With the puck about to drop on the 2020-21 season, our writers weigh in on their predictions for both player and team awards and accomplishments. 

Brief observations:

The writers strongly favor Connor McDavid for the Art Ross and were practically unanimous in picking Auston Matthews for the Rocket Richard, yet Nathan MacKinnon is the consensus favorite for the Hart Trophy. Maybe the effect of McDavid having an elite scorer like Leon Draisaitl hurts McDavid’s chances. Other individual awards are clearly not as cut and dry.

Perhaps the strongest division in the new alignment, the East shows the most possible winners. The Sabres, Devils, and Islanders are the only teams not chosen as potential winners of the new (temporary) eight-team division. At least one of the teams chosen by panelists will end up missing the playoffs. There are clear favorites in the other three divisions, though.

Colorado is the clear favorite to win the Stanley Cup, which seems to align with the Vegas odds. Who their opponent will be seems to vary among the panelists. Of the three most popular runners-up, Carolina (+2000) delivers the highest possible payout to win the Stanley Cup.

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.

Cam Robinson is the managing editor at DobberProspects and, along with Ian Gooding and Mike Clifford, collaborates to Daily Ramblings. He is a regular guest on Vancouver sports talk radio.

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.

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.

Adam Daly-Frey checks out what's coming down the pipe with the Looking Ahead column every Friday.

Alex MacLean authors the salary cap column Capped, which can be found here every Thursday.

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.

Dave Hall 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 our new Geek of the Week writer. He can be found frequently on the Dobber Forums as well.