Presidents' Trophy - New Jersey Devils
All of these awards predictions are more likely if the Devils are incredibly successful in the regular season. How successful could the Devils be this season? There are possibilities they could be very successful. There is a world where the Devils are the best regular season team in the entire NHL.
The Devils are dealing with a very... we'll say interesting Metropolitan Division. The only team everyone can agree is good is the New York Rangers, and a contract dispute with goaltender Igor Shesterkin could very well throw this season for a loop. The Devils and Hurricanes are expected to be good, but nobody would be floored if they miss the playoffs. The Islanders, Penguins, Flyers, and Capitals could literally be anything from second seed to last in the division and nobody would be surprised. The Columbus Blue Jackets seem like the team on the bottom, but as they are motivated to memorialize Johnny Gaudreau, so anything can happen there.
With so many question marks, it could leave the Devils in a position to bank dozens of points within the division is some of these teams are bad. The Rangers had 36 points from their Metropolitan opponents last season, including getting eight points from the Devils. They were .500 or better against every Metro opponent. Is it feasible that the Devils could do the same thing?
For the records and if the Hockey Gods are listening, this isn't a prediction. We are just talking about anything that could happen here. The Devils have a much higher likelihood that they miss the playoffs than them winning the Presidents' Trophy, but that doesn't take this milestone, which would be the first time in Devils history, off the table.