We had our first losing night last night, going 4-5, and we currently sit at 35-13 in terms of picking winners for the season to date. Even though only 9 games were played and only 5 games were projected wrong, the impact of those five games was major in the projected standings as so many of these teams battled for a playoff spot play each other down the stretch. So one team improving more than expected can have a true effect on teams not even playing last night.
Again. These are NOT predictions. For example.. these are "what should happen" projections...and it's mostly about strength of schedule and how some teams play historically against each other...and teams on streaks and/or teams playing too many games in a short period of time.
Questions keep coming up like, "Do I really expect the Kings and Leafs to lose a majority of their remaining games?" Of course I don't. NHL teams rarely fall apart like that. These projections are simply saying that because of the strength of schedule, and the matchup history of the Leafs and Kings, they shouldn't win many games. In fact almost any game they would win would be viewed as an "upset" based on the criteria laid out.
But upsets happen every night! So in fact if these projections don't have your team winning many games there is far more room for them to rise in the projected standings as opposed to a team high in the standings because they are expected to win.
So here is the latest...