West Playoff Pictures.....Who's In Who's Oot

The Western Conference is a little trickier to try to dissect than the East. In the East only 10 teams have a legitmate shot at the 8 playoff spots, but the West as many 13 teams has a shot. LA’s loss to Vancouver may have crippled their chances. Prior to last night they were 5 points out with 2 games in hand, but as everyone knows games in hand are only good if you win them. Before action begins tonight the Ducks, Blues, Predators, and Wild are all with 2 points of the 7th place Oilers. The 7th place Oilers, and 8th place Stars, and 9th place Wild have won only 3 of their last 10 games, but the 11th seeded Blues have won 7, including a big 3-1 win over the Sharks on Thursday. At this point the Sharks, Wings, Flames, Blackhawks, Canucks, and Jackets are fairly safe.

Here’s my take on the how the rest of the West will shake out.

Kings-Oot.

This is a good team with a lot of promise, but this was never meant to be their year. A veteran forward in the free agent market (a Billy Guerin, John Madden, or Jere Lehtinen type would fit the bill) maybe a little more depth, and this team will be back in the post season next year.

Ducks-Oot

The Ducks picked up Ryan Whitney, but other than that they were sellers at the deadline. This team has lost their GM, and could lose most of their blue line, could be tough for them to get in next year as well.

Blues-In
The team is peaking at the right time, goaltending has been good, Mason could be good enough to get them in, but a goalie’ who has never won a playoff series always has to be a question mark.
Predators-In
The Preds next 5 games come against teams below them. They could be a great chance to pick up between 7-8 points and shoot up to 7th. Pekka Rinne will have to be great, this is a franchise that always seems to get in, but exists quickly.

Wild-Oot
If Gaborik returns and lights the world on fire, they’ll get in, but as it stands, this is a team that get seem to get the offense and goaltending going in the same game. This is a good team, but they’ve got themselves in a tough spot, and some teams behind are streaking.

Stars-Out
The team is beat up. They’ll have to rely too heavily on Marty Turco, and his save percentage isn’t going to get the job done.

Oilers-Oot
If the Blues are Preds make it in, two teams currently on the inside have to drop out. The Oilers are struggling, if those struggles continue the streaking Preds and Blues will overtake them.