Anthony P's 2022 - 23 NHL Futures - Regular Season Point Total

And just like that, the hockey season is around the corner!

Let's take a look at my model and some great spots for futures for the upcoming season.

Carolina Hurricanes over 102.5

The Canes are coming in with a 102.5 projection after posting back-to-back years with 116 pts. They were by far the off-season winners by adding Burns, Kases, Dzingle Coghlan, and Patches! Max will not join the team until somewhere in February 2023 due to an injury. Caroline did lose 3 key players, DeAngelo, Trocheck and Nino. My model has the Canes projected at 113 and we will go over 102.5.

Montreal Canadiens under 70.5

Oh dear! Another long and painful season for my Habs. The books have been generously giving us 70.5 pts. Already thin at defense, they traded Petry and Romanov. In return, they got Matheson who will run the first power play unit. We all know Price is done and if Allen is overplayed he gets injured and it's downhill from there with their backups. This week the Habs announced that Edmundson is out indefinitely and Montreal will dress night in and night out the youngest core of defensemen.

New Jersey under 88.5

Year after year the Devils are getting better and better and then lay an egg. With back-to-back years with points projections close to 90 pts, they finished both seasons with 63 points. This year they added Palat, Haula, Marino, and Vanecek. These are definitely upgrades but my model doesn't grade them as high. The points total reached as high as 91.5 however it dropped to 88.5 this week.

New York Islanders under 94.5

Are you kidding me?? What are these numbers?? The books overvalued the Islanders for 2 straight seasons and they have done it again this year. The book thinks they should get 94 pts just as projected last year where they won 5 fewer games than projected. During the offseason, instead of addressing their lack of scoring, they signed Romanov from the Habs. Expect a copy-and-paste season if not worst than last year.

Philadelphia Flyers under 76.5

The Flyers lost Jones and Lindblom and added DeAngelo, Deslauriers, and Braun. They lost Giroux at the trade deadline, Couturier is always injured, Ellis doesn't seem he will play once again this season and Hart had a terrible season last year. Soooooooooooooo how are they going to get 5-6 extra wins this season? They won't. DeAngelo will / might bring more offense however he's a liability at defense and just a reminder, the Flyers allowed the 6th highest GA last season.


A couple of other bets I like are the Kraken under 81.5. They finished with 60 points last year. That is 23.5 points under their projection. This year the book opened them at the same number as last year at 83.5. That total dropped to 81.5. Even with the addition of Burakovsky, and Bjorkstand (Schultz and Kempny), my model has them 5 wins better than last year therefore 70 points for the season.

The only over I like is Washington over 93.5. The Caps 2021 season was projected at 96.5 and 95.5 for 2020. In both seasons they reached 100 points with weak goaltending. This year they added Kuemper and their win total was set at 93.5. Adding to Kuemper, Washington had a strong offseason and added pieces to help the aging group of core players. Strome, Brown, Carlsson replace non-impressive Kempny and Schultz and add some serious depth up front. The big story is Kuemper. The Caps haven't really had solid goaltending since the prime of Holtby. My model added close to 4 more wins based on the signings this summer and has the Caps at 106.5 points!!

Atlantic Division: Way too tight between Toronto, Florida, and Tampa Bay.

Central Division: You can take a stab at the Wild at +300 or better if you think Georgiev and Francouz will cost the Avs 5-6 wins this season.

Metropolitan Division: Bet the Cane at +175 or better.

Pacific Division: Bet on the Oilers at +190 or better. The Flames will be good but they replaced their core with a new core and these guys might start the season slow. Edmonton finally added a decent goalie to this "veteran" squad and Campbell will make the difference.

Good luck this year and I hope you guys win a ton of money!