Long awaited, always duplicated, just slightly more in-depth than Maggie the Monkey, here are this year’s XGL Press predictions.

I spend a lot of time pulling this stuff out of my ass, so respect my authoritah.

Grinder

Positives: Has good young forwards, plenty of space to add players. *concerned silence*

Negatives: His awesome young forwards from the beginning of last season had bad years. A little bit of shine gone from his prospects. Weiss and Comrie still best shots at having a 60 point forward. Goalies scare me.

X’s Game Changers: Breakout years from 4 of his 6 young star potential forwards.

07-08 Finish: 13th

08-09 Finish: 16th

Prediction: 16^th – Someone’s gotta be last.

The Reg Dunlops

Positives: Umm, Crosby? Has the cap room to take the overpaid, underachievers other teams can’t afford to float anymore. Yeah, I’m looking at you Steve Ott, Sean Avery, Wade Redden and the albino kid trying to blend in the with the ice. Tavares has potential to be a positive, but it’s too little too late this year.

Negatives: Same as last year, nothing to brag about after Crosby. Tavares is a question mark, could be a 40 point rookie, could be a 75 point rookie. He’s the difference between a 700 point season or a 735 point season for the Dunlops.

X’s Game Changers: Will he trade Crosby for a bunch of good players? That’s the only way this team gets into a 1 ball lottery spot.

07-08 Finish: 15th

08-09 Finish: 15^th

Prediction: 15^th – Why buck tradition?

Mighty Oil

Positives: Has 9 guys suitable for a 4-9 forward position. Defense isn’t actually that bad. Kronwall is the best kept secret on defence. Just ask Dobber. Might have the best XGL rookie goalie this year.

Negatives: Has 9 guys suitable for a 4-9 forward position. Lack of playing rookies, so far. Check back 20 games in to see if anyone has been called up.

X’s Game Changers: Full seasons from big players. Whoops, guess that’s a no go for Kessel. Can ruin his season with a bad trade made over too much wine and emailing from his blackberry.

07-08 Finish: 14th

08-09 Finish: 13th

Prediction: 14^th – What kind of odds are you giving in side bets Stu?

One Legged Dog

Positives: This isn’t last year’s team. Some good forwards, no standout elite guys, but a good crop of 1^st and 2^nd line guys. A couple of boom or bust rookies. Lots of defencemen, depth is never a bad thing, right?

Negatives: No breakout stars. Some forwards need to ride the coattails of their superstar linemates. I’m looking at you Brooks Laich and Milan Lucic.

X’s Game Changers: Ville Leino becomes a 100 point rookie. Cam Barker becaomes what everyone has been waiting for the past 5 years. Sheldon Souray…he’ll earn the money he’s getting paid, right?

07-08 Finish: 12th

08-09 Finish: 14th

Prediction: 13^th – Not last year’s team, but not much different.

The Ecua Connection

Positives: A few underrated forwards. Glencross, Brown, Vermette could all surprise with 60 point seasons. Top guys are pretty consistent. Defence is strong.

Negatives: Big drop after Iginla, Gomez and Doan. Goalies are very suspect and both could see less than 50 games.

X’s Game Changers: Gomez has a new team, Iggy seems to have better chemistry with his new linemates. Team flies under the radar, always just out of reach of a money spot, but looking at this years squad vs last year’s, I can safely predict another lottery pick.

07-08 Finish: 7th

08-09 Finish: 8^th

Prediction: 12^th – Tough to figure out where to put this team.

Craig Button Rocks

Positives: A couple of solid young guys to build around. I said that last year, but it still holds true. Good young goalies, same as last year. Pretty much the same team as last year. CBR wins the “Let your team mature together” trophy.

Negatives: Zherdev is gone. Cammelleri and Gionta both play for Montreal now. Ouch.

X’s Game Changers: A trade or two. Won’t happen. Antropov getting a hundred points with Kovalchuk would be a game changer though.

07-08 Finish: 9th

08-09 Finish: 9^th

Prediction: 11^th – I wanted to put 9^th, but just couldn’t see it happening. Fooled me last year, so what the hell do I know.

The Lane Train

Positives: Has 4 gamebreakers in his forward spots. Only Gaborik really poses a risk of not producing. Defence is pretty good, Kaberle, Gonchar and Whitney should be an above average top 3. Goaltending is solid if Lehtonen is playing.

Negatives: Forwards are pretty average after the top 4. Doesn’t appear to have any serious rookie scoring threats this year. Some recurring injury guys. Still holding the flame for Forsberg.

X’s Game Changers: Afinogenov clicks with Kovalchuk, then decides to play 82 games. Forsberg shocks the world returning to the NHL and scoring 200 points. Gaborik plays more than 60 games. Those are game changers for The Lane Train.

07-08 Finish: 16th

08-09 Finish: 12th

Prediction:  10^th – Somehow, I just can’t call this a money team. Woop Woop

The Iceolators

Positives: Intended to make his team worse. Has acquired, traded away, re-acquired some great young players. (Nash, Kopitar, Goligoski). Lots of prospects, might be able to dress a roster of rookies in a few years.

Negatives: Heatley – gone. Gaborik – gone. Kronwall, Gilbert, Rafalski – gone. Nabokov, Backstrom – gone. ‘Nuff said.

X’s Game Changers: Turning back time to last year.

07-08 Finish: 1B

08-09 Finish: 5th

Prediction: 9^th – Still a little ways to go for a second lottery ball.

Boomer

Positives: Has Ovechkin. A negative for everyone else since he keeps reminding us he has Ovechkin. Lots of young defencemen. I didn’t say good, just young.

Negatives: Top forwards after Ovechkin and Zetterberg are all getting paid on previous seasons points. Tanguay, Drury, Bergeron all can play better than they’ve shown in the past year. For Boomer’s sake, let’s hope they return to form. Defence while deep, is not very points oriented. This does not mean I want an email everytime Bogosian gets a point either Boomer. Same goes for Benn and Hedman. Goalies are decent goalies on bad teams.

X’s Game Changers: Hedman wins rookie of the year for his Mike Green / Paul Coffey impression. NHL rules Ovechkin’s clone is still property of the Washington Capitals and suits up for 75 games.

07-08 Finish: 6th

08-09 Finish: 6th

Prediction: 8^th – Yeah it’s a step backwards. Ovechkin.

The Ruff Stuff

Positives: Great top 3 forwards. Still has best money goalie in the game. Has a high scoring winger in a defence spot.

Negatives: 4-9 forwards are average at best. Some potential, but most are what they are. Same goes for defence after Green.

X’s Game Changers: Rebound years make the difference for this team. Enstrom, Kostitsyn, Wolski, Stastny etc etc. The only team I nailed on predictions last year. Better hope I’m wrong this time around.

07-08 Finish: 1A

08-09 Finish: 4th

Prediction: 7^th – Just out of the money shot. Heh.

The Meats

Positives: Top 6 forwards rivals anyone in the XGL. Has a full time, starting goalie this year. Has some rookies that could make an impact.

Negatives: Defence is lacking. Could use a healthy or starting 2^nd goalie.

X’s Game Changers: Schremp not being a headcase will help, but let’s wait and see on that. MacT was a great evaluator and he obviously didn’t like poor Robby. Has some cap space to add an impact defenceman. If Backstrom and Semin get as many points as I suspect they can, those two alone could beat Kevin’s team.

07-08 Finish: 10th

08-09 Finish:10th

Prediction: 6^th – Going out on a limb. Everything rides on the performance of his top 6 forwards.

Bridge Street Bullies

Positives: Won GM of the Year. Surely that means Wyatt is the winner of the pool and the rest of us should go home. Has some seriously underrated guys at forward. Goalies are solid and should carry him well. Defence is unheralded too. Guess that’s a theme here.

Negatives: Boom or bust team. Could finish 3^rd, could finish 9^th. Assembled a whole team of dark horses. It worked out well last year, will it work again? (This means you Dennis Wideman)

X’s Game Changers: – See “Negatives” Will Nigel Dawes play with Iggy and Olli? Will it work out for him there? Will Tim Connolly get the mush back in his head? Is Mikko Koivu’s knee ok? Is Dennis Wideman on steroids?

07-08 Finish: 5th (+5)

08-09 Finish: 3rd

Prediction: 5^th – I couldn’t decide between 3^rd and 9^th, so I picked the middle.

The Kubasa Kings

Positives: Great top 4 forwards. Lots of depth. Defence as good as it gets in this pool. Goalies solid. Has decent playing rookies.

Negatives: Forwards 5 – 9 are all interchangeable.  Not much else to complain about.

X’s Game Changers: Markov is hurt, that is a big blow. Glad I didn’t get the predictions done in time and can update based on this. Solid all around team, still a money team after some bonehead trades.

07-08 Finish: 4th

08-09 Finish: 1st

Prediction: 4^th – Just like the NHL, repeats are rare.

Team Swede

Positives: Top 5 forwards are pretty good. Defence is top loaded, middle average, bottom iffy. Goalies are set.

Negatives: Forwards depth is shrinking. Defence depth is plain bad. Can’t afford any injuries. Rookies are so-so.

X’s Game Changers: Spezza hitting 100 points, Jokinen being the guy to finally have chemistry with Iginla. Richards’ shoulders being ok. Lundqvist playing on a Rangers’ team that doesn’t suck.

07-08 Finish: 3rd

08-09 Finish: 7th

Prediction: 3^rd – Top 2 are just better.

Ellsworth’s Enforcers

Positives: Kept the majority of his team together and when you’re that close to the top, sometimes you just gotta let the last guy ahead fall a bit. Actually managed to improve a goalie tandem of Kipper/Price to Kipper/ Thomas.

Negatives: Did lose Hudler to Russia and Kessel, but sometimes s*it happens.

X’s Game Changers: Havlat stays healthy for the second year in a row. Letang lights it up and takes Gonchar’s 1^st PP spot. The hockey gods smile on the rest of us and strike this team down.

07-08 Finish: 8th

08-09 Finish: 2nd

Prediction: 2^nd – Maybe my reverse predictions will work out again for you Derek.

Backhander

Positives: Mike has actually improved this team dramatically. Added S. Mason, Giggy, Hossa, Lecavalier, Phaneuf and Dubinsky. Gave up Mike Green, Demitra, Wolski and Zajac. Maybe Mike needs to be nominated for GM of the summer.

Negatives: Hossa is out until Christmas, but this is still a very strong team. Needs playing rookie forwards. Picard and Walter probably won’t contribute much.

X’s Game Changers: There shouldn’t be any unless there are massive injuries. This is a strong team.

07-08 Finish: 11th

08-09 Finish: 11th

Prediction: 1^st – Someone tell the rest of the league that Mike’s trade offers are bad and that they shouldn’t accept them.

Shocking, I know.