08-09 NHL Standings According to EA
Tweet Posted by Mother Pucker on September 15th, 2008Just for shits and giggles I decided to run a season simulation on EA Sports NHL09 to see what it thought the standings would be. Prior to running the simulation I updated the rosters online in hopes of getting everyone in the right place. I assume that there will be a tiny bit of discrepancy, but it should be close enough. Anyway, I ran the regular season simulation and here are the top eight playoff teams for the respective conferences, staring in order with the west:
Western Conference: Sharks, Red Wings, Canucks, Ducks, Avalanche, Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Coyotes
Eastern Conference: Devils, Bruins, Lightning, Penguins, Canadiens, Islanders, Senators, Flyers
Interesting mix for sure with the biggest surprise for me being the Avalanche, and possibly the Flyers being pushed down to the bottom of their conference when there are high hopes for them this year. Well anyway, to complete the simulation I took things all the way to the cup and guess who won? The Chicago Blackhawks over the Lightning in 7 games. At this stage of the game I’d be willing to bet my house and car on those two teams not going to make up the final two teams at the end of the year. I think that the Hawks will be a suprise this year, but not cup finalists, and definately not the bolts and whatever they have going on down there.
Interesting – would be interested to see this rerun after the first roster update – ie. when everyone is salary cap compliant and the rookies ho have made it are in the game!
Who do you think it would make the biggest difference for? The Kings? Lightning?
Kings – not really they might gain a few more poitns. Lightning yes – depends how much Stainos gets on the ice.
Got the teams that have to get under the cap (Ducks) as well it might hurt!
Yeah thats a good point. I wonder how long it will take EA to roll out the first roster update and get things lined up correctly? In years gone by they have sort of neglected the NHL games, but I think this year they are touting it as their baby so I imagine there wont be as much delay.
[...] ran a simulation like this last season, and it was pretty interesting to see how the teams ranked, and who won the Stanley Cup. So now for [...]