it was the way Edmonton started the season neck and neck with the sharks

I think the biggest surprise was Edmonton's start to the season... If they were playing as well as they are now at the beginning, they'd probably be top of the division.

The success of the Canucks and the failure of the Devils, no question

Dubois doesn't want to play anywhere lol

Vancouver is the biggest surprise. I NEVER would have guessed they'd be in the position they are in now. Oilers pulling out of their early nose dive with that huge winning streak was probably second.

Yea even us flyers fans didn’t expect this. To be honest even if they miss the playoffs I’m still very satisfied with where the team is heading now. It felt like Fletcher ripped the soul out of the team and it feels like it’s back now.

If the flyers make the playoffs ...Torts should win the Jack Adams

My biggest two surprises are Nick Suzuki is a point/game player and Vancouver having a 100+ point season

It's a real damn shame, I think if the Wings hadn't had that truly awful losing streak recently they might have deserved to be on a list like this.

The biggest surprise is how well the Canuckleheads have done. They will most likely finish the reg season with 110 points.

Vancouver #1 easily, this team was a meme last year and I am very happy for them and their fans

The tight race for the Art Ross has been a surprise for me.

I would say a surprise is how well Quick is playing. Teams gave up on him; people were saying he should just retire and here he is, America's best goalie! With that said, he's helped to make Lav's Rangers #1!

Detroit finishing ahead of the Sabers and Sens. At the start of the season EVERYONE had the Wings at seventh in the Atlantic, and no one had them competing for Playoffs. I’m biased because I’m a Wings fan, but all the talk was about how Detroit’s rebuild was soooooo far behind Buffalo and Ottawa’s.

When Francis got rid of the entire fourth line (Donato-Geekie-Sprong) and saw the replacements, I kind of figured SEA’s scoring would go down. But I didn’t expect it to fall that hard…

The Sabres have been strange with overall improvements to defense (Clifton was the main reason for the increase in hits) and goaltending (Luukkonen got better, and Levi was not bad for a rookie but needed more development), but also regressing with the scoring. They would be in the playoffs if Thompson/Tuch/Skinner line was as productive as last year, and if Jack Quinn wasn't hurt for much of the season. They also went from being streaky to completely lacking it with a lot of W-L-W-L-W-L etc. most of the season. Benson likely has a bright future, despite not a lot of points, as he really knows how to position himself on the ice and is not afraid to go to dangerous areas despite his small size.

Lots of people could have reasonably predicted the Devils would fall off from last year's torrid pace or the Flyers would overachieve, but NOBODY in their right mind could have predicted the Canucks who were a laughing stock last season challenging for the President's Trophy in mid-April . That is by far the biggest surprise of this NHL season and Shannon would have said so if he wasn't afraid of being tagged as a homer.

Every Canucks fan before the season started thought we were going to play for a wild card spot.

I like the number color scheme 🤭

Considering the start Edmonton had to the season, the turnaround throughout the year - including a 16 game winning streak - was unexpected to say the least. Sure they were and are picked to be a contender this year, but when you wrap up a month in with a record that's second from the bottom, to a top ten for points in the league, it's certainly impressive.

Nice List. I'm looking at my Prediction list from the start of the season. I had New jersey as the third best team overall and my dark horse candidate to win the cup. I thought the goaltending was good enough and they might either add someone or Akira Schmid would provide goaltending improvement from within. I was still seeing Luke Hughes as a question mark. Yikes. I thought Nemec was beating at the door and Toffoli and Meier would be an upgrade from sharangovich, severson, wood and Tatar. I had Vegas being fourth best in my post Stanley Cup haze. I felt their goaltending was adequate and the defense great. I thought they were lucky to have everything running as well as it did come playoff time last year. I didn't expect all the injuries again. they are still 11th in winning percentage so I guess a little worse than I thought. Vancouver I had slotted at 22nd because I didn't believe thatcher demko was coming back. I didnt think they would lead the league in scoring percentage. I also felt their defense wasn't going to be up to it. Wrong! Wrong! wrong! I had the rangers 14th not first overall. I had boston falling more and their defense playing better. And I had Buffalo adding a good veteran goalie and making the playoffs cause that was such an obvious move and progression. I was shocked. Ovechkin seeming to have completely lost it early on. Washington is terrible. I'm shocked they have won as many games as they have. Oh yeah the kraken. Their defensive play dropped off too. Move grubauer. I had Ottawa just missing the playoffs. Good call on Nashville I had them finishing 23rd down there with Vancouver, though I did think Saros could drag them into the playoffs again. Not what has happened. Oh yeah I had the Flyers at the bottom

Yeah Boston not falling off is just causing us Leafs fans to bang our head against the locker door like "WHY (BANG) WONT (BANG) YOU (BANG) DROP (BANG) OFF???? (BANG 3X)

Didn't Trotz explicit tell that getting rid of Johansen, Duchene and bringing in guys like ROR, Schenn and Nyquist was a "necessity" for a culture change and he wanted the latter three to foster a winning culture. It's also nice to see the guys that got brought up from the Admirals last season and did wonders has contributed this season as some of them has claimed a regular spot and got extensions. It's so fun to see the profiles of Novak, McCarron, Sherwood, Cole Smith and Jankowski succeding. Now it's time for players such as Pärssinen, Tomasino & Glass to take the next step and cement their place and for Evangellista to evolve even further. The revelation of McDonagh this season has been fun to see. Around 20 in cap space in the summer as well, I hope they make smart decisions with that space.

So this one was all team-based surprises, how about individual player surprises? For example, Zach Hyman, Sam Reinhart, Jonathan Quick.

My top 3 1-Canucks in the playoffs 2-Oilers came back from the brink 3-Kraken falling to .500

I thought the Canucks surprisingly bright season would be Shannon's #1. Yup.

Definitely the Canucks not even close.

Gus Nyquist being a 70 point player at his age on a new team. That’s ridiculous. lol

My surprise is Seguin's resurgence with the addition of Duchene. I expected Duchene to be That key piece to the Stars, but I did not expect Seguin to have such a turn around with them two playing on a line together. Amazing line chemistry.

Actually, I'm surprised at the surprise over the Preds. Never underestimate Barry Trotz.

I'm so proud of my Flyers this season. I was expecting a 20th place finish at the very best. No matter what happens from here on out, I'm just glad to see meaningful hockey down the stretch.

As a caps fan we should be higher we have NO business of even competing for a playoff spot with a -35 goal differential

I’d say for me the biggest surprise was seeing Edmonton get off to such a tragic start to the season that many people were talking about them being hopelessly out of the playoffs. Then the equally impressive winning streak. I’m not a big oiler fan,but one must give credit where credit is due.

Not a bot. I just strive to be one of the first comments. Honestly, this season didn’t seem to adhere to a single script for any team. Some of the disappointing parts were teams that do so good at the end of the season, suck again at the beginning of the next season. Poor Sabres.

The canucks really surprised me this season

And is that cool The Hockey Guy jersey gonna be made available?

Has the "save" option been deleted? I like archiving some of these types of videos in my Hockey/Shannon list.

My biggest player surprise is that Crosby will get 40 goals.

Big surprise is the Sabres doing a full 180 degrees, and dropping both their goals for and goals against by over half a goal per game. So while their goal scoring has dropped, they have also dramatically improved goaltending and defending. Their shots against is also quite low.

I'm "proud" I called NJD before the season started. I'm not proud it's basically the only thing I got right lol

One thing I've found really surprising is that there aren't any teams running away at the top of the standings. There seems to be a much lower cap on points than usual, somewhere in the mid 110s. It's also surprising given there are several teams with really bad records (SJS, CHI, CBJ.)

Much love from Ladner

With the first overall pick of the 2024 NHL draft, the Houston Senators are proud to select Macklin Celebrini!

Hey Shannon can you turn up your volume a bit ?

Now we need the sequel of 10 questions/things to watch for in the playoffs

I'm not surprised the sens didn't improve ...I dont see anything on that team that tells me that they are a playoff team from the beginning of the season.

Another recommended list is 5 or 10 players who picked up there game this season. For me it’s lafrenaire!

Flyers fan for life. So excited for the future of this team

What about the 3 man scoring race?

I just now noticed that Shannon is left handed!

wooo top 10 list !

Really expect you to follow 7 'despite Ovie' with a 6 of Pittsburgh outside the playoffs 'despite Crosby' having a stellar season. As for the Bruins, it is impressive to see that Coyle / Zacha have matched to point totals (57,55) that Bergeron / Krecji posted last year (58,56). I can not say that is true on the defensive side but ... still was unexpected.

I didn’t understand so many people picking nj to make a cup run this year. I thought they were a year early last year and got a little lucky. I expected them to be an 8 seed/first one out this year so not far off. Nucks and jets im truly surprised with.

What does the term lottery team mean?

More top 10 lists plz

biggest suprise was the devils, thought they'd be so much better. Canucks not a huge surprise as they have a very decent roster, but thought they'd be second to vegas

Shannon not surprised the Yzerplan is coming to fruition. He gets it

I love the "talk amongst yourselves" thing while doing a video and not a live stream. Classic comedy.

Biggest surprise to me is how Arizona doesn't have a more developed arena plan. I really like expected more from the owners and the NHL at this point in the season.

As a Jets fan, I was ready for a full rebuild to start the off season, 100% expecting that Sheif & Helle were on their way out. I mentally prepared myself knowing that the next 3-5 seasons will be less fun...so EVERYTHING this season has been unexpected, and enjoying it while it lasts.

As a Leaf fan, that's right, for me it's been MCMann and the fortunate good goaltending that has happened.

How are the Rangers going for the presidents trophy not one of them? As a Rangers fan I’m stunned.

Biggest surprise for me was Oiler's struggles early in the season given how seriously the team had been preparing for this season.

Just a thought, I don't really mind waiting for you to write down each point before continuing, but just in case a few people do, maybe some magnets that are just tiny white boards would be useful, since you'd be able to write whatever you want on them and can still pick whatever order you want! Again, I'm not bothered and I love your vids, i just had that thought while you talked about what people could do while they wait for you to write

Up to the Allstar break it was the Canucks. Now, they are playing like the lotto team they actually are. The end of their season is like the start of Edmonton's. And vise versa.

My biggest surprise is Jonathan Drouin fitting perfectly with the Avs

I like your Hockey Guy jersey.

My surprise is that all the teams that made the play off last year were not going to make, some did though.

Boston is doing about as well as I thought they would. At the beginning of the season I said, 'Boston could drop 30 points and still make the playoffs with ease and they are not going to drop 30 points.'

My surprise is that so many experts picked the Devils to continue to shine after their spectacular season last year. They only had the one great year so them falling back does not surprise me. On the other hand the Caps have been a playoff team for all but last year and because of huge key injuries they had a really bad year last year. Suddenly everyone says they are old and basically are finished. They have a solid core with Ovechkin and Carlson and just have to add scoring and they will be a real force in the coming years. There young players will only continue to improve.

The bread man, Panarin, guiding Rangers to the President’s trophy should be mentioned. Now, he needs to produce in the playoffs to break the 30 year drought.

Nashville got better because they finally did what I said needed to be done for years....get rid of Johansen and Duchene. O'Reilly and Nyquist with Forsberg have been absolutely dynamite, though! My biggest surprise is probably the Canucks success plus the wild season in general with regards to teams like LA and the Oilers.

So, how about those Sacramento A’s?

Caps and NSH were big surprises Buffalo not so much, always knew they were a fluke last year

His videos are the best youtube, come on man

The "Great Canadian Tire Fire", rages on, in our the nation's Capital.

Gus Nyquist has been an incredible surprise for me as a preds fan

The oilers digging themselves out of that hole.

My pick would be " Canucks " . Oilers ridiculously bad start is also right up there .

Patty Kane being a point per game player after hip resurfacing surgery and age 35 has to be close... right?

Dougie Hamilton is probably one of the top 5 underrated players in the league.

Flyers for sure nr.1 . The Devils freefall is quite something, but then again, metro is ULTRA competitive with 6 teams being on the second wild card spot.

Devils need to get their game together, the Metro will be much tougher next season.. they cant keep being in the rebuild mode

To me, the Devils and Sabres are mirror images of each other. Buffalo may have an edge in goal.

I'm really surprised with the emergence of Slafkovsky. He's been playing very good of late.

I don't think it's my biggest surprise of the season, but the fact that Patrick Kane signed with the Redwings and then in a shortened season for him, coming off a hip injury, he's still likely to hit 20 goals. That's pretty incredible.

The real killer of the Devils losing Dougie has been on the powerplay. They started off as #1 in the league, he goes down 20 games in, and it’s been a disaster ever since. I can’t tell you how many games NJ has lost/did not get a point because they couldn’t capitalize on power plays and the immediately gave up a late goal.

Ovi slow start, losing kuznetsov and backstrom, oshie always injured, Caps have had a great start to their rebuild

Surprised the Oilers superstars didn't make the cut. Or maybe not.

What's ironic is that Buffalo, themselves, don't seem to know where they're going from here. That's what.500 hockey does for you.

HERTL BEING TRADED TO VEGAS -SHARKS FAN NOT TRYING TO BE DRAMATIC

Samsonov coming back and playing awesome after his horrible start of the season.

as a Rangers fan nothing makes me happier right now then the fall of NJ...with lots of people (including THG) picking them to win the Stanley Cup to having them not even make the playoffs to me makes them this years #1 frauds.

My #1 is how good Philadelphia Flyers are

Hyman with 50

As an oilers fan, Jay Woodcroft being fired.

The kings for me 😊

#1? How quick the season went and you didn't get a chance to hate on all 32 teams!!! J/k THG

The Canucks season