2019/2020 season predictions

[TuckerFan1]

I just wanted to point out that I do not have the best knowledge of the Eastern conference but still wanted to participate.

You posted North Bay twice under the East. Assuming you meant Niagara for one of them?

 

[Matttheleaf]

You posted North Bay twice under the East. Assuming you meant Niagara for one of them?

Yes I meant Niagara in the 7 spot. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[Marj44]

East
Ottawa
Barrie
Peterborough
Mississauga
Oshawa
Hamilton
Sudbury
Niagara
North Bay
Kingston

West
Kitchener
Saginaw
London
Owen Sound
Sault Ste Marie
Windsor
Flint
Erie
Sarnia
Guelph

 

[HockeyPops]

Totally agree with this no matter what team if you’re not up in the standings at least 2nd come Christmas top players will not come to you. I don’t believe that at this point any OHL team would be limited to top players coming to them if they have a legit shot at a championship

Christmas last year Guelph was in what, 4th? They seemed to do fine attracting top players.

 

[icepups]

My stab in the dark;

East
Ottawa
Sudbury
Oshawa
Peterborough
Mississauga
Hamilton
Barrie
Niagara
North Bay
Kingston

West
London
Saginaw
Kitchener
Owen Sound
Sault Ste Marie
Flint
Windsor
Erie
Sarnia
Guelph

 

[Ferda11]

back to back predictions with Sarnia missing the playoffs...wow. Makes you wonder how uneducated some of these predictions can be. Same with the one with OS not even making the playoffs

 

[icepups]

back to back predictions with Sarnia missing the playoffs...wow. Makes you wonder how uneducated some of these predictions can be. Same with the one with OS not even making the playoffs

Well, I guess that noone should bother making a prediction anymore. Is yours the only 100% accurate guess? I think you may be a bit off with your Eastern conference prediction. I don't see any way that Kingston is going to make the playoffs this year but if you say they will, then I guess it must be.

These are only guesses. Maybe I should have prefaced mine with "I'm not an expert on the Western Conference" instead of labelling it as my "Stab in the Dark".

 

[OMG67]

Well, I guess that noone should bother making a prediction anymore. Is yours the only 100% accurate guess? I think you may be a bit off with your Eastern conference prediction. I don't see any way that Kingston is going to make the playoffs this year but if you say they will, then I guess it must be.

These are only guesses. Maybe I should have prefaced mine with "I'm not an expert on the Western Conference" instead of labelling it as my "Stab in the Dark".

"Predictions are for gypsies!"
- Toe Blake

 

[Kingpin794]

back to back predictions with Sarnia missing the playoffs...wow. Makes you wonder how uneducated some of these predictions can be. Same with the one with OS not even making the playoffs

Put Sarnia out of the playoffs and it's a bad guess. Put Owen Sound out and its a bad guess. Put Erie or Flint out and I'm sure that you'll see (or have seen) one of their fans complain that poster x doesn't know what they are talking about. You didn't see me telling the poster that picked Flint to be 2nd that it was a uneducated pick. If that's what they think, so be it. I'm sure they have their reasons. Should we all just post the same list?

 

[AttackSound]

back to back predictions with Sarnia missing the playoffs...wow. Makes you wonder how uneducated some of these predictions can be. Same with the one with OS not even making the playoffs

Not all predictions are uneducated as you suggest, some are just shots in the dark and some are from posters who have been longtime fans and followers of the league.

Let's be clear and clear here no one really knows what will happen this season with how the standings will play out, but if you're a longtime fan and follower of the league you can predict what should be a rough projection for where everyone will sit come March.

Everyone seems to forget simple things about this league that are constant from season to season, like the teams at the top generally end up in the bottom half of the standings the following year, or the the team's in the middle or bottom half the standings the season before will generally take steps forward.

To answer the OS statements on where posters put the Attack every year, the base their opinions on their own clubs roster and try and put themselves where they believe they should be.

Where fans seem to get caught up in the hype of seeing OS as a small centre that they would struggle to compete. I can say being an OS fan for the past two and a half decades strives themselves to play against the London's and Windsor's and Sault Ste.Marie's every year because fans believe that if you play the most successful programs in the league you can learn and make yourself a better competitor regardless of what type of team you have.

 

[Ferda11]

Put Sarina out of the playoffs and it's a bad guess. Put Owen Sound out and its a bad guess. Put Erie or Flint out and I'm sure that you'll see (or have seen) one of their fans complain that poster x doesn't know what they are talking about. You didn't see me telling the poster that picked Windsor to be 2nd that it was a uneducated pick. If that's what they think, so be it. I'm sure they have their reasons. Should we all just post the same list?

That's not what I said. There is a difference between making a wild guess and a actual educated guess. Looking at returning players, graduated players, incoming imports, kids with a full year now under their belt, possible line ups and playing time. All those are things to look at when making a prediction.

I guess if I didn't know much about a conference outside the one my team is in, I wouldn't have made a prediction but where's the fun in that right?...

 

[OMG67]

My predictions....

Two teams will accept the fact they simply have no chance at making the playoffs and accept the tradeoff being a top 2 pick.

Two teams will be pissed they missed the playoffs but their feelings will be tempered by getting a top 4 pick.

Two teams fan bases are going to be pissed they made the playoffs because they will be first round fodder and will only get a 5th or 6th pick which means they will miss out on a significantly impactful player.

Two teams will be pissed they get the 3rd seed after finishing higher than the other division winner in their conference that gets the 2nd seed.

The fans on teams in the West will argue their conference is harder and therefore their place of finish will be held in high regard than those teams in the East.

You're welcome!

 

[Kingpin794]

Looking at returning players, graduated players, incoming imports, kids with a full year now under their belt, possible line ups and playing time. All those are things to look at when making a prediction.

Gee wiz, is that how you decide on your prediction? And here i thought we all were just looking at chicken bones to predict things.

 

[WaW]

My predictions....

Two teams will accept the fact they simply have no chance at making the playoffs and accept the tradeoff being a top 2 pick.

Two teams will be pissed they missed the playoffs but their feelings will be tempered by getting a top 4 pick.

Two teams fan bases are going to be pissed they made the playoffs because they will be first round fodder and will only get a 5th or 6th pick which means they will miss out on a significantly impactful player.

Two teams will be pissed they get the 3rd seed after finishing higher than the other division winner in their conference that gets the 2nd seed.

The fans on teams in the West will argue their conference is harder and therefore their place of finish will be held in high regard than those teams in the East.

You're welcome!

Agreed with all of this, lol.

 

[Generalsupdates]

back to back predictions with Sarnia missing the playoffs...wow. Makes you wonder how uneducated some of these predictions can be. Same with the one with OS not even making the playoffs

Sarnia will likely make the playoffs, but in no way are they going to be an elite team challenging for a championship. So to shit on someone for saying they might miss is a little much... Especially in a thread that is literally asking posters to predict something that is nearly impossible to predict because so many injuries/trades/signings/other things will happen between now and then

 

[AttackSound]

My predictions....

Two teams will accept the fact they simply have no chance at making the playoffs and accept the tradeoff being a top 2 pick.

Two teams will be pissed they missed the playoffs but their feelings will be tempered by getting a top 4 pick.

Two teams fan bases are going to be pissed they made the playoffs because they will be first round fodder and will only get a 5th or 6th pick which means they will miss out on a significantly impactful player.

Two teams will be pissed they get the 3rd seed after finishing higher than the other division winner in their conference that gets the 2nd seed.

The fans on teams in the West will argue their conference is harder and therefore their place of finish will be held in high regard than those teams in the East.

You're welcome!

I would argue that there are teams in both conferences that have good clubs in this league.

The biggest challenge for fans in the west is that most of the teams plus/minus a few that are within closer travel distances don't see the eastern conference teams more then twice a season so it's hard to really to see what teams in the eastern conference are like versus teams in there own conference or division.

Last year was a good example of this with Owen Sound and Ottawa. Early in the season Ottawa had played in Owen Sound and looked to be the team everyone expected them to be a tough outing for the Attack and looked like they wouldn't be stopped.

Flash forward to the Xmas break when key pieces of the 67's were gone to world junior camps and they looked like a shell of themselves compared to the previous earlier meeting in the season.

At the end of the day did it mean that the 67's were worse then the earlier meeting of the season well no it was a result of the natural progression of the season.

Will Ottawa be good this year who knows at this point in time, but I agree that everyone is entitled to there own views of how they see the season ahead this year. So to say fans of rhe west argue that Ottawa will be on a down year is more a poster to poster opinion and that it would seem that the 67's would take a step back this year after going for a league title last season this prediction could be completely wrong or completely right but in the games are played between September and March these are just predictions and they're just a wrong and they are right at this point.

 

[RoyalCitySlicker]

Sarnia and Erie finish 9th/10th. Storm squeak into 8th.

Saginaw wins the conference. Kitchener gives them a run for their money but come up short.

That's all I am qualified to predict.

 

[Matttheleaf]

Sarnia and Erie finish 9th/10th. Storm squeak into 8th.

Saginaw wins the conference. Kitchener gives them a run for their money but come up short.

That's all I am qualified to predict.

I think it will be a tight race for the top 3 in the west this year between Saginaw, Kitchener and London.

 

[Marj44]

back to back predictions with Sarnia missing the playoffs...wow. Makes you wonder how uneducated some of these predictions can be. Same with the one with OS not even making the playoffs

So since I posted Sarnia finishing 9th I guess I’ll reply...
In my opinion it seems Windsor, Flint, Sarnia and Erie could all finish close to each other depending on injuries and trades, etc.

In Sarnia’s case:
- Sproviero and Eliot graduated and you can only keep 3 of the following;
McGregor, Egert, Josling, Martin, Grima, Hatcher
(I guessed McGregor would be sold for sure as he has the most worth, probably with Grima or Josling/Egert following)

There’s no ‘00s forwards and one ‘00s damn on the roster who had 7 points and was a -8 last season (which seemed to not develop quickly from his rookie season)

Jamieson Rees could be sold depending on what offers Sarnia got. Excluding Rees the rest of the ‘01 class had ~14% of the points all the players on the team had last season. The ‘02 class has ~9%. The ‘03 class should bring in some help with Gaudreau, O’Donnell, Dann and Nagra.

There’s 2 imports that haven’t played a game in North America yet and neither are top rated NHL prospects that will overpower the league. And we all know that a successful European game doesn’t always translate to NA, or sometimes at least not right away.

So Sarnia has 3 OAs coming back, Jamieson Rees, 25% of last year’s points, some talented rookies and 2 imports that haven’t played a game here.

Sounds like they’ll need lots of help at goalie to stay relevant this season. Would that be Langevin’s 3.76% or Lamour’s 4.99% that will bail the young team out? Or is Gaudreau just gonna stop everything?

See I put Sarnia at 9th (but could go up to maybe 6th-7th) because I think selling and looking to make a splash for the 2020-2021 season (or the next) might be best.

 

[OMG67]

I would argue that there are teams in both conferences that have good clubs in this league.

The biggest challenge for fans in the west is that most of the teams plus/minus a few that are within closer travel distances don't see the eastern conference teams more then twice a season so it's hard to really to see what teams in the eastern conference are like versus teams in there own conference or division.

Last year was a good example of this with Owen Sound and Ottawa. Early in the season Ottawa had played in Owen Sound and looked to be the team everyone expected them to be a tough outing for the Attack and looked like they wouldn't be stopped.

Flash forward to the Xmas break when key pieces of the 67's were gone to world junior camps and they looked like a shell of themselves compared to the previous earlier meeting in the season.

At the end of the day did it mean that the 67's were worse then the earlier meeting of the season well no it was a result of the natural progression of the season.

Will Ottawa be good this year who knows at this point in time, but I agree that everyone is entitled to there own views of how they see the season ahead this year. So to say fans of rhe west argue that Ottawa will be on a down year is more a poster to poster opinion and that it would seem that the 67's would take a step back this year after going for a league title last season this prediction could be completely wrong or completely right but in the games are played between September and March these are just predictions and they're just a wrong and they are right at this point.

I will stand by my prediction that as soon as a fan from an Eastern team starts pumping their chest, a group of fans from western teams will say, "yes, but they play in the East and that conference is weaker so their point totals are suspect."

 

[lazyboy]

I"ll give it a go. I decided to put them in groups where I think teams could rise or fall within that grouping.

1. Saginaw
2. Kitchener
3. London

4. SSM
5. Owen Sound
6. Windsor
7. Sarnia
8. Flint

9. Erie
10. Guelph


1. Ottawa
2. Sudbury
3. Oshawa
4. Peterborough

5. Mississauga
6.North Bay
7. Barrie

8. Hamilton

9. Kingston
10. Niagara

 

[Tarantula]

Nice angle, holding off on my notoriously bad picks until a bit later.

 

[Matttheleaf]

I"ll give it a go. I decided to put them in groups where I think teams could rise or fall within that grouping.

1. Saginaw
2. Kitchener
3. London

4. SSM
5. Owen Sound
6. Windsor
7. Sarnia
8. Flint

9. Erie
10. Guelph


1. Ottawa
2. Sudbury
3. Oshawa
4. Peterborough

5. Mississauga
6.North Bay
7. Barrie

8. Hamilton

9. Kingston
10. Niagara

The west definitely has some defined groupings this year I would think.

 

[Ptbomillsy619]

My way to early predictions will see what moves are made before the season starts. My picks are based on who I think sells and builds towards mem cup

Peterborough
Sudbury
Ottawa
Barrie
Oshawa
Mississauga
Hamilton
Northbay
Niagra
Kingston

Saginaw
Kitchener
London
Owen sound
Flint
Sault st Marie
Sarnia
Erie
Windsor
Guelph

 

[Snippit]

I will stand by my prediction that as soon as a fan from an Eastern team starts pumping their chest, a group of fans from western teams will say, "yes, but they play in the East and that conference is weaker so their point totals are suspect."

I mean the West is usually better than the East