Looking back at our 2010-11 pre-season predictions
Back in October of 2010, a few of the managers and editors here put our heads together and made some predictionsfor the 2010-11 Ottawa Senators season.
It wasn't our best moment.
Seven questions were posed, and the best anyone fared was three points. Pretty awful. The big winner of the prediction panel? None other than Ryan Classic, although I'd caution him against bragging about it too much.
Take the jump to see the questions and how we stacked up against one another.
1. Who will be the Sens number one goalie at the end of the regular season?
Ryan actually predicted Robin Lehner, but he also added that he wouldn't be surprised if some sort of rental came in--which got him partial marks, because he was far closer than anyone else was. Darren and Peter predicted another full year of Brian Elliott, while Mark predicted the remarkable acquisition of Tomas Vokoun.
2. Who will lead the team in scoring?
This one seemed like it should have been a gimme, and Mark, Ryan, and Peter all were correct in predicting Jason Spezza. Darren called Spezza to lead the team in points-per-game, but wasn't sure if he'd be able to lead the team in scoring overall, so that's only partial marks for Big D.
3. Sergei Gonchar: 70.5 games. Over or under?
Sergei Gonchar finished under, with 67 games. Only Ryan picked under, and he was almost right on the mark with a prediction of 68 games played. The rest of us said over.
4. Who will get more points: Nick Foligno or Peter Regin?
After Foligno's remarkable pre-season scoring pace, it looked like he might have a breakout season this year. He didn't, but he did outscore Regin (as much because Regin took huge steps backward as because of solid play from Foligno). Peter was the only person to predict it; the other three thought Regin would pick up speed after the pre-season.
5. Will Bobby Butler, Patrick Wiercioch, or Eric Gryba get called up for any significant period of time?
Grybe didn't play a game, and Wiercioch only played a couple, but Butler did play 36 games in the NHL, which most certainly qualifies as a significant period. Mark and Darren both said no, Peter said Butler would play 25 games or so which earned me partial credit, and Ryan said Butler would be the first call-up in the event of an injury, but didn't actually answer the yes-or-no question so he only gets partial marks, too.
6. Will Filip Kuba and/or Brian Lee still be Senators by the trade deadline?
Both were and still are on the team, as was correctly predicted by both Darren and Mark. Ryan and Peter thought Lee would have been moved, at the very least down to Binghamton, but that didn't happen.
7. Where will the Sens finish in the Eastern Conference?
There were some ugly predictions here, non uglier than Ryan's prediction that the Senators would win the Northeast Division and finish third overall. Everyone predicted a playoff position, and no one got any points.
Final standings:
- Ryan Classic: 3 points
- Peter Raaymakers: 2.5 points
- Mark Parisi: 2 points
- Darren McLeod: 1.5 points
Hopefully our predictions for next season will be a little bit more realistic... we'll make some this October.