FanHouse NHL Season Predictions

When the curtain finally lifts on the 2009-2010 NHL season Thursday night, the only certainty is that the Pittsburgh Penguins enter the season as 2009 Stanley Cup champions. Anything beyond that is a guess, but that doesn't stop everyone from submitting predictions on the upcoming season. FanHouse's dedicated staff of NHL writers is no different.

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Instead of picking individual division winners and playoff teams, the FanHouse staff voted on the final order for the standings in each conference, ranking teams 1-15. Votes were tallied and scored, with a team getting 15 points for a first-place vote, all the way down to just one point for being picked in 15th.

The teams were then ranked based on their average placement, and what you see below is how FanHouse sees the upcoming NHL season playing out.

Eastern Conference

1. Washington Capitals (2 first-place votes)
2. Pittsburgh Penguins (2)
3. Boston Bruins
4. Philadelphia Flyers (2)
5. Carolina Hurricanes
6. New Jersey Devils
7. New York Rangers
8. Buffalo Sabres
9. Montreal Canadiens
10. Toronto Maple Leafs
11. Tampa Bay Lightning
12. Atlanta Thrashers
13. Florida Panthers
14. Ottawa Senators
15. New York Islanders

While there is great agreement on the top four, there isn't so much with the other four playoff spots. In fact, the six-member FanHouse group picked the same teams for the top four, with only one ballot naming Buffalo in fourth place over Philadelphia. There's a consensus for you, and one that is almost certain to be somehow wrong when the season ends.

The most disagreement could be found with Tampa Bay, Toronto, and Atlanta. The Maple Leafs were in sixth place on one ballot, and as low as eleventh on two of them. Atlanta was as high as ninth and all the way at the bottom on a pair of ballots. Tampa Bay was in the top eight for two voters, but voted next-to-last by two others.

Western Conference

1. San Jose Sharks (3)
2. Detroit Red Wings (1)
3. Calgary Flames
4. Chicago Blackhawks (1)
5. Vancouver Canucks
6. Anaheim Ducks (1)
7. St. Louis Blues
8. Los Angeles Kings
9. Columbus Blue Jackets
10. Minnesota Wild
11. Edmonton Oilers
12. Nashville Predators
13. Dallas Stars
14. Colorado Avalanche
15. Phoenix Coyotes

Outside of virtually everyone thinking San Jose will be really, really good again, not much is agreed upon among the group. Calgary was chosen as high as second, but as low as 11th, out of the playoffs. Edmonton's votes range from sixth to 13th, Dallas from eighth all the way to 14th.

That said, the staff seems to feel that Colorado and Phoenix will both stink. The Avalanche weren't picked any higher than 14th, while the Coyotes/Fighting Bettmans were picked no better than 12th.

While the individual balloting will remain anonymous, we will reveal how each writer voted on the conference finals, as well as the Stanley Cup Finals.

Christopher Botta

Washington over Philadelphia
Detroit over San Jose

Washington over Detroit

Tom Mantzouranis

Pittsburgh over Boston
Calgary over Chicago

Calgary over Pittsburgh

Adam Gretz

Washington over Pittsburgh
Vancouver over Detroit

Vancouver over Washington

Kevin Schultz

Pittsburgh over Philadelphia
Chicago over Detroit

Chicago over Pittsburgh

Susan Slusser

Pittsburgh over Boston
Anaheim over San Jose

Anaheim over Pittsburgh

Bruce Ciskie

Washington over Boston
Vancouver over Chicago

Washington over Vancouver