THN predicts the Jackets 12th, Fiscler thinks they may be playoff bound

There seems to be a new trend emerging for the Jackets where you read one publication picking them as locks to make the playoffs and then you turn around and five minutes later read someone predicting them to get into it.

Hey, it's better than last year right where just about everyone picked them to be in the bottom two of the league.

As puck-rakers reported earlier, The Hockey News Yearbook has been released and they are picking the Jackets to finish 12th in their conference. In fact here is their top 15:

1. Detroit 2. San Jose 3. Minnesota 4. Dallas 5. Anaheim 6. Edmonton 7. Chicago 8. Calgary 9. Nashville 10. Phoenix 11. Vancouver 12. Columbus 13. LA 14. Colorado 15. St. Louis

Hey, they are just predictions, but Minnesota 3rd? They are also jumping on the Edmonton and Chicago bandwagons. Quite frankly I think the entire Western Conference is a toss up after Detroit, San Jose and maybe Dallas.

Overall they gave the Jackets a grade of C-.

For comparison's sake here was their prediction of the West last year:

1. Detroit 2. Anaheim 3. Calgary 4. San Jose 5. Minnesota 6. Vancouver 7. Nashville 8. Colorado 9. St. Louis 10. Chicago 11. Dallas 12. L.A. 13. Edmonton 14. Columbus 15. Phoenix

Now here was the outcome:

1. Detroit 2. San Jose 3. Minnesota 4. Anaheim 5. Dallas 6. Colorado 7. Calgary 8. Nashville 9. Edmonton 10. Chicago 11. Vancouver 12. Phoenix 13. Columbus 14. LA 15. St. Louis

Not bad on the West but boy did they really miss on the East. They actually had Montreal, Boston, Washington & Philadelphia missing the playoffs which as we know now all four made it, and in fact Montreal had the best record in the East.

I really think the West this year will be a surprise in terms of the teams left standing for the playoffs this season. Will the Jackets be one of those -- I sure hope so!

...and hey lets not forget The Hockey News actually predicted the Jackets to make the playoffs in their 2006-2007 preview which of course they then proceeded to tank. Fool me once, right...

Aaron Portzline writes most of the rest of the CBJ coverage in the yearbook and what he didn't write he commented in the Dispatch blog which has Nash ranked 36th out of the top 50 players and Voracek and Brassard in the top 10 of rookies to watch out for.

Speaking of top 10 rookies here was his list of the top 10 prospects for the Jackets:

1. Voracek - Skates like thew ind and is amazingly creative
2. Filatov - Has breakaway skills, but needs physical growth
3. Brassard - Great palymaker just needs to fill out
4. Mason - Towering stopper is positionally sounds
5. Methot - Sturdy defender moves the puck safely
6. Goloubef - Safe and realiable two-way defender
7. Sestito - Rugged winger can score a litle too
8. Pineault - Plays tough and has a wicked wrist shot
9. Weber - Mobile big man with offensive upside
10. Picard - Injuries have derailed a once-promising career

They do give the Jackets prospect group an A- overall.

One more tidbit is that they feature each team's top shootout performer from the year prior. Kristian Huselius is ours converting on 4/5 att

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