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Division winners, league awards, and more NHL season predictions: Canucks Conversation
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Photo credit: Mandatory Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
Clarke Corsan
Sep 27, 2025, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 27, 2025, 13:45 EDT
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On today’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal looked ahead to the 2025 NHL season and made their predictions for everything from division winners to individual awards. Jacob joined the panel as well, adding his own picks along the way.

Division Winners

Pacific Division
Quads: Vegas Golden Knights
Harm: Edmonton Oilers. “I figured this is the year because McDavid and the uncertainty around his contract status, everyone around him is going to want to start fast to avoid distractions.”
Central Division
Quads: Colorado Avalanche
Harm: Dallas Stars
Metropolitan Division
Quads: New Jersey Devils
Harm: Carolina Hurricanes
Atlantic Division
Quads: Tampa Bay Lightning. “This is my sleeper team this year. Hearing Jon Cooper’s comments, talking about how he’s glad people aren’t reading into them or expecting as much from them this year. Also, Sasha Barkov suffered a brutal injury; it looks like he’s going to be out for the season, not to mention they’re going to be missing Tkachuk until it sounds like the New Year, so that’s going to be really tough for Florida. They have great depth, but taking away your two best players on any team is going to hurt. I don’t think Florida is going to win this Division this year.”
Harm: Tampa Bay Lightning. “Florida has also never cared about the regular season. Even when the Atlantic was wide open, they didn’t care about winning or needing home ice advantage by finishing second in the division. I also have Tampa Bay winning for those reasons.”
The guys even speculated on Connor McDavid’s future. Harm noted that if McDavid ever hit free agency, Tampa would be a top destination. “He can’t go to Florida, that’s like Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors, that Cup wouldn’t count if he went there and won. Tampa has no state tax and has the rest of their core already locked up. They have the cap room to pay him, and if you add McDavid to that team they’re a juggernaut.”
President’s Trophy
Quads: Vegas Golden Knights
Harm: Dallas Stars
Last Place Team
Quads: Chicago Blackhawks
Harm: Chicago Blackhawks
Biggest Point Increase
Quads: Vancouver Canucks
Harm: San Jose Sharks. “They had 52 points last year, if they hit even 70, which would still be low enough to probably finish bottom three, that’s a near 20-point jump. I don’t see another team that can have a 20-point jump.”
Biggest Point Decrease
Quads: Washington Capitals
Harm: Washington Capitals

Scoring Races & Awards

Art Ross (Most Points):
Quads: Connor McDavid
Harm: Connor McDavid
Rocket Richard (Most Goals):
Quads: Leon Draisaitl
Harm: Auston Matthews
Norris Trophy (Best Defenceman):
Quads: Quinn Hughes
Harm: Quinn Hughes
Vezina Trophy (Best Goalie):
Quads: Thatcher Demko
Harm: Andrei Vasilevskiy
Selke Trophy (Best Defensive Forward):
Quads: Nico Hischier. “He’s a name that’s been on my ballot every year I’ve voted on the award. Last year I had him fourth, but I’m thinking the [New Jeryse] Devils are going to be pretty good this year so I’ve got him winning it.”
Harm: Sam Reinhart. “He’s been on the cusp, and with Barkov and Tkachuk out, all the focus will be on Reinhart. Last year the votes got split between Barkov and Reinhart, now Barkov is out of the way and especially if Reinhart can maintain that form, it would go a long way toward making people believe he’s a driver on his own and not just a product of Barkov.”
Calder Trophy (Rookie of the Year):
Quads: Ivan Demidov
Harm: Ivan Demidov
Hart Trophy (League MVP):
Quads: Connor McDavid
Harm: Connor McDavid
With McDavid dominating their individual award predictions and Tampa Bay emerging as a unanimous Atlantic Division pick, the guys expect the 2025 season to feature plenty of familiar names – but also some surprises.
You can watch the full segment below:

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