Round 2

2. DET- 8. ANA

The defending champs made a rookie goalie look like a rookie. Very few of the Jackets had played playoff hockey, other than game 4 they put up little resistance. Anaheim will be different. Anaheim may have been able to sharpen their skills against the Western Conference’s playoff whipping boy, San Jose. This is for all intents and purposes the first team either team will face legitimate resistance.

Offense-

The Wings are deeper, and more dangerous. They are a scary team up front. The Ducks RYAN Connection (Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf, and D man Ryan Whitney) have been the motor that drives this playoff engine. The Ducks have some depth, but it’s not producing right now.

Defense-

Both teams can generate from the back side. The Ducks get the edge on star power, but the Wings are solid.

Goaltending-

This is the only area where either team can claim a distinct advantage. Osgood looked like his old self in the first round, but Jonas Hiller stood on his head; not to mention the fact that guy watching from the bench for the Ducks has a Cup ring, and a Conn Smythe trophy in a Final he lost.

Series-

Ducks in 7

3. VAN- 4. CHI

Chicago looked good in round one but by the time game 4-5 rolled around the Flames could barely dress a NHL roster. It should be interesting to see how Chicago looks starting on the road.


Offense-

Is there a team in the world that wouldn’t want Jonathan Towes? Chicago has the edge offensively. They are deeper and more productive. The Sedins are good, but with Mats Sundin and Pavol Demitra, they lack a proven supporting cast.

Defense-

Vancouver may have the most underrated defense in the league. They can shutdown anyone anytime. Chicago’s D can play but Vancouver has the distinct advantage.

Goaltending-

This series could be a goaltending duel. The Bulin Wall has a Cup ring, and looked sharp in the last round. Luongo could earn tie if the game was played 5-on-0. It’s a tough call but Luongo doesn’t have the experience Khabibulin does, if it’s a regular season game I’d pick Bobby Luo, playoffs I’m going witht the Bulin Wall.

Series-

Chicago’s inexperience will show since they have to play on the road.

Vancouver in 6

Round 2

1. BOS- 6. CAR

Boston played a team made up of about 10 guys who had no commitment beyond this year. The Canadiens best players looked like they were more concerned with not getting hurt, than winning a game. It was very hard to judge Carey Price in this series because he got little help, but it should be safe to say that there is a world of difference between Price and Cam Ward. I’m not going to bother discussing the games these teams played in the regular season because at this point they are about as relevant to this series as MSNBC is the world of legitimate journalism. Here’s the breakdown as I see it.

Offense-

Boston was the deeper team in the regular season, but Carolina maybe the more dangerous team. Savard is a great setup man, but he can be cancelled on the other side by Ray Whitney. Ryder has a scorer’s touch but is streaky, and Kessel is unproven. Eric Staal is a proven playoff goal scorer, Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen stepped up their performances in Game 7. It’s a tough call, but I’m going out and a limb and giving Carolina the edge offensively.

D-

Carolina’s Defense is a little more mobile than the B’s, but both teams can generate offense from the backside. The Canes don’t have a shut down guy like the B’s do in Big Z, but few teams do. Joni Pitkanen had great numbers through round 1 for the Canes, and Wideman was great for the B’s. I think the B’s have edge, and they’ll need it.

Goaltending-

Tim Thomas in all likelihood will end up winning the Vezina, but when he steps on to the ice Friday for game one, it will be the furthest he’s ever ventured into the playoffs. Cam Ward has only had 6 birthdays (leap day birthday), but he already has a Stanley Cup ring, and a Conn Smythe trophy. He’s also outdueled Marty Broduer in the playoffs twice. I think the edge has to go Ward.

Series-

Canes in 6. They won’t lose at home and they’ll take one away in Boston.

2. WSH- 4. PIT

The NHL/NBC/and VS’s marketing departments are still pinching themselves. Yes class it’s the tag-team-steel-cage we’ve all been waiting for; the MegaPowers Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin squaring off against Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin. If you know the history of these teams in the playoffs you know the Capitals are in for an uphill battle. The last time these two teams met in the playoffs Marty Straka ended the Caps season in the first round of the 2001 playoffs. Very few players are left on either side from that battle.

Offense-

The Pens are better down the middle, the Caps have the better wingers. In the regular season the Caps would have and edge because of the wings, in the playoffs it’s all about defense, and the Pens depth at center will provide the edge.

Defense

Mike Green is a wildcard here. Gonchar is good, but he’s predictable. Green is a rover. His roving could prove to be a double-edged sword. If the Pens exploit his forays down low, Malkin/Crosby/Staal could give Varlamov nightmares. If the Pens fail to keep taps on the Mohawked Menace, he’ll haunt Fleury’s dreams all summer. The Caps have great size on their blue line, but the Pens may have the better defensive players. Keep an eye on Brooks Orpik, especially if your name is Ovechkin, if AO tries to get to fancy with his head down Orpik will end his season.

Goaltending-

Varlamov has looked great, but if Nik Zherdev would have brought his hands to the playoffs the Pens would be hosting the Canes. Varlamov hasn’t looked like a rookie but he hasn’t been tested the way he will in this series. Fleury should be serving 25-Life for grand theft after stealing the series against Philly. Simply based on track record, the edge is Fleury’s.

Series-

The Pens know how to play playoff hockey, the Caps are still learning. Should still be an competitive series, Pens in 6.

West breakdown tomorrow.

Playoff thoughts thus far.

Playoffs

The Playoffs have been awesome so far. Here are my thought and the series so far.

SJ/ANA

This series is more proof that SJ is built to win regular season games but not playoff tough. Down 3-1 despite having home ice; OUCH!! Thornton, Marleau, and Nabokov are the core here, if they lose Game 5 at home and exit early again, changes have to be made. They fired the coach last year, maybe it’s the GM’s turn, maybe Joe Thornton or Patrick Marleau get traded for some proven playoff producers.

DET/CBJ

This series was over before it began. Detroit was always going to win, Columbus looked like a team that had never been in the playoffs, Steve Mason finally looked like a rookie, and despite a great comeback effort in Game 4 they lost because of a sloppy line change that led to a too many men penalty. Osgood in game 4 looked like Osgood in the regular season, not good for the long term success of the wings. The Wings are the first defending champion to advance to the second round since the Avalanche in 2002. (Keep this in mind if your ever on jeopardy, The Avs lost to the Wings in the 2002 Western Conference Final. What does that mean? I remember too much hockey trivia.)

VAN/STL

This was a bonus year for St. Louis. Next year was supposed to be the year they made the playoffs. Bonus or not they still wanted to win at least one game. Keith Tkachuk has hardly noticeable. O pts a -1. The St. Louis PP was awful. Vancouver looked like a playoff team, St. Louis looked like a intermediate level roller hockey team. If Chris Mason gave up some of the goals in a dek hockey league, they would have still been soff (thanks Mike Therrien). First time Vancouver has ever swept a 7 game series.

CHI/CGY

Home ice matters here, the first goal matters in the opposite way. No home team has lost in this one, and the team that scores first has lost every game. If I’m the Bulin way tonight I let the first shot go in so as to not tempt fate. Calgary got brutalized in game 4. Roy is suspended, Langkow and Conroy both left with injury and didn’t return, rumor has Leopold may be hurt. If these three don’t come back this series is done. Jonathan Toews has looked like anything but a 20 year old, he has looked like a 20 year veteran Captain. I think Chicago wins two in a row and takes it six.

BOS/MTL

More than half of the Canadiens are headed for UFA status this summer. This team will look dramatically different next season and that’s probably a good thing. The Canadiens were to this year’s playoffs what the Senators were to last year’s playoffs; a team that just barely snuck in and had no chance of winning against a buzzsaw opponent that had something to prove. Not much to discuss here. Boston dominated. I don’t know if Montreal ever got the playoff schedule from the office, because they didn’t show up most nights. For a 20 year old kid, Milan Lucic is a beast.

NYR/WSH

Prepare for some harsh truth Caps fans: This is not what a playoff team looks like. The Caps are a run and gun team with little defensive toughness. Sure everybody on this team is about 6’8’’, but that’s not good enough. Ovechkin’s do-it-yourself doesn’t happen very often in the playoffs, and if he tried that against Brooks Orpik, Zdeno Chara, most of the Devils, Canes, or Flyers come playoff time, they’d still be pealing pieces of him out of the ice. The Caps offense is good enough to win a few games here and there, and Varlamov has been outstanding, but the Rags aren’t an offense power house. If you can get Lundqvist on a bad night 9 times out of 10 you win. That was the story of game 5, Rangers win Game 6 at MSG, AO fails to make it out the first round again.

NJ/CAR

Goaltending, Goaltending, Goaltending. The goalies have been the story of this series. Even the Great Brodeur can get distracted by traffic, as game 4’s .2 second goal proved. Game 5 was the best goaltending duel of the this playoff year. This one has all the makings of a 7 game series and I don’t know if anyone can predict who wins. (On a side note, now that Marty has supplanted Roy as the winningest goaltender, does that mean we’ll see more Royesque meltdowns out of Marty like we did in game 4? Just curious).

PIT/PHI

Goaltending, Goaltending, just kidding. The Penguins only have a lead in this series because of jeune Monsieur Fleury, and because Monsier Biron is easily rattled. If Tyler Kennedy would have licked his stick in the first period of Game 5 and buried the wraparound that Biron lost sight of the Pens would have crushed the Flyers and would now be relaxing while the tremendous leader Mike Richards lead his group to the golf course. I’m not blaming Kennedy for the Pens loss in Game 5 simply offereing an alternate reality of what would have been. Bottom line here is that Marty Biron is a solid goalie when Marty Biron believes he’s a solid goalie, which is when you allow him to believe he is a solid goalie, which happens when you don’t drive bodies to the net and allow him to see every shot like it’s warmups. Biron has enough talent to steal a game, every NHL goalie does, but he’s not good enough to steal a series unless you let him. Penguins have to get bodies and pucks to him. Just my opinion, but I think Sykora is hurt and has been for sometime. He’s looked like a shell of himself for a few months, he left practice before Game 1 in “obvious pain.” I think his back is not quiet right, speaking as a guy who’s hurt just about everything you can hurt playing hockey, he’s been shooting and skating like his back is bothering him. Rumor has it Bylsma has more changes for Game 6 may God(ard) have mercy on us all.

Maybe I'm on to something here....

The NHL has begun announcing its awards finalists and so far I’m looking like a great prognosticator.

Calder
I had 2 out of 3 correct for the Calder. I said Bobby Ryan/Pekka Rinne/Steve Mason the official finalists were Bobby Ryan/Kris Versteeg/Steve Mason. The winner will be Mason no doubt about it.

Norris
I pulled a 3/3 here.

Mike Green/Nik Lidstrom/Zdeno Chara. Mike Green can score goals and for some reason this criteria is what sports writers look for determine the best defensemen. Chara and Lidstrom are both better defensively and can score, but I think the writers will go with Green.

Lady Byng

Again 3/3

Pavel Datsyuk/Zack Parise/Marty St. Louis

The NHL got this one right. Any one of the three is a great choice. I’m sticking with Parise.

Awards Predictions

With the playoffs 8 days away, today seems like a good time to look ahead at the NHL Awards.

Hart Trophy-MVP

Likely Finalists

Pit-Evgeni Malkin
Wsh-Alex Ovechkin
Bos-Tim Thomas

All three players have great cases that their teams would not be in the positions they are without them. The goal production the Bruins are enjoying overshadows the brilliance of Tim Thomas this season. Malkin playing on the same team as Sidney Crosby will cause some writer’s to dismiss his value to his team. Alex Ovechkin has closed the gap on the points race, and is the consensus choice.

Projected Winner: Alex Ovechkin
His P/G ratio is just slightly higher than Malkin. Geno may win the Art Ross and lead the league in takeaways, but AO will run away with the Richard Trophy; bottom line most hockey writers won’t reward Geno’s defensive prowess, but will drool all over AO’s goal totals while ignoring his less than impressive shooting percentage.

Norris Trophy-Best Defensemen

Likely Finalists

Wsh-Mike Green
Det- Nik Lidstrom
Bos-Zdeno Chara

While this award is intended for the best defensemen, it has recently gone to the best offensive defensemen. There has been no better Offensive D-man than Mike Green. 30G 70P + 24. Nobody matches those numbers. Both Lidstrom and Chara are deserving, but unlikely to win.

Projected Winner: Mike Green.

Lady Byng- Sportsmanship

Likely Finalists
Det-Pavel Datsyuk
NJ-Zack Parise
TB-Marty St. Louis

The award is intended to award the league’s most gentlemanly player. Datsyuk is the defending champ he is 4th in scoring with only 20 PIM’s. Parise is 5th in scoring and has only 24PIMs. St. Louis has 78 points, 29 goals, and only 12 PIMs. IN my book St. Louis has a very impressive case, but is not likely to win.

Projected Winner: Zack Parise

Calder Memorial-Outstanding Rookie

Projected Finalists

Ana-Bobby Ryan
Nsh-Pekka Rinne
CBJ-Steve Mason

This race will come down to the goalies, Rinne and Mason, but it’s a one man race.

Projected Winner: Steve Mason

Vezina Trophy-Best Goaltender

Projected Finalists

Bos-Tim Thomas
SJ-Evgeni Nabokov
CBJ-Steve Mason

Thomas has mind-numbing numbers, Nabokov has been automatic, and Mason is a freak of nature. With Marty Brodeur missing most of the year, somebody else gets a chance to win this award.

Projected Winner: Tim Thomas

Masterton-Dedication to the Game

Projected Finalists

Fla-Richard Zednik
SJ-Claude Lemieux
Det-Chris Chelios

Zednik had the freak-life threatening injury last season, and Chris Chelios is about 112 and still going strong. Their stories are great but Claude Lemiuex’s is unbelievable. At an age when most former hockey players are travelling for leisure, Lemieux went to China to prove he could still play pro hockey. He worked his way from China, to Worcester, and finally back the NHL in San Jose.

Projected Winner: Claude Lemieux

Jack Adams-Best Coach

Bos-Claude Julien
CBJ-Ken Hithcock
CHI-Joel Quenneville

Projected Winner: Claude Julien

Selke- Defensive Forward

Projected Finalists

Det-Pavel Datsyuk
NJ-Zach Parise
Phi-Mike Richards

Datsyuk-97 +38, those are great stats. He leads the league in the ever dubious +/- category, but he does kill penalties and plays in important defensive situations as do the other two. Parise is a +29 with 93 points, and Richards is +24 with 78 points and 8 shorthanded goals. I would like to see the league’s leader in takeaways and points Evgeni Malkin on the list, but I think the fact that he’s not a normal penalty killer may hurt his chances. Dark Horses: Pit-Jordan Staal/Car Eric Staal maybe Det Marian Hossa.

Projected Winner: Mike Richards