Tomorrow ... Opening Night is just a day away.

The Aeros are kickin' it old school this weekend

Tomorrow, the Aeros will open what very possibly could be their last season in Houston. The organization, for the last five months has been very good and consistent with their message - "We are committed to keeping the team in Houston."

I believe that, but I don't know if the building they play in seems the same way. I think they are both more committed to what makes better financial sense for each entity. Who wouldn't be? In the end, it's all about money. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

But enough of the doom and gloom; hockey season starts tomorrow when the Charlotte Checkers visit Toyota Center at 7:05.

They'll wear some old school jerseys to honor the first WHA Aeros team from 1972. (Can you believe that was 40 years ago?)

I used to have a lot of fun with predictions, but there are a lot of readers that are really bothered by predictions, so I won't drive those folks away with my own. I think the Aeros have a team capable of making the playoffs, and the Aeros two goalies are going to be a big reason why they will or they won't.

But Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) wrote a piece for ESPN Insiders that picked every team in the AHL and placed them from 1-30. I will link here to that article, but I won't post it here. I just don't think that'd be right, but I will break it down a bit for you.

He basically gives a few sentences about each team and ranks them from top to bottom - all 30 of them. I will make it easy on you and give you his predicted order of finish below. Please take these with a grain of salt, folks. The guy did this based on what each team has on paper on opening night. Every year, somebody does this for some hockey publication, and they are never even close to being right.

This is what he said about the Aeros:
Houston Aeros (Wild) -- John Torchetti's group is also loaded and as good as Ryan Suter and Zach Parise are, the development of the young prospects in Houston will determine just how successful the Wild are under GM Chuck Fletcher. This group features forwards Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle and Zack Phillips -- all former first-round picks. In an exhibition game last week against the Barons, Granlund scored four goals in a sign of what's to come for the Wild.

Here is his predicted order of finish for the Western Conference (overall # in parentheses):
Red = South Division / Blue = North Division / Black = Midwest Division

1) OKC Barons (1)
2) Houston Aeros (2)
3) Toronto Marlies (5)
4) Chicago Wolves (7)
5) Rochester Americans (8)
6) Charlotte Checkers (9)
7) Milwaukee Admirals (13)
8) Rockford IceHogs (14)

9) Grand Rapids Griffins (15)
10) Abbotsford Heat (20)
11) Texas Stars (23)
12) Peoria Rivermen (25)
13) Lake Erie Monsters (28)
14) Hamilton Bulldogs (29)
15) San Antonio Rampage (30)