2008-2009 NHL Predictions

It's always fun to look like an idiot, and what better way than predicting the finish for this NHL season? So what if it officially started a week ago, and some teams played last night? The Caps play tonight, and I think we can all agree that that's the only thing that matters.

East:
1. Montreal
2. Pittsburgh
3. Washington
4. Philadelphia
5. Boston
6. NY Rangers
7. New Jersey
8. Tampa Bay
9. Ottawa
10: Carolina
11. Buffalo
12. Florida
13. NY Islanders
14. Toronto
15. Atlanta

West:
1. Detroit
2. San Jose
3. Calgary
4. Dallas
5. Chicago
6. Vancouver
7. Anaheim
8. Phoenix
9. Colorado
10. Edmonton
11. Minnesota
12. St. Louis
13. Columbus
14. Los Angeles
15. Nashville

East Finals:
Montreal over Washington

West Finals:
San Jose over Detroit

Stanley Cup Champions: San Jose Sharks

Awards
Hart: Alex Ovechkin
Calder: Steve Stamkos
Vezina: Roberto Luongo
Norris: Dan Boyle
Selke: Henrik Zetterberg
Jack Adams: Guy Carbonneau
Conn Smythe: Joe Thornton

Here's what the espn experts thought, if you're curious.

By the way, well done to the Redwings for an absolutely amazing banner raising ceremony last night. Apparently Puck Daddy(a must read blog, by the way) also agrees:

We'd love to have the name of the person in charge of the banner-raising ceremony at Joe Louis Arena, because he or she definitely deserves kudos for a number of appropriate and special touches. For starters, the Stanley Cup headlined eight trophies on display won by the Red Wings last season – Presidents' Trophy, Campbell Bowl (conference title), Conn Smythe (Henrik Zetterberg), Norris Trophy (Nicklas Lidstrom), Selke Trophy (Pavel Datsyuk), Lady Byng (Datsyuk) and Jennings Trophy (Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek). And fans attending the game were given small replica championship banners at the door. But the really special moment was when a number of Red Wing legends, led by Gordie Howe, carried the 2007-08 Stanley Cup banner through the Zamboni entrance and handed it off to a few current Red Wings players on their way to the rafters.

Hockey does tradition and pageantry as good as anyone else, and this was a perfect example. Well done. If you're one of the other 5 remaining NHL fans and have any predictions, feel free to leave them in the comments.