Alright, so I went back in the thread to pull up predictions.
Aldaron:
East:
Pittsburgh
Washington
Boston
Philadelphia
New York Rangers
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Buffalo
West:
San Jose
Vancouver
Detroit
Los Angeles
Chicago
Anaheim
Nashville
Columbus
Spotty prediction of Columbus and Carolina in the playoff seeds. Looks sound otherwise, since everyone didn't expect Anaheim and Tampa Bay to shit the bed that badly.
Eraddd
East:
Pittsburgh
Washington
Boston
Tampa Bay
Philadelphia
New York Rangers
Buffalo
Montreal
West:
San Jose
Vancouver
Chicago
Detroit
Los Angeles
Anaheim
Nashville
St Louis
Predicted St Louis to make it, so that's a plus. Washington clearly shit the bed, and so did Montreal, so that's pretty bad. Again, Anaheim and Tampa = sigh. Also I magically jinxed Pronger's injury apparently in my prediction.
Jackal
East:
Philadelphia
Washington
Boston
Pittsburgh
Buffalo
Tampa Bay
Carolina
New York
West
Vancouver
San Jose
Chicago
Detroit
LA
Minnesota
Nashville
Anaheim
Carolina, Minnesota, and Buffalo look like bad picks. Don't really want to devote more than a few words for personal commentary so I'll stop there.
Captain Kishimoto
East:
1. Washington
2. Pittsburgh
3. Buffalo
4. Philadelphia
5. Boston
6. Tampa Bay
7. N.Y. Rangers
8. Toronto
West:
1. San Jose
2. Vancouver
3. Detroit
4. L.A.
5. Anahiem
6. Chicago
7. Nashville
8. St. Louis
Lol Toronto.
Bluecookies
East:
Washington
Pittsburgh
Boston
Philadelphia
Buffalo
Tampa Bay
New York (Rangers)
New Jersey
West:
San Jose
Vancouver
Detroit
Chicago
Los Angeles
Nashville
Colorado
Anaheim
Lol Colorado.
Synre
East:
Washington
Buffalo
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay
Philadelphia
Boston
New York Rangers
Toronto
West:
Vancouver
San Jose
Detroit
Los Angeles
Chicago
Anaheim
Nashville
Minnesota
Lol Minnesota and Toronto
So major trends: Everyone didn't expect Anaheim, and Tampa Bay to shit the bed as badly as they did the season. Not sure what was up with Anaheim, but their offense was pretty terrible, and their goaltending was spotty the first half the season. While they did play well in the second half, it wasn't enough to push them over the hump. Tampa Bay obviously had one of the more potent offenses, but Roloson quite frankly shit the bed during the regular season. Goaltending wins you games, and they were missing it here, even with a 60 goal scorer. Look for them to upgrade on goaltending and defense this offseason.
Overachievers: St Louis and New York Rangers. Only two people (me and Captain Kishimoto) predicted St Louis to even make the playoffs, and that's only barely as an eighth seed. Having two 1st string goalies, a strong system, a strong coach and responsible defensive forwards who give it 100% every night make it easy to win games, and they've certianly done that this season. New York is the same. Defensively sound, giving it 100%, with the rise of players like McDonaugh (sp?), Del Zotto, and others I probably forgot. Gaborik and Richards provide offense, and Lundqvist is his same sexy self.
Underachievers: Washington Capitals. No one expected Ovechkin to disappear in the first half of the season, and a few injuries and the introduction of Washington's new magician who accidentally made Semin vanish for stretches of the season kind of boned them. Many expected them to finish first seed, especially with their previous regular season success but they've snuck into the 7th seed in the nick of time.
It's late so someone else can finish analyzing this.