The 2003-04 Predictions

The 2003-04 NHL season was an interesting one from the business side of things for the NHL. The Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NHLPA was about to expire, and both sides needed to find some middle ground on the terms of a new agreement before the 2004-05 season would begin. It was also announced that ABC and ESPN would not be renewing their contract with the NHL to carry games as the major US network. The NHL also opted to boost team revenues by swapping jerseys as teams would wear their dark jerseys at home and their white jerseys on the road as teams looked to capitalize on the alternate jersey craze once more by having more fans in the home seats buy and wear them. And in specific-team news, the Phoenix Coyotes would be "Phoenix" in name only as they moved into a new arena in Glendale, Arizona. Needless to say, there was a lot of news that happened in 2003-04, and we haven't even look at the predictions made by The Hockey News nor the results in the NHL!

Welcome back, Edmonton! While I get that there were only two teams in the prairie region of the country at this point, sometimes I'd like to see other teams being featured on the front. While Ryan Smyth is a fine player, the nine cover players have now featured four Maple Leafs, four Oilers, and one Flame. I guess Vancouver, Ottawa, and Montreal had no fans on the prairies?

Because I know it makes one person's blood boil, if you've been following along at home, THN's nine cover players have featured six players who, at some point in their careers, played for the New York Islanders. While no one could predict those player moves happening, it is pretty interesting to think about how players who appeared as former cover players on The Hockey News Yearbook would eventually wind up in Islanders' colours. Moving on....

The Hockey News is back with another round of standings predictions this year, so we'll go through these predictions as we have before. After a brutal 18.1% accuracy on their predictions in 2001-02 and only a slightly-better 21.7% accuracy in 2002-03, THN better get their heads screwed on right when it comes to predicting what will happen.

Here are the standings predictions as per The Hockey News.

Wait. Hold on. Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? After correcting their standings predictions one year earlier after a huge faux-pas in not seeding the division winners 1-2-3, The Hockey News goes and messes up their standings again by forgetting that the NHL seeds division winners 1-2-3? What is going on at that magazine?!?

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. That's a potential total of 15 points for the standings plus 8 points for the playoff teams for a total of 23 points per conference in this section.

We're back to 23 points per conference because THN - the go-to in the hockey world - can't remember that division winners get the 1-2-3 seeds. Again. That's simply embarrassing.

The final Eastern Conference standings in 2004 in the NHL are listed first with The Hockey News' predicted team to finish in that same spot listed second.

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

Despit not putting the division winners in the 1-2-3 seeds, THN actually called four teams - Philly, Toronto, Carolina, and Pittsburgh - finishing in the right spot in the standings for 4 points. They had two of the seeded playoff teams - Philly and Toronto - in the right spot, and they had four of the six remaining teams correctly making the playoffs for 2 additional points (4 x 0.5). All totaled, The Hockey News scored 8/23 points for the Eastern Conference.

The Western Conference follows the same listing and scoring for 23 possible points.

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

The Western Conference saw THN falter a but. They grabbed 2 points for correctly predicting both Vancouver and Edmonton would finish where they did. They'd grab 1 more point for having Vancouver as the third-seeded team in the playoffs, and they'd add 2 points for having four of the remaining seven teams making the playoffs for 3 points for playoff squads. The final total for the Western Conference was 5/23 in 2004.

STANLEY CUP WINNER

Mike Brophy put it all on the line with his prediction in the section's title.

That Ottawa Senators logo in the word "Report" is a pretty big giveaway as to who THN was picking, so let's verify this prediction.

• OTTAWA SENATORS WILL WIN THE STANLEY CUP. Except they didn't as the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning hoisted the Stanley Cup. Following the same first-round exits as the previously-predicted Flyers and Red Wings, the Ottawa Senators played seven playoff games in 2004, falling to their southern Ontario rivals in the Toronto Maple Leafs as another chapter of the Battle of Ontario was recorded. Three of Toronto's four wins were 2-0 shutouts as Ed Belfour recorded all three blank sheets, and the losing team in all seven games recorded two goals or less.

This was the fourth playoff series in five years between these two teams, and Toronto - as they had done in the previous three series - won this series as well. THN goes 0/1 in their Stanley Cup winner prediction.

The Hockey News did marginally better this year, scoring 13 of a possible 47 points to put them at 27.7% accurate. Not their best total, but they've certain gotten better than the woeful 18.1% they scored in 2001-02. With their miss on the Stanley Cup winner, The Hockey News also moved to 1-for-9 so far in our examination on that prediction. Vegas is loving the free donations from bettors using THN as their tool for predicting the Stanley Cup champion.

We'll see how future seasons play out with these predictions and if THN can continue improve next season as we move forward chronologically!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!