Bold hockey predictions for 2025: Sweden will beat Canada in 4 Nations Face-Off final

Let’s face it, a lot of us tend to be a little unrealistic this time of year. 

You’re sitting on the couch, flipping on your phone, you tap that calendar app and tell yourself that once Jan. 1 hits, you’ll be putting down the holiday treats and getting to the gym four times a week. And, of course, the nights you’re not breaking a sweat are going to be filled with Spanish lessons and a book club. 

Still, we want to capture the go-for-it spirit of those big plans with our bold hockey predictions for 2025. There’s no sense in half-stepping it; we’re cranking the treadmill up to 10 and letting it fly. 

So, from big international events to the NHL playoff scene to free agency whoppers, here are 25 bold bullet points for 2025. 

• Connor Bedard will join David Pastrnak and Tyler Toffoli as the only NHLers to record a hat trick in an outdoor game, when he plays in the Winter Classic (which will actually happen in the final hours of 2024 on New Year’s Eve).  

• Team USA will successfully defend its world junior championship title in Ottawa. 

• Zach Hyman will be an injury replacement on Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off squad and lead the tournament in goals. 

• Sweden will beat Canada in the final of the 4 Nations Face-Off.  

• The Calgary Flames — after slipping out of the post-season picture — will look around the bottom of the league, see a bunch of teams stuck in the mud and decide to stick with some core pieces rather than work to deal the likes of defenceman Rasmus Andersson and centre Nazem Kadri.  

• In a go-for-it move, the Utah Hockey Club — which has endured difficult injuries on the back end — will kick off trade deadline season by dipping into its ample stack of futures and dealing for defenceman Ivan Provorov from the Columbus Blue Jackets.  

• Trevor Zegras’ tumultuous time in Anaheim will finally come to an end when the Anaheim Ducks and New York Islanders are able to connect on a swap in March.  

• The Buffalo Sabres will not trade Dylan Cozens.  

• Alex Ovechkin will score two goals in Game 82 for the Capitals to become the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer with 895.  

• Sarah Fillier will win a world championship with Canada, followed by a PWHL title with the New York Sirens in her first year in the league.  

• Not only will the Ottawa Senators make the playoffs, we’ll get a “Battle of the Tkachuks” in Round 1, as they face the Florida Panthers. 

• The Boston Bruins will narrowly miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016. In the aftermath, captain Brad Marchand will sign a two-year free agent pact with the Vegas Golden Knights.

• The Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers will meet in a first-round series for the fourth straight year.  

• Utah’s boldness will pay off. The team will make the post-season and delight its new fans before losing a heartbreaking Game 7 in Round 1.  

• Anaheim will win the NHL Draft Lottery and pick first overall for the first time in team history.  

• No team that made the conference finals last year — Dallas, Edmonton, Florida and the New York Rangers — will make it that far in 2025. 

• The Winnipeg Jets will. 

• The London Knights will win the Memorial Cup one year after losing the 2024 final. Easton Cowan will be the tournament MVP. 

• Quinn Hughes will narrowly miss out on becoming the first defenceman to win the Hart Trophy since Chris Pronger in 2000, finishing second in MVP voting.  

• The Ducks will select Corey Perry clone Porter Martone first overall.  

• After cracking lots of singles on the UFA market in the summer of 2024, the Chicago Blackhawks — obsessed with improving the team’s fortunes — will hand out a couple of blank cheques on July 1 and emerge with a big fish in the form of either Mitch Marner or Mikko Rantanen.  

• John Tavares will remain with the Maple Leafs on a three-year deal for exactly half of his current $11-million cap hit.  

• With the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and the National Hockey League Players’ Association set to expire after the 2025-26 season, the two parties will hammer out an extension ahead of training camps next September to preserve an extended period of labour peace.