For years, readers have asked us to add NHL predictions to the host of forecasts we run here at FiveThirtyEight. And clearly, hockey’s absence wasn’t out of any aversion to the sport on our part — editor-in-chief Nate Silver, myself and many other writers here have been pretty obsessed with it, in fact. So after […]
neil (Neil Paine, senior sportswriter): One of hockey’s annual big events came and went earlier this week, with Monday’s trade deadline. Though the deadline brought fewer players on the move than usual, it did offer some moves that ranged from “intriguing” to “borderline blockbuster.” So let’s quickly unpack what happened and then talk about what […]
This was supposed to be the year things finally started turning around for the Buffalo Sabres. After missing the playoffs for almost the entirety of the 2010s — the franchise’s last postseason appearances were a pair of first-round losses in 2010 and 2011 — Buffalo was looking to build on the improvements it made in […]
When the 2021 NHL season began in January, we predicted that the Boston Bruins could contend for the Stanley Cup if its young core of defensemen could make the leap and hold things together on the blue line. Former team captain and future Hall of Famer Zdeno Chára and power play lynchpin Torey Krug each […]
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: The Toronto Maple Leafs are finally, finally starting to realize their full potential. After defeating the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 Monday night, the team has won six of its past seven games and 17 of 23 overall this season. Toronto now leads the NHL’s all-Canadian North division by […]