It’s fascinating how the NHL is set up right now. The past three Stanley Cup champions have come from the East, and both Washington and Pittsburgh are capable of winning it again. The Tampa Bay Lightning might be the biggest favorite to win it all right now. There’s not much wrong with that team. The Toronto Maple Leafs are the franchise on the rise you can feel confident saying is going to have a say in a Stanley Cup at some point in the next few years.



But the West? Oh man, it’s going to be an absolute slugfest.



“The separation is so tight it’s going to be so hard to separate yourself,” said one NHL coach. “In the West, you might only need 93 or 94 points to get in but, fuck, everybody is going to have it. Everybody is going to have 93. The 94th gets you in. That’s my prediction.”



It’s what makes projecting the NHL so challenging this season. So to help the cause for this project, one that attempts...