The 2009-10 Predictions

The 2009-10 NHL season saw the NHL return for its 92nd season of play and 93rd season overall thanks to the locked out season to which we were all witness. This season's headache for the NHL was the bankruptcy filed by the Phoenix Coyotes and the impending pitch to buy the Coyotes by Jim Balsillie who intended to move the team to Hamilton, Ontario. The NHL would eventually take over the team after a judge ruled that a bankruptcy didn't warrant a move of the franchise, killing Balsillie's bid for the team. Needless to say, there was turmoil swirling around the Coyotes all season for the 2009-10 campaign. The NHL did celebrate the start of the season by sending the Blackhawks, Blues, Panthers, and Red Wings to Europe to play games, Jeff Vinik would agree to buy the Tampa Bay Lightning in February 2010, and the Penguins would play their final game in Mellon Arena - the Igloo to most - this season. How would The Hockey News do in their predictions? Let's find out!

Hey, it's not an Edmonton Oiler! The same Calgary Flames player who graced the cover twice before is back for a trifecta as Jarome Iginla gets the cover on the 2009-10 Yearbook for THN. This is the third time a Flames player has been on the cover in total which is surprising considering they've had a number of good players through Cowtown. THN just really likes the Oilers more than the Flames for some reason.

The Hockey News continues its standings predictions this year, so we'll go through these predictions as we have before. After a meandering 20.8% accuracy on their predictions one year earlier, they need a big year this year to recoup some credibility as the "go-to" for hockey fans.

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. I'll continue to award up to three points for the division winners as well. That's a potential total of 15 points for the standings, another 3 points for divisions winners, and 8 points for the playoff teams for a total of 26 points per conference in this section.

The final Eastern Conference standings in 2010 in the NHL are listed first with The Hockey News' predicted team to finish in that same spot listed second.

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

THN really needs to start looking at past standings when predicting future standings. Trends matter! They had one team - Montreal - finishing in the right spot in the standings for 1 point. They scored Washington as a division winner for a second-straight year for a 1/3 score. They had Montreal as the eighth-seed in the right spot, and they had six of the seven remaining teams correctly making the playoffs for 3 additional points (6 x 0.5). All totaled, The Hockey News scored 5/26 points for the Eastern Conference.

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

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

The Western Conference saw THN turn in its best-ever standings predictions. They scored 5 points for having all of San Jose, Chicago, Vancouver, St. Louis, and Minnesota in the right standings spots! They had all three divison winners right for 3/3 points there! And then they also added 3 more points for having the right seeds for San Jose, Chicago, and Vancouver while tacking on 0.5 points for only having one of the five teams remaining making the playoffs for 3.5 total points there. The final total for the Western Conference was 11.5/26 in 2010!

STANLEY CUP WINNER

Ken Campbell took up the mantle of writing the prediction for the Stanley Cup champion this year, so let's verify his prediction on who the magazine chose as their winner in 2010.

• PHILADELPHIA FLYERS WILL WIN THE STANLEY CUP. Except they didn't as the 2010 Chicago Blackhawks eliminated the Flyers in six games to win the Stanley Cup. Because this is an all-or-nothing call, THN gets nothing for Philly making the big dance and going home empty-handed. There's no silver medal in the NHL, and there won't be any handed out here despite being oh-so-close to being right.

THN scored 0/1 in this prediction, but this is the second-straight year they chose a team who lost in the Stanley Cup Final. Might they be on the verge of better predictions here?

The Hockey News might want to start doing more predictions based on trends and analysis after this season's score of 16.5 out of 53 possible points for a respectable 31.1% accuracy. If someone was making 1-in-3 predictions right, you'd likely listen to them a little more. While you still wouldn't have won money in Vegas for the Stanley Cup champion prediction, THN is showing some marked improvement there.

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!