He doesn’t go ape with predictions

Former Kings center Jeremy Roenick seems to be dealing with the monkey. Not the one on his back, mind you (18 seasons, no Stanley Cups), but the one in the TSN studio.

Roenick, a guest analyst on the Canadian network, is in next-to-last place among the five “experts” and one simian making predictions before each round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Still, Roenick’s 8-4 record is one better than Maggie, the monkey from the Bowmanville (Canada) Zoo that TSN has spin a wheel to predict games.

It may be a bit disconcerting to bank the entire evolution argument on Roenick’s shoulders, mainly because hockey-prognostication history does seem to side with Maggie.

She first gained attention in 2003 by correctly picking the Ducks to beat the Detroit Red Wings, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild. In 2004, she called a Calgary-Tampa Bay final. In 2006, she was the lone “panel” member to predict an Edmonton-Carolina final.

“She was born in Canada and has watched hockey since an early age,” zoo owner Michael Hackenberger told the Toronto Star.

And still NBC picked Brett Hull to be an in-studio commentator.

Trivia time

What’s older, the combined age of the Detroit Red Wings’ Dominik Hasek and Chris Chelios, or the city of Anaheim?

Monkey (fails to) shine

Maggie has slipped this season, and her downfall can be partly attributed to jumping off the Ducks’ bandwagon -- she had Calgary beating them in the first round and then picked Vancouver to beat them in the second.

But then, Ducks General Manager Brian Burke said he is used to getting the monkey business.

“With certain individuals working sports radio in Vancouver, I became accustomed to uninformed selections from primates in the media,” said Burke, formerly the Vancouver GM.

Maggie has yet to spin the wheel in the Ducks’ Western Conference final against the Detroit Red Wings. But Roenick, never one to play second banana, walked out on a limb even before the playoffs began.

Asked to pick the Cup winner on ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption,” Roenick said, “Anaheim Ducks vs. Ottawa Senators; Anaheim wins in six.”

Coach-speak 101

Though it may be hard to believe, the Red Wings seem to be feeling a bit disrespected, even though they finished atop the Western Conference.

“The big thing all year has been the fact that, when you don’t get picked to be very good, and then you’re pretty good through the regular season, then someone says you’re not a playoff team,” Coach Mike Babcock said after his team eliminated San Jose on Monday.

Not to throw a monkey wrench into that thought, but Maggie did pick the Red Wings to win in the first two rounds.

128 thumbs up for Cox

There is one quest for baseball immortality this season that won’t end in an asterisk. Atlanta Braves Manager Bobby Cox has moved within three ejections of John McGraw’s baseball record of 131.

“I think all of the umpires should get together and give him something,” John Smoltz told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Cox, meanwhile, said he is “a little embarrassed” by the dubious honor, though he admits that being tossed is likely “just about every time” he leaves the dugout.

No word whether former Brave Hank Aaron will be in attendance when Cox goes for the record.

Trivia answer

Anaheim, founded in 1857 (150 years). Hasek and Chelios are a combined 87 years old.

And finally

Olympic gold medal sprinter Justin Gatlin, appealing an eight-year ban for testing positive for testosterone or its precursor, was confident about one thing in his tryout with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Said Gatlin: “To walk into a room and say, ‘I’m faster than anybody in this room,’ it feels good.”

That would mean a whole lot more if Chris Simms wasn’t in the Buccaneers room.

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chris.foster@latimes.com