Nation Network Projected Finishes, 2011-12

Western Conference

• Projected Finish: 1st
• Last Season’s Finish: 2nd
• Range of Predictions: 1st-4th
• Fully two-thirds of the writers polled projected the Sharks to finish atop the Western Conference after they finished as the runner-up to Vancouver in both the playoffs and regular season one year ago.  Three of the remaining five had the Sharks winning their division, while Robin Brownlee and Jeff Angus preferred Los Angeles but still felt the Sharks would start the playoffs with home ice advantage.

• Projected Finish: 2nd
• Last Season’s Finish: 1st
• Range of Predictions: 1st-3rd
• Of the five writers who didn’t choose San Jose to win the West, four chose Vancouver to repeat the achievement.  Additionally, the Canucks enjoy a distinction San Jose does not: every writer polled felt that the club would win the Northwest Division once more.

• Projected Finish: 3rd
• Last Season’s Finish: 8th
• Range of Predictions: 2nd-6th
• The favourites to win the Central Division, Chicago is also a unanimous choice among our writers to improve upon their finish last season – after narrowly squeaking into the playoffs in 2010-11, no writer has them ranked lower than sixth in the West in 2011-12.

• Projected Finish: 4th
• Last Season’s Finish: 7th
• Range of Predictions: 2nd-5th
• Another unanimous choice to improve on last season’s finish, the Los Angeles Kings are expected by our writers to contend for the Pacific Division crown, and failing that to finish no worse than fifth in the West.

• Projected Finish: 5th
• Last Season’s Finish: 3rd
• Range of Predictions: 1st-5th
• Detroit joins San Jose and Vancouver as one of just three clubs that at least one writer expects to win the West (Jeff Angus of Canucks Army favours the Red Wings).  Despite that, the overall expectation is that the Wings will be a victim of increased age, the departure of Brian Raflaski, and the resurgence of the Blackhawks, losing the division crown and sliding to the middle of the Western Conference’s playoff pack.

• Projected Finish: 6th
• Last Season’s Finish: 11th
• Range of Predictions: 5th-10th
• Along with Chicago, St. Louis shares the title of ‘most improved club’ in our writer’s projections, jumping from 11th in the West last season to sixth place and a playoff spot, if all goes according to the consensus view.  Just a single writer has them outside the playoff picture.

• Projected Finish: 7th
• Last Season’s Finish: 5th
• Range of Predictions: 6th-10th
• Nashville is the first team we’ve looked at that everybody polled feels will fall back from their performance last season (it’s because we’re all HUGE fans of J-P Dumont).  Even so, the Predators are once more expected to compete in the post-season, with the consensus view being that they’ll pick up one of the final spots in the West.

• Projected Finish: 8th
• Last Season’s Finish: 4th
• Range of Predictions: 6th-11th
• If our writers are correct, the final spot in the West will belong to the Anaheim Ducks, last season’s fourth seed (and the playoff dark horse of many).  As with the last two clubs, there’s a range of opinion on the Ducks, with some putting them just back of the top teams in the West, and others placing them well back of the pack.

• Projected Finish: 9th
• Last Season’s Finish: 10th
• Range of Predictions: 6th-15th

• Projected Finish: 10th
• Last Season’s Finish: 13th
• Range of Predictions: 8th-13th

• Projected Finish: 11th
• Last Season’s Finish: 12th
• Range of Predictions: 9th-14th

• Projected Finish: 12th
• Last Season’s Finish: 9th
• Range of Predictions: 7th-15th

• Projected Finish: 13th
• Last Season’s Finish: 6th
• Range of Predictions: 9th-15th

• Projected Finish: 14th
• Last Season’s Finish: 15th
• Range of Predictions: 11th-15th

• Projected Finish: 15th
• Last Season’s Finish: 14th
• Range of Predictions: 11th-15th

Eastern Conference

• Projected Finish: 1st
• Last Season’s Finish: 1st
• Range of Predictions: 1st-5th
• Fourteen of 15 writers polled expect the Washington Capitals to finish either first or second in the Eastern Conference.  Only Patrick Johnston of Canucks Army differs, placing the Capitals fifth for the upcoming season.

• Projected Finish: 2nd
• Last Season’s Finish: 3rd
• Range of Predictions: 1st-5th
• Coming off a Stanley Cup victory, no hangover is predicted for the Boston Bruins.  Thirteen of 15 writers have the Bruins as the Northeast Division champions in 2011-12, with Cam Davie of Canucks Army and Allan Mitchell (Lowetide) of Oilers Nation expecting them to win the conference outright.  Jason Gregor and Jeff Angus are the dissenters, pegging Boston for fourth and fifth, respectively.

• Projected Finish: 3rd
• Last Season’s Finish: 4th
• Range of Predictions: 1st-7th
• The top choice for conference champion for three writers (including yours truly), the Penguins find themselves the consensus selection to win the Atlantic Division.  That said, there is some range here – three other writers have the Penguins starting the 2011-12 postseason on the road.

• Projected Finish: 4th
• Last Season’s Finish: 2nd
• Range of Predictions: 2nd -9th
• A busy offseason couldn’t stop (or perhaps it even helped) the Flyers drop from second in the East last season to fourth in our projections for this coming year.  Still, 20% of respondents had the Flyers reprising in their role as the East’s runner-up.

• Projected Finish: 5th
• Last Season’s Finish: 7th
• Range of Predictions: 3rd-9th
• If the Stanley Cup-champion Bruins are to be dislodged as divisional champs, the Sabres are the favourite to do it.  Both Jason Gregor and Jeff Angus have Buffalo winning the Northeast, while five others (once again, including myself) peg the franchise to finish in the top-four in the East.

• Projected Finish: 6th
• Last Season’s Finish: 8th
• Range of Predictions: 2nd-13th
• No other team got the range of response that the high-profile Rangers did, which is perhaps fitting given the way the club’s moves polarize observers.  From Brad Richards this season to previous free agent prizes like Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Wade Redden, the Rangers always make a splash. 

• Projected Finish: 7th
• Last Season’s Finish: 5th
• Range of Predictions: 1st-8th
• Every writer has the Lightning in the playoffs for 2011-12, but only one expects them to walk away as the Southeast Division champs.  Overall, they are regarded as a competitive team that shouldn’t move too far from last year’s 5th-place performance.

• Projected Finish: 8th
• Last Season’s Finish: 6th
• Range of Predictions: 6th-10th
• Rounding out the Eastern Conference playoff picture are the Montreal Canadiens, a club whose chances are liked at least a bit by pretty much every writer but not liked a lot by any of them.

• Projected Finish: 9th
• Last Season’s Finish: 11th
• Range of Predictions:5th-14th

• Projected Finish: 10th
• Last Season’s Finish: 9th
• Range of Predictions:6th-14th

• Projected Finish: 11th
• Last Season’s Finish: 14th
• Range of Predictions: 9th-14th

• Projected Finish: 12th
• Last Season’s Finish: 10th
• Range of Predictions: 8th-13th

• Projected Finish: 13th
• Last Season’s Finish: 12th
• Range of Predictions: 9th-15th

• Projected Finish: 14th
• Last Season’s Finish: 15th
• Range of Predictions: 11th-15th

• Projected Finish: 15th
• Last Season’s Finish: 13th
• Range of Predictions: 11th-15th

Your Call