How to predict the NHL season

1. Think in divisions, then in bands

The table is predicted across all 32 teams, but the useful unit is the division. Work division by division: the clear contenders, the teams fighting for a wild-card place, and the ones in a rebuild. Placement points reward being close, so a team you put one or two spots off still scores.

• Goaltending swings a team's position more than any single skater
• A team's special-teams profile is more stable across a season than its shooting percentage
• Rebuilding clubs are the safest low picks; contenders are where predictions go wrong

Unsure what Pre Season and Mid Season mean here? See the prediction game glossary

2. Weekly picks: you pick winners, not scores

NHL weeks are calendar weeks: a new round opens every Monday. Inside the week the games are listed by day, and you pick a winner in each game. There is no draw to consider: the winner after overtime or a shootout is the winner for prediction purposes. The whole week locks at the week's first puck drop.

3. Fatigue is the edge nobody uses

Because the league plays almost every night, rest is a real variable. A team on the second half of a back-to-back, especially the road half, is measurably worse than the same team after two days off. Before picking a day, check who played last night, who is deep into a road trip and who changed time zones.

• Prefer the rested home team in an otherwise even matchup
• Be careful with a strong road team on the second night of a back-to-back
• Late-season games matter differently for a team already out of the race

4. Skip games rather than guessing badly

You choose how many games in the week to pick, and games can be left out. On a fourteen-game night with no clear reads, picking the handful you actually have an opinion about is a better use of the evening than filling the card.

5. Play-off and bonus questions are separate

Bonus questions such as division winners and play-off qualification are scored on their own, apart from the table. That gives you room to be measured in the 32-team ranking and braver where a single bold call is scored by itself.

6. Build the habit

Over a season this long, the players at the top of a leaderboard are the ones who show up. Turn on deadline reminders, install the app to your home screen, and give the day's games two minutes when the schedule lands.