My crazy predictions for the 08-09 season!!
by SumOil on Oct 1, 2009 1:14 PM MDT
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PrintWhen I thought about writing this post, I was sure I will be able to write close to 25 predictions. However, the more I thought about it, the shorter my list started to get!! This NHL season we are going to see the parity at its fullest, which the salary cap had promised us! One thing is for sure...NHL 09-10 is going to be crazy!! and here are my predictions:
1. San Jose is going to be a very average team:
Contrary to popular belief, I think San Jose lost more than they gained from the Heatley trade. On paper it looked like Cheechoo and Michalek for Heatley. However, they gave up Erhoff and Lukovich for spare change and not re-signing Grier will come back and bite them. So in actuality they lost 2 top 6 forwards, one top 4 D man and one great PK forward (actually two if you Michalek in it too). Nabakov looks like he has lost his focus and they did nothing to get him a good backup. Captain Blake will be 40 in the middle of the season, Boyle is not as responsible in the D zone and it will be too much for young Vlasic( who according to Cult of Hockey was the best player for them last season). I may not be very surprised if 09-10 San Jose Sharks are the 07-08 Tampa Bay Lightening.
2. Gaborik wins the Maurice Richards Trophy:
Forget Ovechkin, forget Kovalchuk, forget Heatley. This is the year when Marian Gaborik finally playes 82 games. In th last 4 seasons he has scored goals at .59 Goals/Game translating to a 49 goal season in Minessota Wild uniform. Now he is in the Big Apple, under a more offensive coach and system HE IS GOING TO HIT 60 GOALS!!!!!
3. Maple Leafs will make the playoffs:
Brian Burke has done an exceptional job with the leafs. There I said it. As much as I hate that egotestical ********* ****** *********, I have to say, he did all the smart things this summer. Of course he revamped the Defense, but the smartest move was not trading Tomas Kaberle. Trading and signing of Phil Kessel too was a good gamble to make. Of course he has over-paid both Kessel and Grabovski, but there is no reason to doubt that they take the next step in their development. When Kessel returns from surgery, he should contribute in a big way.
4. Brent Seabrook is one of the top 3 candidates for Norris trophy:
In his first 4 nhl seasons, the learning curve for the 14th overall pick taken in of the best draft years in a decade has been a steep rise. Last season him and Duncan Keith formed the formidable 1st pairing for the Blackhawks. While Keith got most of the accolades for the regular season, playoffs were the coming out party for now 24 yr old defense-man. He dominated the opposing forwards with confidence, and his aggressive physical play. He is no slouch with the puck either. Look for him to continue his domination this regular season and book a spot on the Canada Olympic team. In my opinion, he is better than Phenauf and should get as much hype if not more.
5. Oilers will win the division:
Yeah. We rock. No seriously it is possible. This is the year when our Defense plays to its potential This is the year when Gagner and Cogliano break out. This is the year when Hemsky scores 30 goals. This is the year when Khabibulin plays 65 games. This is the year when WE DOMINATE OUR DIVISION. Since the change in coaching, I have been having a hunch that Oilers might just win it and I am going to stick with it. Teams such as Detroit and NJ got away with bad PK and I too think it wont be a huge problem for us either this season. Of course 2 months from now if we are somewhere near the bottom, you all will point back at this post and make fun of me. BUT HEY.....THESE ARE CRAZY PREDICTIONS FOR A REASON!!!!!!!
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egotestical
Some typos really do work out for the best. :)
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
hilarious
RT40 writes with An Oilers Refinery and is an avid hockey fan.
by raventalon40 on Oct 1, 2009 10:15 PM MDT up reply actions
I think the class schedule is getting to Sum.
The division winners thing is bad enough. The Gaborik prediction?
The take on the Sharks is actually pretty damned interesting. It’s one I’ve not seen thus far and it’s giving me pause. It was your one moment of lucidity in this trip on the crazy train.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Someone has been watching the NHL’s “Is this the year” ads. And that’s all I’ll say about #5.
The others are pretty interesting. Brent Seabrook is clearly a good defenceman but I think he’ll have a hard time being a top three candidate for the Norris trophy even if he plays well enough to merit it. Voters typically go with the safer candidates so it would take a rash of injuries as well as truly inspired play for him to crack the top three, especially with Pronger now playing in the Eastern time zone.
The Maple Leafs could very well make the playoffs and a lot of that has to do with the parity in the Eastern Conference. They could also finish in the lottery. They’re definitely no sure thing. I think trading their pick in the upcoming draft is a huge risk, the Kessel contract is a huge risk and the contracts handed out to Komisarek and Beauchemin were silly since neither is an elite guy and it prevents the Leafs from being as a big a player in a (likely) cheap market next year (though they do still have lots of room). It’s an awful lot of risk to make a push this year instead of next. I don’t like it.
Gaborik has played 8 NHL seasons and hasn’t played 82 games yet. I doubt very much that “this is the year.” Further, he’d need to increase his best offensive year by about 15 goals to have a chance. It’s not impossible but…
Much like the Lightning in 2007-08 the Sharks are pretty top-heavy team. That said, you’d be the only one unsurprised if the Sharks finish 30th overall like the Lightning did in 2007-08. Overstatements aside, the Sharks really don’t have much depth, especially on defense and in goal. If two of their top four are injured or playing poorly (I’m looking at you Rob Blake) they could really struggle to keep the puck out of the net. I think they’re a playoff team, but you’ve done well to point out that they’re no sure thing for a division – let alone conference – victory.
Well for the SJS -TBL comparison, I did not mean to the extent of getting the 1st overall pick. But the fact that they wont do as good as people expect them to. The biggest difference between the 2 teams is that SJ still has a good goaltender. They will make the playoffs for sure. I wont be surprised if they struggle for long periods.
About Maple leafs, I am convinced they are a much better team than least season and other than top teams in the east, others havent really improved by much. Hence comparitively they should be better.
I agree with you somewhat on the Sharks, but they still win their division.
They are still good, but not as good as they were .
There is no one else in that division to step up unless the Kings go nuts somehow.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Not a big fan of the Ducks I see. I really like their forwards and goaltending. I think they could give the Sharks a run for the division if their defenders hold up.
by Scott Reynolds on Oct 1, 2009 2:17 PM MDT up reply actions
What about Dallas? They didn’t go completely off the deep end since meeting Detroit in the WCF in ‘08; Morrow was hurt and Turco was awful for most of last season. I dunno about divisional contenders, but they’re at least respectable.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
Defense
Their defense is questionable at best.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Stephane Robidas
Karlis Skrastins
Matt Niskanen
Jeff Woywitka
Trevor Daley
Mark Fistric
Niklas Grossman
That’s a REALLY young set of defenseman.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Yikes. I didn’t realize it had gotten that bad. Where the hell did all their veteran D go?
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
Sydor and Boucher were traded, Zubov was injured then signed in the KHL.
They’ve been playing these kids for awhile. Niskanen, Daley, Grossman have 648 games between them and Fistric has 73. But they are still really young.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Not too many teams win spending 10% under the cap and it looks like Dallas is a budget team this year. It’s especially problematic for them since they’ve got 7.8M tied up in Richards and another 5.7M in Turco.
by Scott Reynolds on Oct 1, 2009 3:15 PM MDT up reply actions
The Oilers don’t win spending to the cap.
:)
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Not exactly a counter-example but it is (sadly) true.
by Scott Reynolds on Oct 1, 2009 4:29 PM MDT up reply actions
Scott Niedermayer
James Wisniewski
Steve Eminger
Sheldon Brookbank
Ryan Whitney
Nick Boynton
Luca Sbisa
They’re going to have to get big minutes out of Wisniewski and Whitney – two guys that have struggled at times with the defensive aspect of the game when they have to play significant minutes. Sbisa is good for his age, but he has the same issues.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
But the Sharks aren’t much better. Vlasic is great and so is Boyle IMO but after that things get a bit shaky. Blake is 40 and Murray will be taking a pretty big step up in competition. After that, things start looking pretty rocky. I like SJ’s group better but I like Anaheim’s goaltending much better than SJ and the forwards look like a wash to me.
by Scott Reynolds on Oct 1, 2009 3:13 PM MDT up reply actions
You may be right – I haven’t really cast a critical eye to the differences. I just know that right now, Anaheim and Dallas are going to ask some young and unreliable defenders to play some important minutes. Maybe San Jose isn’t as strong as my presupposition says they are…
Maybe the Kings aren’t so far away.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Gaborik
I like the prediction.
I mean, there’s no way he’s healthy, but…
A posse ad esse.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and OilersNation.
Montreal has an awful game plan here. What is this system?
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Although Price vs. Toskala turns out to be a mismatch.
God I hate Toronto. Nasty bunch.
A posse ad esse.
Writer for The Copper & Blue and OilersNation.
by Jonathan Willis on Oct 1, 2009 8:54 PM MDT up reply actions
Burke … Wilson … what did you expect but a team of asshats?
Writer for The Copper & Blue
by Bruce McCurdy on Oct 1, 2009 10:02 PM MDT up reply actions
The system is apparently to have Hal Gill win a battle then put it on the stick of the nearest Leaf. God, that was fucking awful.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
Lightening
light⋅en⋅ing /ˈlaɪtnɪŋ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [lahyt-n-ing] – noun Medicine/Medical. the descent of the uterus into the pelvic cavity, occurring toward the end of pregnancy, changing the contour of the abdomen and facilitating breathing by lessening pressure under the diaphragm.
or
light⋅ning /ˈlaɪtnɪŋ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [lahyt-ning]
–noun 1. a brilliant electric spark discharge in the atmosphere, occurring within a thundercloud, between clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.
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