Before 2012-13 Season Predictions

Before the 2012 - 2013 regular season I filled out where I thought each NHL team would finish.

My predictions

Eastern Conference			Western Conference
1. New York Rangers			1. Nashville Predators
2. Boston Bruins			2. Vancouver Canucks
3. Carolina Hurricanes			3. Los Angeles Kings
4. Pittsburgh Penguins			4. St. Louis Blues
5. Washington Capitals			5. Chicago Blackhawks
6. Philadelphia Flyers			6. Minnesota Wild
7. Buffalo Sabres			7. Detroit Red Wings
8. Tampa Bay Lightning			8. Dallas Stars
9. Ottawa Senators			9. San Jose Sharks
10. Florida Panthers			10. Colorado Avalanche
11. New Jersey Devils			11. Phoenix Coyotes
12. Toronto Maple Leafs			12. Edmonton Oilers
13. Montreal Canadiens			13. Anaheim Ducks
14. Winnipeg Jets			14. Calgary Flames
15. New York Islanders			15. Columbus Blue Jackets

For the Stanley Cup Final I had the New York Rangers defeating the Los Angeles Kings.

That prediction stayed with me and I filled out my NHL playoff bracket with the Rangers beating the Kings. My bracket will be the next story on this blog!

Actually results courtesy of NHL.com
http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?type=con#&navid=nav-stn-conf

Eastern Conference       1. Pittsburgh Penguins	Points 72		Western Conference 1. Chicago Blackhawks	Points 77
2. Montreal Canadiens	63		2. Anaheim Ducks	66
3. Washington Capitals	57		3. Vancouver Canucks	59
4. Boston Bruins	62		4. St. Louis Blues	60
5. Toronto Maple Leafs	57		5. Los Angeles Kings	59
6. New York Rangers	56		6. San Jose Sharks	57
7. Ottawa Senators	56		7. Detroit Red Wings	56
8. New York Islanders	55		8. Minnesota Wild	55
9. Winnipeg Jets	51		9. Columbus Blue Jackets	55
10. Philadelphia Flyers	49		10. Phoenix Coyotes	51
11. New Jersey Devils	48		11. Dallas Stars	48
12. Buffalo Sabres	48		12. Edmonton Oilers	45
13. Carolina Hurricanes	42		13. Calgary Flames	42
14. Tampa Bay Lightning	40		14. Nashville Predators	41
15. Florida Panthers	36		15. Colorado Avalanche	39

Quick Season Review 

Obviously the biggest difference between my predictions and what actually happened would be the top seed in the West. I picked Nashville to win the West and they did not even make the playoffs! Since it was a short season, I decided to make some "riskier" picks and as one can see, it shows in what played out!

Chicago torn up the regular season as they started out of the gate 24 straight games without a regulation loss.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-03-09/sports/ct-spt-0309-blackhawks-avalanche-chicago--20130309_1_avs-jonathan-toews-marian-hossa

My hometown Flyers had a disappointing season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2007.

The Montreal Canadiens were one of the most improved teams as they went from finishing last in the East a year ago to the second seed.

The Toronto Maple Leafs ended a nine year playoff drought as they clinched the 5th seed in the East.
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/leafs-end-playoff-drought-with-4-1-win-over-sens-1.1247225

For the first time since the Devils moved to New Jersey, the Flyers and Devils did not make the playoffs.

Detroit keeps improves its playoff streak to 22 years.
http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2012020717

Columbus tied Minnesota for the last spot in the West but missed the playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky had a stellar year and without him, the Jackets would not have been so close to getting back to the playoffs. Marian Gaborik was traded to Columbus at the trade deadline and will look to help the team next season.

My Picks Reviewed

For the Eastern Conference I picked four out of the eight playoff teams correctly. None of those picks were seeded right.

Correct picks - Pittsburgh, Boston, Washington, New York Rangers.

For the Western Conference I picked 6 out of the 8 playoff teams correctly. Two of those six picks were seeded correct.

Correct picks - Chicago, Vancouver, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Detroit, Minnesota.
Seeded correctly - St. Louis (#4) Detroit (#7)

I was 10/16 in picking the playoff teams and 2/16 in picking the correct seeds.

Hopefully next year I will do a bit better!