1) Blackhawks will disappoint everyone and miss the playoffs and Marty Turco will be the reason. They almost missed it if it weren’t for Minnesota to bail them out. Not such a bad season though thanks to Corey Crawford. Turco was less than spectacular. As expected he got the wins (11 in 29 games) but gave up a crap load of goals (82 tallies). .897 SV% and a 3.02 GAA. I’m giving myself half credit for getting the Turco part right. Half right
2) The Oilers WILL make the playoffs and will look good doing it. Not even close. Edmonton finished last in the league. However don’t turn your back on them because many feel their future is bright with Hall, Omark, Paajarvi, and Eberle. wrong
3) Only 3 Canadian teams will miss the playoffs again. For the first time since before the lockout, less than 3 teams made it. Only Montreal and Vancouver are in the hunt this year. The Flames, Oilers, Senators and Maple Leafs all fall short. Toronto 8 points back and the Flames a mere 3 points out of the last playoff spot. wrong
4) Carey price will play well enough to ensure Montreal a playoff spot. Criticized for weak play before the season. He was spectacular though and made it to the all star game. The Canadiens are the six seed. right
5) Washington will wait until the finals to choke. They choked in the second round.
6) The Bruins will be embarrassingly bad this year. Thomas saved them and everyone played great. Don’t know where this prediction came from but I could not have been more off. wrong
7) Capitals will win the Presidents’ Trophy again. Not this time. Ovechkin plagued with injury and slumps. Goaltending wasn’t stable enough. Capitals still made it to the one seed in the east but Presidents’ Trophy won with EASE by Vancouver. wrong
8) Kovalchuk nets 35 and Parise has over 40. Had Parise stayed healthy this may have been close. Kovalchuk had 30 in the end and Parise would have done very well during the Devils run for the playoffs. But this was a tad off its mark. wrong
9) Stamkos proves he isn’t a fluke. The Coyotes and Bryzgalov do the same. Right on all cylinders. Stamkos 2nd in goals and 5th in points. Lead the Bolts to the playoffs and it should be interesting what they’ll do there. Pheonix finished 11th overall in the league. Very balanced system and a great team to watch. Another Vezina caliber season for Bryzy. Plays great for his team and a reason why they are in the playoffs. Stats aren’t overwhelming (.921 SV% 2.48 GAA ) but solid and he certainly gets the job done. right
10) Daniel Sedin proves he is as good as his brother. My favorite prediction. After his brother Henrik dominated the league and became captain of Vancouver, it appeared people have forgotten how good Daniel is. Daniel finished first in the league in points claiming the Art Ross Trophy and is a candidate for this year’s Hart Trophy, a year after Henrik won the honours. right
11) Whatever injury/ies Gaborik missed last year, he will get this year. Gaborik missed a good handful of games this year as he finishes with 14 fewer games played than last year. He suffered a few injuries but nothing TOO major. He also scored 20 less goals than last year and 38 less points. right
12) Nash will demand to be traded and disaster will ensue in Columbus. Neither things happen. Columbus got off to a hot start but eventually cooled down. Not as bad as people expected and Nash another productive year as he remains in the train wreck that is hockey in Ohio. Wrong
13) Tavares will have another OK season before beginning to stand out. A little better than last year. A very solid year for John and the Islanders. We’ll see next year how he does. It should be even better than this year as he continues to show promise. Right
14) Craigh Anderson will single handedly get Colorado a playoff spot. Anderson got hurt early on and Colorado struggled without him. By the time he came back it would be a tough climb back to the top. After being traded though, he played very well for Ottawa. Colorado finished 14th in the West. Wrong
15) Hossa will finally NOT make it to the finals. Finally!!!!! right
16) The Capitals will continue the streak of Winter Classic teams making it to the finals. False. The Capitals, Penguins, Flames, and Canadiens all didn't make it.
17) The Rangers will fall just short of a playoff spot again. Soooooooo close with this one as it goes down to game number 82 again this time for another game also in which the Rangers didn’t control their fate. However they luck out and sneak in. wrong
18) Cam Ward will remain in Carolina for some reason. Pre-season speculations busted as Cam and Carolina just miss the playoffs after a good season. Right
19) Martin Brodeur will play less than 75 games this year as he finally begins to slow down. 56 is the number this year. A few injuries and slumps left him sidelined throughout the year. He was brilliant at a few points but it appears his career is winding down. Right
20) Hart-Ovechkin
Vezina-Luongo
James Norris-Lidstrom
Calder-Hall
Lady Byng-Parise
Selke-Datsyuk
Jack Adams-Guy Boucher
Masterton-(at the time not enough info. Probably Tim Thomas though)
Lindsay-Stamkos
Messier-H. Sedin
Foundation-…who cares
8.5/16 almost half of them right
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