McKeen's makes 2006-07 predictions
Since I already laid out The Hockey News' preseason picks for the coming season, I figured I might as well extend the same courtesy to McKeen's Hockey given that I've now got my hands on an advance copy of this year's yearbook.
Eastern Conference
- Buffalo*
- Carolina*
- Ottawa
- NY Rangers*
- New Jersey
- Philadelphia
- Florida
- Boston
- Montreal
- Toronto
- Atlanta
- Tampa Bay
- Pittsburgh
- NY Islanders
- Washington
- San Jose*
- Nashville*
- Anaheim
- Calgary*
- Detroit
- Dallas
- Edmonton
- Minnesota
- Los Angeles
- Vancouver
- Phoenix
- Colorado
- Columbus
- Chicago
- St. Louis
UPDATE Just a clarification now that these rankings are being posted all over the 'net: While I did contribute to McKeen's this year in terms of writing team reports and features, I had no part on the prediction side of things.
I'll have my own predictions here closer to when the season starts.
by James Mirtle @ 6:56 AM
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13 Comments:
That's hilarious
Makes you wonder why some people even bother commenting. thanks for the insight there Jeffy.
Hmm. Looks like McKeens made the Nashville error as well.
Why stop there; I see San Jose vs Calgary in the western conference final and Ottawa vs Carolina in the east. My sens win the whole thing in 6. You heard it here first!
Seriously,if pre season rosters were enough to make any prediction no one would have picked edmonton and carolina.
Glad to see Buffalo up there at 1 but the Ducks at 3??? They are stacked (especially with the addition of Pronger). I would be very suprised if these 2 teams don't make it into the Cup finals.
I'm very surprised at the Habs being ranked out of the playoffs. If not for losing Koivu, they would have defeated Carolina and we'd have a different Cup champion. I can't think of any significant losses they've suffered over the last season, only improvements they've made, and they have two potential starting goalies, both with playoff experience... yeah, I think they'll get in there.
James, because I'm so busy (read: lazy) you should post beside there what their predictions were last year and what the actual placement was.
PS: Again, get haloscan.
If not for losing Koivu, they would have defeated Carolina
I'm not so sure about that. As in 2002, it was more a matter of time before the Hurricanes cracked Huet--but hey, if it makes you feel better to think that the Habominations would have swept the Hurricanes, then who am I to stop you?
Haha, ah, I just think that Koivu would have helped the Habs stay in it longer, and I suppose I should have said we'd possibly have a different Cup Champion. Big IF, but I still think the Habs are a playoff team come next spring.
I am glad more and more people are realizing that Tampa is a pretty mediocre team. Those contracts they gave to Lecavalier, St. Louis and Richards are going to hamstring them for years.
As for Anaheim, they are anything but stacked. Sure, they have 2 superstar defensemen but after that they don't have much. Their stack is pretty short. O'Donnell, Dipenta, Beauchemin and Ian Moran round out their defense. That isn't a scary bunch. Up front they will hope Selanne can repeat his much better than expected season and that youngsters Getzlaf, Perry and others really step up big time because if they don't they won't be getting a lot of scoring. I haven't finalized my predictions yet byt I probably won't have them any higher than 4th in the conference.
Los Angeles is a team that is going to have a free fall this season. They have a good defense but weak goaltending and without Demitra will struggle to score goals. Going the other way is the Blues. They will be a much better team. They were a much better team once Tkachuk got back and playing well and will also have more stable defense and goaltending this season. Jackman, McKee, Brewer and Backman will be an underrated top 4 on defense. We must remember that Jackman, Brewer and Backman all missed a significant amount of games last year. They won't likely make the playoffs but they won't be last either.
I tend to think these are better predictions than the hockey news ones. Though I have to agree with Mudcrutch that I'm a bit doubtful that Nashville is going to beat out Detriot for the divisional title. I don't think Detriot's lose of Shannahan and Nashville's gain of Arnott are going to swing that many points between the two teams. Though goaltending is something of a wild card for the Wings, how long can Haseck stay healthy is a huge question mark. I don't doubt he'll be top notch when he plays, its just a matter of how many games.
Looking at the predictions a second time I'm not sure if I can see Florida being a playoff team in the east. They have some nice players in Jokanen, Horton, Boumeister, and perhaps a resurgent Bertuzzi. On the other hand how much confidence Alex Auld inspires never having played an entire season as a starter is questionable. I rather recall Ty Conklin coming in as a back up and looking good for part of a year. (it seems like so very long ago) We all saw how that went when he was the presumptive starter.
That being said I like Montreal and Tampa's playoff chances better than Florida's. I tend to think some of the Habs skilled players had unusually bad years considering the new rules seemed to favour a speed and finesse game that their team was designed around. Gainey also has done well with having a stockpile of young talent available.
The Lightning are the Timberwolves of the NHL. While they aren't paying Garnett 24 million dollars a year, they are sinking a ludicruse amount of their budget into Lacavlier, Richards and St.Louis. This is a hit or miss strategy. Like the Timberwolves, they can be a playoff team if their star(s) carries them through the entire season almost single handedly. The lightning's trio didn't have great years last year, so its possible that they bounce back this year and carry the team. On the other hand its possible that they play okay and miss the playoffs due to a lack of secondary scoring.
On the other hand how much confidence Alex Auld inspires never having played an entire season as a starter is questionable.
Auld actually played in 67 games last year, so he should be able to hold up for the entire season.
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