Out of Town Notebook: The Experts’ Predictions
It’s shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
TSN – Canada’s “sports leader” – tends to have a smugness problem when it comes to covering hockey.
Darren Dreger, Pierre Maguire, Gord Miller, Bob McKenzie – these are all good, informed hockey people, who just so happen to take their job a bit too seriously. These guys never want to be wrong.
Which is probably why the network let its experts provide “consensus” selections for the winner of each first-round series during its playoff preview show.
Talk about wimping out. Predicting who will win each round is part of the fun, part of the entertainment that is built around the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Every time an expert picks a fan’s team, it’s another deposit into their bank of hope.
There’s a long history of discomfort with hockey predictions at TSN. There was never any love lost between the crew and Maggie the Monkey. Lately, Bob McKenzie has taken to twitter criticizing folks for expecting him to choose winners.
Thankfully, Sportsnet’s panel doesn’t have the same problem. They understand entertaining the viewer is just as important as being right when it comes to sports television.
Here now are first round predictions from a variety of folks in the hockey media. Note – “n/a” means they didn’t make a selection. “?” means Mike Milbury couldn’t decide. Great insight there Mike.
| WAS/NYR | PHI/BUF | BOS/MTL | PITT/TB | VAN/CHI | SJ/LA | DET/PHX | ANA/NSH | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scott Burnside | ESPN | WAS in 6 | PHI in 5 | MTL in 7 | PIT in 7 | CHI in 7 | SJ in 5 | DET in 7 | NSH in 7 |
| Pierre Lebrun | ESPN | WAS in 5 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 7 | PIT in 7 | VAN in 5 | SJ in 6 | DET in 7 | ANA in 6 |
| Matthew Barnaby | ESPN | WAS in 5 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 5 | TB in 6 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 5 | DET in 7 | NSH in 7 |
| John Buccigross | ESPN | WAS in 7 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 7 | PIT in 7 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 7 | DET in 7 | NSH in 7 |
| Linda Cohn | ESPN | NYR in 7 | BUF in 6 | BOS in 7 | TB in 7 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 5 | DET in 7 | ANA in 6 |
| EJ Hradek | ESPN | WAS in 7 | BUF in 6 | BOS in 7 | PIT in 6 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 5 | DET in 6 | ANA in 7 |
| Steve Levy | ESPN | WAS in 6 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 7 | PIT in 5 | CHI in 7 | SJ in 5 | DET in 5 | ANA in 6 |
| Barry Melrose | ESPN | WAS in 5 | PHI in 6 | BOS in 6 | PIT in 6 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 5 | DET in 7 | ANA in 6 |
| Terry Jones | Edmonton Sun | WAS in 7 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 6 | PIT in 7 | VAN in 7 | SJ in 4 | DET in 7 | ANA in 6 |
| Damien Cox | Toronto Star | WAS in 6 | BUF in 6 | BOS in 7 | TB in 6 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 5 | DET in 6 | ANA in 6 |
| Chris Botta | New York Times | WAS in 6 | BUF in 6 | BOS in 5 | TB in 6 | VAN in 7 | SJ in 5 | DET in 7 | ANA in 7 |
| The Hockey News | The Hockey News | WAS in 6 | PHI in 7 | BOS in 6 | TB in 7 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 6 | DET in 5 | ANA in 7 |
| Elliotte Friedman | CBC | WAS | BUF | BOS | PIT | VAN | SJ | PHX | ANA |
| Tim Wharnsby | CBC | NYR in 7 | PHI in 6 | BOS in 6 | PIT in 7 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 5 | DET in 7 | NSH in 7 |
| Mike Brophy | Sportsnet | NYR in 7 | PHI in 6 | BOS in 6 | TB in 6 | VAN in 5 | SJ in 6 | DET in 7 | ANA in 6 |
| Nick Kypreos | Sportsnet | WAS in 6 | PHI in 6 | MTL in 7 | PIT in 7 | VAN in 5 | SJ in 6 | DET in 6 | ANA in 7 |
| Doug Maclean | Sportsnet | WAS in 6 | BUF in 6 | BOS in 6 | PIT in 6 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 6 | DET in 6 | ANA in 5 |
| Brad May | Sportsnet | WAS in 6 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 5 | TB in 7 | VAN in 4 | SJ in 5 | DET in 6 | ANA in 6 |
| John Shannon | Sportsnet | WAS in 5 | BUF in 6 | BOS in 6 | PIT in 7 | VAN in 5 | SJ in 5 | DET in 6 | ANA in 6 |
| TSN "Consensus" | TSN | WAS | PHI | BOS | PIT | VAN | SJ | DET | ANA |
| James Mirtle | Globe and Mail | WAS in 6 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 7 | PIT in 6 | VAN in 7 | SJ in 5 | DET in 6 | NSH in 7 |
| Eric Duhatschek | Globe and Mail | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | VAN in 6 | SJ in 5 | DET in 7 | NSH in 6 |
| Dave Shoalts | Globe and Mail | WAS in 5 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 6 | PIT in 7 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Dan Di Sciullo | Sportsnetwork.com | WAS in 6 | PHI in 7 | BOS in 5 | PIT in 7 | VAN in 6 | SJ in 6 | PHX in 7 | NSH in 6 |
| Cam Cole | Vancouver Sun | WAS in 6 | BUF in 6 | BOS in 7 | TB in 6 | VAN in 7 | SJ in 5 | PHX in 6 | ANA in 6 |
| Greg Wyshynski | Puck Daddy | WAS in 6 | BUF in 6 | BOS in 5 | TB in 6 | VAN in 7 | SJ in 5 | DET in 7 | NSH in 7 |
| Tony Gallagher | Vancouver Province | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | VAN in 6 | SJ in 5 | DET in 5 | NSH in 7 |
| Ed Willes | Vancouver Province | NYR in 6 | PHI in 6 | BOS in 5 | PIT in 7 | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Mike Milbury | CBC | WAS in 4 | ? | ? | ? | ? | SJ | DET | ANA |
| PJ Stock | CBC | WAS in 6 | PHI in 6 | BOS in 6 | TB in 7 | VAN in 7 | SJ in 5 | DET in 6 | ANA in 5 |
| Kelly Hrudey | CBC | WAS in 6 | BUF in 7 | BOS in 7 | PIT in 7 | VAN in 5 | SJ in 6 | DET in 7 | NSH in 7 |
Mike Milbury and expert should never be in the same sentence except when speaking of Mike’s skills in making the worst deals in hockey or wearing terrible suits on TV.
Mike Milbury and expert should never be in the same sentence except when speaking of Mike’s skills in making the worst deals in hockey or wearing terrible suits on TV.