With the NHL season officially getting underway on Thursday night, it seems like a good time to take a look at EA Sports NHL 10 simulation for the 2009-10 campaign. According to the simulation, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins will repeat as Cup Champions, defeating cover boy Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. Poor Marian Hossa ... coming up just short, even in virtual reality.
While the idea of a Pittsburgh vs. Chicago Stanley Cup Final matchup is certainly reasonable, some of the other results from the simulation are surprising.
Head-Scratching Results
-- The Carolina Hurricanes were the best team in the regular season, taking home the Presidents Trophy with 113 points.
-- The Detroit Red Wings, back-to-back Western Conference Champions, barely qualified for the postseason finishing as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference before being eliminated in the opening round by Chicago.
-- Columbus ended the regular season as the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference with 103 points.
-- Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin did not lead the league in goals scored.
The Playoff Teams
Eastern Conference
1. Carolina Hurricanes
2. Boston Bruins
3. Pittsburgh Penguins
4. New Jersey Devils
5. Washington Capitals
6. New York Rangers
7. Philadelphia Flyers
8. Florida Panthers
Western Conference
1. Chicago Blackhawks
2. San Jose Sharks
3. Calgary Flames
4. Columbus Blue Jackets
5. Los Angeles Kings
6. Vancouver Canucks
7. Anaheim Ducks
8. Detroit Red Wings
The Award Winners
Hart Trophy: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Art Ross Trophy: Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks
Norris Trophy: Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames
Vezina Trophy: Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes
Calder Trophy: Semyon Varlamov, Washington Capitals
Rocket Richard Award: Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta Thrashers
Lester B. Pearson Award: Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
Selke Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Lady Byng Trophy: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Conn Smythe Trophy: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
YAWN... so, the regular hockey season starts today & goes on... what... 3yrs, and then almost everybody goes to the "playoffs". What a joke. Bunch of toothless goofballs with names you can't pronounce knockin' each other down to the screams of their trailer-trash fans. Who wouldn't get excited
over that? LOL
Yet, you decided to not only read the post, but also take the time to leave a 50-word comment. Talk about LOL!
Sounds like you're describing a Pittsburgh Steelers game to me.
nothing like an inbred troll to start things off
Sorry but the Finals were rigged for Pretty Boy Crosby to win. All part of the Bettman's NHL marketing plan. They pushed for this kid to be the next great one (Please)as a poster child, but losing to the Wings in another Finals wasn't gonna help them and "The Plan", so refs make a couple bad calls Games 3-4-6-7( You know it's true) and the Wings lose. The Wings will be better than 8th seed, what a joke. Anyone who knows Hockey knows Detroit is the Best team in the league. NHL just doesn't want a NBA CHI Bulls situation were one team dominates year after year. Pitt will have a big bulls eye on them now and we'll see how that works out for them this season. I say they miss the playoffs. Stay Tuned, you know I will be. WINGS Fan 4ever
The Red Wings in 8th place? I don't think so! They're the team to beat every year for decades now.
Bring this stupid thing back at play-off time and see how the predictions went then!
Do any of you even watch hockey, cause if not you should look at the standings Hawks are ranked first in the division and detroit is not so before you start ripping on Chicago becuz the Red Wings always beat them, yet the red wings lost alot of their premier Wingers and cant even beat St. Louis, which are also in their Conference.
I bet these standings reflect almost the same as real life as the red wings have no consitent goalie with the loss of Conklin. I Know the Blackhawks dont have a quality tender but they dont really need it their Defense is top notch and even their third and forth line are scoring, Ever since Chicago Amped up their offense with Offensive studs and got their T.V. Deal to show all games they have been a force to be reckoned with. Lidstrom is old Datsyuk isnt the same as he was and the same goes for Zetterberg who is playing Worse Then Anze Kopitar and he was ranked like 150th in the drafts.
All the teams above the Red Wings have better teams San Jose Looks really good, Calgary looks good as well(except in the loss to the Hawks, Go hawks), Columbus might be a long shot as they have internal issues. The kings are my second favorite team as they are always seen as an easy opponent(which is not true its just easy to score on a nobody) Canucks=Luongo(already makes them better than Detroit) And mabye you dont remember the playoffs last year but detroit deff. shoulda lost to Anaheim. I wouldnt be surprised if the Red Wings missed the cut to the blues, mabye even to Colorado, Hell even The phoenix Coyotes could push them out.
Ive waited my whole life for the blackhawks to do somthing. Ever since Belfour i had hope in the Hawks. Now 13 years later I finally get to watch some quality Hockey. I can almost Guarantee that they will not mess this up. And no im not a fan of Kane or Toews, Nor Huet or Niemi Like i said b4 its Chicagos Defense that will come Through this year.