As of November 6th, 2012, these predictions make perfect sense!
| Player | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Sidney Crosby | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Claude Giroux | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steve Stamkos | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Evgeni Malkin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alex Ovechkin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Phil Kessel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Tavares | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Henrik Sedin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Erik Karlsson | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kris Letang | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: HockeyPoolExpert.com
Hockey pool fans, playoff season is just around the corner. ‘Tis the time of year to plot how to win our fantasy drafts!
Which teams will make it to the 3rd round? Which assist-machine defenseman will only play 5 games? Which unsung #3 LW will end up scoring 15 goals? Which so-so goalie will end up playing 25 games? Soon we will find out!
“It’s the most … wonderful tiiiiime, of the year!”
Yes – it’s nearly time for triple OT’s, 5-game upsets, undisclosed injuries, and a gut-check that only Lord Stanley can inspire!
And yes, it’s time for Sneezl’s 2012 pool picks…
Note – since this was written with 5-7 games left in the regular season, it includes players from the following teams:
East: Rangers, Bruins, Panthers, Penguins, Flyers, Devils, Senators, Capitals, Sabres, Jets, Lightning
West: Blues, Canucks, Sharks, Red Wings, Predators, Blackhawks, Stars, Coyotes, Kings, Avalanche, Flames
On the bubble:
Picking a player based on which team you think will advance furthest is a good strategy in playoff hockey. Often, it’s even more important than picking a player on their own merit.
On the bubble:
On the bubble:
On the bubble:
Whose team will win at least 3 series? That’s what we all wish we knew.
Out West, the concussion to Daniel Sedin is the biggest variable. If he’s healthy, Vancouver is in great shape to once again emerge as the last team standing. St. Louis doesn’t seem like a Cup champ and neither does San Jose, plus Detroit is struggling down the stretch. Chicago again seems to be the top alternative to the Canucks, assuming that there’s no Cinderella team lurking in the lower grouping. Of the Cinderella prospects, LA would have the best chances IF they can play to their potential.
In the East, this is an interesting season. With the return of Captain Crosby, the Penguins have been crushing every team they meet, making them the instant #1 favourite. Philadelphia still misses Pronger, but made key deadline acquisitions that (along with the improvement of Bryzgalov of late) also make them favourites. If that wasn’t enough, the Rangers are playing great hockey too. The defending champs Boston aren’t clicking on all cylinders, but still have the potential to emerge from the field as well. Plus, Dale Hunter’s Caps are 6-2-2 in their last 10, so they’re back in the mix too, but this year they have Vokoun instead of AHL prospects. In short, it’s a marquee logjam. The chances of a Cinderella winning the East are tinier than an ant’s rear end.
Sneezl is picking the Penguins to come out of the East, based purely on their complete and total thrashing of all opponents down the stretch. They are simply too good to not pick as the #1 favourite.
Sneezl is picking the West champion with a big asterisk… * IF Daniel Sedin bounces back from concussion quickly, THEN the Canucks get will emerge from the conference even though I can’t stand the way they play. They’ve had trouble scoring since the all-star break, but no-one is better at using other teams’ mistakes to eek out a 2-1 victory. They play ugly hockey, but they’re darn good at what they do.
However, IF Sedin is not able to play full-time, THEN Chicago is getting the Sneeze pick. Chicago is 7-3-1 in their last 10 plus their best player (Jon Toews) is better than any other team’s best player.
As for the Cup final, this gets easier to predict again. Sneezl is calling for a decisive Penguin’s victory over either Vancouver or Chicago.
There are plenty of caveats that could be added, but why make this post any longer? Enjoy your playoff pools and hopefully your picks are even better than these!
A seven year old boy was the center of attention when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.
The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge awarded custody to his aunt. The boy confirmed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and refused to live there. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents the boy cried out that they beat him more than anyone.
In an unprecedented court ruling, the judge dramatically allowed the boy to choose who should have custody of him. Custody was granted to the Montreal Canadiens hockey team this morning, as the boy firmly believes that they are not capable of beating anyone…
🙂
Once again it’s time for hockey pool fans to make their annual fantasy hockey draft preparations…
Given potential injuries to the game’s top player, who would you take if you get the #1 overall pick? Is an east-coast free agent acquisition this year’s #1 goalie? Can the 2011 playoff’s defensive scoring machine from San Jose keep up that pace over 82 games?
While no one can make a perfect hockey draft list, Sneezl will once again give it a try…
Other than Vancouver Canucks #1 Luongo, there is uncertainty up and down this list. Will injuries hurt the Pens’ goal support? Will Vokoun & the Caps fulfill expectations? Will the Sabres match the play of their A+ goaltender? And, of course, how many games will Tim Thomas play, or can he even get close to last year’s acrobatics?
Gone are the days of automatically picking Brodeur, Kiprusoff (still a great player, but the Flames may not win much this year…), or whoever dresses for the Red Wings!
Question marks also surround the #1 pivot, since Washington’s Mike Green could realistically produce 90 points or just 25. Oiler Ryan Whitney could rebound with a healthy season and improved forwards, also conceivably averaging an assist per game if all goes well.Â
Real questions surrounding Markov, Gonchar, Streit, and Wisniewski will keep poolies guessing this year. Don’t be surprised if John Carlson emerges as a premier blueline point producer this year either.
Assuming Crosby picks up where he left off before injury (a big assumption, but why not be optimistic?), this is an automatic first overall choice. But what about potential lingering injuries??
Corey Perry was red hot down the stretch last season, while Steve Stamkos started the year on fire. If either of these players can sustain the heat through 82 games, they’re a safe alternative to the Crosby lottery.
Similarly, depending on whether the Caps of ’09 or ’10 show up, Ovi & Nic are either superb or so-so picks. It could go either way.
Pick a Sedin and you’re likely still going to get a top 5 scorer, regardless of what else happens in the league.
In short, this year’s top picks all come with a set of pro’s and and con’s.
Konopka is a near lock for the #1 PIM (penalties in minutes) ranking this year. He was last year’s champ by a mile (307 PIM with 25 majors), plus is now a member of the rebuilding Ottawa Senators, who will be dressing young players and likely losing a lot of games.Â
Ben Eager and Darcy Hordichuk will be interesting to watch in Edmonton too with the loss of Stortini and heavyweight MacIntyre. Neither is a traditional 200 PIM guy, but someone on that team is going to rack up PIMs and these are both candidates.
Schenn is as close to a sure thing as a rookie ever is. He’s not 18, is a scoring machine, and will play with top wingers in Philly. Ryan Ellis is defensive scoring machine and also certain to quarterback the powerplay for years.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins may not even make the team this year, so that’s a gamble if we’ve ever seen one.
Rumours of a conversation between NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Kitchener-Waterloo businessman Jim Balsillie just got interesting again.
According to reports, an NHL franchise in southern Ontario is an option for Balsillie if he plays according to NHL rules and doesn’t turn things into a media circus before a purchase and franchise move is made.
More realistically, the NHL is looking at its dead-end loser USA franchises like Phoenix (an almost guaranteed loss of $25 million for Arizona tax payers) and comparing them to Canadian markets like Winnipeg (which sold out season tickets before you can say, “Hockey is Canada’s game”) and thinking, “we’re going to be moving more franchises north before we know it, so we’d better start finding places for them to go, NOW.”
In the past, Balsillie has tried to get a team according to his rules. The NHL didn’t like that, so blocked the attempts. But times change.
Now that the NHL has less and less choice, they will be returning to their prime Canadian buyers and seeing what the options are. A 2nd NHL franchise in southwestern Ontario is a big part of this, as is Balsillie. It’s either move a franchise to southwestern Ontario or let a team lose millions in the desert.
Advantage Balsillie.
The only question marks around Balsillie getting a team in southwestern Ontario now are:
Regardless of how these three questions play out, the larger picture is clear: several US franchises are failing, Canadians are ravenously buying season tickets faster than they’re made available, and at some point the NHL will catch up with simple fact that 2-3 US franchises need to move to Canada if the NHL’s best interests are to be served.
The release of the recent rumour that Bettman has had conversations with Balsillie certainly does not give anyone a roadmap to the future, but it does corroborate the theory that hockey is moving back to Canada over the next few years one way or another.
If the NHL’s wishes come true, Balsillie will still be a willing buyer by the time the NHL figures out that hockey belongs in Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge/Guelph/London.