'Nucks and Pucks' preseason prediction off to a roaring start

Regular readers, all six of them, will recall that I made three sets of preseason predictions (well, only sort of "preseason" in one case): order of finish in the Eastern and Western Conferences and Conference and Cup Finals/major award winners. So far they are looking as conclusive as Thomas Dewey's victory in the 1948 Presidential election.

The Flyers, my Eastern darlings, are entrenched in 15th spot in the conference - a place in which they clearly feel comfortable after the 06-07 season. The Dallas Stars, my choice not only to win their division but also the Stanley Cup (!), are kicking around at 12th in the conference.

And the Canucks, my heart-not-head favourite to win it all this year? They're a middling 10th in the West.

Fortunately for my ego the Red Wings are in second in the West, while the Canadiens (who I predicted to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals) are tied for second in points in the East.

Things are not much better on the individual awards front. I was apparently prescient to choose Alex from the Capitals to be among the league's best in scoring - too bad I picked Alex Ovechkin and not Alex Semin, as the latter has 2.5 times as many points as the former.

Marty Turco, who I picked to win the Vezina Trophy, is not off to a hot start and was pulled in yesterday's 5-0 loss to the Devils after some fairly brutal goaltending (start watching at 32 seconds for the worst of it):



Other predictions are looking slightly better: Stars rookie Fabian Brunnstrom has four goals in 5 games, a pace which would likely easily secure him the Calder. And Ryan Kesler's solid defensive play and point-per-game average would place the Canucks forward in good standing in Selke Trophy voting - assuming he can overcome the East Coast bias that potentially robbed Evgeni Nabokov of the Vezina Trophy last year.

Ultimately prognostocation is an inexact science - just ask the now-panicking bookies who gave 150:1 odds on the Tampa Devil Rays winning the World Series. But it's still fun both to make the predictions, and to look back and laugh when they're proven horribly incorrect.

So, while there is still a lot of time for my NHL preseason predictions to come true (after all we're not even through the first month of the season), it is still entertaining to assess the non-success of my forecasts thus far. Maybe I should become a weatherman. Or a bookie.

Colin Powell Supports Canucks Stanley Cup Bid

VANCOUVER - IN A SURPRISING move yesterday, four-star American General and former US Secretary of State Colin Powell openly endorsed the Vancouver Canucks' efforts to secure the Stanley Cup in 2009. Speaking about new Canucks General Manager Mike Gillis, General Powell declared that "he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming onto the NHL stage."

General Powell's endorsement comes as a blow to the Detroit Red Wings and the team's GM Ken Holland. Powell has previously referred to Holland as "a dear friend" who he has known for over 25 years.

Although the Red Wings entered the NHL season as the reigning Stanley Cup champion, the team has amassed only 7 points through 5 games, good enough for a middling fifth in the Western Conference.

Powell refused to comment on whether the Canucks recent October 16 overtime victory the Red Wings factored into his decision to endorse the Vancouver club, but insiders suggest that it greatly altered his impression of Holland and the entire Red Wings organization.

The turmoil in the Red Wings organization extends beyond its mediocre 3-1-1 record, which places them behind Central Division rival St. Louis Blues. Last season the Blues finished dead last in the division, 36 points behind the Red Wings but clearly the divisional balance of power has tilted against the faltering Red Wings.

Holland's recent support for Detroit's "hockey moms" has drawn considerable criticism. While supporters say that it has successfully broadened the appeal of the Red Wings organization amongst a certain segment of the NHL public, critics argue that it has isolated hockey traditionalists who otherwise may have supported the Original Six franchise.

Holland took the high road in responding to today's news: "Well, I've always admired and respected General Powell. We're long-time friends. This doesn't come as a surprise."

Powell's endorsement is a strong boost to NHL newcomer Gillis, who has already bucked convention by naming his goaltender captain. The results of Gillis controversial and highly-criticized plan to increase his team's offence without adaquately replacing outgoing forwards have yet to be seen. Powell's support, however, has for now pushed these issues to the backburner.

Gillis' reaction to the news was predictabily enthusiastic. He declared that he was "beyond honoured and deeply humbled to have the support of General Colin Powell."

The results of the Stanley Cup competition will not be known until the conclusion of the Finals in early June 2009.

Some belated predictions for the 08-09 season

I realize that I never made some of the preseason predictions that I had intended to make. Therefore, please find my somewhat belated predictions for the 2008/09 season:

Stanley Cup Winner: Vancouver Canucks
President's Trophy: Vancouver Canucks
Art Ross Trophy: Daniel Sedin
Hart Trophy: Roberto Luongo
Vezina Trophy: Roberto Luongo
Norris Trophy: Mattias Ohlund
Lady Byng Trophy: Henrik Sedin
Selke Trophy: Ryan Kesler
Calder Trophy: Jannik Hansen

What's that? This list is horribly biased and unrealistic? Next you're going to tell me that the Blue Jays aren't going to win the World Series this year and that my stocks in Lehman Brothers aren't going to allow me to retire by 26 years old. But if you insist, I will aim for a Fox News-esque "fair and balanced" approach for this series of predictions for the current season:

Stanley Cup Finals: Dallas Stars defeat Montreal Canadiens in 6 games

Western Conference Finals: Dallas defeats Detroit Red Wings in 7 games
Eastern Conference Finals: Montreal beats Philadelphia Flyers in 6 games

President's Trophy: Detroit Red Wings

Art Ross Trophy: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Hart Trophy: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Vezina Trophy: Marty Turco, Dallas Stars
Norris Trophy: Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
Lady Byng Trophy: Kyle Wellwood, Vancouver Canucks (just joking, despite his ridiculous dearth of PIM - but how do you predict this trophy anyway?)
Selke Trophy: Ryan Kesler, Vancouver Canucks (I'm sticking with this one!)
Calder Trophy: Fabian Brunnstrom, Dallas Stars
Jack Adams Trophy: I was going to say Denis Savard... so, um, how about Wayne Gretzky of the Phoenix Coyotes? It's not like he's won enough major hardware already.

First All-Star Team:
C - Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
LW - Alex Ovechkin. Washington Capitals
RW - Marian Hossa, Detroit Red Wings
D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
D - Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
G - Marty Turco, Dallas Stars

If Borat was a Canucks fan, he might be something like this

Sure, most Canucks fans are debating the controversial Luongo captaincy decision or celebrating the team`s 6-0 preseason record right now. I, however, am preoccupied by Ivan Hrvatska, the Croatian Canucks super fan. He is apparently also the Captain of the Croation Drinking Team, so perhaps he can give Luongo some tips on leadership. And partying all year.

This guy is amazing, as the news report below proves. Hryatska became a Vancouver fan when he first "watch hockey game, and then I tell you, I lose mind for Canucks!" With outbursts such as "I bring number one song from Croatia to number on hockey team Vancouver Canucks!" Hrvatska's passion and zaniness come through. His personality strikes me as a mix between Borat and Alex Ovechkin, probably because of the combination of extreme enthusiasm and obvious ESL-ness.



And in case you are wondering, you can listen to a portion of Hryatska's hit-in-the-making here. It's both outdated and very forward-looking, as it references ex-Nucks Dan Cloutier and Markus Naslund as well as the Sundin Twins (who the Canucks will presumably sign to identical $10 million/year contracts in 2030).