What were your NHL & NBA predictions before the seasons began?

[BlahBlah]

Tried looking back at people's predictions, couldn't find much in terms of a thread consisting of predictions only, however there were a few scattered in other threads, including a couple of laughable "Leafs to the Finals" predictions, not to mention a few hillarious trade rumours/suggestions.
So, now that it's Carolina/Edmonton in the NHL and Miami/Dallas in the NBA, be honest, how did you see it unfolding?

I thought we'd see an all-Canadian Cup Ottawa vs. Calgary but I underestimated the Sen's propensity to choke. Calgary ran into a hot goalie.
I correctly predicted the Leafs would fail to make the playoffs.
I NEVER saw Carolina coming, nor Buffalo, nor New York Rangers.
I thought Pittsburgh, Florida and the Isles would make it.

By the way, someone posted Vegas odds from August which had the Oilers at 25-1 and the Hurricanes at 100-1!


In the NBA:
I thought we'd see a repeat of the Spurs versus Pistons, and never gave the Raps a chance of qualifying for the post season.
I thought Miami's adding guys like Payton, Walker and J. Williams would be a disaster. I expected much more from the Pacers and Nuggets.

 

[Choron]

Well I called Dallas and Miami to win at the beginning of the playoffs, so I already won both sides of my pool( a few thousand)

 

[jimmyt]

Honest to God.....

I have the Centre Ice Package. After watching the "Canes a few times in early season, I was telling everyone that would listen to watch out for these guys. Scary speed and transition game!!

I predicted they would go well into the playoffs, but did not see the finals.......

 

[Fatshaft]

My Crystal ball revealed....

.......I saw Senators on paper shoulda romped all the way, but like the tin man..........no heart....again........ I hate 'em anyway.
As for the NBA........I just wish it would all just go away!!!!!

 

[21pro]

my pre season picks....

my bad one's:
Pittsburgh would make the playoffs
so would Chicago
Columbus would make small improvements, but probably not make playoffs
Calgary contrary to what most thought, I thought would make bottom 3 to make postseason.

the one's I was sorda right about:
Toronto would finish 11th to 13th in the east.
Vancouver would get a bottom seed playoff birth or not make postseason
Ottawa or Detroit would win President's Trophy but neither would go far in playoffs. (guess i was sorda right with this one, though i thought i was going to be wrong once postseason started)
St. Louis or (my bad) NY Islanderswould finish last
San Jose would finish 3rd to 6th in the west.
Washington though with Ovechkin, would still not be able to find a way to improve their team.

 

[21pro]

I have the Centre Ice Package. After watching the "Canes a few times in early season, I was telling everyone that would listen to watch out for these guys. Scary speed and transition game!!

I predicted they would go well into the playoffs, but did not see the finals.......

Yep. I saw them live in November... felt the same way about them and began to follow them. sometimes though, they looked lucky.

It seemed amazing that they could move the puck so fast and not make many mistakes as other fast teams have done. (like San Jose, Edmonton early in the season)

It was the season of the speedy teams, no doubt.