2020-21 Standings Prediction

[Deleted]

Did one last year, seemed like a lot of people enjoyed it. Still extremely early but out of "Covid Boredom" I decided to do a little standings prediction for fun. Should be a pretty heavy Western Conference next season and a pretty weak Eastern Conference, every team is in some way of form in a rebuilding process. Last year I really misjudged Val D'or, Halifax, and Victoriaville and really underestimated Drummondville. See how good or bad I do this year!

WEST

-----------------

Val D'or Foreurs

Blainville-Boisbriand Armada

Rouyn Noranda Huskies

Gatineau Olympiques

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*NOTES: This division was pretty easy to put together. Val D'or is by far the strong horse going into next season but Blainville should have a pretty good year next season especially if Luke Henman comes back and Olivier Adam should be a fairly decent goalie in nets. Huskies continue to age out and Alex Beaucage will be on the move by Christmas. Gatineau begins their rebuild with a future slaughterhouse in the making.



CENTRAL
-----------
Sherbrooke Phoenix
Shawinigan Cataractes
Victoriaville Tigres
Drummondville Voltigeurs
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*NOTES: Very conflicted between Shawinigan and Victoriaville, Shawinigan has the better depth but Victoriaville has the picks to go for a run in the second half if they wanted too. Shawinigan will be contending in 2021-22. Also depends if Mikhail Abramov stays with Vic one more year. Shawinigan will have the better first half and they won't be degrading in the 2nd half.

EAST
--------
Quebec Remparts
Baie Comeau
Rimouski
Chicoutimi
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*NOTES: Now we get weaker, ...very weaker. Quebec snabbed some top NHL prospects at the deadline and should have some okay goaltending, definitely should be able to overpower Baie Comeau who are basically the same team with less depth and a top prospect in Nathan Legare who gets thrown away at the deadline. Also pretty conflicted with Rimouski amd Chicoutimi but I think Rimouski has a tinny bit more depth in the system but Chicoutimi should have 2 great overagers and Alexis Shank in the pipes so it's a tough call.

MARITIMES
-----------------------
Saint John Sea Dogs
Charlottetown
Halifax
Cape Breton
Bathurst
Moncton
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*NOTES: Crazy too think that two of these eastern teams will make the semi finals next season. Saint John will most likely be one but who knows who that other spot could be. The Dogs still got a young roster with crazy good talent that'll have extremely good chemistry all year. There defence will be one of if not the best in the league and will shutdown teams all season with veteran goaltender Pagliarulo and up and coming Patenaude in nets. The addition of MacDonald and Reynolds basically makes this team a potential 3 year contender starting with this season. They also get to add a new import player in June. Charlottetown is the next team in the eastern mix potentially going to the semis, them and Quebec should have a good little rivalry after that game 7 playoff matchup in 2018. Colten Ellis, Cormier, and their two other veterans in Casey and Desruisseaux lead a young pack far this season. They may decide if they want to add some more elite players to the mix by Christmas time who knows? Halifax will still have a pretty bad season even in the rank their in. With the additions of L'Heureaux, Desnoyers, with guys like Peeters, Barron, and a new 5th overall import on the way and a veteran in the pipes. It should hold them up to a decent rebulld year. As for CB they got some great veterans, incl Ryan Francis who may or may not be dealt at Christmas but should be, and sounds like Shawn Element will be staying for at least the 1st half. And they got Grimard sho  serves starter role currently with a new 16 year old in backup. Also a team to get a new import. Bathurst has a pretty big mystery in the pipes next season but we'll find out soon enough. They add another top import this season with a mix of new guys but still don't got great chemistry and depth despite struggling for so long. I'm not sure we will see, I think CB still overtakes them by a little bit. Then that ridiculously elite Moncton team comes to a close and they don't got much other then Jordan Spence and Lund-Cornish who finally gets to be a starter which is what he's been waiting to hear for a while.


I'll post an overall standings list tomorrow but for now I gotta head off.
Tell me your predictions and what you think?

[pinkbeaver]

Pre-draft I would have put SJ as #1 but the additon of Pelletier should make Vald'or the team to beat. SJ and Quebec could post really great records given the state of the eastern conference. A complete flip flop of the conference strength compared to last year.

Contenders:

1) Val d'Or - Will be a strong team returning most players and big additons at the draft.
2) Saint John - They can contend without needing to add much in a weak eastern conference. Should take a big
step forward next year.
3) Blainville-Boisbriand - Had a good year and are returning most players.
4) Quebec - Definitely a favorite in a east conference where most teams are rebuilding re-tooling. will need to
add players but have the assets to do so.
5) Shawinigan - Will be hard for them to push past BLB and Vald'or but the 3 teams are all very close.


MIDDLE TEAMS:

6) Sherbrooke - They may be able to compete next year, but I think the smart move will be to sell and recoup
assets at X-mas.
7) Charlottetown - loss of Alexandrov and Welsh will make it tough to be better than they were this year. need
to make a few big acquisitions to join the top teams.
8) Chicoutimi - They really should have built around Lapierre and Rochette and went for it this season in my
opinion.
9) Rouyn - always draft and recruit well. Can win without tearing down
10) Victoriaville
11) Baie-Comeau - Should have similar results as this year. May sell at Xmas.
12) Bathurst - Take step forward but still a year away from contending.
13) Gatineau - Returning most players. Will be very talented but very young.

REBUILDING TEAMS:

14) Drummondville - Assuming they continue to sell and re-tool
15) Halifax - starting year 1 of rebuild
16) Cape Breton - Will sell off and start year 0 of full rebuild
17) Moncton - Will sell off and start year 0 of full rebuild
18) Rimouski - Will sell off and start year 0 of full rebuild

[Captain Obvious]

I think people are underestimating Chicoutimi and Sherbrooke. I see both as top 5 teams.

Chi-Mercer Lapierre Houde Farmer Knaziev Boudrias Shank Crevier plus they have some high draft picks ready to step up.

She-Poulin Tardif Peach Guay Ancil Kreutzer parent Bellamy Hlavaj

[pinkbeaver]

Jun 11, 2020 9:39:45 GMT -4 Captain Obvious said:

I think people are underestimating Chicoutimi and Sherbrooke. I see both as top 5 teams.

Chi-Mercer Lapierre Houde Farmer Knaziev Boudrias Shank Crevier plus they have some high draft picks ready to step up.

She-Poulin Tardif Peach Guay Ancil Kreutzer parent Bellamy Hlavaj

definitely possible. I just see them re-tooling/selling during the x-mas trade period. especially Chicoutimi where they emptied the cupboards for last years run.

[Captain Obvious]

Jun 11, 2020 9:43:41 GMT -4 pinkbeaver said:

Jun 11, 2020 9:39:45 GMT -4 Captain Obvious said:

I think people are underestimating Chicoutimi and Sherbrooke. I see both as top 5 teams.

Chi-Mercer Lapierre Houde Farmer Knaziev Boudrias Shank Crevier plus they have some high draft picks ready to step up.

She-Poulin Tardif Peach Guay Ancil Kreutzer parent Bellamy Hlavaj

definitely possible. I just see them re-tooling/selling during the x-mas trade period. especially Chicoutimi where they emptied the cupboards for last years run.

Both can contend this year and rebuild next year, not like there are 5 contenders in front of them. By that same token there will not be aggressive buyers like 19-20. The buyers are not as defined plus there is uncertainty around the season.

[howitzer]

Sherbrooke didn't go balls out at Xmas last year because they wanted to contend for 2 yrs. They'll be a top team again, and will go all out at Xmas this time around.

[pinkbeaver]

Jun 11, 2020 12:00:20 GMT -4 howitzer said:

Sherbrooke didn't go balls out at Xmas last year because they wanted to contend for 2 yrs. They'll be a top team again, and will go all out at Xmas this time around.

Sherbrooke may have the assets but they are losing much of the core of their team. 

3 of their top 4 scorers were 20 YO's.
Then they had 7 19 YO's. one of which is Sam Bolduc who will likely go pro.
They also have to replace a strong Euro in Jentzsch


They'l be returning Poulin, Peach, Hlavaj and 3 strong 20's which will be huge, but they have to replace 7-8 impact players. 

I have them ranked 6th which is towards the top, but IMO they won't be able to get to how good they were this year. maybe they will be able to add enough to get their we'll see.

[Deleted]

60GP Season / Divsion Matchups / Predictions
(not incl overtime/shootouts)

WEST
1: Val D'or Foreurs (49-11)
2: Sherbrooke Phoenix (46-14)
3: Drummondville Voltigeurs (36-24)
4: Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (28-32)
5: Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (15-45)
6: Gatineau Olympiques (7-53)

CENTRAL/EAST
1: Shawinigan Cataractes (45-15)
2: Chicoutimi Sagueneens (37-23)
3: Victoriaville Tigres (37-23)
4: Quebec Remparts (30-30)
5: Baie-Comeau Drakkar (19-41)
6: Rimouski Oceanic (12-58)

ATLANTIC BUBBLE
1: Saint John Sea Dogs (44-16)
2: Charlottetown Islanders (43-17)
3: Halifax Mooseheads (38-22)
4: Acadie-Bathurst Titan (27-33)
5: Cape Breton Eagles (18-42)
6: Moncton Wildcats (6-54)

OVERALL (doesn't necessarily mean I think some teams are better than others)
1: Val D'or Foreurs
2: Sherbrooke Phoenix
3: Shawinigan Cataractes
4: Saint John Sea Dogs
5: Charlottetown Islanders
6: Chicoutimi Sagueneens
7: Victoriaville Tigres
8: Halifax Mooseheads
9: Drummondville Voltigeurs
10: Quebec Remparts
11: Blainville-Boisbriand Armada
12: Acadie-Bathurst Titan
13: Baie-Comeau Drakkar
14: Cape Breton Eagles
15: Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
16: Rimouski Oceanic
17: Gatineau Olympiques
18: Moncton Wildcats

A team like Halifax is pretty high but I think they can still steal a lot of games from Bathurst, CB, and Moncton. I'm also very unsure where to put Chicoutimi really because they still got a decent depth of players mixed in with Lapierre, Mercer, and Shank. I made it that it would statistically make sense, just note that overtime losses would really change this but I wasn't going to score-to-score each game. I just picked how many of the 12 games they would beat the other team. I think Blainville and Quebec should be higher but how this season might look, I'm not so sure.

[ap]

Can anyone with much more knowledge than me forecast the likely 20 year olds for the top Quebec based teams?

Thanks in advance.

[statsman18]

Jul 25, 2020 20:38:12 GMT -4 ap said:

Can anyone with much more knowledge than me forecast the likely 20 year olds for the top Quebec based teams?

Thanks in advance.

How about you name the teams you want to know of, it might make it easier.

[ap]

Thanks!

Particularly Shawinigan, Sherbrooke and Victoriaville

[statsman18]

Jul 25, 2020 20:55:35 GMT -4 ap said:

Thanks!

Particularly Shawinigan, Sherbrooke and Victoriaville

These are basically just guesses but I feel pretty confident in these picks. For Shawinigan I’m going to say Leon and Denis are locks and the 3rd spot is up for grabs to who want to go get. Sherbrooke is a little hard to really know with out knowing fully what’s going on with the AHL. I’m going to say Ben Tardif, Bernard and the 3rd spot there is up for grabs if Bolduc doesn’t have a pro league to play for. The Case in Victo IMO other than Felix Pare is completely wide open.

Once again this is my opinion. I hope that’s a help it not at all written in stone but those are players that unless health or pro opportunities come up.

[sc74]

Jul 26, 2020 17:42:06 GMT -4 statsman18 said:

Jul 25, 2020 20:55:35 GMT -4 ap said:

Thanks!

Particularly Shawinigan, Sherbrooke and Victoriaville

These are basically just guesses but I feel pretty confident in these picks. For Shawinigan I’m going to say Leon and Denis are locks and the 3rd spot is up for grabs to who want to go get. Sherbrooke is a little hard to really know with out knowing fully what’s going on with the AHL. I’m going to say Ben Tardif, Bernard and the 3rd spot there is up for grabs if Bolduc doesn’t have a pro league to play for. The Case in Victo IMO other than Felix Pare is completely wide open.

Once again this is my opinion. I hope that’s a help it not at all written in stone but those are players that unless health or pro opportunities come up.

Kirill Nizhnikov might be back as an OA for Shawinigan. He was living with Ponomarev and his father.