Your first(in your hearts too I hope) Ducks blogger ever on myhockeybuzz is back. Yes I have predictions, what everyone wants to hear. Yes I will do the East as well, and yes they will all be.....wrong.
Western Conference:
1) Detroit
2) Anaheim
3) Colorado Avalanche
4) San Jose Sharks
5) Vancouver Canucks
6) St. Louis Blues
7) Los Angeles Kings
8) Minnesota Wild
9) Calgary Flames
10) Dallas Stars
11) Nashville Predators
12) Chicago Blackhawks
13) Edmonton Oilers
14) Columbus Blue Jackets
15) Phoenix Coyotes
Eastern Conference:
1) Ottawa Senators
2) Pittsburgh Penguins
3) Washington Capitals
4) New Jersey Devils
5) Tampa Bay Lightning
6) New York Rangers
7) Buffalo Sabres
8) Philadelphia Flyers
9) Carolina Hurricanes
10) Florida Panthers
11) Montreal Canadiens
12) Toronto Maple Leafs
13) Atlanta Thrashers
14) New York Islanders
15) Boston Bruins
Some Ducks point projections:
Todd Bertuzzi: 26 G 65 A 91 pts.
Ryan Carter: 3G 6 A 9 pts
Ryan Getzlaf: 28 G 40 A 68 pts.
Chris Kunitz: 27G 37 A: 64 pts.
Todd Marchant: 8 G 9A: 17 pts.
Brad May: 6 G 4 A: 10 pts.
Andy McDonald: 31G 53 A: 84 pts.
Travis Moen: 14G 10A: 24 pts.
Mark Mowers: 2 G 3 A: 5 pts.
Rob Niedermayer: 5 G 10 A: 15 pts.
Sammy Pahlsson: 9 G 12 A: 21 pts.
George Parros: 6 G 3 A: 9 pts.
Bobby Ryan: 19G 34 A: 53 pts.
Francois Beauchemin: 13 G 30 A: 43 pts.
Joe Dipenta: 2 G 7 A: 9 pts.
Shane Hnidy: 2 G 4 A: 6 pts.
Kent Huskins: 3 G 20 A: 23 pts.
Maxim Kondratiev: 5 G 8 A: 13 pts.
Sean O'Donnell: 2 G 10 A: 12 pts.
Chris Pronger: 16 G 50 A: 66 pts.
Mathieu Schneider: 19 G 48 A: 65 pts.
J.S. Giguere: 33W 11L 2.34 GAA .940 Save %
Ilya Bryzgalov: 10 W 10 L 2.80 GAA .900 Save %
Jonas Hiller: 12 W 6 L 1.90 GAA .935 Save %
I'm not sure I'd place Colorado that high..I see the Sharks and Canucks being better despite Colorado's off season pick ups..No way in hell Devils are placed that high...They lost two of their top players and didn't bring a whole lot back in and Brodeur is only getting older
notice how ur the only one who has projected the ducks to come in second instead of the sharks. Nice Try but this yr the cup is coming to the NORTHERN Part of CALI were we say Hella and Dude all the time
Way too high on Bert, they will not play 3 goalies, way too high on Schneider, and RNieds-Sami-Moen will be a more potent scoring line this season. They found the touch during last year's playoffs and it will continue in 07/08.
terrible
you can't honestly tell me that toronto will finish lower than montreal
Not bad, although I don't think the Kings will make the playoffs unless Bernier turns out to be the man which is a LOT to ask of a 19 year old kid. There are only so many Patrick Roy's. I think St. Louis will have a hard time making it also. You must be trying to throw Kariya a bone! Bryz will be gone when Jiggy gets healthy. And you have no point totals for Selanne and Scott Neidermayer. I figure about 40 for Selanne and 30 for Scotty!!!
Wow. Would love to see it, but I don't think Bertuzzi will get that high. He'll be a presence in front of the net to be sure, and I wager his /- will show that, but I don't know how much he actually will score. I do think that he'll open up the ice for his linemates. They'll probably benefit from opponents focusing on moving Bertuzzi, therefore leaving the points a little more open. Either way, I think he'll make a good addition, and he gives the Ducks a new look from last season. Keep 'em guessing, I always say...
Bert is a little high...I like your optimism
Berts numbers are high...Teemu is twice the scorer than Bert....Bert will be around 60 - 65 pts....Schneider is out now...will not be the same...40 pts. Parros...maybe 1-2 goals
91 pts for Beruzzi??? wow, you are really drinking the Ducks koolaid!
you missed corey perry's predictions... 91 for bert is a stretch
Good blog. Couple of comments. Bert points too high, Carter too low, R.Nieds-Sami-Moen will find much more scoring this season. They found it in the playoffs last year and they will produce a lot more this year, Schneider points too high, the Ducks will not play 3 goalies this year to the degree you list. If Hiller has a 1.9GAA, he is the # 1.
91pts for bertuzzi might be a bit of a pipedream, and the 940 save % for giguere is pretty doubtful. the rest looks pretty good though
This is a fun blog to read now that 80% of the season is over... In the West, you were totally wrong on Dallas and LA. Other than that, pretty good estimates. In the East, bad guesses were TB and Montreal. And Bertuzzi? McDonald? Ryan? Man the Ducks would look totally different at this point if those numbers were true. Good job though, it's not easy to make these predictions.