Weekly Takes - Monday, October 11 Edition

Weekly Takes - Monday, October 11 Edition

1. My 2021-2022 NHL predictions…

Eastern Conference

Atlantic

1. Tampa Bay

2. Toronto

3. Boston

4. Florida (WC1)

5. Montreal

6. Detroit

7. Ottawa

8. Buffalo

Metropolitan

1. New York Islanders

2. New York Rangers

3. Carolina

4. Washington (WC2)

5. Pittsburgh

6. New Jersey

7. Philadelphia

8. Columbus

Western Conference

Central

1. Colorado

2. Minnesota

3. Winnipeg

4. Dallas (WC1)

5. St. Louis (WC2)

6. Chicago

7. Nashville

8. Arizona

Pacific

1. Vegas

2. Edmonton

3. Seattle

4. Calgary

5. Vancouver

6. Los Angeles

7. San Jose

8. Anaheim

Stanley Cup Finals Prediction

Colorado defeats Tampa Bay

Conn Smythe Trophy: Nathan MacKinnon

Individual Awards Predictions

• Hart Memorial Trophy: Connor McDavid

• Calder Memorial Trophy: Cole Caufield

• James Norris Memorial Trophy: Cale Makar

• Vezina Trophy: Andrei Vasilevskiy

• Art Ross Trophy: Connor McDavid

• Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy: Auston Matthews

• Frank J. Selke Trophy: Mark Stone

• General Manager of the Year: Joke Sakic

• Jack Adams Award: Gerard Gallant

2. Who I liked -- in order -- in the Maple Leafs’ preseason win over the Senators last Monday night…

• Nick Roberston

• Jason Spezza

• Pierre Engvall

• Adam Brooks

• Michael Bunting

• Rasmus Sandin

• Alexander Kerfoot

• Michael Amadio

3. Who I liked -- in order -- in the Maple Leafs’ preseason win over Montreal on Wednesday night…

• John Tavares

• Nick Ritchie

• Brett Seany

• Mitch Marner

• Kirill Semyonov

• Timothy Liljegren

4. Who I liked -- in order -- in the Maple Leafs’ preseason win over Ottawa on Saturday night.

• Marner

• Morgan Rilley

• Ritchie

• Engvall

• Wayne Simmonds

• T.J. Brodie

• Bunting

5. It may only be three preseason games but the Raptors lineup this season -- when everyone is healthy -- is becoming pretty clear.

A starting lineup of Scottie Barnes-Fred VanVleet-Gary Trent Jr.-OG Anunoby-Pascal Siakam and a bench of Malachi Flynn-Goran Dragic-Precious Achiuwa-Chris Boucher-Khem Birch is the best way to go.

I understand the logic of wanting Trent Jr. on the bench as points may be hard to come by off the bench otherwise but for spacing purposes, I want Trent Jr. with the starters.

It is not like Dragic has played well enough to deserve starting minutes either.

Yuta Watanabe, Justin Champagnie, Svi Mykhaliliuk, Isaac Bonga, and Delano Banton should round out the remaining players.

6. I have no idea if the Lions are going to win with Dan Campbell as their head coach but he is without question the right coach to lead them through their ever-lasting rebuild.

The Lions may be 0-5 but you are going to get their best every week. The only issue is their best is... bad

7. The Jaguars need to fire Urban Meyer immediately.

Losing is one thing but Trevor Lawerence cannot be exposed to what he is being exposed to right now.

Fire Meyer, find an interim coach to get through the season, and make the most important coaching hire in franchise history come the offseason.

8. I was in absolute awe of Brandon Staley’s coaching performance against the Browns on Sunday.

The trio of Staley-Justin Herbert-Austin Ekeler makes the Chargers the most entertaining team in football.

Sorry, Cardinals.

9. Patrick Mahomes is the best quarterback in the world and is more than capable of carrying Kansas City to a Super Bowl but he will have to do just that: Carry them.

This is not a Super Bowl caliber roster overall. They are still in the mix because of, well, Mahomes, but if I had to rank Super Bowl contending teams after five weeks, I would go...

1. Tampa Bay

2. Rams

3. Bills

4. Browns

5. Packers

6. Kansas City

7. Chargers

8. Arizona

9. Cowboys

Same as the end of week three, but with the Bills jumping three spots, and Kansas City dropping two spots. The last three and new teams I am not sold on when it comes to beating the top six teams come playoff time but it is impossible not to list them after what they have done this season.

(The only

10. My week six NFL picks…

• Bucs (-7)

• Dolphins (-3)

• Rams (-10.5)

• Texans (+10.5)

• Kansas City (-7)

• Panthers (+1)

• Chargers (+3.5)

• Bengals (-3)

• Packers (-4.5)

• Cardinals (+3)

• Cowboys (-3.5)

• Raiders (+3)

• Seahawks (+3.5)

• Bills (-4.5)

Survivor Pick: Bucs, with an honourable mention to the Colts. Through the first five weeks, I have taken the Rans, Packers, Ravens, Bills, and Vikings)

I went 10-4 in week five, with Ravens-Colts still pending. On the season, I am now 39-37.

Bonus Takes...

• I still like Spencer Rattler way more than most (and Sam Howell, too) but it is clear that Malik Willis and Matt Corral are now QB1 and QB2 for the 2022 NFL Draft until proven otherwise.

The narrative is that it goes to show how weak this year’s quarterback class is. I think it shows that the quarterback class is even deeper than we thought prior to the school year. There are four franchise quarterback’s in next year’s draft.

• Staying with CFB, Alabama’s loss to Texas truly throws this year’s playoffs into absolute chaos.

Alabama will still get in if they make it to the SEC Championship and beat Georgia in the game but at this rate, neither of those things are a lock, more so beating Georgia.

We may very well end up with a playoff of Georgia, Cincinnati, Oklahoma, and Iowa.

How refreshing.