I’m gonna go watch some hockey tonight so I’ll keep this brief. These are my predictions for the season. If you’ve been following us, you’ve seen me do some season previews. I haven’t gotten to all of them, but I will.
| Place | Team | Games | Wins | Losses | OT Losses | Points |
| 1 | P – TAMPA BAY | 82 | 51 | 23 | 8 | 110 |
| 2 | X -BOSTON | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 106 |
| 3 | X -TORONTO | 82 | 44 | 31 | 7 | 95 |
| 4 | X-MONTRÉAL | 82 | 43 | 31 | 8 | 94 |
| 5 | DETROIT | 82 | 36 | 32 | 14 | 86 |
| 6 | OTTAWA | 82 | 35 | 35 | 12 | 82 |
| 7 | FLORIDA | 82 | 31 | 41 | 10 | 72 |
| 8 | BUFFALO | 82 | 20 | 51 | 11 | 51 |
| Place | Team | Games | Wins | Losses | OT Losses | Points |
| 1 | Y – PITTSBURGH | 82 | 46 | 26 | 10 | 102 |
| 2 | X – COLUMBUS | 82 | 45 | 27 | 10 | 100 |
| 3 | X – NY RANGERS | 82 | 44 | 28 | 10 | 98 |
| 4 | X- NY ISLANDERS | 82 | 40 | 29 | 13 | 93 |
| 5 | WASHINGTON | 82 | 41 | 31 | 10 | 92 |
| 6 | PHILADELPHIA | 82 | 39 | 32 | 11 | 87 |
| 7 | NEW JERSEY | 82 | 36 | 34 | 12 | 82 |
| 8 | CAROLINA | 82 | 32 | 34 | 16 | 78 |
| Place | Team | Games | Wins | Losses | OT Losses | Points |
| 1 | Y – ST. LOUIS | 82 | 54 | 22 | 6 | 114 |
| 2 | X – CHICAGO | 82 | 52 | 22 | 8 | 112 |
| 3 | X – COLORADO | 82 | 47 | 25 | 10 | 104 |
| 4 | X – DALLAS | 82 | 43 | 28 | 11 | 97 |
| 5 | MINNESOTA | 82 | 42 | 30 | 10 | 94 |
| 6 | NASHVILLE | 82 | 37 | 32 | 13 | 87 |
| 7 | WINNIPEG | 82 | 37 | 36 | 9 | 83 |
| Place | Team | Games | Wins | Losses | OT Losses | Points |
| 1 | Z – ANAHEIM | 82 | 48 | 23 | 11 | 107 |
| 2 | X – LOS ANGELES | 82 | 47 | 26 | 9 | 103 |
| 3 | X-VANCOUVER | 82 | 46 | 26 | 10 | 102 |
| 4 | X – SAN JOSE | 82 | 44 | 29 | 9 | 97 |
| 5 | CALGARY | 82 | 39 | 34 | 9 | 87 |
| 6 | PHOENIX | 82 | 34 | 32 | 16 | 84 |
| 7 | EDMONTON | 82 | 32 | 40 | 10 | 74 |
Based on what I’ve seen, it looks like a lot more parity in the Eastern Conference (especially in the upper ends of the Atlantic and Metropolitan divisions). It looks like we might see new division winners in the Atlantic and the Central. The Islanders will make a big jump from the bottom of the Metropolitan and join the Penguins, Rangers, and Blue Jackets as playoff teams. In the Atlantic the Lightning will overtake the Bruins behind Stamkos, Palat, Filppula and a few former New York Rangers.
Speaking of the Rangers, they’ve made a lot of changes (including replacing the old Boyle with a new one), but should see a similar point total to last year, thought their stay in the playoffs will be shorter (viva la Blue Coats).
Some surprise (sort of) playoff misses in the Eastern Conference this year will be Ottawa, Philadelphia, Detroit and Washington.
In the Western Conference, Vancouver returns to the playoffs after last year’s hiatus. The Ducks win the Pacific again, but it’s not as easy this time. The Sharks will make their first round playoff exit make sense this year as they creep into the playoffs just beating out Minnesota by 3 points. Calgary starts to make some noise finishing with more points than 9 other teams in the NHL and the Stars continue their resurgence heading back to the playoffs for another chance at the Cup.
At the top of the Central division, 17 points ahead of the rising Stars (see what I did there?) are the best in the west St. Louis Blues (thankfully the Rams suck or they’d have a chance at all three of their major sports team winning a title). They’ll finish ahead of the rest of the NHL with 114 points, though Chicago will be close by (as always).
4 hours and 51 minutes to be exact.
Colorado and the returning champion LA Kings round out the playoff teams and we’ve got some awesome matchups.
I was almost tempted to give the Sharks a series here because at this point people expect them to lose, but no chance they beat the Blues (St. Louis in 6). Blackhawks/Avalanche should be alright, but I think it will be a little too easy for Chicago (Hawks in 5). I wanted to see the Stars win a series, and they actually might, but I’m going with Anaheim (Ducks in 7). The Canucks take down the returning champs, but lose to the streaking Ducks. The Islanders unfortunately face off against the best team in the East in their first trip back to the playoffs in like forever (shortened seasons don’t count).
The Maple Leafs beat the Bruins in what is probably the best series of the postseason, sending New England into a fucking frenzy and leaving Boston in flames which paves the way for Hartford, as the new best city in New England, to take the Bruins from those Massholes and get their Whalers back.
The Rangers bow out in the first round this year to the newly awesome Blue Jackets, who follow up their first postseason series win by getting their second, beating the Canadiens on their way to face the Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final. Speaking of the Canadiens, they’ll have a great time absolutely punishing the Penguins and leaving Crosby wondering why he left Canada in the first place.
The Final will pit the Tampa Bay Lightning against the St. Louis Blues, ensuring that no one goes to the games and they finally move the Lightning to Milwaukee where they belong (seriously, how does Florida have two teams and Wisconsin doesn’t have any?). The Blues win the Stanley Cup and just barely get it out of the building before it gets stolen and used as a Pimp Cup for the most ballinest gangster in Missouri.
Stay Classy St. Louy
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