Hindsight at its best, aka inspecting the standings predictions made before season

[jigglysquishy]

East

1) Pittsburgh Penguins
2) Washington Capitals
3) Buffalo Sabres
4) Boston Bruins
5) Montreal Canadiens
6) Philadelphia Flyers
7) Carolina Hurricanes
8) Toronto Maple Leafs
9) Tampa Bay Lightning
10) Winnipeg Jets
11) New York Rangers
12) New Jersey Devils
13) New York Islanders
14) Ottawa Senators
15) Florida Panthers

West

1) San Jose Sharks
2) Vancouver Canucks
3) Detroit Red Wings
4) Los Angeles Kings
5) Nashville Predators
6) Chicago Blackhawks
7) Anaheim Ducks
8) Minnesota Wild
9) Edmonton Oilers
10) Dallas Stars
11) Calgary Flames
12) Columbus Blue Jackets
13) St. Louis Blues
14) Colorado Avalanche
15) Phoenix Coyotes


Grossly over predicted: Washington, Buffalo, Montreal, Carolina, San Jose, Anaheim

Grossly under predicted: Phoenix, St. Louis, Ottawa, Florida, Rangers

[Frank Drebin]

Originally Posted by falconski

I love varly, but I still wish we didn't trade yakupov+ for him

lulllllllzzz

I had Colorado's back on that one.

[Frank Drebin]

Originally Posted by Naive Frank Drebin

Washington 114
Buffalo 108
Pittsburgh 100
Tampa 106
Boston 101
Montreal 99
Rangers 96
Toronto 91
Devils 90
Philadelphia 87
Carolina 84
Florida 83
Winnipeg 77
Islanders 74
Ottawa 67's

hoo boy, at least I got all 15 teams right. (I thnk...)

[hero]

Had Leafs in 10th in the east, I was a bit off.

[ShotDownCrosby]

Originally Posted by SilverSeven

Mob mentality. Oh man...they said Ottawa will suck!? MUST BE TRUE!

Anyone who watched the team knew that last year was a "everything that could go wrong...did go wrong" year. It was incredible watching the mob mentality though. Sens fans started off fairly positive, but as more and more "experts" started saying Ottawa would be the worst team in the history of the NHL, the more even Sens fans started to buy into that.

I think a big thing for Ottawa is all the question marks they had. Yes, things went wrong last year, but no one could really say without a doubt (baring major homers) that ottawa was a sure thing.

I picked Ottawa around 10th, and my reasoning were young team = inconsistency, questionable health.

We all know how great a player Spezza is, but he's had health issues for three years. We all knew Michalek can score, but he has had lack of chemistry with linemates and knee problems. We all know alfie is amazing, but he had back surgery and is aging. Karlsson is another surprise. He's had great offensive potential, but to improve so quickly is surprising. The sens had health go their way this year, with incredibly hard working team and coaching staff. They seem like a family that has really gelled (I think back to alfie's 400th goal).

People went based on how our star players were last year, and rightfully so. I'm happy to say, our players seemed physically ready! Also Turris came in half way and had made a big impact (if simply looking at getting standings).

On a random note, I did say I could see sens making the playoffs if anderson was great and Spezza, Michalek were healthy.

[NyQuil]

I'll admit I expected worse for the Senators.

However, I also expected some key injuries to guys like Spezza, Michalek and Alfredsson, given their track records, and who are 3 of the 5 most important Senators (Anderson and Karlsson being the others).

Ottawa's not the deepest team in the world, but the mid-season acquisitions of Turris and Bishop did a pretty good job in addressing some of that.

Extended injuries to Spezza or Karlsson and this team does not occupy a playoff spot.

EDIT: LOL, basically what the post before me says.

[NyQuil]

One of the bigger surprises for me was Buffalo not making the playoffs.