T1B

Only two weeks until opening night!

1. The 16 playoffs teams will be (not in order of finish)...

EASTERN CONFERNCE: Ottawa, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Pittsburgh

WESTERN CONFERENCE: Detroit, Nashville, San Jose, Anaheim, Vancouver, Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary

2. Crosby will put up 60 points to win the Calder Trophy.

3. Forsberg will win the Hart Trophy and the Art Ross.

4. Canada will repeat as Olympic gold medalists.

5. Gretzky and Phoenix will finish 10th in the very deep Western Conference.

6. Mario Lemieux will play the entire and put up 90 points.

7. Conference Finals predictions: East--Philadelphia over Ottawa, West--Calgary over Vancouver

8. Cup Finals predictions: Philadelphia over Calgary

The Kings should qualify, they now have 2 scoring lines, plus alot of youth that has another year of experience playing at Manchester.

Shoalzie wrote:6. Mario Lemieux will play the entire and put up 90 points.

Only if they suceed in outlawing all contact.

Oh, and the Sabres will surprise some people.

Cross Traffic wrote:The Kings should qualify, they now have 2 scoring lines, plus alot of youth that has another year of experience playing at Manchester.

I like the Kings lineup but who's going to be their goalie? Garon? The West is very deep this year...some quality teams are going to miss the playoffs. I didn't even include St. Louis and Dallas in the mix.

Garon is going to be their #1 this year, with LaBarbera or Hauser as their backup. Garon played in the A last season and put up excellent numbers as did LaBarbera.

Shoalzie wrote:
8. Cup Finals predictions: Philadelphia over Calgary

Def the best chance they've had in the past 10 years...

I am just so freakin' glad they are back I could care less about all but one of those categories.

Shoalzie wrote:4. Canada will repeat as Olympic gold medalists.

^^^^
Bang fucking on my friend.

BBMarley wrote:

Shoalzie wrote:
8. Cup Finals predictions: Philadelphia over Calgary

Def the best chance they've had in the past 10 years...

What about the Legion of Doom? They should've had you guys in a few more finals than just '97. I've read that Hatcher and Forsberg are banged up...you need Fopa to stay healthy.

The Canucks loose in the finals every 12 years (94,82) and the Canadians usually win the cup in years that end in 6s (46, 56, 66, 76, & 86) therefore it has to me Montreal over Vancouver in 7 games. Right?

Regular Season:
Winner of the west Vancouver
Winner of the east east Ottawa

They were both talented teams before the strike, their players should be better, and they haven't changed too much since the lockout ended so they should have some chemistry.

Shoalzie,

I hate to say this but with the NHL's new rivalry schedule, I can't see 4 teams from 1 divison making the playoffs. Therefore I have to disagree with your pick of "Vancouver, Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary" making the playoffs. Vancouver yes, flip a coin for the other three.

Joey Moss wrote:Shoalzie,

I hate to say this but with the NHL's new rivalry schedule, I can't see 4 teams from 1 divison making the playoffs. Therefore I have to disagree with your pick of "Vancouver, Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary" making the playoffs. Vancouver yes, flip a coin for the other three.

That's a good point...I think that's what is going to happen in the Central. Teams like St. Louis, Chicago and Columbus are possible playoff teams but they'll beat each other up in the division but they won't win as many games out of the division as those teams in the Northwest. Vancouver, Colorado and Calgary are among the top teams in the West going into the season. I see Edmonton being the 7th or 8th seed.

Been busy lately, I've been wanting to post in this thread for a while now!!

Anyway, predictions are as follow:

1) The Toronto Maple Leafs will disappoint the haters and be a pretty decent team, much to my and many others' dismay. They'll make the playoffs and probably win a round.

2) Ottawa will win the east, Philly will disappoint, mostly due to injury (ahem, Forsberg).

3) OK, after watching a few Flames preseason games, I'm a believer.. the Flames make the Finals again. Further predictions will be made at that time. I now know better than to assume anything in the Finals.

4) The Coyotes suck and Gretzky whines about it in the media.

5) The Oilers miss the playoffs despite many pundits assertion that they've improved.

6) The Canucks win the NW division again.

7) The St. Louis Blues' famed making-the-playoffs streak comes to a bitter end by the month of March.

Sidney Crosby racks up 60+ points.

9) Dion Phaneuf is the best rookie but doesn't win the Calder because he's a defenseman.

10) Tomas Vanek wins the Calder with a 35 goal rookie season.

11) The Anaheim Mighty Ducks beat the Kings in the standings (again) and Cross Traffic calls Ducks fans myopic anyway.

12) The Flames beat the Red Wings in the standings, and JD wins his sig bet vs. al?

Drop the f'in puck!!!!

11) The Anaheim Mighty Ducks beat the Kings in the standings (again) and Cross Traffic calls Ducks fans myopic anyway.

again? Kings have finished ahead of the Ducks in the standings 4 out of the past 5 seasons. (Only exception being the 02-03 season, even with all the injuries the Kings had in 03-04, they still finished 5 points ahead)

Cross Traffic wrote:11) The Anaheim Mighty Ducks beat the Kings in the standings (again) and Cross Traffic calls Ducks fans myopic anyway.

again? Kings have finished ahead of the Ducks in the standings 4 out of the past 5 seasons. (Only exception being the 02-03 season, even with all the injuries the Kings had in 03-04, they still finished 5 points ahead)

Fair enough, but really, it need have only happened once for the "again" to be valid.

How's JR's head?

Day to Day according to the Kings, which means he is out a month.

Cross Traffic wrote:Day to Day according to the Kings, which means he is out a month.

So when are the Kings going to pick up Biron?
He's being shopped heavily by the Sabres and the Kings are the one team whose name keeps coming up besides the Canucks.

Or are the Kings that content with Garon in net..

JD wrote: Anyway, predictions are as follow:

1) The Toronto Maple Leafs will disappoint the haters and be a pretty decent team, much to my and many others' dismay. They'll make the playoffs and probably win a round.

For the Leafs it is going to be a looooooooooong October. It's going to take them that long to adjust to the new game, and to get in game shape.

Hapday wrote:

JD wrote: Anyway, predictions are as follow:

1) The Toronto Maple Leafs will disappoint the haters and be a pretty decent team, much to my and many others' dismay. They'll make the playoffs and probably win a round.

For the Leafs it is going to be a looooooooooong October. It's going to take them that long to adjust to the new game, and to get in game shape.

Why would it be any different for any other team?

Shoalzie wrote:

BBMarley wrote:

Shoalzie wrote:
8. Cup Finals predictions: Philadelphia over Calgary

Def the best chance they've had in the past 10 years...

What about the Legion of Doom? They should've had you guys in a few more finals than just '97. I've read that Hatcher and Forsberg are banged up...you need Fopa to stay healthy.

Both are back, healthy. Injury problems for Forsberg are a concern for the season. The Flyers didn't have great coaching, had no depth on the back line and Lindros was such a cancer on that team it affected the rest of the team.

JD wrote:

Hapday wrote:

JD wrote: Anyway, predictions are as follow:

1) The Toronto Maple Leafs will disappoint the haters and be a pretty decent team, much to my and many others' dismay. They'll make the playoffs and probably win a round.

For the Leafs it is going to be a looooooooooong October. It's going to take them that long to adjust to the new game, and to get in game shape.

Why would it be any different for any other team?

The Leafs have too many injuries and guys who are out of shape, or both.

They seem to be sure about Garon as their #1, but the #2 is what concerns me, LaBarbera was lit up like a Xmas tree last night against the Sharks.

My predictions on who will make the playoffs:

EASTERN CONFERNCE: Ottawa, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Florida

WESTERN CONFERENCE: Detroit, Nashville, San Jose, Minnesota, Vancouver, Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary

With the new schedule, I can't see all 4 NW teams making the playoffs.

Blues will be ok, they will have to win 3-2/2-1 gamees and kill penalties.




When Checketts takes over, team will definately be a player at deadline(dealing vets) and next year they have almost 18 mil off the cap(they are 5 under now). 23 mil to spend

Shoalzie wrote:Only two weeks until opening night!

1. The 16 playoffs teams will be (not in order of finish)...

EASTERN CONFERNCE: Ottawa, Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Pittsburgh

WESTERN CONFERENCE: Detroit, Nashville, San Jose, Anaheim, Vancouver, Colorado, Edmonton, Calgary

2. Crosby will put up 60 points to win the Calder Trophy.

3. Forsberg will win the Hart Trophy and the Art Ross.

4. Canada will repeat as Olympic gold medalists.

5. Gretzky and Phoenix will finish 10th in the very deep Western Conference.

6. Mario Lemieux will play the entire and put up 90 points.

7. Conference Finals predictions: East--Philadelphia over Ottawa, West--Calgary over Vancouver

8. Cup Finals predictions: Philadelphia over Calgary

*BUMP*

These may be the single worst set of predictions I've ever made in any sport.

Damn, I didn't even make any predictions this year. Probably a good thing I didn't anyways, although I would have been right about the Rangers making the playoffs.

Other than the west picks..Shoalzie's predictions are truly terrible.

He sure bought into the Crosby hype.

The Rat Pack wrote:He sure bought into the Crosby hype.

Yeah, but I short changed him by 40 points. Who knew we'd have two rookies finish in the top 10 in scoring and go over 100 points each?