Every year ahead of the season, we put on our thinking caps, review the stats, the moves, the rosters, and fling some darts to make our predictions on the upcoming season. Some in the past have gone well, others went off the board, and some voters were just giant homers (hi).
Most of the predictions are Leafs focused, so we could have made this review months ago for pointing and laughing purposes, but there were picks that relate to last night’s game so we waited. Now, let’s take a look at how overconfident we were.
Leafs Standings Predictions
| Name | Leafs finish in Division | Leafs finish in conference | Leafs finish overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| seldo | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| katya | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| Arvind | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| Kevin | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Fulemin | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Brigstew | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Hardev | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Species | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| nafio | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| Annie | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| Actual Finish | 3 | 5 | 7 |
Only Arvind was close on all three spaces, nailing two of them dead on and being just off on the Conference finish. Brigs went full homer by naming the Maple Leafs number one in the East, ahead of the Lightning, and just one spot behind the Presidents’ Trophy.
Goals and wins
| Name | # of wins | Goals For | Goals Against |
|---|---|---|---|
| seldo | 55 | 298 | 245 |
| katya | 50 | 285 | 230 |
| Arvind | 45 | 283 | 236 |
| Kevin | 51 | ∞ | 233 |
| Fulemin | 50 | 290 | 230 |
| Brigstew | 53 | 302 | 255 |
| Hardev | 54 | 291 | 234 |
| Species | 55 | 309 | 201 |
| nafio | 52 | 290 | 240 |
| Annie | 53 | All of them | All of them -1 |
| Actual | 46 | 286 | 251 |
Once again, Arvind was the most realistic person voting, and the only one to put the Leafs under 50 wins. He was off by one win and three goals for; but overestimated the defence. Katya came close to getting the goals for dead on, and Brigs guessed the Leafs would let in four more goals than they did. He went over, though, and will not take home the showcase.
Predictions: Trades
| Name | Who gets traded? |
|---|---|
| seldo | Leivo, Sparks, Johnsson, Hyman |
| katya | Carrick and Leivo |
| Arvind | Future draft picks |
| Kevin | 2019 First |
| Fulemin | Leivo, Sparks |
| Brigstew | Brown, Nielsen and a 2nd |
| Hardev | Sparks, Leivo, 2019 picks |
| Species | Pickard, Gauthier, Borgman, Leivo |
| nafio | Leivo, |
| Annie | Leivo, future picks |
| Actual | Carrick, Leivo, Nielsen, Cracknell, Grundstrom, Lindholm, picks, prospects |
This is always a more fun one to predict. Leivo was an easy one to pick as he wasn’t a Babcock favourite. Katya was the only one to pick Carrick, and Species had Pickard leaving, just not on waivers. Kevin had that first on it’s way out and I’m reminded Andrew Nielsen was a thing.
Predictions: Outcomes
| Name | Best (realistic) outcome for the Leafs | Worst case scenario |
|---|---|---|
| seldo | Conference Final | Miss the playoffs |
| katya | Conference Final | Miss the playoffs by one game |
| Arvind | Winning the Cup | Miss the playoffs |
| Kevin | Winning the Cup in Vegas | Injuries, miss playoffs |
| Fulemin | Parade down Yonge St. | Global warming makes Earth uninhabitable |
| Brigstew | Cup Champions | Injuries, miss playoffs |
| Hardev | Champions. OF THE WORLD | lose wild card to Buffalo |
| Species | Parade down Bay St. | Miss the playoffs by one point determined in the April 1 game against the Islanders and losing because Matt Martin gets a hat trick |
| nafio | Cup Champions | Miss the playoffs |
| Annie | Winning the damn Cup | Narrowly miss the playoffs, everyone blames Jake Gardiner |
We were all way off, and I’m surprised no one picked ‘blow a first round series lead to the Bruins’ as a worst case scenario, because I think I’d have rather missed the playoffs than lose to the Bruins.
Fulemin nailed the worst outcome though, it’s just taking longer than expected.
What we want as hockey fans
| Name | What you want as a fan |
|---|---|
| seldo | BRING ME THE CUP |
| katya | FUN! |
| Arvind | Better breakouts, outshooting teams, and hopefully a playoff series win |
| Kevin | Playoff series win vs. Boston |
| Fulemin | Dynasty |
| Brigstew | Curb stomp Boston in first round and win the Cup |
| Hardev | Beat Tampa and Boston |
| Species | Locker room shower access |
| nafio | Many goals, much scoring |
| Annie | Conquering victory, Auston Matthews wearing ridiculous clothes |
I didn’t get what I wanted, Katya got lots of fun, Arvind was close to nailing all three predictions again. Kevin, Fulemin, Brigs, and Hardev were all disappointed, Species got himself a restraining order, nafio was correct, and Annie got what she wanted on both fronts.
Stanley Cup Final
| Name | Who wins the EC? | Who wins the WC? | Who wins the cup? |
|---|---|---|---|
| seldo | Toronto | Nashville | Toronto |
| katya | Pittsburgh | St. Louis | St. Louis |
| Arvind | Tampa Bay | Winnipeg | Winnipeg |
| Kevin | Pittsburgh | Winnipeg | Winnipeg |
| Fulemin | Tampa Bay | Winnipeg | Tampa Bay |
| Brigstew | Toronto | San Jose | Toronto |
| Hardev | Toronto | Los Angeles | Toronto |
| Species | Capitals | San Jose | Toronto |
| nafio | Toronto | San Jose | San Jose |
| Annie | Tampa Bay | San Jose | San Jose |
| Actual | Boston | St. Louis | St. Louis |
First of all, Kevin and Arvind are dead to me.
Second of all, Katya was the only one to pick the Blues going to final, then she picked them to win it all over a team that wears black and gold. 2/3rds of the final correct isn’t too shabby.
Third of all, we’re a bunch of damn homers and proud of it.
Losers
Last place
| Name | Who finishes last? |
|---|---|
| seldo | Detroit |
| katya | Ottawa |
| Arvind | Detroit |
| Kevin | Ottawa |
| Fulemin | Ottawa |
| Brigstew | NYR |
| Hardev | Ottawa |
| Species | Minnesota |
| nafio | Chicago |
| Annie | Ottawa |
| Actual | Ottawa |
I knew in my heart deep down it would be the Senators taking home the Gil Stein Award for worst team in the league, but I wanted it to be HOCKEYTOWN™ because they deserve it for that nickname they gave themselves.
We made predictions about the NHL awards as well, but we’ll review those next week after the ceremony.
For now, I leave you with this parting gift.
