EA Sports NHL 20 has spoken and, sorry Toronto Maple Leafs fans, it will be the Boston Bruins who will be hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup in June.
As is tradition every year, EA Sports used their annual hockey simulation video game to try to predict how the actual NHL season will go.
This year, EA Sports’ sim had the Bruins returning to the championship series and finishing the job off to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights in six games with Brad Marchand taking home the Conn Smythe trophy.
Boston’s path sees them, again apologies to those who swear allegiance to the Blue and White, going through the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in the first round then overcoming both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals in six to reach the Stanley Cup Final.
Outside of who NHL 20 thinks will win it all, the simulation attempted to predict a number of other notable things including the full league standings, where the Lighting are forecasted to once again emerge as Presidents’ Trophy winners.
The #NHL20 Regular Season Simulation has the @TBLightning taking home yet another Presidents' Trophy #NHL20Sim pic.twitter.com/iNMxEIM7tC
— #NHL20 (@EASPORTSNHL) October 1, 2019
Additionally, by the end of the season, the simulation predicts there will be three 50-goal scorers, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (50), Maple Leafs star Auston Matthews (52) and Washington Capitals icon Alex Ovechkin (55).
And as for the some of the big awards, the simulation has the San Jose Sharks‘ Erik Karlsson winning his third career Norris Trophy, New Jersey Devils rookie Jack Hughes taking the Calder and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche winning both the Art Ross and Hart Trophies.
Will any of this come true? We’ll know soon enough as the 2019-20 NHL season begins Wednesday night.
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