On ice things to look for…

• Everyone is picking Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin to be top three in scoring, but who will be fourth? There are plenty of options, but I’ll go with Joe Thornton. He’s never played with a sniper like Dany Heatley, and if he can help Jonathon Cheechoo tally 56 goals, look for Heatley to surpass 60 for the first time in his career.
• Ryan Getzlaf, Nicklas Backstrom and Pavel Datsyuk are the other three I see finishing fourth or in the top-five. Look for Rick Nash to have a break out year and get 90+ points, if he stays healthy.
• I think Marc Savard will have a drop off in production without Kessel. Lucic isn’t as good of a scorer. Same goes for Zack Parise.
• Ilya Kovalchuk will be the most talked about trade bait all season long. He’s entering the final year of his contract, and the speculation will be brutal, but don’t expect the Thrashers to deal him unless they are completely out of the playoff hunt in Feb/March.
• The Caps might have a Triple Crown line, if Bruce Boudreau keeps Ovechkin, Backstrom and Alex Semin together all year. Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan along with Thornton, Heatley and Devon Setoguchi are the other lines that will be battle for “best line” moniker.
• The Avs will finish last. They are very thin up front and on the backend.
• Most of the Oiler fans who begged to get rid of MacTavish, will be begging TSN to use him more than the 25 games he is scheduled to appear on.
• If the Oilers have two guys with more than 27 goals like Brownlee said, then they will for sure make the playoffs. He thinks Comrie and Penner will tickle the twine this frequently.
• Dion Phaneuf will score 20 goals, but the Flames will struggle to score goals.
• After having only one 50-goal man last year, we’ll see four guys top fifty, and hopefully we’ll see six players with 100 points.
• Stortini will be in the top five in fighting majors, and he’ll score eight goals.
• Tom Gilbert will get 40 points again, yet he’ll be the player most often in Edmonton that the Oilers should trade.
• I hate to say it, but the Human Rake will make the Flyers a legitimate Cup contender. Ray Emery will fight at least once this year, and Flyer fans will adore him.
• There will be at least three epic Nation parties for PPV games this year.
• bingofuel and Wanye’s new layout of the Nation will blow your minds and we’ll see even more interaction during the season (here’s a slight teaser).
• Andrew Cogliano will be over 40% in the draw this year, of course he’ll take way fewer draws than last season.
• Canada will win the gold in Olympic men’s hockey, and it will kill some Oiler fans to have to cheer for the Human Rake, Phaneuf and Heatley for two weeks.
• Only four of these predictions will actually happen and I’ll be mocked mercilessly come April, which will entice me to make even bolder predictions come playoff time.