Wait... What the heck, we have to have a full - obnoxiously long - prediction post from me right? What kinda thread would this be otherwise...
First up?
THE EAST (only because the sun rises there first...)
1. New York Rangers v.
8. Ottawa Senators
The Rangers have been the most dominant defensive team in the east, and with Lundquist playing in perhaps his best season yet, they are poised for a deep run if they can keep it up. They have a fairly experienced squad, and with Gaborik being fed from Richards, they absolutely have the offensive firepower to keep up with almost anyone with that tandem alone. Then you have guys like Callahan, Stepan, and Anisimov who are all great secondary scorers on the other 3 lines. Definitely tough to deal with.
The Senators? I wrote them off months ago and said they'd be the east's version of the Wild. I was wrong, absolutely - but ultimately not by much. They definitely played far better than I expected them to, and have a guy in Karlsson who is just stupid good - like 1980's offensive defenseman good. They have tons of offensive power, and are absolutely awesome fun to watch. However, with their offense, they also have a pretty weak defense and allow goals like crazy. Anderson is a pretty decent goaltender - and can steal games (he also has some playoff pedigree against my Sharks), but he's out on a limb half the time in front of a very offensively minded defense which isn't the best at actually defending. Team gives up about as many goals as they get, so it all evens out.
I feel like the Rags have the advantage in the series being a stronger defensive side - which tends to have more success in playoffs, but the Sens did win the season series 3-1. If all goes as expected, and the Rangers play the balanced game they have, they shouldn't have a ton of trouble against Ottawa. Ottawa will win a game or two, but New York will take it in 6.
2. Boston Bruins v.
7. Washington Capitals
The Bruins are yet again poised to go deep into the playoffs, and I believe they will. They have mostly the same team as last year, with 2 playoff grinder twinetenders who know the ropes. They are strong offensively, very hard to beat defensively, and once in a while, a guy like Tim Thomas will probably make some circus save that will demoralize you. They are a crazy hard matchup - perhaps the toughest in the east.
The Capitals were my pick to win the east this year at the beginning of the season - really awesome offseason additions and a healthy squad? seemed like the year. Now they are down to their 3rd goaltender and have struggled all year. Strong play at the end got them in over the Sabres, and they move up a spot on the Senators after they mosey'd into the gate... but ultimately, they might be downright FUCKED with their current goaltender situation. They rely too much on primary scorers, and don't get enough physical play from their defense to go toe to toe with boston in a playoff series. They did win the regular season 3-1, but now they have serious concerns.
Boston will score seemingly at will, and Washington will struggle to defend with a questionmark in net. Boston in 5
4. Pittsburgh Penguins
5. Philadelphia Flyers
Fuck. Yes. This. Is. Happening.
Easily the most anticipated playoff matchup out of all, this offseason - NBC is going to have a total field day with this one. Neither team likes each other. At all. This fucker is going to be a total war on ice, and will have some stellar play in the interim. I cannot fucking wait for this one. So much star power. Giroux, Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Jagr, goalies in "Brickwallov" (this is what we used to call him in San Jose when he was in Phx and Anaheim) and Mr. Flower who can both steal games and are some of the best in the league, and so much awesome secondary scoring on both sides - this will be a fun one to tune into - way better than 08 and 09. I'm going to talk little about this one, because the rest of you and the media will do most of my job for me, but I can only hope this 6th rendition of the keystone showdown goes 7 games, and that's what I'm going to say. Pittsburgh in 7.
3. Florida Panthers v.
6. New Jersey Devils.
Honestly, I know absolutely jack dick about either of these teams in comparison to the other 3 matchups. I haven't followed the Panthers much, and the Devils have always been a team that, almost irregardless of the game, I don't even want to watch, just because its the friggin Devils, and I always just think of them saving every shot with Brodeur in net even to this day - I haven't even really cared for them to win in anything other than that snoozer of a series against Anaheim about 8 years ago.
The little I do understand about the teams is that New Jersey has a ridiculous PK that means they can punch you in the face and get away with it just about whenever they want - whether that translates to playoff hockey remains to be seen - especially against Florida, which scores has had pretty strong offensive play this season, and does very well on the PP. NJ still has Brodeur in net, and this might even be his last go-around unless he decides to go all Dominik Hasek on us and plays till he's geriatric. Florida isn't letting us know who is going to start between the pipes on thursday, so I'll just assume it's Theodore for now - who's had a pretty decent season - as I expected for him, to be honest. Brian Campbell has been fantastic for Florida, and Thomas Fleischmann was a KILLER pickup for that team.
Irregardless, The Florida Panthers are a joke of a 3rd seed - especially with their shit the bed play over the 2nd half of the season where they just floated around and eventually won the 'whos the least ugly fat girl' contest in the NHL's 'Jesusland' Division... The Devils are a much more experienced squad, with better defensive capabilities, and have star players like Kovalchuk who will murder you if you leave them an inch of space to do so. This is playoff hockey however, and a team like Florida, who has all season long played scrappy as shit, and with the pressure of trying to make the playoffs for the first time since Gretzky roamed the ice lifted off their shoulders, they might absolutely throw down a barrage on a Devils squad who isn't really a huge threat at this juncture. I say this series goes 7 games, and hopefully Florida wins out - just so maybe we can see some Rats again.
And now, THE WEST - where the real wars will be waged.
1. Vancouver Canucks v.
8. Los Angeles Kings
I already spoke of the potential playoff matchup here about a week or so ago when J.D. and I were discussing potential playoff matchups, so if you go back there, you can find out how I feel about the Kings. Aside from my regional hatred for LA and Southern California, and thereby obvious contempt for the Kings, I am man enough to admit that this is a CRAZY good hockey team. The last 2 games against the Sharks proved that to me yet again. Sure, the Sharks were able to somehow come back from multi-goal deficits (something the Kings seem to really have a problem doing - holding leads) in the last 2 games, but they are far stronger even after the trade deadline. They acquired some really strong players this year, and if i saw this roster at the beginning of the season, I'd have wet myself even more than I did initially.
They are scary deep, and I sometimes can't even believe they fit in under the cap with that much talent. They have a Vezina calibre goaltender in Jonathan Quick, and have one of the best defenses in the league. They are physical up and down their roster, and really don't give you a lot to work with. They have their mindfart games though, where they just cannot put the goal in net - as scoring has been their achillies heel all season long. Regardless of that, I feel that they are the most ridiculous 8th seed I've seen in a VERY long time, and they will definitely give the Canucks some battle - especially seeing as they are mostly healthy this year, whereas last year, they were not as strong, and were without their top player in Kopitar for the series against the Sharks.
Oh, the Canucks. Where to start. Other than trading away their future Yzerman as J.D. put it... this year has been ultimately successful for them. They are mostly the same team as the team that went 4 rounds last year, and probably should have won the cup. They won the Presidents trophy again for the 2nd year in a row - which is pretty impressive - and they again have the best PP in the game. They remain the scariest team in hockey, and Daniel Sedin or not, they will probably be the last ones standing at the end of the day. They attack in waves, and the waves that come are monsters. No team in the league sustains pressure in the offensive zone like Vancouver.
It's Strong Defense and Questionable Scoring vs. Solid Defense and Outstanding Scoring. I pick Vancouver in 7.
2. St. Louis Blues v.
7. San Jose Sharks
Well, now that we've pretty much talked about this series already, I'll just add a little bit here. The Blues are the best team in the NHL in Fenwick Close since the 2010 Blackhawks downright ran the table to the cup. They have played slightly mediocre in their last 15 games, going 7-4-4, in comparison to their red hot season the rest of the time, but the players have bought into hitchcock's methods and they are still scary as shit going into the playoffs. I could easily see San Jose dropping the first 2 games like they did in Vancouver last year. They have home ice advantage - where they really don't lose - which is scary since San Jose was a bad road team this year, and they NEED to win in St. Louis... but I do feel like they have the upper hand in experience. It's the Blue's Defense-first oppurtunistic offensive play vs. San Jose's balanced, spread the ice wide open play. San Jose will need to stay hot to win their first game against St. Louis this year - much less win 4.
I say Sharks in 6 if they stay hot. St. Louis in 4 if that status quo resumes.
3. Phoenix Coyotes v.
6. Chicago Blackhawks
The Coyotes won their first division title in FRANCHISE history - that includes the ancient Jets' seasons. That's big for them - especially when, to be honest, I saw them out of the playoffs this year. Tippett however, probably deserves the Adams every single season because of what he gets out of his players. They lost their rock in Ilya Brickwallov (see?) during the offseason. So they go and get Mike Smith, who, beyond all expectations, records 8 shutouts (including like 3 against the Sharks - what the fuck?) and wins an assload of games. Then, they get this crazy breakout season from Radim Vrbata - who's always been a pretty solid player, but the dude has been a psycho at scoring this season with 35 goals. That's like 11 more than he's ever had in a season, and the dude's 30. Again though, I feel like Phoenix is a bit gimmicky and doesn't have a lot of depth for the playoffs. They are stingy as fuck and play hard, but I'm not sure if they can pull it out when they really just don't even know what home-ice-advantage feels like on any given night.
The Blackhawks are better than they were last year, except at Goalie. Crawford isn't as solid as he was last year, and though I'm confident he'll step it up in the playoffs and do well, I still feel like he could just as easily blow it. The Hawks went on a similar shit streak to the Sharks this year, and came out of it perhaps a little stronger. They are now fairly healthy (seemingly) and poised to make a good run in the playoffs if they can get by Phoenix. I'm sure, like everyone else, Chicago is the EASIEST low seed to pick to upset in this years' playoffs, but I wouldn't totally count out Phoenix. They might have got slammed around by Detroit pretty hard the last few years, but maybe a different shade of opposing red in the crowd might make things better.
I still say Chicago in 6.
4. Nashville Predators v.
5. Detroit Red Wings.
Yet another matchup between these two. I think this is like the 3rd time in the last decade we've seen this matchup. Detroit won the first two, but I feel like Nashville will finally make headway this time and claim it.
Nashville is super scary to me for a few things. Best defensive pairing in the league, and probably the scariest goalie to face in the league. Rinne, Weber, and Suter. Yoikes. They aren't the strongest offense, but are better this year than in years past. They remind me a lot like a more established St. Louis without the crazy goalie tandem, and perhaps a bit less lower line depth? They play a very strong defensive game and can plow their way though a series by just getting the lucky bounce here and there.
Detroit is Detroit. Same old Detroit. A year older, but they are stuck in a time warp that doesn't allow them to age much. Great addition adding Ian White in the offseason has made up for the hole left in the blueline, and Howard has improved a lot this season. Having a healthy squad will really do wonders for them this season.
I say Nashville in 7 just because I feel like it, but really this is probably the hardest series to predict out of all of them, because both teams are so evenly matched and have so much equal star power on opposite ends. There's a lot more to say about this one but I almost don't even want to get into it at this point haha.
PLAYOFF TIME!!!! WOOOOO LETS HAVE SOME FUN! TIME TO GROW YOUR BEARDS (you all know I have mine in full swing - as I've rocked it all season long this go-around)
