NHL 2015-16: 20 bold predictions for this season (Puck Daddy Power Rankings)

Power rankings are usually three things: Bad, wrong, and boring. For this reason, we're doing a power ranking of things that are usually not teams. You'll see what I mean.

20. By way of introduction

I forgot to do these for Monday so here they are today in lieu of the normal Power Rankings. These are just predictions and I'm pretty sure if you disagree with me that's only because I hate your team and you personally, right? Right.

19. Shane Doan gets traded at the deadline, but it doesn't matter

The Coyotes will be a tire fire (though at least they sent down Dylan Strome, because why not?) and it'll finally lead to the trade of lifer Shane Doan, as he pursues a Cup in what should be his final NHL season. However, Doan will be 39 by then, so the odds that he's even a remotely meaningful contributor to whoever picks him up — on the cheap, I might add — are basically nil.

18. Calgary improves on the ice, but drops in the standings

There's no question that the Flames are a much, much better team than they were last year. And that starts to make up for the awful possession they had last year. But here's the thing: They had really high shooting percentages in high-leverage situations (overtime, with their goalie pulled, etc.) which are going to hit their season point total a lot harder than an evening-out of percentages to the norm would have if they just shot better than their talent at 5-on-5 alone. It could cost them as much as 10 points in the standings.

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17. The Pacific continues to be the only division since realignment to only send three teams to the playoffs

Wow is this division bad. Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose (yeah, I know) all make it. Vancouver is the first team out.

16. Colorado is still terrible

While they claim to have addressed their issues, it will quickly become apparent that signing 35-plus players and overpaying Carl Soderberg doesn't paper over this team's very obvious issues. But at least Nathan MacKinnon will return to form and be a dominant forward once again.

15. Nashville's top line isn't nearly as potent

Odds that Mike Ribeiro (now 103 years old), James Neal, and Filip Forsberg shoot almost 10 percent again next season seem real, real low, don't they?

14. No one scores more in 3-on-3 overtime than Dallas

Say what you want about the Stars' defense (it's only okay!) but it won't matter with a top unit of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Valeri Nichushkin. Lots and lots of pucks ending up in the back of opponents' nets in OT will be a big reason the Stars win the Central.

13. Scoring is way up

Oh yeah, and remember last year how the guy that led the league in scoring only had 87 points? That number will be a lot higher this time around because 3-on-3 OT gives out a lot more goals to high-quality players in particular. Good news for Art Ross winner Sidney Crosby, et al.

12. Connor Hellebuyck will be getting regular time in the NHL by the end of the season

Turns out you can't count on Ondrej Pavelec being a .920 goalie every year. Weird how that works.

11. Dustin Byfuglien ends the season on an actual contender

And while we're talking about the Jets, we all understand it's a fait accompli that they're choosing Andrew Ladd over Dustin Byfuglien, right? One wonders what the return will be, of course, but there's basically no way they don't trade him, because they're just not going to be good enough to make the playoffs anyway.

10. Jack Eichel finishes within five points of Connor McDavid

McDavid is amazing and all that, and there's plenty of talent around him, but let's not act like Buffalo's top six doesn't look real good too.

Both these guys, by the way, will be top-eight in league scoring.

9. Tuukka Rask leads the Bruins to the playoffs, wins the Vezina, is still underrated in Boston

For some reason, Tuukka Rask, one of the three best goalies in the world, is very polarizing in Boston. Some see him as a great player the Bruins are lucky to have (because he is and they're right) while others believe he is a bad loser who cost them the Cup in 2013 (because they are idiots).

People think he had a “down year” last season because he “only” went .922 instead of his career average .926, so he'll climb back into that area again and win a Vezina, but still be a bad loser because the Bruins lose in the second round.

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8. The Canadiens realize Michel Therrien is bad

Just so happens that saying, “Let's count on Carey Price to stop a billion shots a night,” isn't a good long-term strategy. Not that Price will be bad or anything like that, but the Habs won't be good. Au revoir, Michel.

7. Rick Nash still scores a bunch of goals, but can't to make people happy

Will he break 40? Nah, probably not. Will he break 35? You bet he will. He's Rick Nash. Will that be enough to make his critics think he's any good? Take a guess. The Rangers might just eat salary to move him next summer.

6. Raffi Torres has his 41-game suspension reduced

And then he gets suspended again soon thereafter. For life.

5. Torey Krug becomes a capable two-way defenseman, Justin Schultz does not

The Bruins are going to ask a ton of Torey Krug this year because he's the only defenseman they have who's under 6-foot-9 who has proven he can contribute in a positive way to the team's fortunes at the NHL level. As a result, he'll get tougher minutes and do just fine with them.

Meanwhile, even as Edmonton improved on the blue line, they're still a little thin so Todd McLellan presses Justin Schultz into similar service. It won't go nearly as well.

4. Erik Karlsson wins another Norris

Back-to-back for Karlsson, the first defenseman to do so since Nicklas Lidstrom won it three times in a row from 2005 to 2008 (and also from 2000 to 2003. Good lord!). Doesn't help the Senators make the playoffs or anything, but it's clear that he is just the best and that's the end of it.

3. Steven Stamkos gets very paid

The inevitable decline of the Triplets' production (shooting 11.6 percent together at full strength sure helps point totals!) will only serve to underscore that Stamkos, no matter where he plays on the ice, is extraordinarily valuable. As such, Steve Yzerman has no choice but to re-sign him and force himself into an unenviable, Chicago-like sell-off of good players after the team “only” makes the Eastern Conference Final.

Cap hell is the apparent price of success in the NHL these days, is it not?

2. Trophies galore for Anaheim, but not you-know-what

Do you want the Alex Ovechkin or Bruce Boudreau redemption story? Because that's what you're getting. Long gone are the days of Anaheim being a percentage-driven, poor-possession team. Boudreau has seen to that. The Ducks are deep and scary at this point, and the only weak part of the lineup (right now) is in goal, which is a big reason why they claim the Presidents' Trophy, Ryan Getzlaf wins the Hart, and Boudreau gets the Jack Adams.

So at some point John Gibson usurps Frederik Andersen, but the Ducks lose the Cup against Boudreau's old team in Washington.

1. Phil Kessel finishes one goal up on Alex Ovechkin to win the Rocket Richard

Speaking of, in a down year for the greatest goalscorer in modern hockey, Alex Ovechkin — ahem — “only” serves up 51 goals as the Caps rampage through the East. Phil Kessel, benefiting from playing with either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin (or both) every damn night scores 52.

Oh, and no one else breaks 45.

(Not ranked this week: The Columbus Blue Jackets are bad.

They're everyone's darling pick to make the playoffs this year, because they certainly improved. But did they improve enough that Nick Foligno can replicate what he did last season? What about Scott Hartnell? We still need to find out if Ryan Murray is any good, because we know the rest of the defense isn't. We just don't know the answers to these questions, and Columbus will miss the playoffs.)

Ryan Lambert is a Puck Daddy columnist. His email is here and his Twitter is here.

(All statistics via War On Ice unless otherwise noted.)

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