Where do the Jackets finish in the Metro this season?

[NotWendell]

Think we're better than Carolina and NJ but no one else.

I don't like the moves the Islanders made in the offseason. We might be able to pass them as well.

 

[major major]

I can't believe I did it. But, I have them 6th and getting a playoff spot.

They do well when nobody is talking about them.

I have to say that is extremely optimistic. There's 3 division spots and 2 wild cards, so 6th is out automatically.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

My predictions:

Atlantic:

1. Tampa Bay
2. Florida
3. Ottawa
-------------------------------
4. Montreal
5. Detroit
6. Buffalo
7. Boston
8. Toronto

Metro

1. Washington
2. Pittsburgh
3. Philadelphia
4. New York I
5. New York R
------------------------------------
6. Carolina
7. New Jersey
8. Columbus

Central

1. St. Louis
2. Dallas
3. Chicago
4. Nashville
5. Minnesota
------------------------------
6. Winnipeg
7. Colorado

Pacific

1. San Jose
2. Los Angeles
3. Anaheim
---------------------------
4. Calgary
5. Edmonton
6. Arizona
7. Vancouver

Almost picked Carolina over New York R and Calgary over Anaheim.

 

[The Wheelchair]

I said 8th last season, so on the off-chance that I have magic powers, I picked first this year.

 

[Cyclones Rock]

http://thehockeywriters.com/facing-off-season-preview-and-predictions/

Whoever these guys are aren't very gung ho about the CBJ. 4 out of 5 pick them to pick in the bottom 4 of the league.

Which four teams will finish at the bottom of the standings? Who wins the draft lottery?

FISHER: Vancouver, New Jersey, Columbus and Anaheim in that order. Vancouver with the best odds for the lottery and . . . drum roll . . . the Canucks will, in fact, get the right to pick Nolan Patrick. That is, assuming Patrick is still the top prospect come June. I’m not convinced that will be the case.

MOUNT: Vancouver, New Jersey, Columbus and Anaheim. I think New Jersey wins the lottery and gives Ray Shero a shot at infusing some young life into an attack that still lacks punch.

SICARD: Book it now, Vancouver will finish 30th — followed by Columbus, Arizona and Toronto. The Canucks and Blue Jackets are actually terrible, while the Coyotes and Maple Leafs are systematically fending off relevancy for one more year. In other words — they’re tanking.

FORBES: Believe it or not, the Leafs are going to be much better than people give them credit for (ahem Mr. Sicard). While Toronto won’t make the playoffs, it will miss by about eight to 10 points. The bottom four will be Carolina, Minnesota, Boston and Vancouver, and the Canucks will get their hands on the winning lottery card.

HEDLEY-NOBLE: Calgary, Carolina, Vancouver and Columbus for me. The Blue Jackets finish last and also win the draft lottery.

 

[niflheim]

http://thehockeywriters.com/facing-off-season-preview-and-predictions/

Whoever these guys are aren't very gung ho about the CBJ. 4 out of 5 pick them to pick in the bottom 4 of the league.

Only Forbes more/less respectful and competent source for me and Forbes speaks that " Four — Columbus, Montreal, Colorado and Calgary get four playoff spots"

 

[Dr. Fire]

Well, the national hockey media are giving the CBJ absolutely no love, but realistically our boys haven't earned any love.

Could they finish 30th in the NHL? It is quite possible. How will the young D corps play, how will Bob play, will the forwards be able to continue to score enough by committee, will the PP and PK hold up, will injuries to key players derail the season, will they embrace Tort's system?

So many question marks for this group.

They could certainly over-achieve, and sadly could very well under-achieve.

I am sticking with 6th in the Metro, but who really knows with this group. How the young guys respond could be the factor that makes or breaks us.

 

[Old Guy]

I voted 7th.

Now having said that, it is fine for us fans to have these speculative polls and discussions. I get really sick of informed opinions (people getting paid to watch/talk/analyze) offer their guesses. There should be a rule that if you draw a paycheck around this, every guess has to also include your track record.

I find it funny that most every year, of the 16 teams that make the playoffs, 6 of them did not make it the year before. And yet, their predictions are the same 16 teams that made the playoffs last year. Some go as low as 14 repeats.

The one that frosts me is that idiot Lee Corso. Seldom does anybody ever call him out and say, your record last week was 3-9 in games you picked!! How do you keep your job? (Not so fast my friend!!!) I know for that show they have to have the counter opinion to make it fun and interesting, but why not say that. Just be honest with people.

Why don't we call these people out? Do people not want to do the research?

 

[JacketsDavid]

I left my vote at 7th, but like EDM mentioned in another thread I finally have hope for our future. We got rid of a lot of dead weight and Clarkson (thankfully for us, hopefully for him he's ok) is a LTIR which is a major blessing.
I don't think the blue line is ready. Jones has all the skills (but he was -11 in 41 games with us last year which tells a story), Werenerski could be good, Murray, etc. But all so young and I think especially for 1st half of the year they will struggle.
I don't trust Bob - especially his health but also just the way he's played when healthy. Who knows maybe he can bounce back but I wouldn't bet on that.

I think the offense will be ok. Helps to have a few more guys on the blue line that can move the puck. Just I don't think they can score enough to overcome our inexperience for 1st half of year.

 

[We Want Ten]

Well, the national hockey media are giving the CBJ absolutely no love, but realistically our boys haven't earned any love.

Could they finish 30th in the NHL? It is quite possible. How will the young D corps play, how will Bob play, will the forwards be able to continue to score enough by committee, will the PP and PK hold up, will injuries to key players derail the season, will they embrace Tort's system?

So many question marks for this group.

They could certainly over-achieve, and sadly could very well under-achieve.

I am sticking with 6th in the Metro, but who really knows with this group. How the young guys respond could be the factor that makes or breaks us.

I'd imagine after picking us to do well last year, quite a few of the analysts are more than shy to pick us again for a while.

 

[Dr. Fire]

I'd imagine after picking us to do well last year, quite a few of the analysts are more than shy to pick us again for a while.

Yea, the old fool me once shame on you, fool me twice.......

You get the picture.

 

[We Want Ten]

Yea, the old fool me once shame on you, fool me twice 15 times.......

You get the picture.

This a well travelled road for us.

 

[Old Guy]

Okay, so I decided to go back and look at how many new teams are in the playoffs each year. For better or worse, I used my baseline year as the 03-04 season. That is the season before the entire season was lost. It is only reasonable to assume that the makeup of the playoffs after a complete year lost would show a higher change than normal. Here are the results;

Season | New – East | New –West | Total | Games Played
05-06|3|2|5|82
06-07|3|2|5|82
07-08|4|1|5|82
08-09|2|4|6|82
09-10|2|4|6|82
10-11|4|1|5|82
11-12|4|1|5|82
12-13|3|2|5|48
13-14|4|2|6|82
14-15|3|4|7|82
15-16|2|2|4|82

The least amount of change in the last 11 years was just last year when only 4 new teams made the playoffs. The represents a 25% change to the field and that was the least. You might have expected that the 05-06 year (after the lockout) or the 12-13 year (partial season) would be the most volatile. And yet, that just doesn’t appear to be the case.

So I guess my point is, as you look at some of the predictions from these “learned expertsâ€, if they don’t have at least 4 or 5 new teams making the playoffs, they are most likely wrong.

 

[JacketsDavid]

Okay, so I decided to go back and look at how many new teams are in the playoffs each year. For better or worse, I used my baseline year as the 03-04 season. That is the season before the entire season was lost. It is only reasonable to assume that the makeup of the playoffs after a complete year lost would show a higher change than normal. Here are the results;

it also reinforces how special the CBJ organization truly is. Most other teams go from missing the playoffs to competing pretty quickly. Only the CBJ and Edmonton have mastered the art of sucking virtually every year.

 

[Tulipunaruusu*]

Only the CBJ and Edmonton have mastered the art of sucking virtually every year.

They show you the uppermost undermost. What has turned on the back turns on the belly.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

I just want the Jackets in the playoffs. That is all I am concerned about.

 

[JacketsDavid]

I just want the Jackets in the playoffs. That is all I am concerned about.

They can probably rent out a suite in Pittsburgh or Chicago for one of the games

 

[Dr. Fire]

Well, after last nights performance, I might have to rethink this, and make them 8th in the Metro.

 

[Nanabijou]

Well, October is in the books. When the season started, I looked at the October schedule and figured I'd be pretty happy if they were .500 at Halloween. So, I'm pretty happy.

Now, they have a busy November - 14 games over the next 29 days, but 9 of these are at home. I'm going to set my benchmark as 16 points in November (7-5-2).

Of course, I'd love them to go higher than that, but baby steps first. I feel this team could get stronger as the year progresses so I'd just like them to stay in the mix as we get through Thanksgiving.