Weekend NHL rankings: A top 16, Gold Plan results and oddly specific predictions

We made it. We’re done.

Well, not all of you have made it, assuming “we” is referring to the teams, players and fans. We haven’t made it, because there are still a few days left in the regular season. Depending on which team you’re focused on, those days range in importance from ho-hum to already in playoff mode. Nobody’s done until the last whistle blows on Thursday night.

But this column, the weekend rankings? We’re done. We made it to the finish line of another season.

After all, this is the last Monday of the season, and a week from now, we’ll already be arguing about something that happened in a Game 1. It’s only a few days, but it might as well be forever in hockey-fan terms.

To go out on top, let’s bring back the format that you seemed to like last year: Five bonus predictions that will be way too specific, a full top 16 to replace the usual top 5 and a Gold Plan update in place of the bottom 5.

Just for the record, last year’s top prediction was “Boston loses in the first round” because I’m just really good at this. No, you don’t need to click and actually read it, just trust me, that’s what it said.

Bonus five: Oddly specific first-round predictions

5. Mark Stone scores the Golden Knights’ first goal — Bonus prediction: You’ll be really mad about it.

4. Auston Matthews will have a hat trick in Game 4 — He has just 22 goals to show for 50 career playoff games, although nine of those have come in the last 18 games. Still, that’s not enough for a multi-time Rocket Richard winner, so let’s say he breaks out in the Leafs’ second home game.

3. A goalie who has a shutout in Game 1 will lose his starting job by the end of the playoff run — This one might not be going out on a limb quite as far as it looks. Teams switching goalies during the playoffs has become more common, peaking with last year’s Golden Knights. Still, a shutout usually buys you some rope, so I think this one works.

2. The Oilers will score seven goals in the opener — Last year, I said they’d get shut out and that didn’t work, so let’s steer into the skid.

1. One of the Islanders or Predators is winning a Game 7 — Which one? I’m not sure. Maybe both? Probably both, but even I don’t have the guts to go that far, so we’ll settle for one and claim extra credit if it’s two. And no, this prediction will not remotely be reflected in the rankings below, thanks for noticing.

Road to the Cup

You know the drill: All 16 playoff teams, in order from least to most likely to win the Cup. Two sentences each, no more no less.

16. Whoever gets the last wild-card spot in the East — We don’t know who they’ll be yet, but we know that they can absolutely win a round or two, because this is the NHL and upsets are expected. It’s not likely, though, and as an added bonus, I can put them last without any specific fan base being mad at me.

15. Los Angeles Kings — They spent December in the top 5, peaking as high as the No. 2…