Heatley nets 37
Seto nets 26
Lats nets 22
Bouchard gets another concussion midway through season and is out rest of the year
Koivu, armed with decent linemates (finally), becomes a point a game guy and beyond getting 86 pts
Zidlicky plays 70 games
Someone finally gets tired of Clutterbuck and pulls a Bertuzzi on him although not quite as severe
Harding plays 30 games due to Backstom's minor injury and because he's (Harding) playing very well
Wild make playoffs as 7th seed
Wild happen to play San Jose in 1st rd and ultimately fall 4 games to 1 with Havlat and Burns combining for 11 pts in the series
-Heatley gets 34g 75pts
-Setoguchi gets 26g
-Latendresse gets 23g
-Koivu gets 78pts
-Wild make the playoffs but lose in 1st round
-One of the wilds top 6 forwards gets injured and misses the rest of the season.
Heatley nets 37
Seto nets 26
Lats nets 22 Bouchard gets another concussion midway through season and is out rest of the year
Koivu, armed with decent linemates (finally), becomes a point a game guy and beyond getting 86 pts
Zidlicky plays 70 games
Someone finally gets tired of Clutterbuck and pulls a Bertuzzi on him although not quite as severe Harding plays 30 games due to Backstom's minor injury and because he's (Harding) playing very well
Wild make playoffs as 7th seed
Wild happen to play San Jose in 1st rd and ultimately fall 4 games to 1 with Havlat and Burns combining for 11 pts in the series
Well I got 2 of my predictions right. I was close on the Zidlicky one. Looks like he'll play 63 games this year combining the Wild and Devils.
Huge swing and a miss by a country mile. Thankfully. Can't believe I was actually rooting for this guy less than a year ago.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Puhis
- Seto starts in 2nd line, but after three weeks of bad success at the start of the season and first line being borderline useless, he switches places with Bouchard to form the much anticipated "Two sharks and a Finn"- line, resulting in a landslide. They get an instant connection, Koivu gets a 95-point season, Heater scores 50+ goals and Setoguchi gets 41 while Wild make the conference Finals.
WHAT HAVE I BEEN SMOKING?!
Well, to be fair, Two sharks and a Finn"- line did happen, so I was correct there. Not that it was ever in doubt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Puhis
- Clutterbuck boards Zdeno Chara in 19th of February home game against the Bruins, resulting in Bruins fans hatred against us because we are a "dirty team". Oh, and Chara's season is over.
That turned out to be a miss as well. Not that it was likely.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Puhis
- Bäckström scores an empty-netter in playoffs.
Playoffs? What's that, some sort of an exotic food?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Puhis
- Bäckström will have a 1.92 GAA and 92.1% regular season.
He is currently sitting at 2.40GAA and 92.1%. Surprisingly accurate, the GAA was off but hey, we did have kind of a slump there mid-season.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Puhis
- Mikko Koivu will have at least one 5-point game this season.
Still possible!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Puhis
And last but not least...
- We get heaps of band-wagoners.
Aaaaand... We did! All thanks to the famous Gopher's cloning vats™ and some support from The Lounge.
-Heatley scores around 35 goals (let's say 32-38)
-Latendresse pots about 25 goals
-Koivu has by far his best year, topping a point per game
-Gillies-Brodziak-Clutterbuck line combines for around 80 points
-Backstrom finishes the year better than his career average (2.42 GAA/.917 SV%)
-Wild PK finishes in the top 8
-Scandella takes a leap forward and is (legitimately) playing in the top pairing by the trade deadline
-No more than 2 of these predictions comes true
I see I created a logical paradox with the last one. (Assuming Backstrom doesn't tank his stats this week, 2.43 GAA/.921 SV% > 2.42 GAA/.917 SV% and people consider Scandella to have been playing top pairing)
-Heatly puts in 48 goals
-Koivu has 100 points
-Our top line is a top 3 line in the Western Conference
-The Clutterbuck line becomes one of the biggest pains in the ass for the opposing teams top line
-Lats buries 30 goals and makes the #2 center look good when hes really just average
-Backs has an up and down year, but Harding is so jazzed up that he stands on his head in almost all of his starts
-We do something big as far as defense goes at the trading deadline
-We challenge Vancouver for the division title, spanking them all three times at home (twice against LuBrongo because they're too stupid to start Schnieder the first two times) and beating them once in their barn, but we end up 4 points behind them at the end. They become the #2 seed while we are the #4 seed.
-We advance at least to the second round.
1. Sheppard wins the #4 C job. His final stat line: 10-19-29.
2. Heatley scores 28 goals. We are all thrilled, but we have to listen to Sharks & Senators fans say "I told you so" all ****ing year.
3. No major injuries.
We will have 3 30 goal scorers, one 40 goal scorer, and 1/3 of them will NOT be Heater, Lats or Seto. (my bolder prediction is Clutterbuck getting 30)
Heater and Butch click like a Logitech mouse, but Koivu and Heater don't work. Lats - Koivu - Seto becomes our "1st" line, with Butch - Brodz - Heater being our "2nd" line. Cullen never sniffs the top-6.
Zidlicky stays largely healthy and regains his ability to shoot on the PP and finishes top-5 in PP goals from defensemen.
Backstrom gets hurt early in the year, and fights nagging injury for most of the season. Harding comes in and starts 50+ games, finishing with a sub 2.5 GAA and a 91%+ save percentage. Proving finally that he can stay healthy AND handle a starting load. 2 years from now, signing him for this season instead of pursuing another FA goalie becomes a killer move. And Backstrom walks to free agency due to some goofy-ness with his his contract's NTC or NMC (I don't remember which he has...)
One of: Prosser, Genoway or Falk make the team out of camp - even AFTER we sign a FA defensemen (during training camp, due to an injury) - and play 75+ games with the big club. I've got my money on Genoway becoming a respectable 5/6 guy who gets PP time, personally. But I'm leaving it open.
We will make the 8th seed, on the strength of trading our 1st rounder for a defensemen at the deadline.
Ugh, all this pontificating is exhausting. I also realized I don't have a single negative prediction... That's far too telling... I'm too hopeful damnit!
Wow... I was higher than a kite on the kool-aid.
The only piece that was close is Harding's peripherals (.916/2.68 where I predicted .91+ and sub 2.5).
Prosser AND Falk played plenty of games, neither 75+, but both were good in their own way.
Other than that... the only thing I was right about was how hopeful I was.
Injuries limit Lats to a handful of games before the deadline, comes back healthy and is traded to a playoff team that needs depth.
Right on injuries!
Quote:
3/ Brad Staubitz is demoted to the AHL. He is claimed by Philadelphia.
Not the right team but correct!
Quote:
4/ Cody Almond establishes himself in the NHL. With him, MacMillian (an emergency call up), Gillies, Powe, and Clutterbuck, a lot of teams have fits against a tighter defensive and more physical Minnesota Wild team.
Kind of correct...
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5/ By the end of the year, Scandella is known league wide and establishes himself in the top 4 due to Wilson and Yeo
Half right I'd say.
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7/ Backstrom and Harding both go down with injuries and Hackett is called up. Backstrom is traded at the deadline and Minnesota goes back to the 1A and 1B tandem of before.
2/3 right?
Quote:
10/ Minnesota has two first round picks this year in the 2012.
-Heatley drops 32 goals.
-Setoguchi drops 15 or less.
-Jonas Brodin starts and ends his season looking like a steal at #10.
-Granlund's stat totals take a hit (note that I didn't say he regressed).
-Scandella gets >20 assists.
-One of Gillies or Sheppard will earn our respect back or for the first time.
-Clutterbuck gets 20 goals.
-Latendresse disappoints.
-Backstrom gets only one shutout all season.
-Bulmer has a bad season while Haula has a good one.
-Nick Schultz scores 5 goals or more. (Perhaps my boldest prediction of all)
Prospects:
Zucker leads the WCHA in scoring and Denver wins NCAA title.
Meh, 2nd in the WCHA. Denver's team fell apart due to injuries.
Quote:
Originally Posted by this providence
Negative Prediction
Stoner and Spurgeon both fall off the map and have tough seasons. Stoner to 3rd pairing/healthy scratch levels and Spurgeon spends much of the year in Houston.
I think I nailed Stoner but maybe that's because I'm not a big fan. If the team were healthy, he's be at that level...
Spurgeon was the team's best defenseman for much of the year. As sad as that is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by this providence
Draft Prediction
The Wild draft Jacob Trouba, D | USNDT
Perhaps...
__________________
After Meaningless Win - 3/29/12 - Game 77 | SoH-"Who knows, that could have cost us a Cup tonight." | Dooohkay
