Skip to main content

Predictions for the 2007-8 NHL Season, Part One

With today's North American launch to the 2007-8 NHL season, it's high time to chip in with the obligatory predictions.  So here we go...
Eastern Conference Standings
1. Ottawa Senators (NE champ)
2. Florida Panthers (SE champ)
3. Pittsburgh Penguins (ATL champ)
4. New York Rangers
5. Atlanta Thrashers
6. Buffalo Sabres
7. Toronto Maple Leafs
8. New York Islanders
--------------------
9. New Jersey Devils
10. Washington Capitals
11. Montreal Canadiens
12. Carolina Hurricanes
13. Philadelphia Flyers
14. Tampa Bay Lightning
Western Conference Standings
1.  Detroit Red Wings (CEN champ & President's Trophy)
2.  Anaheim Ducks (PAC champ)
3.  Calgary Flames (NW champ)
4.  San Jose Sharks
5.  Minnesota Wild
6.  Dallas Stars
8.  Vancouver Canucks
--------------------
9.  Colorado Avalanche
10.  Columbus Blue Jackets
11.  Los Angeles Kings
12.  St. Louis Blues
13.  Edmonton Oilers
14.  Chicago Blackhawks
15.  Phoenix Coyotes
The basic idea here was to take a rough cut and predicting Goals For and Against for each team, running that through PythagenPuck to get an approximation of points in the standings, and that plugging in additional points for Shootout Victories and overtime losses (sometimes you lose 4-3 in regulation and get no points, sometimes you lose 4-3 in OT and get one).  In the end, it's a combination of seat-of-the-pants guesswork and formulaic balancing, so it's got a whiff of scientific application along with standard barstool bluster.
I guess what surprised me a little bit was seeing Calgary and Florida come out so highly, but the common denominator there is solid goaltending and at least a decent offensive punch.  Some of the other teams with confidence in net are crippled with more anemic attacks (like Dallas, Vancouver, Minnesota and New Jersey). 
In the Western Conference, it was interesting to see the results of this analysis match up with hunches that I posted a few weeks ago in response to Mirtle's playoff prediction poll.  I thought at the time that Colorado would miss out, and that line of reasoning still holds true.  I think adding Ryan Smyth only augments an area of the team that was already strong, while the addition of Scott Hannan isn't that much of an upgrade to a defense that lost it's leading +/- player in Ken Klee.

Popular posts from this blog

Cheer up, it's the holidays...

Why is it that various media outlets continue trying to put their own spin on the "what's wrong with the NHL" story? Our latest example comes from The Hockey News , in a piece by Jay Greenburg entitled, "Excitement Level On The Decline." Take the opening sentence: Attendance is down and yet still up from before the lockout, leaving it arguable whether buildings in New Jersey and Florida are half-full or half empty. It's no surprise that attendance is down from last season, particularly if you compare the first half of 2005-06 to the first half of this year. Coming out of the lockout, there were legions of fans starved to see the on-ice product, particularly in light of the massive rule changes. This year is more indicative of business as usual, so the fact that the league is above pre-lockout levels is a positive. Toss in the projection that overall revenues are increasing despite a 1% decrease in attendance, and I'd say that paying fans have come back ...
Read more

How I'm Trying To Make Money Sports Blogging

To kick off this series of articles general sports-blogging articles here at OTF Classic, I think it's best to start with a comment that Brad left here last week, after I shared my goals for 2012 , which include specific revenue targets: I considered diving into the world of internet marketing myself, but I felt that my friends would hate me for bugging them about stuff. I mean, it's pretty low-risk high-reward, so it's tempting. I wouldn't mind reading about tips on how to maximize impact of blogging in general to make it a legitimate income source. Trying to make money at sports blogging can be a very touchy subject - for the vast majority of us, this is an activity we pursue to both exercise our creativity and share our love of the game, whether it's hockey, football, badminton, whatever, with fellow fans. Mixing that personal conversation with a commercial message can turn people off, especially if it becomes too intrusive for the reader. It's not unrea...
Read more

Social Media, Internet Marketing, and Real, Paying Customers - it really works!

Applying the basic tenets of internet marketing (SEO best practices and social media network building) have helped me grow the readership and engagement over at On The Forecheck tremendously in recent years, but lately I've been wondering if those same techniques could be applied to small- or medium-sized local businesses, to help them drive real, tangible business results. I'm talking about not just drawing idle hockey fans looking to a blog so they can muse over line combinations, but helping businesses connect with potential customers in ways that otherwise wouldn't occur. Recently, I was able to help make just such a thing happen, and it shows just how great the opportunities are for small, local businesses which may not have the resources or skills available to extend their brand effectively on the internet.
Read more