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Ok, everyone loves predictions, and this week you will be up to your eyeballs with them.

Me and every other pundit out there will pick the winners and losers and open ourselves up to praise and scorn. I hate predictions, especially when I pick a team to fail. This is the time of the year when all is equal and hope springs eternal! As a writer who has readers from all 30 cities that I respect and consider friends why would I want to tell you your team will suck before the puck has even been dropped. Predictions are like....well everyone has one.

There are a few assurances from me every year as you all know, but the two that spring to mind right off the bat are that I will underestimate the Devils and I will pick someone to do really well (be scary good) and when that team bombs people will place the term "the Eklund Curse" on them.

Truth be told, quite a few teams that I said would do really well actually do really well, but we all remember the exceptions...Even me.

So that being said, and before I start alienating my friends in NY and Dallas, I figured why not start off with 30 CRAZIEST Predictions I could think of for each team and see what you all could come up with as well...

The concept here is that every year something happens with every team that none of us saw coming. These are the safest picks you will ever make, because it is almost impossible to be scorned here...Although I am sure some of the finest out there will find a way to tear predictions labeled as crazy apart. But as always that is also the fun part about being a pundit. There are no bad opinions and as long as they are put forth with a modicum of respect and folks don't personally attack on each other in these threads we will allow it.

Everyone has their own definition of crazy but do try and make these picks not as obvious as "Ovechkin will take more shots than any other player in the NHL." My plan here is to publish the most entertaining and intriguing prediction from each team later in the week and of course give credit where credit is due.

Eklund's 30 Crazy Predictions for the 2009-2010 NHL Season.

1. Anaheim- Bobby Ryan will dominate to the point that he is not only on the US Olympic Team as a starter but will officially cross over into superstar status with over 100 points.

2. Atlanta- The Thrashers will remain in the top 8 for the most part into January and Kovalchuk/Antropov will set a record for points by a Thrashers duo in a month.

3. Boston- The Bruins Blake Wheeler will step up as the team's second leading scorer in the absence of Kessel and after not getting an Olympic invite to the USA Camp will be a major player in Vancouver.

4. Buffalo- The Sabres will have the best home record in the NHL, but among the worst road records in team history until Enroth takes over as the starting goalie at some point and goes on a crazy hot streak.

5. Calgary-The Flames will become an offensive minded team that struggles on the blueline despite the addition of Bouwmeester and defensive coach Sutter.

6. Carolina- Eric Staal will break the 50 goal mark and finally be among the top ten NHL scorers, due to a record setting number of power play goals.

7. Chicago- The Hawks Anti Niemi will take the #1 spot in goal and never look back spurring on Huet rumors by early December.

8. Colorado- The Avalanche's Matt Duchene will outshine all other rookie scoring leaders early (but get caught by Tavares) and draw favorable comparisons to Sakic's early years.

9. Columbus- The Jackets will not only be the best team defensively in the NHL, they will run away with it.

10. Dallas- The Stars rookie Jamie Benn will amaze everyone and add some needed speed and flair to the Stars

11. Detroit- Darren Helm will become a huge player for the Wings and will be among the team's top 5 scorers for a large chunk of the season.

12. Edmonton- Jordan Eberle. Remember that name. Not a crazy pick, but he will be as strong as Mike Richards was in his rookie campaign.

13. Florida- The Panthers will name a GM.

14 LA Kings- Ryan Smyth will return to form and have his best season in 5 years leading the Kings to a better record than the Anaheim Ducks for the first time in....a long time

15. Minnesota- The Wild's Brent Burns will be a Norris Trophy Finalist.

16. Montreal- Carey Price will carry the team again and will lead all goalies in save percentage.

17. Nashville- Colin Wilson will start his journey en route to becoming the most marketable and biggest crossover star the Preds have had in their history. His play on the ice along with the perfect personality for Nashville will make him the city's first player with legit "Star Power."

18. New Jersey- Martin Brodeur will break his own season shutout record and go on to lead Team Canada to brilliance in Vancouver.

19. NY Islanders- The Islanders will shock the hockey world with the first major trade of the season bringing in a big name player to play along side Tavares from a team in need of Cap help.

20. NY Rangers- The Rangers will participate in the first Bench Clearing Brawl the NHL has seen in years in Madison Square Garden against the Flyers.

21. Ottawa- The Senators Spezza will have the best season of his career and lead the Sens back to the playoffs while also landing himself a spot on Team Canada.

22. Philadelphia- The Flyers will have the #1 Power Play and the #1 Penalty Killing unit in the NHL led by Mike Richards and Claude Giroux.

23. Phoenix- The Coyotes will challenge for a playoff spot after a hot start that will have them leading their division after the first month of the season.

24. Pittsburgh- Bill Guerin will score 40 goals and be named Captain of the US Olympic team.

25. San Jose- The Sharks Combo of Thornton and Heatley will struggle heavily in the regular season causing both players' Olympic Spots to come into question, but it will ll change come playoff time when Thornton and Heatley will dominate and take the Sharks to their first Cup Final.

26. St Louis- The Blues will continue their hot pace and shock everyone by beating out Chicago and Detroit for the Division Title. Chris Mason will challenge for the Vezina.

27. Tampa- The Lightning will finish second in the Division and battle the Caps hard all year. Hedman will run away with rookie of the year honors and the Lightning will break some records set by their Cup team.

28. Toronto- The Leaf's will be the best defensive team in the Eastern Conference and lead all teams in allowing the fewest even strength goals.

29. Vancouver- The Canucks will run away with their division but get a major contribution from a player that no one expects right now. Either Sundin or the now "lost in the shuffle" Cory Schneider.

30. Washington- Mike Knuble, who is incredible in front of the net and can bang in rebounds like no one's business will score close to 50 goals playing with Ovechkin and Backstrom.


So there are mine...some better than others indeed...

Let's hear yours...

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