Ryan Classic's Randomly Generated Playoff Predictions

Written by Ryan Classic

Wednesday, 14 April 2010 16:18

Back on my old site, at the start of the regular season i predicted the final standings (Eastern Conference, Western Conference) just like any other pundit, blogger, fan, and miscellaneous others. What I did differently than others was use a random number generator to project the standings for me, and then argued why the number generator ranked the teams in each slot. Why did I do this? Because it seemed more fun to write about than actually trying to figure things out on my own.

I also did it to prove a theory: with so many variables in the equation, picking seeds at random is as accurate as projecting them based on stats and hunches.

I think I'm the only person in the world who predicted the Phoenix Coyotes would finish fourth and the Detroit Red Wings in fifth. Thank you random number generator.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin in a few hours, just enough time to put together my playoff predictions. Or rather, the random number generator's predictions.

Eastern Conference

(1) Washington vs. (8) Montreal: Washington in 5.
Jaroslav Halak steals a game. Alexander Ovechkin's pegging Jose Theodore in the head will shake him up in a good way and he has the best playoff series of his life against his former team.

(2) New Jersey vs. (7) Philadelphia: Philadelphia in 5.
Why this will happen: 7th-seeds have a surprisingly strong history of unseating 2nd-seeds. That is all the justification necessary.

(3) Buffalo vs. (6) Boston: Boston in 6.
Goalie duel. Ryan Miller, second in GAA and save percentage, will lose to Tuukka Rask, first in GAA and save percentage.
Bonus: At least one game will go to double overtime.

(4) Pittsburgh vs. (5) Ottawa: Pittsburgh in 7.
Rookie Peter Regin becomes the unlikely hero for the Senators and puts up at least 7 points in the series, but the Penguins still pull this one off because Evgeni Malkin is a scoring machine when he plays Ottawa (5 goals in 4 games this season).

Western Conference

(1) San Jose vs. (8) Colorado: San Jose in 6.
Logan Couture will earn his way to the second line and beat Matt Duchene in battle of the rookies. Craig Anderson steals two games to make the series seem closer than it was.

(2) Chicago vs. (7) Nashville: Nashville in 5.
The playoffs are all about goaltending and curses, and there's plenty of both to go around. Pekka Rinne easily outperforms Anttti Niemi in the Finnish goaltending duel, and the combined curses of Marian Hossa, EA Sports, giant premature celebration posters, and the 7th-seed combine to knock Chicago out.

(3) Vancouver vs. (6) Los Angeles: Los Angeles in 6.
Roberto Luongo has a meltdown and Drew Doughty dominates in his first trip to the playoffs. The Kings have the firepower to compete with the Canucks, and Anze Kopitar outshines Henrik Sedin. Rob Scuderi makes at least one crucial save for his goaltender.

(4) Phoenix vs. (5) Detroit: Detroit in 5.
Too much snake throwing leads to some unfortunately timed delay of game penalties. Detroit winning is not really an upset, and the Red Wings are a well-oiled playoff machine. Ilya Bryzgalov keeps it close, but Lee Stempniak dries up. Johan Franzen dominates.

My own predictions for the Eastern Conference: Washington in 4, Philadelphia in 6, Buffalo in 5, Ottawa in 7.

And the Western Conference: San Jose in 5, Chicago in 6, Vancouver in 6, Phoenix in 6.

We'll see how I fare against the random number generator after the first round. expect it'll be close.