Ahh one of the most wonderful times of the year… The weather is starting to get colder, the leaves are falling, Football has started, the MLB playoffs are about to begin, and most important of all the NHL season is about to get underway. It’s been 3+ excruciating months with no hockey to watch and FINALLY with the dawn of some Pre-season games we can get back to some fast paced NHL action. (I am going to take the kids to the Canes- Blue Jackets game this evening..the first game I have been off work this pre-season to be able to get to). But before we get to the action I wanted to give some opinions on some of the recent happenings and big headlines around the league.

First, over at Yahoo sports yesterday Puck Daddy Greg W. posted the betting over-unders from Vegas for the total points for all teams in the NHL. If you haven’t seen them here they are.

For the most part I think a bunch of them are spot on. I suppose you could go strictly on trends and look at how teams have fared over the last 5 seasons, take into account some additions and subtractions and then come up with some numbers pretty easy. In fact, a bunch of this list is pretty much verbatim of what the standings where last year, with a few wild cards thrown about. However, I think there are some glaring errors and some others I will go out on a limb to make as my predictions.

2011-12 Regular Season Point Totals

First the glaring errors.

Obviously as a Canes season ticket holder, I will address them first. Now, as always, I am not someone who looks at this team through homer glasses. I am the first to complain about the GM and how crappy I think they will be. However, even in a crappy state this is still a team who will be fighting for that 7/8 spot in the conference. You can basically pencil them in for 88-92 points every year. Sure not 100 points, but to predict them at 83.5 points is just screaming to lose your money when smart hockey watchers see this error. Cam Ward himself can take them to 70 point then they only need to squeak out 7-8 more wins despite a bad night of his, or when Boucher starts (a guy who can get hot and throw 2-3 shutouts in 5-6 starts himself) to put them over the 90 point mark. Do I think they will make the playoffs? Nope, but I think they get over 84 points pretty easy.

My other glaring error is on the high side. I don’t care how good people think Kovalchuk is I don’t see the Devils getting to 90 points. In fact I think 85 is a stretch for them. It’s just a team in transition that is in need of some changes. They will make them, hell, they might even be in 1st NEXT year after they make them b/c they have that tendency to do it. But for this year they won’t be good and they won’t hit 90 points.

Now my Predictions/ Going out on a limb

This is going to be more of what my spidey sense is telling me here so take it for what you want. An educated guess, or blathering of an insane idiot. Either way it’s going to be fun to do and see how it plays out.

First the too high. As much as I think the Red Wings are decent and one of the most consistent franchises in history of the NHL, I think they will fail to get to 100 points this year. I know that sounds crazy b/c they have been over 100 points for what seems like an eternity, but I think this is the year they fail to get to 100. Granted They only have to fail to get to 105 for my UNDER prediction for them to be correct, but I have taken it a bit further with saying they won’t break 100.

Another out on a limb of too high will be the Penguins. I think they will treat Sid The Kid with REAL kid gloves, being scared of him becoming Marc Savard, and they will sit him almost the entire year. Malkin or not, this means bad things for the Penguins. They might have some winning streaks but I see them finishing a tad under 100 points as well.

As for a team who won’t hit 90 points, I will put my eggs in the basket of The Ducks. I see this as being a huge down year for Anaheim and I think they will struggle to break 85 points this season.

Ok so who do I think will over achieve on this list? Ok as much as it PAINS me to say it, I see the Rangers as a 100 point team. I think they finally have the leadership and the firepower paired up with the defense and feistiness to go to the next level. I see them at or near the top of that division and finishing with 100+ points and a 2/3 Seed in the conference. Hopefully to get their doors blown off in the 1st round of the PO’s since I cannot stand to see that team win.

Also moving up? The Blues. This one isn’t as drastic as 100+ point Rangers, but I think the Blues are better then 92 points this year. They have the goal tending, and the goal-scoring to win more games and finish in the mid to upper 90s.

One more team to get above what they are predicting will be the Phoenix Coyotes. Sure, who the hell knows who will start how many games in net for them, and will they or won’t they have anyone to watch the games. All that being said… I think this is a 90 point team. Granted that’s not a huge increase over the 87.5 they are predicted, but I never said they would be awesome, I just said I would take the over for them.

Finally 2 cruddy teams who will kill the over-under.

First team who isn’t very good but will beat the bad prediction is the Blue Jackets. They have them slated at 85.5 points but I see them hitting 92 myself. Sure, they aren’t great, but they aren’t bad either. I think at times this year they will surprise us and watch my tongue…challenge for 2/3rd in that division! But my sleeper in the West off this list is the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Over here in the East, I am taking my beloved NY Islanders. Yeah Yeah yeah, say what you want about the awful town of Hempstead who can’t get their crap together to get the team a new building, or that Charles Wang is a functioning idiot in the hockey community, but these kids want to win. They are hungry and finally look like they can make that jump. It took a while for the Pens to get from bad to good with those high draft picks and I think this a huge transition year for the Isles. I think we see them hit 90 points (way above the O/U of 81.5) and make everyone notice them as a team on the rise for the next few years. I only hope they can build on this predicted momentum, get a building agreed to, and then sign some big name guys to put them into that top level of teams for the near future.

Current NHL events.

Simmonds-gate— I am not sure how a guy can claim that when he threw a banana onto the ice, he didn’t do it with any intent involving race. Sure, he’s Canadian, and he could claim that as a cluelessness of not having a racial bone in his body, but I don’t buy it. In a sport where it’s quite sacred knowledge NOT to throw ANYTHING on the ice, for an idiot to first throw an item on the ice and then have it be a banana while an African-American player is skating in is moronic at best. He should just say he’s extremely sorry and move on. Doesn’t make it any better at all, but to insult our intelligence to say he would have thrown any fruit he had near him is just moronic again. Bravo, for Simmonds though for taking the high-road and not making a big deal out of it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s 100% in his right to be enraged and lash out in the press, but by not lashing out he avoided an equally large lashing out for what he did not even a week later. See Mr. Simmonds called public enemy #1 Sean Avery the “F” word. It’s an equally despicable act as what happened to him with the banana incident, however in his case Simmonds is denying the whole thing. If you see the footage and listen to Simmonds kinda back track and say he’s not 100% sure of everything he said, and yet deny the whole thing, you will know he did in fact say it. The footage doesn’t lie and it’s REAL clear. The only reason I even give him a somewhat pass on the incident is b/c he shrugged off the last incident easy enough. Don’t get me wrong, IN NO WAY IS WHAT HE SAID OK. In fact IMO it’s just as bad as if Avery would have called Simmonds the “N” word. Yes, that’s right I don’t care if someone is an F or an N there are things in pro-sports (and in life) you just don’t say PERIOD. Now, remember these are grown men hitting, fighting, and going all out for a living. I don’t want them to take that out, or the trash talk out. And God knows we have all gotten fired up on the ice and said things we woudn’t dream of saying off the ice, but there are boundaries Simmonds, and everyone needs to adhere to them.

I also think that the NHL was wrong to take the “there was no video evidence to suspend Simmonds”, and no one on the ice would say he did in fact, say it. Bull crap. Plain and simple. Shanny and the boys dropped the ball on that one not suspending Simmonds.

Shanny Got one wrong AGAIN

Speaking of Shanahan and screwing with the laws of hockey. Shanny Suspended Ducks F J.F. Jacques the rest of the Pre-Season and 5 games of the regular season for violating Rule 70, which states a player may not , on a legal line change go directly at another player with the sole purpose of starting a fight. Um,,, WHAT??? A game where fighting is a part of the history, and policing, and society of the game we are going to suspend a guy for basically sticking up for a teammate on a legal line change??? I can see if the guy left the bench and grabbed a player for a fight.. sure give him the usual 10 game suspension. But for a legal line change and starting a fight, which he already had been penalized in the game and got the 1 game mandatory suspension, to suspend him even further is a joke. Shanny, stick to policing the head shots, the hits from behind and stick work, for the love of all things HOCKEY leave the damn fighters out of it. The guy didn’t come from the bench and force Crosby to fight him. It was a fight in the purest sense of the game. Put the damn gavel away Shanny and just enjoy the sport.

That’s all I have for now, I might chime in after I see how the Canes look tonight but until then enjoy all the NHL goodness out there all!

–GeekJock