As we inch towards a new NHL season, prognosticators and fantasy experts are emerging from hibernation to provide their outlook on what to expect once the 2024-25 campaign gets underway. The league’s official website recently kicked off prediction season by rolling out their fantasy preview, offering point totals on key players for all 32 teams (plus win totals for goaltenders).
Now, such an exercise is about as far from an exact science as you can imagine. However, it does serve up some food for thought. Will Auston Matthews cross the 70-goal threshold? Can William Nylander build on his career-best 2023-24 season? Will Mitch Marner and John Tavares be affected by the proliferation of trade rumours and the loss of the captaincy, respectively?
It’ll be many months before we have any definitive answers as to how the NHL.com experts fared in their projections, but that won’t keep us from taking a closer look at their forecasting in terms of whether they seem to have hit the nail on the head or if they may have missed the mark.
Auston Matthews: 110 Points
Matthews’ goal-scoring brilliance rightfully got the bulk of the attention last season, but the new team captain’s 69th and final marker of the season against the Detroit Red Wings also served to set a new career-high in points (107). He is projected to set a new career-best this season, albeit only by three additional points.
Once again, Matthews’ goal hunt will take center stage. While reaching 69 was no small feat, optimism that the 26-year-old could be the first player to hit the 70-goal mark since 1992-93 is based on his relatively modest total with the man advantage. He only scored 18 power-play goals last season, tied for fifth league-wide. Considering he managed to find the back of the net 12 times more than any other NHL player, 18 power-play goals (nine less than Sam Reinhart) seems jarringly low. The other player who notched 18 power-play goals, Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers, lit the lamp 30 fewer times overall.
The other cause for optimism of a significantly higher point total was Matthews’ paltry assist numbers. Perhaps unsurprisingly given his goal-scoring prowess, the Arizona native recorded just 38 assists, tied for fourth on the team with Max Domi and outside of the league’s top 75. While an increase in assists may be incompatible with his march to 70 goals, a…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…