"I can't believe you didn't include Wanye in the pole! "

I hope you mean poll..

Thats what she said.

Let me be the fist to predict that the Oilers will finish 9th, four points out of a playoff spot. And I will be thrilled.

Finishing 9th is way worse than finishing last.

Growth and production, to me at least, is much better than another lottery pick because finishing 9th this year would most likely mean making the playoffs next year. So yes, I would be thrilled.

big surprise most likely canucks lover johnston picks both alberta teams to finish 14 and 15..let me remind you 2nd place is as good as last..41 years of misery and counting

I will be happy

with eleventh position

I H.O.P.E. I am right

overall standings are pretty close to my estimates as well.

West: 1st - SJ, 2nd - Chi, 3rd - Van, 4th - LA (having more points then Van and pretty close to Chi), 5th - Det, 6th - ANA, 7th - STL, 8th - CBJ, 9th - NSH, 10th - DAL, 11th - EDM, 12th - CGY, 13th - MIN, 14th - PHX, 15th - COL

East: 1st - WSH, 2nd - Pens, 3rd - Buf, 4th - Bos, 5th - NYR, 6th - TBL, 7th - Car, 8th - NYI, 9th - Phi, 10th - MTL, 11th - Tor, 12th - NJD, 13th - WPG, 14th - Flo, 15th - OTT

Personally I think those picks from 7-12 in the West are COMPLETELY interchangeable and any of those teams landing anywhere in that range would not surprise me...I could see Edmonton finishing as high as 11, but I wouldnt put money on it. - I also think LA will overtake DET and land in 4th...top 3 I agree with the consensus 1.SJS 2.VAN 3.CHI

That would not only suck but be an epic fail too.

No Playoffs.

No ELPH.

No lottery pick.

This sucks.

NHL Centre Ice free on Shaw til Oct 23.

Get fat out the comfortable chair, remote(s), beer, and munchies.

The New York Islanders will make it over the hump and qualify for the playoffs. It will usher in a sign of hope for those of us yearning to see a re-build conclude successfully.

I'd like to know how someone thinks we are gonna finish in 15th in the west this year, how big of a Canucks Homer are they to think that? The Flames were 5 POINTS! out of 4th place in the west last year. The Flames did not get that much worse, as well no team got that much better to justify the Flames occupying the cellar.

How did you amalgamate the choices?

11th-12th

And that's if Whitney and Hemsky play 60+ games (one of them will, I'm betting on the former).

I agree with your post. Talent wise the Oilers are right but a lot of things have to come together for them to sneak into the playoffs. Never say Never!

Angus..Angus..Angus!

Oops, wrong board. I saw Angus' name and thought I was on the ACDC board. My bad. Go Oilers! F the rest of Canada's teams. haha suck on deez n...!

I am all for growth and production, but you can do that and still get a lottery pick. Finishing 9th this year does not mean next year this team makes the playoffs. They finished 9th in 2007 - 2008 and then finished 11th in 2008 - 2009.

finishing last perpetually is worse than climbing out of the bottom one year.

You dont go from 30th to first in one year.

Oilers finish 7th,shock everyone and thrill the fans(they lose first round of playoffs)but at least they are there.dubnyk will take starter postion,hall,eberle,hopkings,smyth,belanger,paraavi will all produce this year,and although our defence sucks,hemsky stays healthy enough for the oil to trade with ganger for a top 4 defenceman to help our back end(the best of all of this is we finally give up on happyboozin)

I can't believe you didn't include Wanye in the pole! It would have been nice to see one person pick the Oilers to finish first.

I don't care where we finish, as long as we get the first pick again. Any way a fellow can get a Sports Select ticket on LT's selections? That guy is correct 99% of the time.

Nope I legitimately meant pole because reading such depressing predictions, no matter how valid, before the season even kicks off is like smashing your head into one

Watch, Washington is going to be the first ever team, modern team at least, to finish 1st and be able to draft 1st.

What the hell was Colorado thinking trading away their first rounder?

Gotcha!! just wanted to check... And besides, it gave WBC the chance to say "that's what she said"

Too funny

I take the opportunity's wherever I can get them eh ;)

Willis, how could you? Picking the Oil last again?

I think its funny how the oilers are predicted low. Its realistically the reasonable choice, but sooner or later they are going to take that step. But again, im just optimistic our Defence will surprise a bit this year. That includes Dubnyk in net.

Western Conference -

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

Eastern Conference -

(1)Washington (2)Boston (3)Pittsburgh (4)Philidelphia (5)Tampa Bay (6)Buffalo (7)Montreal (8)NYR (9)Toronto (10)Carolina (11)New Jersey (12)Winnipeg (13)NYI (14)Florida (15)Ottawa

...i don't like to entertain the idea of joining in on all the fun of this particular prediction contest...the whole matter is so daunting when i know that to make the playoffs there are the 7 other crappy teams in front of us just to get into the post season...then i imagine how bloody daunting the task of beating out the Vancouvers and the San Joses and the Chicagos and i get completely optimistic that we will,in fact, get another lottery pick for another two to three years...how can this season be so telling when we WILL finish at the bottom again and the cycle of failing WILL continue without so much as a fired GM to count on...

hey Q ... do your swollen buttocks have anything to do with this unpleasantness?

I agree, horrible trade.

Oilers to finish in top 6 , and yes they will make it to finals . I got my odds(investment@ 70-1 ) ticket on them to win Stanley this year .

Dubbly , Dubbly with Respect . Oilers rookies from last season going to have to get double their points from last season , and thus gain the respect of league officials on our side . We do not want what happened to Gagner's gang happen to last years rookies - stuck on 40points for 3 years after ! Monumental task, but i believe it is realistic . Go Oilers !!

Following up from last blog . If Oilers were to put up Hemsky and Gagner with our first round pick from next year , and a conditional future one depending on whether we make a playoff run this sesason ;then i believe we might just land Weber in a trade with Nashville . Or at least fairly close to it . Couple that with Gilbert and Whitney regaining form they showed as teammates last season and we could be well on the way to the top . Quality for quality !

I predict that the Oilers will finish first and Hall will go on to run for Mayor and convince city council to build a new arena. Oh, and the new arena will have free beer.

*wakes up*

Oh, how about 12th in the West.

You're nuts. Or Nashville would be for making that trade.

I believe the Oilers will finish ahead of Phoenix, Colorado, Ottawa, Florida and Winnipeg.

If the Oilers goaltending holds up I can see them fighting with Minnesota, Calgary, Toronto and Dallas to see who will and won't get a top 10 pick in the 2012 draft.

Buns o steel my friend, buns o steel. These last couple years have almost driven me to start drinking and smoking but i feel the mood is changing on these forums. This brainwashing experiment i'm conducting has legs now.

Remember when the nation used to post a couple Oiler related articles that were informative and enjoyable to read....ohh how I miss those days when the corporate media world didn't rule the site.

I think @bobomar$ and @davethechump should arm wrestle

WC: 1SJ, 2VAN, 3CHI, 4DET, 5LA, 6StL, 7NSH, 8ANA, 9CBJ, 10COL, 11CGY, 12DAL, 13EDM, 14MIN, 15PHX.

EC: 1WSH, 2PIT, 3BOS, 4TB, 5BUF, 6PHI, 7NYR, 8NJ, 9NYI, 10MTL, 11CAR, 12TOR, 13WPG, 14FLA, 15OTT

I like this format... very fun to think about.

ANA, SJS, VAN, CHI, LAK, STL, CBJ, NSH, DET, DAL, EDM, CGY, MIN, COL, PHX,

BOS, WSH, NYR, BUF, PHI, PIT, TBL, CAR, MTL, NJD, TOR, NYI, WPG, FLA, OTT

I had to pick so that Edmonton came ahead of Calgary. I just had to!

I think predicting the Western conference this year is going to be very difficult and if someone gets it right it will be because of unforeseen circumstances or by the narrowest of margins. There are a collection of elite teams at the top that could all vie for the top 3, and then a large group of teams that can range anywhere from 11th to 6th overall. For the Oilers I would say with a healthy roster they could, emphasis on could, finish as high as 11th but with the injury history and the number of rookies on forward as well as the thin defense in terms of available call-ups they are only two or three bodies away from 15th.

The only teams that stand out in the West in my mind as being outside the groupings are Minnesota and Calgary. They are in between rebuilding (or re-tooling, if you're a Flames fan) and competing, and closer to the former than the latter. (I hear Dany Healtey is going to have a "A" on his sweater this year, but I don't think it will stand for "Assistant")

The one thing I will guarantee for the Oilers is a lot of goals, some for, many against.

Was Dustin Penner a healthy scratch today?

VAN-SJS-CHI-LAK-DET-ANA-STL-NSH-CBJ-MIN-EDM-CGY-COL-PHX

WSH-PIT-BOS-NYR-BUF-PHI-TBL-MTL-NJD-CAR-TOR-NYI-WPG-FLA-OTT

I forgot to put Dallas into my western conference prediction. I figure it the west would look like this:

VAN-SJS-CHI-LAK-DET-ANA-STL-NSH-CBJ-MIN-DAL-EDM-CGY-COL-PHX

See the previous post for the East prediction.

Sorry JW

Buf - Wash - Pit - Phi - TB - NYR - Bos - NJD - Mon - Tor - Car - NYI - Win - Flo - Ott

Van - SJ - Det - LA - Ana - Chi - St.L - Dal - Nash - Cbj - Edm - Col - Cgy - Phx - Min