With the puck about to drop on the 2021-22 season, our writers weigh in on their predictions for both player and team awards and accomplishments. 

Brief observations:

New season, same award winners? Or just a lack of creativity in the picks? The writers strongly favored Connor McDavid for both the Art Ross and Hart again, while Rocket Richard winner Auston Matthews was also heavily favored to win that award again. Meanwhile, Cale Makar is the favorite for his first Norris Trophy, while Connor Hellebuyck is the choice to win his second Vezina Trophy in three seasons.

A wide variety of names show for both player to rebound and player to disappoint. Yet the player who appeared the most often was Patrik Laine, who was picked by three experts to rebound and another to disappoint. Needless to say, hockey fans will be paying a lot of attention to a player who has experienced some major peaks and valleys throughout his career.  

Colorado was the unanimous favorite to win the Central Division, as well as the clear favorite to win the Stanley Cup. That pick seems to align with the Odds Shark odds. Although there is plenty of competition, Florida was picked to be the Eastern Conference representative in the Stanley Cup Final as well as the co-favorite to win the Atlantic Division.

No one on the panel picked Tampa Bay to three-peat or even reach the final, maybe because no team has won three consecutive Stanley Cups since the New York Islanders dynasty of the early 1980s. Interestingly enough, the Bolts are the second-highest favorite at Odds Shark. Their cross-state rivals, the Panthers, are listed as having the eighth-highest odds, which might make for a strong value bet.

Agree? Disagree? Comments? 

About the panel:

Dobber launched this website in 2005 after he was the fantasy hockey columnist for The Hockey News website, The Fantasy Sports Network, and a contributor to The Forecaster. DobberHockey has since grown into the Dobber Sports Network and has work can be found across the Internet, including on Sportsnet.

Ian Gooding is the managing editor of DobberHockey and a regular writer on the daily Ramblings beat. He has also contributed to many other sites, including Sportsnet, Today’s Slapshot, Kukla’s Korner, and fantasyhockey.com.

Mike Clifford is an associate editor of DobberHockey and contributor for Rotowire and other fantasy hockey ventures.

Alex MacLean is an associate editor and writes the Ramblings once a week. He was previously the author of the Capped column and also contributes salary cap league rankings.

Mario Prata is the manager of special projects and marketing for Dobber Sports. He is also a co-founder of the famous The Sports Forecaster magazine.

Eric Daoust manages our valued Frozen Pool section.

Mike Amato updates the Goalie Post website daily, giving you the latest starting goalie information. He also pinch hits on the Ramblings.

Tom Collins writes the weekly Top 10 column that can be found here every Monday.

Rick Roos authors the weekly Roos Let Loose column every Wednesday. He is the former Cage Match writer for Dobber Hockey.

Grant Campbell writes the weekly Wild West column every Monday.

Brennan DeSouza writes the weekly Eastern Edge column every Tuesday, and gives us the latest injury information every Wednesday.

Hadi Kalakeche pens the weekly prospect column The Journey that can be found here every Saturday. He has also contributed to Dobber Prospects.

Chris Kane writes the Frozen Pool Forensics column on Fridays.

Flip Livingstone is our Saturday game picks author. He is a former NHL writer for theScore with past experience at such outlets as Postmedia, Hockey Night in Canada, and the CBC.

Steve Dotzel provides tips to help you win your daily fantasy leagues on Saturdays.

Logan Doyle is the Capped writer and our resident salary cap expert. He can be found frequently on the Dobber Forums as well.

Ryan Sheppard provides you with what you need to know about line combinations in Lining Up.

Scott Royce gives you the fantasy hockey Geek of the Week every Sunday.

Andrew Santillo checks out what's coming down the pipe with the Looking Ahead column every Friday.