Time to check back in on our awful predictions!

[ColePens]

Original thread from the summer: http://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/its-boring-lets-make-some-awful-predictions.2377699/


Right:
- Geno gets 40 goals. (Has 42 and still going)
- My gut is telling me Malkin is going to have a monster year. One of his best. I feel like he's going to completely take over.
- Hags gets more than 30+ points. (31 pts with games left)
- Guentzel outscores Sheary.
- Sid ends up with > 87 points. (Meh.. will get 1 point)
- Pens Powerplay ends up top 5 in the league.
- Simon being the WBS bright spot.


Wrong:
- Pouliot is waived and picked up by NJ.
- Murray ends the season .924 sv%.
- Ruhwedel ends up with 20 points.
- Reaves gets 15 pts playing with Scott Wilson and.... Matt Cullen! So that's a 2 for 1 as Matt Cullen comes back for one more year.
- Sprong ends the year on the big club and never goes back down to any other league.


Both:
- Niemi will finish with better stats than MAF in the regular season last year. Better than a .909 sv% and less than 3.02 GAA.

You won't believe this but Niemi has .912 sv% but also has a 3.12 GAA. One right and one wrong.

- For some crazy reason, Letang will play PP1 minutes even after Schultz dominated causing Schultz to get around 40 pts.

Schultz doesn't even have 30 points.

Click to read more...

 

[Gurglesons]

Reaves is a much maligned forward because he doesn't eclipse 10 points. True

Hunwick is an absolute disaster and is a healthy scratch in the playoffs. Mostly True.

Pens shore up their center depth at the deadline and win a third cup based on a Maatta and Letang pairing. Letang wins the Conn Smythe Got the Third Center part right.

Sprong is Tangradi part 2. Looks good but produces nothing. ZAR makes Sheary expendable. Right about Sprong so far, we will see on ZAR

 

[StaalForOne]

I didn't make a single incorrect prediction.

 

[ColePens]

I didn't make a single (redacted) prediction.

Is the above sentence now more true?

 

[RizzleMcRib]

I didn't make a single incorrect prediction.

Neither did I!
I also didn't make any predictions.

 

[StaalForOne]

Is the above sentence now more true?

 

[DegenX]

Doesn't look like I'll be getting that gig with Dionne Warwick any time soon

Sheary is traded as part of a deal for a 3C. Nope.
Sprong makes the team out of camp. Nope. Doesn't look like he'll even stay with the organization at this point.
Sid and Geno finish in the top 10 in scoring, Kessel and Pretzel in the top 25. Sort of. Geno is and currently Sid is at 11, Kessel is at 9.
This is the year Letang wins the Norris. Lol. Talk about unrealistic expectations.
Hagelin not only returns to form, but has a career year. Sort of. Maybe not a career year, but he has returned to form.
Murray is a Vezina finalist. Nope. Rough year for Muzz. Next year for sure.

 

[KIRK]

Props to @nwhockeyfan for predicting Letang, Geno, and Sid get through the season injury free.

It's NOT quite 100% on, but IF I'd have told you through 80 games, they'd have missed 6 games combined (and I think Geno probably could've played a few or all of the 4 he missed if it had been the playoffs), the prediction would've raised some eyebrows.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/posts/135085611/

 

[JakeNBake59]

This is the year Letang wins the Norris. Lol. Talk about unrealistic expectations.

hope he figures it out next year

 

[KIRK]

I didn't make a single incorrect prediction.

Me neither . . . but only because I made none.

 

[Andy99]

Me neither . . . but only because I made none.

I know, though, if I made one, I would have 100% been correct...

 

[tom_servo]

”Re: Hunwick. Making him the whipping boy is like making Nick Spaling the whipping boy. If that's the worst player/contract on the team, then OK.

My predictions: President's trophy. Murray is second in the Vezina voting. Sullivan is second in Jack Adams voting. Crosby wins scoring title. Sprong is full-time NHL by spring.

Kunitz scores 20 goals in Tampa."


I was much too optimistic. I was closer in spirit to Kunitz's success with Tampa Bay.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Here were my predictions.

My predictions:

1a - A lot of Fleury fans will barely (or never) post on here again ...
1b - ... except if Murray struggles. Then they'll post regularly to point this out.

2 - Rust will top the 20 goal mark for the first time in his career, but will do so despite producing next to nothing in the games he's next to Sid.

3 - Geno will miss 20 games.

4 - Guentzel will top 60 points.

5 - Schultz won't repeat his 50-point season of a year ago. Instead, he'll score in the 30 point range.

6 - Dumoulin will actually score 2 goals in the regular season.

7 - Ryan Reaves will beat people up on his way to a career high in points.

8 - Hagelin will bounce back and be a 35+ point guy.

9 - Kessel will score more than 23 goals, but less than 70 points.

10 - Pouliot will continue to not look like an NHL defenseman.

Mostly Right:
1 (I haven't seen most of the Fleury brigade post for most of the year; and the minute Murray struggles they do drop by to point out Murray's flaws)
2 (Rust's pace is close to 20 goals, and he indeed does not mesh with Crosby)
5 (Schultz's pace was closer to the 30 point mark than repeating his 50 point season)
6 (Dumoulin has scored 5 goals this year)
10 (Pouliot is, in fact, a train wreck even in Vancouver)

Partially Right:
8 (Hagelin has 30 points, close to my prediction of 35+, but not quite there)
9 (Kessel did score more than 23 goals, but I was wrong about him getting less than 70 points)

Wrong:
3 (Geno's managed to stay healthy for 75+ games)
4 (Guentzel is about a dozen points below what I thought he'd get)
7 (Reaves was on pace for 11 points prior to the trade, not surpassing his 13 point career high)

All in all, I'd say I did pretty well with my predictions. Even the ones I missed on, I didn't miss by that much. Geno did get injured again, Guentzel still produced almost 50 points, and Reaves was only off pace for a career high by a couple of points.

 

[Coastal Kev]

I predicted this board would be a great spot to find tremendous insight and open mindedness.

 

[KIRK]

 

[brewski420]

Props to @nwhockeyfan for predicting Letang, Geno, and Sid get through the season injury free.

It's NOT quite 100% on, but IF I'd have told you through 80 games, they'd have missed 6 games combined (and I think Geno probably could've played a few or all of the 4 he missed if it had been the playoffs), the prediction would've raised some eyebrows.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/posts/135085611/

That prediction was 99.9% sarcasm. I did not for one second believe they would go through the year this healthy. I thought Geno missed more actually.

 

[Empoleon8771]

When you were saying awful predictions, I'd expect something like:

-Guentzel struggles to start next season and gets sent back down to the AHL
-Murray falters and only puts up a .912 save% while playing as a full time starter
-Niemi puts up better stats than Murray puts up next year and the Penguins enter the playoffs with him as the starter
-Schultz regresses back into a 30 point defensive liability

My "awful predictions" ended up going 1.5/4. Oops. The .5 comes from Schultz only being a 30 point player, but he's not a defensive liability.

Here's my predictions:

1. Both Blueger and Sprong make the team out of camp, Blueger starts the year as the 3C and Sprong starts the year as Malkin's winger
2. Kuhnhackl gets traded for picks before the season starts
3. Guentzel is the most productive winger on the roster
4. Murray puts up over a .925 save% over a full season
5. Pouliot actually proves he's a NHLer to start next year only to be traded for a reclamation project center

My awful predictions were more accurate than my real predictions

To be fair though, the Penguins decided to keep Kuhnhackl over Wilson, and it did look as if the Penguins were considering moving Pouliot in the Sheahan deal. But the rest, yikes.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

I had Sheary down for at least 149 "accidental" falls on the ice.

I was off by like 40 I think. He fell way more than I thought he would.


For real though, my only prediction that I made was that Guentzel would be a 70+ pt player, sophomore slumps are no joke, but I mean he's almost a 50pt player this year in his first full season, 20 goals in your sophomore year is no joke either.

Jake is at 47pts with 3 games left. If he can manage to produce 3pts, 50pts is a good marker.

 

[Peat]

Bearing in mind that I was trying to be wrong...

Going for the far end of plausibility here...

- Murray gets injured a lot, Jarry steps in and becomes Murray mk2, calls to trade Gustavsson because he doesn't have a y at the end of his name intensify - More right than wrong actually...

- Jultz slides back into the pits with a new contract and Bengtsson replaces him as PP QB 2 halfway through the season Mostly wrong. Shame about Bengtsson

- Ryan Reaves scores 15 goals Wrong

- ZAR comes up and disappoints majorly Did a bit to begin with but wrong

- Phil and Geno break up but Phil doesn't gel with 3C, so they try him with Rowney and that sticks all season You can break that down into right, somewhat right, happily wrong

- Sheary becomes Geno's new go to winger - Wrong

- Dumo scores 5 goals Right!

- Ian Cole is traded at the deadline after getting outplayed by Trotman on a WBS call up Half right, but not on the bit I'd like to be right on

- Sid, Tanger and Jake the Snake all stay fit and more or less glued to each other all regular season, with the result that Sid unleashes a 120 point season. - Half right, but not on the bit I'd like to be right on

If any of these turn out to be right, I accept no credit

Clearly I need to go a lot more ridiculous next year.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

I seem to be better at being correct with my awful predictions than I am when I try to be accurate. ....


.....

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

I didn't post in the thread in question but I'll cop to this one -- I thought Guentzel would have a huge year riding shotgun with Sid and pop more goals in than Malkin, this year. At least partially because I figured Malkin would be due for his usual 50-60 game, 60-70 point season.

Big swing and a miss on both, there. Happily for Malkin and not so much for Guentzel, though he still had a respectable year.

 

[Sideline]

Phil Kessel will look uninspiring and struggle to put up 60 points in the regular season.

Phil Kessel will look like a red panda possessed and put up 20+ points in the playoffs.

Olli Maatta will find his game and look like a legit top 4 defenceman.

Letang will be healthy enough for the playoffs, but dinged up or worse the rest of the season.

Sid will be out scored by McDavid in the regular season leading to a never ending stream of "not the best anymore" hot takes.

Sid will lead the playoffs in scoring, winning the Cup, the Conn Smythe, all while shutting down McDavid in the finals.

JR trades for a big name that isn't Duchene because c'mon he gets bored and does huge deals, but Sakic is delusional.

1. Wrong. Beast Phil is beast.
2. TBD
3. Maybe... I guess he's been okay
4. Letang hasn't been dinged up, but he is playing like he's hurt
5. Totally correct.
6. TBD but trash Oilers mean I can only be half rignt.
7. 100% nailed it.

 

[UnrealMachine]

- I didn't post this in the predictions thread, but I'm sure if you combed my posting history you'd see my #1 concern was the PK. I was much happier halfway through the season when I was wrong, but it is approaching Achilles heel territory at the moment.
- Thought G/C/S would crush it, nope.
- Thought Murray would be in the .925 territory, nope.
- Thought Ruh would force his way into the #6 spot, define "force"?
- Certainly didn't expect the team to be out of a playoff spot at the end of 2017.

 

[KIRK]

I didn't post in the thread in question but I'll cop to this one -- I thought Guentzel would have a huge year riding shotgun with Sid and pop more goals in than Malkin, this year. At least partially because I figured Malkin would be due for his usual 50-60 game, 60-70 point season.

Big swing and a miss on both, there. Happily for Malkin and not so much for Guentzel, though he still had a respectable year.

This season, Geno will have played more regular games than any year since 2008-2009. Even in his Hart year, he missed 6 regular season games.

 

[BlindWillyMcHurt]

This season, Geno will have played more regular games than any year since 2008-2009. Even in his Hart year, he missed 6 regular season games.

And he's gunning for 100 points in THIS era of hockey.

Maybe it kinda makes some people understand why I've often gotten so frustrated the last however many seasons. It's hard NOT to imagine what we've been missing.