On the Fly, NHL Roundtable: 3 post-trade deadline predictions

Welcome back to another edition of On the Fly, theScore's roundtable series. With the trade deadline in the rearview mirror, we're making three predictions for the final few weeks of the regular season.

Maple Leafs will finish 30th

Justin Cuthbert: It's Toronto, of course. Though maybe it's Calgary.

It was Toronto and another Albertan city until about 10 days ago, before Edmonton Oilers head coach Todd McLellan simply had enough. You can't blame the failures of an organization on one dude, but the Oilers have simply been a different team since banishing Justin Schultz. Check out the performances since. They're not finishing with a 20 percent chance at Auston Matthews.

The Flames will have a much tougher schedule than the Maple Leafs. But what should separate these two teams in the end, aside from the Flames' four-point bulge, is that Calgary already has proven goal-scorers capable of stealing points, while the eyes of those in skill positions on the Maple Leafs are still wide.

And while Garret Sparks has been good, and Jonathan Bernier has been better of late, it's simply not possible to make up a deficit scoring one or two goals, max, each night.

McDavid will win the Calder

Navin Vaswani: With all due respect to Chicago Blackhawks forward Artemi Panarin, the Oilers employ the NHL's best rookie: Connor McDavid. And by the time the season ends, McDavid, who missed three months due to a broken clavicle, will have closed the gap enough to win the Calder Trophy.

You can see it when McDavid's on the ice - he's on another level. He possesses phenomenal speed and his hockey sense is clearly higher than his peers'. And he only turned 19 in January, while Panarin, 24, spent parts of seven seasons in the KHL.

This isn't a knock on Panarin - he's an excellent hockey player playing on an incredible team. But McDavid's better, and no rational Blackhawks supporter can say otherwise.

McDavid had 17 points in 12 games in February - four more points than Panarin's put up in any month. He's got three points in two games in March. As the Oilers play out another lost season, McDavid's the reason to watch. He's the rookie of the year. (And the Philadelphia Flyers ruin everything.)

Lightning will win the Atlantic

Ian McLaren: With Steven Stamkos locked in for at least the rest of the season, the Jonathan Drouin distraction pushed off to the sidelines, and a now relatively healthy roster, the Tampa Bay Lightning are once again the team to beat in the Atlantic Division.

Stamkos has been red-hot since general manager Steve Yzerman declared he would not be traded, while a return to health for key players further down the lineup gives Tampa a depth up front that is difficult to handle.

Even though Drouin wasn't flipped prior to the deadline in order to shore up the roster for a long playoff run, the Lightning have almost caught the cross-state rival Florida Panthers for first place in the division, and will do so before the end of the season.