Revisiting My Preseason Picks

Let me preface this article by saying that I can guarantee that there are 0 people in the world who aced their preseason predictions.

This year has been one of the weirdest, most wide-open, and awesome seasons in recent memory, and there is still much to be decided as we enter the final week of the regular season. With that in mind, I look back at my young, naive self and see where I was right, and where I was  (more commonly) wrong.

To see the entire article, go here: http://capscircle.blogspot.com/2014/10/complete-preview-predictions-for.html

Metropolitan Divison Standings (Preseason Projected vs. Current):

Rank	Preseason Projected	Current (4/4 12:00 ET)
1	Pittsburgh Penguins	New York Rangers
2	New York Rangers	Washington Capitals
3	Washington Capitals	New York Islanders
4	New Jersey Devils	Pittsburgh Penguins
5	Columbus Blue Jackets	Columbus Blue Jackets
6	New York Islanders	Philadelphia Flyers
7	Philadelphia Flyers	New Jersey Devils
8	Carolina Hurricanes	Carolina Hurricanes

My top three teams are currently in the driver's seat for playoff spots, and I predicted the Flyers and Hurricanes struggling and missing the playoffs this year. I was also right about the Blue Jackets ending in 5th in the division, although I expected them to make the playoffs, which will not happen.

On the flip side, I was WAY off about the Devils and Islanders. I overestimated how the Devils would do without a good offense, and I underestimated how good the new-look Isles would be. 

Overall, other than a couple of glaring mistakes, I was pretty good with my preseason predictions.

Eastern Conference Standings (Preseason Projected vs. Current):

Rank	Preseason Projected	Current
1	Boston Bruins	Montreal Canadiens
2	Tampa Bay Lightning	Tampa Bay Lightning
3	Montreal Canadiens	Detroit Red Wings
WC	Columbus Blue Jackets (2)	Pittsburgh Penguins (1)
1	Pittsburgh Penguins	New York Rangers
2	New York Rangers	Washington Capitals
3	Washington Capitals	New York Islanders
WC	New Jersey Devils (1)	Boston Bruins (2)

There is still a lot left to be decided in the Eastern Conference playoff race, with Detroit and Pittsburgh free-falling while Boston and Ottawa try and catch up. As it stands right now, however, I predicted 6 of the current playoff teams correct, although only three have clinched playoff spots so far, and many are in different positions than I predicted. The two teams I missed were the Red Wings, who may still miss the playoffs, and Islanders, who I simply did not take seriously enough. I overestimated the Devils, who were trash this year, and the Blue Jackets, who were hurt by an insane amount of injuries.

Western Conference Standings (Preseason Projected vs. Current):

Rank	Preseason Projected	Current
1	Chicago Blackhawks	Nashville Predators
2	Dallas Stars	St. Louis Blues
3	St. Louis Blues	Chicago Blackhawks
WC	Vancouver Canucks (2)	Minnesota Wild (1)
1	Los Angeles Kings	Anaheim Ducks
2	San Jose Sharks	Vancouver Canucks
3	Anaheim Ducks	Calgary Flames
WC	Colorado Avalanche (1)	Los Angeles Kings (2)

Yeah, I blew these.

On the bright side, I correctly predicted 5 of the 8 current playoff teams. On the down side, none of them were in the correct place, and I completely overestimated the Kings (who are fighting for a wild-card spot), Stars (who got hurt by Tyler Seguin's injury) and Avalanche (I don't even know what happened to them).

There is still a lot to be decided in the West, but whatever happens, I still completely messed these picks up.

The moral of this story is that anything can happen in the NHL. And honestly, that's what makes it so awesome.

Enjoy the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, hockey fans. Let's go Caps!