The 2000-01 Predictions

The 2000-01 season saw the NHL expand again. After adding the Thrashers on year earlier, the NHL went north as they added two teams to the fray with the inclusion of the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets. With the divisions misaligned from one season earlier, both of the expansion teams were dropped into the Western Conference, moving the NHL from 28 teams to 30 teams as each conference had 15 teams apiece. That being said, the expansion teams rolling into the NHL in the last few years hadn't done much in the way of success, so the NHL was working with a somewhat-diluted pool of players. Would we see things change in 2000-01? Let's take a peek at what The Hockey News predicted compared to what actually happened.

I guess the only other Canadian team that the The Hockey News believes the prairie region knows about are the Edmonton Oilers. Tommy Salo was a decent goaltender, but I'm quite certain there were other players who could have appeared on the cover over him. At least we got a peek of Valeri Bure on the smaller picture on the cover. You might remember him as the brother of the Russian guy scoring all the goals in Vancouver. If you're keeping track at home, that's four Maple Leafs and two Oilers - both goalies - on the cover of the six Yearbooks we've examined.

The Hockey News is back with all new standings predictions this year in what was their 25th Anniversary of the Yearbook, so we'll see how they do this year with the predictions. They could use a bounce-back year after a paltry 21.6% accuracy on their predictions one year earlier.

Here are the standings predictions as per The Hockey News.

Click on the picture if you'd like to view it at a larger size.

STANDINGS

I'll award one point for every team correctly predicted as to their final conference standing. I'll also award one point for every correctly-predicted playoff team in the right standing, and 0.5 points for a playoff team not in the correct standings spot. There will also be one-point added for correctly predicting the division winners since that's part of the prediction. That's a potential total of 15 points for the standings, 8 points for the playoff teams, and three more for divisional winners for a total of 26 points per conference in this section.

The final Eastern Conference standings in 2001 in the NHL are listed first with The Hockey News' predicted team to finish in that same spot listed second.

1. New Jersey (NHL) vs. New Jersey (THN)
2. Ottawa vs. Buffalo
3. Washington vs. Washington
4. Philadelphia vs. Philadelphia
5. Buffalo vs. Toronto
6. Pittsburgh vs. New York Rangers
7. Toronto vs. Florida
8. Carolina vs. Ottawa
9. Boston vs. Pittsburgh
10. New York Rangers vs. Boston
11. Montreal vs. Carolina
12. Florida vs. Montreal
13. Atlanta vs. Tampa Bay
14. Tampa Bay vs. New York Islanders
15. New York Islanders vs. Atlanta

As you can see, THN did much better this year as they got New Jersey, Washington, and Philadelphia exactly right in the East this year for 3 points on the standings prediction. The prediction for playoff teams saw them predict New Jersey, Washington, and Philly in their exact playoff spots for 3 points while they had three of the remaining five teams correct in making the playoffs. That's 1.5 points (3 x 0.5), and gives THN 4.5 points for those playoff predictions. They also had two of three teams correct as division winners for 2 added points there, bringing the final total for their Eastern Conference standings predictions comes in at 10.5/26 points.

The Western Conference follows the same listing and scoring for 26 possible points.

1. St. Louis (NHL) vs. Dallas (THN)
2. Colorado vs. Colorado
3. Dallas vs. St. Louis
4. St. Louis vs. Detroit
5. San Jose vs. Phoenix
6. Edmonton vs. San Jose
7. Los Angeles vs. Los Angeles
8. Vancouver vs. Edmonton
9. Phoenix vs. Anaheim
10. Nashville vs. Calgary
11. Calgary vs. Vancouver
12. Chicago vs. Chicago
13. Columbus vs. Nashville
14. Minnesota vs. Columbus
15. Anaheim vs. Minnesota

THN had three of the teams right in their predicted standings for a total of 3 points as Colorado, Los Angeles, and Chicago all finished where they predicted. The correctly identified that both Colorado and Los Angeles would finish where they did as playoff seeds for 2 more points, and they correctly had five of the other six playoff teams making the cut, giving them another 2.5 points (5 x 0.5) for a total of 4.5 points for playoff teams. They also correctly predicted two of three division winners to add another 2 points to the score for a final total of 9.5/26 possible points in the Western Conference.

STANLEY CUP WINNER

The oh-fer-five streak continues into this year for The Hockey News correctly picking the Stanley Cup champion, and the THN crew hitched their wagons to the Colorado Avalanche as the last team standing in the 2001 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Let's check that prediction.

• COLORADO AVALANCHE WILL WIN THE STANLEY CUP. Holy cow! The streak is over! The Colorado Avalanche defeated the New Jersey Devils in seven games to win the Stanley Cup! Of course, as history will remind us, this was Ray Bourque's final season in the NHL as he went out on top as a member of the Colorado Avalanche, and was the first Stanley Cup Final to feature the top teams from either conference since 1989 when the Flames and Canadiens met.

Because The Hockey News selected the correct team to win, they score 1/1 on this section for the first time since we started looking at these predictions!

The final tally on this season is 21 out of 53 possible points, meaning The Hockey News was 39.6% correct in its predictions - the highest score since we started! The Hockey News is also 1-for-6 in its Stanley Cup champion predictions, but they finally broke the goose egg with their choice in the Avalanche. If you made a bet in Vegas based on their predictions this year, you likely came home richer than before!

We'll see how future seasons play out with these predictions and if THN can continue improve upon their scores year after year as we move forward chronologically!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!