Dear Abbey: The Hottest Hot Takes Entering the 2021-22 NHL Season

Welcome to another edition of Dear Abbey, in which I don't give life advice like the real Dear Abby, but I do talk about hockey.

We're in the dog days of the offseason, but they are rapidly coming to an end as players report to their team training facilities, and rookie camps and tournaments get underway. Guys are back on the ice in anticipation of the 2021-22 NHL season. 

The NHL is hoping to make it through an entire season without rescheduling too many games and mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Thursday morning at the NHL media tour in Chicago, deputy commissioner Bill Daly told reporters he expects to start the season with 15 or fewer unvaccinated players and a 98 percent vaccination rate. It's a remarkable feat and one that brings optimism for a sense of normalcy. The return to the old divisional format also feels normal. 

With the season around the corner, we asked members of the B/R hockey community for their predictions for the 2021-22 season. We wanted some fiery hot takes. I picked a few popular ones and a few I found interesting to highlight below.

My apologies to those predicting a three-peat for the Tampa Bay Lightning. It's not that hot of a take when it's entirely possible.    

Here are some of your hottest takes.

The Leafs will win two rounds and make it out of the daunting Atlantic Division. 

(@Kalut)

Auston Matthews will request a trade by the end of the season, and he'll get it.

(@zachhavens)

These two conflicting statements seem to indicate that fans are still scarred from last season…and several others that came before it. The Toronto Maple Leafs have not won a playoff series since 2004. There was so much anger and frustration after the Leafs blew a 3-1 series lead to the Montreal Canadiens last season we could feel it down here in the States. 

Is Matthews just as angry as fans? Is he angry enough to want a trade? Is he angry enough to want his longtime linemate, Mitchell Marner, traded? 

Probably not. Speaking at the NHL Media Tour at Toronto's Hotel X on Thursday, Matthews and Marner said they believe in the team in its current state. 

"I think every team's got to go through it," Matthews told Joshua Kloke of The Athletic. "The best teams, it's almost like they just set aside personal pride. You set it aside, and it's all about whatever it takes. And that's not to say that we don't have that—I just think that if we want to get to like the best version of ourselves and the best version of this team, that's a part of it."

Stranger things have happened, but Matthews' salary-cap hit of $11.6 million in each of the next three seasons would be a lot for any team to take on unless Toronto retains salary. His hometown Arizona Coyotes have enough space, but they're in the midst of a rebuild, and I don't see them trying to grab one of the best players in hockey at this stage.

The New Jersey Devils have more than enough cap space, but they probably don't have the prospect capital to make it work, unless they are willing to part with a Hughes brother or two. I don't see that happening, considering the Devils value center Jack and his younger brother, Michigan defenseman Luke, highly. The hope is that Jack turns into a top center like Matthews. 

All signs point to this being the year the Leafs finally get out of the first round. It won't be easy in the Atlantic Division, and a lot of things will have to go right. The blue-line group isn't the strongest in the division, so Toronto will be relying on players like Rasmus Sandin to take big steps. Goalie Jack Campbell will have to play like he did last year, when he recorded a .921 save percentage. 

The Leafs may not lift the Cup, though it's certainly possible, but this should be the year they finally lift that curse.

The Avalanche will exit the playoffs after the first round again. Joe Sakic will determine that there is a true need to be able to shut down a team defensively to win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Having the goal to score seven or more to win against opponents doesn't always pan out. MacKinnon's stats this year will look like he's out for blood, as long as Mikko (Rantanen) and Gabe (Landeskog) can stay healthy. 

(@zachhavens)

Cale Makar wins the Norris and Hart Trophies this year while MacKinnon wins the Conn Smythe en route to a Stanley Cup win for the Avs.

(@IcetomeetYou37)

More conflicted, scarred fans. I don't blame any of you. It's not easy watching teams dominate in the regular season only to bow out early in the postseason. 

Only two players have ever won both the Hart and Norris Trophies in the same season, Bobby Orr (1969–70, 1970–71 and 1971–72) and Chris Pronger (1999-2000). Should he stay healthy, Makar will more than likely be in contention for the Norris Trophy, and he is capable of playing an MVP role. The problem is that the Hart Trophy competition favors game-breaking forwards like Connor McDavid and Makar's own teammate, Nathan MacKinnon.

But it's definitely a spicy take, and that's what we like to see. 

As for the first-round exit prediction, the Colorado Avalanche are a dominant defensive team, which is what makes them so scary. Makar and his defense partner, Devon Toews, might not be a typical "shutdown" pair, but they defend well in their own end and defend by getting the puck out of the zone, moving it up the ice and making plays. 

In today's NHL the best defense is an offense, and the Avs have the defensemen and the top-six forwards to be able to play most of the game in the offensive zone. 

MacKinnon sounds pretty motivated, based on the comments he made after Colorado lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the second round of the playoffs.

Corey Perry will go 3-for-3 and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to the first runner-up for the Stanley Cup. 

(@zachhavens)

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. 

Perry already has his Stanley Cup, having been a part of the 2007 Anaheim Ducks title team, so his legacy is sealed. But he's still hungry. 

The Ducks of 2013 to '17 failed to advance to the Cup Final, despite making it to the Western Conference Final twice and being one of the more dominant teams in that timespan. The veteran winger was on the wrong side of the Cup Final with the Dallas Stars in 2020 and the Canadiens in 2021, so he signed a two-year deal with the team that beat those Stars and Habs squads to chase greatness. 

This Lightning team is significantly different from the ones that won the last two Stanley Cups. The salary-cap issues finally caught up with the team, and several key role players are gone. The entire third line of Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde and Barclay Goodrow will play elsewhere this season. Homegrown forward Tyler Johnson will try to chase a title with the Chicago Blackhawks. 

But the core of those teams is still in place, so Tampa Bay is poised for another deep run. A dynasty isn't out of the realm of possibility. 

The 36-year-old Perry, one of the league's most notorious pests, showed that he's still a good depth piece when it matters, scoring five goals in the 2020 playoffs and four in 2021. The Lightning will need the secondary scoring with the aforementioned players gone, though they have some emerging players up front like Mathieu Joseph and Ross Colton, who scored the Cup-clinching goal in Game 5. 

Hopefully, "Scorey" Perry has enough of that scoring prowess left in the tank to avoid a third straight Stanley Cup loss.

Kotkaniemi will be one of the highest-scoring second-line forwards in the Eastern Conference with the Canes.

(@Rabonjk) 

If you haven't been following along, let me catch you up: The Carolina Hurricanes enacted some revenge on the Canadiens for general manager Marc Bergevin's decision to tender an offer sheet to restricted free-agent forward Sebastian Aho two years ago. Ultimately, the 'Canes matched the offer in 2019, but the Habs declined to do the same when Carolina signed RFA center Jesperi Kotkaniemi with a massive $6.1 million offer sheet earlier this month (and a $20 signing bonus to further twist the knife, since 20 is the number Aho wears). 

It was an exceptionally petty move by Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon and general manager Don Waddell. Kotkaniemi was not worth $6 million, and it put the Habs in a huge bind. The 'Canes social media team trolled the Canadiens by tweeting the transaction in French, and Waddell issued a statement that was nearly identical to Bergevin's words two years ago. 

It was also highly entertaining. 

As a result, Kotkaniemi went to Carolina and the Habs received their first-round draft pick in 2022 and one of their third-round picks. Montreal promptly traded for center Christian Dvorak to replace him. The Hurricanes are now the ones in a bind with the cap and a player that has not lived up to the expectations placed on him since being drafted third overall in 2018. The 'Canes are now over the salary cap and will need to utilize long-term injured reserve or dump salary.

They will also need to maximize the production of Kotkaniemi in order to get their money's worth and not come out on the losing end of this deal. In order to do that, they should play him on the wing. 

Center is an exceptionally tough position for emerging prospects, and playing on the wing takes away some of their responsibilities. Moving a young center to the wing means they don't have to worry about taking faceoffs, they don't have to worry about neutralizing Selke candidates on a nightly basis and they can develop their off-puck skills without the same pressures that come along with playing in the middle. 

The highest-scoring second-line forward in the Eastern Conference is a very bold prediction, but we might see more scoring from Kotkaniemi if he plays on the wing.

The Red Wings will push for the fourth playoff spot late in the year.

(@zackford)

The Detroit Red Wings will make the playoffs.

(@BT65)

The Red Wings are expected to take a big step in their rebuild next season, but I'm not sure they're going to take that big of a step. 

There are still questions as to whether or not 25-year-old goalie Alex Nedeljkovic, a Calder Trophy finalist in 2021, can maintain a .932 save percentage over the course of a full NHL season. There is good leadership with Dylan Larkin, Nick Leddy and Marc Staal, Jakub Vrana will give them some scoring and there are some good prospects who will see a lot of ice time this year, like Pius Suter and Filip Zadina. 

But unless significant additions are made, especially on the blue line, this is not a playoff team. And that's fine because they aren't supposed to be one right now. The veterans will show the prospects what it's like to be pros, and there will be some continuity with coach Jeff Blashill. 

In 2018, the Devils made the playoffs and were promptly bounced in five games by the Lightning. It was still an exciting season, and it appeared as though the team had made significant progress in its rebuild. Fans also wanted to see that progress in 2018-19, especially after Taylor Hall won the Hart Trophy. 

But the sky-high expectations were unrealistic. The Devils, then led by general manager Ray Shero, opted not to sign any pricey free agents and the trade market was practically frozen over that summer. Shero was probably right to not sign anyone. It was a bad free-agent class, and a bad long-term contract on a player over 30 would not have been a good move for a rebuilding team. Ultimately, that playoff appearance might have set the Devils back in the rebuilding efforts.

The following year, Hall got hurt, the team was bad and the fans were mad. They still are, but at least the Devils got a top first-round pick out of the 2018-19 season. Detroit could end up with a lottery pick in a stacked 2022 draft if the club stays the course this season. 

Pushing for a fourth spot and playing in competitive games next spring is a definite possibility. Plus, it would benefit a young team, possibly even more than a four- or five-game playoff exit. However, rebuilds take time. The Red Wings might be better off than the Buffalo Sabres and the Ottawa Senators, but are they better than the Florida Panthers? Probably not.

Could they end up with a player like Shane Wright next season? Yes. In the long run, he might be worth more than one playoff appearance. 

Washington or Pittsburgh won't make the playoffs this year

(@beewild)

Death, taxes and a Pens-Caps playoff round, right? At least, that's how it feels every spring. But how much longer will these two Metropolitan Division rivals be Eastern Conference powers? 

As long as the Capitals have Ovechkin playing at a high level and the Penguins have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the two teams will try to compete for Stanley Cups. They aren't just trying to make the playoffs, they are trying to get to the last round and win to add to the legacies of the generational stars. 

The Caps extended Ovechkin through the 2025-26 season. His linemate and Russian countrymate, Evgeny Kuznetsov, is signed through 2024-25, as are Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie. Defenseman John Carlson is signed through 2025-26, like Ovechkin. With that core in place, Washington isn't about to back down any time soon. 

The Penguins are in a strange spot right now. Malkin's contract is up after this season, and Crosby is unsure of when he will return after wrist surgery. Goalie Tristan Jarry does not appear to be the franchise goalie the club thought he would be when they parted ways with Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray. Coach Mike Sullivan was not hired by the current regime of team president Brian Burke and general manager Ron Hextall. 

There are a lot of questions and maybe even some instability in Pittsburgh, so if you ask me, the Pens are in more danger of missing the playoffs than the Caps. 

The New York Islanders are a top team in the Eastern Conference. The Devils might be able to push for a playoff spot, the New York Rangers will push for one as well, and no one really knows what to expect from the Philadelphia Flyers.

We could be watching the end of the Penguins as we've come to know them.

Sabres will lose most games, not win the lottery and hire a beach volleyball coach to replace Don Granato.

(@tphixson)

OK, I know this is a ridiculous take, but I always like to throw in a fun one, and the thought of a beach volleyball coach in frigid Buffalo made me laugh. Plus, I've been watching Season 2 of Ted Lasso, the show about an American college football coach trying his hand at coaching an English soccer club, and I'd be willing to bet tphixson has as well. 

Misty May-Treanor would be a heck of a hire. The 44-year-old has won at every level she has ever played at, winning an NCAA championship at Long Beach State in indoor volleyball and three straight Olympic gold medals in beach volleyball with partner Kerri Walsh Jennings. There hasn't been a whole lot of winning in Buffalo in recent years, so someone with a winning pedigree wouldn't be a bad idea. 

May-Treanor would be the first woman to be a head coach in the NHL, so she would make history in more ways than one. She could even bring her husband, former major league catcher Matt Treanor, to work with the goalies. She could charm the entire city of Buffalo, much the same way Ted Lasso did in the English neighborhood of Richmond. 

The coaching experience is similar to that of Lasso as well. May-Treanor coached sand volleyball at her alma mater in Long Beach before coaching at USC. She's had great success as the director of volleyball at Long Beach City College with the indoor and sand programs, not unlike the fictional Lasso's success as a football coach at Wichita State. 

Am I biased by mentioning a fellow Long Beach State alum? Maybe. Is she the only beach volleyball coach I know? Also, maybe. But she fits the bill of an unconventional, cross-sport, Ted Lasso type of hire.

Her first order of business: Inspiring star center Jack Eichel to be a goldfish and forget about the bad blood that currently exists between him and the Sabres.