Final NHL standings, a look back at looking ahead

by Dirk Hoag on Apr 13, 2009 10:54 AM EDT

In the interest of intellectual honesty, it's only fair to bring up my pre-season predictions for the Eastern & Western Conferences, and see how things actually ended up. The table below shows how each team's actual results compared to (and in order of) pre-season projections.

Naturally, I won't let these results get in the way of making playoff projections over the next few days!

	Projected					Actual
Team	GF	GA	Exp. Win %	SO Wins	Pts	GF	GA	Win %	SO Wins	Pts	Comment
EAST
MTL	3.15	2.70	.613	5	105.5	2.95	2.93	.567	7	93	Team imploded after New Year's. Lang's injury was big.
PHI	3.00	2.70	.578	5	99.8	3.17	2.83	.604	4	99	Poised to make some postseason noise.
BUF	3.10	2.90	.550	5	95.1	2.95	2.79	.555	8	91	With those GF/GA numbers, they should have won more.
NJD	2.55	2.40	.545	5	94.4	2.90	2.52	.646	6	106	Scoring more than most would have guessed.
PIT	2.75	2.60	.542	5	93.8	3.15	2.84	.604	6	99	Dumping Therrien seems to have ignited this team.
NYR	2.58	2.45	.538	5	93.3	2.44	2.58	.579	10	95	Not looking impressive heading into the playoffs.
OTT	2.90	2.80	.526	5	91.3	2.60	2.82	.506	4	83	A late-season push wasn't nearly enough.
WSH	3.00	2.90	.525	5	91.1	3.27	2.93	.659	4	108	Emergence of Mike Green pivotal to NHL's #3 offense.
CAR	3.10	3.00	.524	5	91	2.88	2.70	.591	3	97	A very hot team right now.
TBL	3.10	3.10	.500	5	87	2.52	3.28	.402	3	66	Take a "Saw" to this organization.
BOS	2.60	2.75	.458	5	80.2	3.29	2.32	.707	4	116	Simply dominated at both ends of the rink.
FLA	2.40	2.55	.455	5	79.6	2.82	2.72	.567	3	93	No playoffs, and now Bouwmeester likely walks away.
ATL	2.65	3.00	.409	5	72	3.05	3.40	.463	7	76	Nothing new here.
NYI	2.30	2.90	.334	5	59.7	2.42	3.34	.372	3	61	Injuries plagued them, but still need a lot of work.
TOR	2.20	3.00	.284	5	51.6	2.98	3.49	.494	6	81	Even mediocrity exceeded expectations.
WEST
DET	3.10	2.30	.709	5	121.3	3.52	2.93	.683	6	112	Defense & goaltending are huge concerns.
DAL	2.85	2.50	.597	5	102.8	2.73	3.06	.506	6	83	Is this team the Biggest Flop of the season?
SJS	2.70	2.40	.587	5	101.3	3.06	2.43	.713	6	117	32-5-4 home record is key for #1 playoff seed.
ANA	2.55	2.30	.576	5	99.5	2.90	2.87	.555	7	91	Finally put it together at the end to squeak in.
NSH	2.60	2.50	.529	5	91.8	2.52	2.78	.537	6	88	Offense about where I thought it would be, defense not tight enough.
EDM	3.00	2.90	.525	5	91.1	2.78	2.98	.518	6	85	Young team still finding its way.
MIN	2.50	2.50	.500	5	87	2.61	2.40	.543	5	89	Lemaire is gone, will Gaborik be next?
CHI	2.70	2.70	.500	5	87	3.17	2.55	.634	4	104	Darlings of the NHL.
VAN	2.35	2.40	.484	5	84.4	2.96	2.60	.610	3	100	It took Sundin some time, but this team is rolling.
PHX	2.80	2.90	.474	5	82.7	2.50	3.04	.482	3	79	Still spinning their wheels in the desert.
CGY	2.50	2.60	.471	5	82.2	3.06	3.00	.598	3	98	Limping into the playoffs.
CBJ	2.45	2.70	.428	5	75.2	2.68	2.72	.561	6	92	Finally added enough O to Hitch's stingy D.
COL	2.60	3.00	.395	5	69.8	2.32	3.08	.421	9	69	The Avalanche have fallen down the mountain.
LAK	2.80	3.40	.359	5	64.9	2.46	2.76	.482	5	79	Lots of young talent, but serious holes to fill.
STL	2.30	2.90	.334	5	59.7	2.77	2.77	.561	6	92	Huge 2nd-half run, give lots of credit to Chris Mason.

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Comments

Looks like you were most wrong about Boston. That’s ok by me.

Join me on the Hockey Blog Adventure!

by Cornelius Hardenbergh on Apr 13, 2009 11:03 AM EDT reply actions

Why did you have Toronto so low? I had the Islanders as the worst roster by far coming into this year.
The collapse of the Stars was pretty surprising, the Senators collapase on the other hand started last year.

by The Falconer on Apr 14, 2009 12:34 AM EDT reply actions

I thought the Leafs would much more trouble scoring than they did this year. Shame on me for buying into too much of Ron Wilson’s “poor us” talk prior to the season.

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Apr 14, 2009 9:51 AM EDT up reply actions