Colorado Avalanche Ranked 14th in West by The Hockey News?!

I just got the issue of The Hockey News with all the predictions and, quite frankly, I'm mad. As I was reading through, the first thing I was looking for was how they had ranked the Avalanche in the standings, and was I ever shocked to see the No. 14 beside my team.

Yup, that’s right No. 14 in the West—only St. Louis was worse. Well, forgive me for not noticing that Nashville, Minnesota, Vancouver, Columbus, and L.A. had gotten so much better this offseason. NOT!

When I finally calmed down, I began to wonder how The Hockey News could rank the Avalanche so low?

Then it hit me. There are actually many reasons for this, and to be honest all of them are understandable, making this prediction not as bad as it seemed at first.

The biggest reason I found was that they obviously could not take Joe Sakic into account because he is not yet on their roster and may never be.

Another reason I found was that the issue was actually published before the Avalanche organization came to terms on a contract with right winger Marek Svatos, so he was also left out of the equation.

Last but not least, even though he said he is more than likely coming back to Colorado Peter Forsberg was not included because he is not yet on the roster.

Not to mention the goaltending, which so many people think is going to be inconsistent. But honestly, Petr Budaj can be a starting goalie and do a good job at it. Just give the guy a chance.

Wow! Subtract all of that from the roster and yes, maybe you do get a 13th or 14th place team.

But let me ask you this, with the season still roughly two months away, why wouldn’t the "Bible of Hockey" (The Hockey News) wait another three to four weeks to publish these inaccurate predictions? I mean, it’s only going to make them look bad when the year finishes and the Avalanche are actually quite a bit higher and more successful.

All I'm saying is please do not take this prediction seriously, because if you do you’re in for a serious wake up call!