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How Wrong Were My 2024-25 Season Predictions?
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Every season, I try to predict the upcoming NHL season, and after the season wraps up, I take a trip down memory lane and check just how wrong I was.

Individual Award & Player Predictions

Last season, I was 3/17 for individual award & player predictions. This season… I was 0/17; it was not a great performance, maybe 2025-26 will be a little nicer to me in the predictions gauntlet.

Hart Memorial Trophy

I’ve been at these predictions for two seasons now. I chose Connor McDavid to win the Hart Memorial Trophy, but he did not win it in either of those seasons. Unlike the 2023-24 season, McDavid wasn’t even a finalist for this year’s Hart trophy.

The finalists were Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers, Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Connor Hellebuyck took home a lot of hardware in the 2024-25 season as he became the first goaltender since Carey Price to win the Hart and Vezina Trophies in the same season. Hellebuyck’s season is one of the most impressive in the modern era, having posted a .925 save percentage (SV%) and a goals-against average (GAA) of 2.00 in 63 games this season.

The two runners-up were tough competition. Draisaitl posted 106 points (52G, 54A) in 71 games this past season and dominated in the postseason. Kucherov went on a tear in the regular season again, posting 121 points (37G, 84A) in 78 games. There was a realistic thought that Kucherov could’ve had the Hart locked down.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

I tried to step outside of the box with this one, but stayed in realistic contention. Elias Pettersson of the Vancouver Canucks was my pick to win the 2025 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the player who exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct.

Los Angeles Kings Anze Kopitar won the award for the third time in his career and second in the past three seasons. His 67 points (21G, 46A) in 81 games were complemented by his four PIMs, making him a lock for this award.

Vezina Trophy

I was very divided on the Vezina Trophy for the 2024-25 season. I looked at Igor Shesterkin’s contract situation and thought he’d be trying to perform big for his contract negotiations. Contract negotiations got settled midseason with Shesterkin, and he seemingly fell out of the picture.

The finalists for the Vezina Trophy were Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, Darcy Kuemper of the Los Angeles Kings, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Hellebuyck was the odds-on favourite to win the award with a 47-12-3 record in 63 games, but Vasilevskiy and Kuemper were strong contenders to potentially knock the reigning Vezina winner off.

Hellebuyck ultimately took home his third career Vezina and his first Hart Memorial Trophy and nearly posted the rare goaltender quadruple crown (leading in wins, GAA, shutouts, and SV%).

Connor Hellebuyck received 31 of 32 possible first-place votes for the second consecutive year. Hellebuyck is the odds-on favourite at the time of writing to win his third consecutive Vezina award.

Calder Memorial Trophy

I didn’t think Lane Hutson was going to adjust to the NHL as well as he did in the 2024-25 season. My prediction, Matvei Michkov, finished fourth in overall voting and actually looked strong in his rookie campaign, but Huston’s stat line was just too impressive to pass up.

Connor Bedard was a lock, and I had some flak thrown at me for not picking Macklin Celebrini, but there were far too many good players to pass up.

Lane Hutson’s 2024-25 season was impressive at eye level, but having 66 points (6G, 60A) in 82 games in his rookie campaign made things more impressive. He became the first Montreal Canadiens player since Ken Dryden (1972) to win the award and tied Larry Murphy for most assists (60) by a rookie defenseman.

Art Ross Trophy

Another Connor McDavid prediction, another tally in the wrong category. Are you having fun yet?

Nikita Kucherov took home his second consecutive Art Ross Trophy as the player who scored the most points at the end of the regular season. Since the 2017 season, only two teams and three players have had their names on the award, something that showcases the award’s long history.

Kucherov posted 121 points (37G, 84A) in 78 games this season, down 23 points from the 2023-24 season, but league-leading this time around. I thought Kucherov would be a finalist, but not the winner, as McDavid was just a strong contender to hunt many trophies this season.

James Norris Memorial Trophy

I almost want to hang my head in shame at this point, but this is one of my better predictions, as I thought Noah Dobson was due to really shine this season, until he didn’t.

Cale Maker took home the Norris Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL, and as I’ve said on the Inside The Rink Podcast and in previous prediction pieces, they must create an offensive defenseman aware,d splitting the offensive and defensive sides of defenseman.

Maker posted 92 points (30G, 62A) in 80 games this past season and was a massive contributor to the Avalanche’s on-ice success. He’ll be looking to repeat in the 2025-26 season with another strong performance.

Ted Lindsay Award

Nikita Kucherov was a strong candidate to take home many trophies, and once he locked up the Ted Lindsay and Art Ross, many thought he’d take home the Hart Trophy.

Kucherov posted his third consecutive 80-assist season and led the league in points-per-game (1.55), primary assists (56), power-play points (46), and power-play assists (38), while also finishing third in even-strength points (75).

Kucherov winning the Ted Lindsay was a no-brainer considering his on-ice contributions with the Tampa Bay Lightning. It makes you wonder if he’s due to repeat in the 2025-26 season.

Jack Adams Award

Dean Evason did great work with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and he was snubbed for yet another Jack Adams vote. However, there were some great candidates in front of him in Scott Arniel of the Winnipeg Jets, Spencer Carberry of the Washington Capitals, and Martin St. Louis of the Montreal Canadiens.

Carberry improved team performance and dramatically turned the outlook of the team around. Given the main focus of the Capitals’ 2024-25 season was Ovechkin’s pursuit of the goal-scoring record, their 51-22-9 record and second place in the NHL standings in the 2024-25 season were impressive.

Given Carberry’s strong coaching record in the ECHL, AHL and now the NHL, this likely won’t be his last Jack Adams award.

Frank J. Selke Trophy

It felt as if there were many repeat winners in the 2024-25 season for awards. Aleksander Barkov was no exception to this, as he won the Frank J. Selke Trophy for a second consecutive season.

Barkov’s been a finalist in four of the past five seasons while capturing the award for the third time in his career. He joins Patrice Bergeron, Pavel Datsyuk, and Rod Brind’Amour as back-to-back winners since 2000.

Barkov, like others on this list, is a strong candidate to repeat (or threepeat) for the award they have won this past season.

William M. Jennings Trophy

Yet another prediction spoiled by Connor Hellebuyck; however, I did think Nashville was going to be far better than they were in the 2024-25 season.

Joust Saros being my pick wasn’t outlandish. He’s a strong goaltender, but Hellebuyck stomped the entire goaltending standard and created his own in 2024-25.

The Jets having the best team in 2024-25 was no surprise either, Hellebuyck’s repeat of the Jennings was next to nothing for a surprise considering everything that happened in the past season.

Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy

David Pastrnak hasn’t won this award since 2020, and I’m unsure why I chose him to win it in 2025. He did not win the 2025 award as Leon Draisaitl took it home with 52 goals in 2024-25.

This was arguably the most exciting race since Connor McDavid and David Pastrnak both hit the 60-goal mark. A close runner-up was the season when Auston Matthews scored 69 goals with Sam Reinhart scoring 57, Zach Hyman scoring 54, and Nathan McKinnon scoring 51.

There’s a strong chance that Pastrnak could elevate his game and solidify himself as a true goal scorer for the Bruins. Boston needs that out of Pastrnak right now, and statistically speaking, Pastrnak could use the elevation in his game.

Mark Messier Leadership Award

I thought Brady Tkachuk was going to be a strong choice for this award, but Alexander Ovechkin took the award with flying colours, given the season he had.

The Mark Messier Leadership Award is one of the hardest awards to predict, considering it feels like the selections are almost at random.

Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award

I may almost predict Jim Nill to win the GM of the Year Award for a fourth year in a row, given that he seems like a lock to get the award.

I truly thought the Nashville Predators were going to be far better than they were. They had the veteran group to help carry their young guys. The offseason wasn’t as explosive for Trotz, and realistically speaking, he likely won’t find himself in the running for the award in 2025-26.

Team Award & Standings Predictions

I almost had some better predictions on this side. I went 1/4 in team awards, which is an improvement from last season’s 0/4.

The Oilers did not win the Stanley Cup, but managed to be the runner-up for a second straight year. The New York Rangers did not win the Prince of Wales Trophy to go to the Stanley Cup Final, and they didn’t even make the playoffs.

Finally, the Presidents’ Trophy, the Florida Panthers did not win this award this season, as the Winnipeg Jets were in a race with the Washington Capitals for a large majority of the season for this award.

In the Atlantic, I went 3/5 in my prediction that there would be five teams making the playoffs. If you look at numbers like I do, I technically predicted worse based on percentages, considering I went 3/4 last year. The Metropolitan division wasn’t as nice to me. I went 1/3 correctly predicting who was and who wasn’t going to make the playoffs.

In the Central, I went 3/4 in my prediction, which is down from last season’s 4/4 and correct order. I also did not have five teams making playoffs out of the Central Division, so am I technically 3/5? You can be the judge on that one. Finally, the Pacific Division, 2/4, correctly predicted to make the playoffs. Like the Central Division, am I technically 2/3?

I didn’t see Vancouver having such a tumultuous season, given they had a strong 2023-24 season. With core pieces being locked up and drama not in their view, 2024-25 should be significantly different for the Canucks. Seattle was battling injuries all season and couldn’t gain any momentum, and when they did, it was short-lived.

My 2024-25 season predictions were interesting, and the 2025-26 season predictions will be just as interesting.

This article first appeared on Inside The Rink and was syndicated with permission.

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