The 2007-08 Predictions

The NHL officially returned to the ice with all parties set to participate on July 13, 2005 after the NHL and NHLPA both put the ink to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. There were new rules to which the players had to adapt thanks to the AHL testing out a bunch of new concepts during the lockout. The 2007-08 season saw the Atlanta Thrashers host its first NHL All-Star Game after it was supposed to be held there in 2005 during the season that was locked out, and that announcement officially put Atlanta ahead of the Thrashers' current home of Winnipeg in terms of hosting NHL All-Star Games in NHL history. Rebook took over the NHL jersey licensing and revamped a pile of jerseys, and London, England played host to the Ducks and Kings for two games. They also announced would also be the first outdoor NHL game in the US when Pittsburgh and Buffalo met on January 1, kicking off the annual Winter Classic game that would appear each and every year following. Would those games come into play when The Hockey News made their predictions? We shall see!

Edmonton gets back into the cover player column as their big off-season acquisition in Sheldon Souray looked to do some damage in "the city of champions". Edmonton did make some rumblings, but Souray's addition wouldn't be enough as the Oilers fell just short of making the playoffs once more. They do get another cover to their total, though, as they inch ahead of Toronto in cover players in the prairie region!

The Hockey News is back with another round of standings predictions this year, so we'll go through these predictions as we have before. At some point, you hope that THN can score above 35%, but it seems to get harder and harder evry year for them. Maybe this is the year their predictions are far more accurate?

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. 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.

Let's also award 1 point for each correctly-predicted division winner once more for a total of 3 points per conference, bringing the conference totals to 26 points each!

The final Eastern Conference standings in 2008 in the NHL are listed first with The Hockey News' predicted team to finish in that same spot listed second.

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

THN was all over the map here, and none of it was good. They had no teams in the right spots in the standings for zero points. They missed on all three division winners for an 0/3 score. They didn't have any of the seeded playoff teams in the right spot, and they only had four of the eight teams correctly making the playoffs for 2 additional points (4 x 0.5). All totaled, The Hockey News scored just 2/26 points for the Eastern Conference.

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

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

The Western Conference saw THN make up a little ground when they really needed it. They grabbed 2 points for correctly predicting both Detroit and Chicago would finish where they did. They had one of the three divison winners right in Detroit for 1/3 points there. They'd grab 1 more point for having Detroit as the top-seeded team in the playoffs, and they'd add 3 points for having six of the remaining seven teams making the playoffs. The final total for the Western Conference was 6/26 in 2008.

STANLEY CUP WINNER

The Hockey News actually makes two predictions here, so let's verify these predictions made by Mike Brophy on behalf of the staff and magazine.

• ANAHEIM WILL BEAT OTTAWA FOR THE STANLEY CUP. Except they didn't as the 2008 Detroit Red Wings defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games to win the Stanley Cup. Anaheim played all of six games, losing in the opening round to the Dallas Stars who would advance to the Conference Final before falling in six games to Detroit. Ottawa, meanwhile, were swept by the Penguins who eventually lost in the Stanley Cup Final to Detroit.

THN goes 0/2 in these predictions, and they seem to have a real knack for naming teams who never make it out of the first round as Stanley Cup Final participants.

The Hockey News might want to start sticking with news and doing less predictions afte this season's score of 8 out of 54 possible points for a woeful 14.8% accuracy. I mean, if you're still using THN to help you place bets in Vegas at this point, you should probably just start burning the money you're wagering. The return is equivalent.

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!