EA Sports' NHL season sim spits out most dramatic Stanley Cup matchup possible
This is a window into the Montreal Canadiens' worst nightmare
By
Chris Peters
•
2 min read
The good people over at EA Sports annually put their NHL series to the test by running a season simulation before the real one kicks off. It's an objective, unscientific, completely harmless way to predict how a season will turn out during a time when every media outlet (including us next week) will put forth their own season forecasts.
With the 2016-17 season less than a week away, EA Sports released the results of their season simulation and was it ever interesting. Again, unscientific, harmless, but if this were to happen in real life, the Stanley Cup Final matchup the sim produced is just about the most drama-soaked, hilarious possible outcome.
Think back to this summer. What was the one event that dropped the jaws of every hockey fan, launched a thousand debates and hot takes, and will continue to be talked about well into the season? Have it in your mind? Now which two teams were involved in that whole thing?
Yes, boys and girls, the EA Sports sim spit out a Stanley Cup Final between P.K. Subban's Nashville Predators and Shea Weber's Montreal Canadiens. Not only that, it predicts that the Preds will win the Stanley Cup... in Montreal.
Now, this is supposedly random, but if this were pro wrestling, we'd call this a fantasy booking. There would be few Stanley Cup finals that could match with the storylines and drama this particular series would bring after the shocking trade this summer. Subban for Weber was one of the biggest one-for-one deals the NHL has seen in years and it's still almost hard to believe it happened.
Losing Subban remains a sore point for a lot of Habs fans, even though Shea Weber is among the best NHL defensemen. Losing a fan favorite like this, for both teams, stings. To have one of those players lift the Stanley Cup for the other team in your building? That's the stuff of nightmares for one side and the most delicious helping of schadenfreude for almost everyone else.
It probably won't happen, but what would happen to Montreal if it did? I don't think any of us want to think about that.
By the way, here are the regular-season projections from EA Sports (Playoff teams in Bold):
Eastern Conference
1.Tampa Bay Lightning- 107 pts
2.Montreal Canadiens- 99 pts
3.Washington Capitals- 97 pts
4.Pittsburgh Penguins- 93 pts
5.Florida Panthers- 93 pts
6.Philadelphia Flyers- 93 pts
7.New York Islanders- 92 pts - Wild Card
8.Toronto Maple Leafs- 91 pts - Wild Card
9. New York Rangers - 89 pts
10. Detroit Red Wings - 87 pts
11. Ottawa Senators - 87 pts
12. Buffalo Sabres - 85 pts
13. Boston Bruins - 84 pts
14. Carolina Hurricanes - 81 pts
15. New Jersey Devils - 79 pts
16. Columbus Blue Jackets - 76 pts
Western Conference
1. Nashville Predators - 110 pts
2. Dallas Stars - 107 pts
3. San Jose Sharks - 107 pts
4. Chicago Blackhawks - 102 pts
5. St. Louis Blues - 95 pts - Wild Card
6. Los Angeles Kings - 93 pts
7. Minnesota Wild - 87 pts - Wild Card
8. Edmonton Oilers - 85 pts
9. Calgary Flames - 84 pts
10. Arizona Coyotes - 83 pts
11. Winnipeg Jets - 82 pts
12. Anaheim Ducks - 77 pts
13. Colorado Avalanche - 74 pts
14. Vancouver Canucks - 63 pts
Award winners:
Hart Trophy: Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Art Ross: Connor McDavid
Norris: Brent Burns, San Jose Sharks
Rocket Richard: Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues (and NHL 17 coverboy)
Vezina: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
Selke: Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings
Lady Byng: Nicklas Backstrom, Washington Capitals
Calder: Auston Matthews, Toronto Maple Leafs
