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Good morning to everyone except that one GM in your fantasy league who’s being difficult about when they can draft. This is the last week without meaningful hockey for the next nine months, so plan your schedule accordingly. Let’s see what we can do to get you prepared.

The projected top 10

Our trusty trio of Dom Luszczyszyn, Sean Gentille and Shayna Goldman has been busy, churning out previews for all 32 teams that are being revealed every day through the end of this week. They’re going from worst to best, so if you haven’t seen your team yet, that’s good news. Today’s batch includes the Rangers, Kings and Panthers, breaking us into the top 10.

If you’re keeping track — and you absolutely should be — that means we’re now well into seeing the playoff picture take shape.

The Athletic’s projected standings, as revealed so far:

West
8. Utah Mammoth*
7. Minnesota Wild
6. Los Angeles Kings

East
8. Washington Capitals
7. Ottawa Senators
6. New York Rangers
5. Florida Panthers

*The projections actually have the Montreal Canadiens finishing ahead of Utah for 16th overall but missing the playoffs based on the conference format. That would be the reverse of last year, when Montreal (and New Jersey) made it despite finishing behind the Calgary Flames.

And the nine mystery teams left, in alphabetical order: Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vegas and Winnipeg.

Good luck, and may you not see your team until Friday.

The Penguins still have Sidney Crosby. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)

The surprises keep coming

Predictions are a fool’s game, of course, which is why I love them so much. (The annual four-division post will be up this week, thanks for asking.) Nobody ever gets them right, or even comes all that close. But there’s more honor in taking a swing than the alternative, which involves waiting until the season ends and then sniffling about how you knew it all along. No you didn’t. None of us did — this is the NHL.

Last week, James asked Dom, Sean and Shayna for their surprise picks, and they listed the Red Wings, Sabres and Predators. I have three more, including some teams that have since been revealed. I don’t mean that I think these teams’ projections are wrong — rather, that they made me pause and rethink some assumptions:

• The Penguins being dead last in the East by a decent margin. OK, so it’s roughly five points, which is hardly insurmountable. Still, that’s a big gap for a team that hasn’t been all that close to last place in decades. Even last year, they finished ahead of the Bruins, Sabres and Flyers. And it’s not like they’re exactly trying a rebuild … yet. Sidney Crosby and friends are either about to prove a lot of us wrong, or Kyle Dubas is going to have to get serious about starting over.

• The Capitals, nowhere near the top. They’re not one of those nine teams we haven’t heard from yet, which might seem like a snub given they were the East’s top seed last year. I don’t think anyone is expecting a repeat of last season’s 111 points, but a drop down to the mid-90s would put them on the playoff bubble. Here’s my question: How many experts will have the guts to predict the Caps missing the postseason entirely? Remember, nobody thought it could happen to the Rangers last year …

• The Kings are … still good? Or at least good enough, with today’s preview having them around 95 points, which should be good for a playoff spot. In theory, not a surprise for a team that finished sixth overall last year. But after we all spent the summer scratching our heads over Ken Holland’s, um, creative offseason approach, it’s a good reminder that this team would have to fall a long way to be as bad as a lot of you seem to think they’ll be.

And by the way, if you want to get your own predictions on the record, look for the annual prediction contest to return Friday. Ten questions that are so simple they’re almost impossible, plus the dreaded bonus. It’s easy, and you’ll do terribly.

Trivia time💡

I used this one in a column last week that some of you would have already read because you’re good people with exquisite taste in hockey writing. I like the question, so I’ll reuse it here, with a bonus second question so nobody feels left out.

First up, can you name the most recent winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy who is no longer an active NHL player?

And for the bonus, can you name the only active player in the league who’s won an Art Ross and since switched teams?

The answer is below.

Coast to Coast

🎙️ More preview fun: This week on “The Athletic Hockey Show,” our hosts are joined by every team’s beat writer to preview each division. Yesterday was the Atlantic, with the Metro coming today and the Central and Pacific to follow. Plus, the Prospect Series on Friday will deep-dive into this season’s Calder Trophy race. Find it all here.

💰 How should Connor McDavid approach this next contract? We asked the folks who’d know best: NHL agents.

🏈 Scott Powers has more on the unusual case of Mason West, the Blackhawks’ first-round pick who’s playing out his final season as a high school … quarterback?

💪🏼 Good news if, like me, the only thing keeping you from an NHL job was that pesky fitness testing. It’s on its way out, and Fluto Shinzawa explains why.

🌷 Finally, if you missed it over the weekend, 40-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury suited up for the final time. We think. Maybe not?

(Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)

No Dumb Questions

We made this a running feature last season, and it was a big hit, so let’s bring it back this year. We’re putting out the call for all those hockey questions you’ve always wondered about but never asked anyone because you thought you’d sound dumb. Nonsense! There are no dumb questions, according to my elementary school teachers and also this section’s header. Whether you’re a new fan who’s still figuring out how this NHL thing works, or an old-timer who’s been carrying around a nagging question for decades, we want to hear it.

To give you a sense of what we’re looking for, previous entries have included:

• How do coincidental penalties work? (It’s pretty simple, right up until it isn’t.)

• Who gets credit for the goal if a team scores directly into their own net without the other team ever touching the puck? (The other team’s center from the most recent faceoff, and yes, it’s happened before.)

• Why can’t you kick the puck into the other team’s net? (Because for once, the rulebook is surprisingly consistent on something.)

• Why don’t linesmen just drop the puck already? (Because they’re in charge of enforcing the faceoff rules, which are way more complicated than they should be.)

If you have something you’ve always wondered about the sport, ask away by emailing us at redlight@theathletic.com. We promise not to call you dumb. (To your face. The group chat might be a different matter.)

Trivia answer(s)

To find a Rocket Richard winner who’s no longer active, you have to go all the way back to 2006-07, when Vincent Lecavalier won. The 19 seasons since have seen eight different players win the award, and all of them are still active. That includes two former winners, Alex Ovechkin and Corey Perry, who’ll be 40 entering this season.

As for the only active Art Ross winner who’s since switched teams, that would be Patrick Kane, who won with the Blackhawks in 2015 and at 36 is now halfway through his tour of the Original Six thanks to stops in New York and Detroit. The other seven active winners are all on their original teams … for now.

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(Top photo of Erik Karlsson: Justin Berl / Getty Images)