They're heeeeeere....

The regular season of the NHL is done. Turn it up to 11 for the playoffs!

NHL Playoffs

Today is the last day of the regular season in the NHL before the playoffs begin on Wednesday evening. As I write this, the last couple of issues to be resolved are sorting themselves out. It wouldn't be a blog of mine without hopeless sporting predictions littering the place, so here we go. For the non hockey fans, the top eight teams in each conference play each other in best-of-7 contests for the right to progress to the next round. Ultimately the winner of each conference contests the Stanley Cup final in late May/early June. Living out west means I see relatively little of the Eastern conference, so I think there is more room for spectacular error.

Eastern Conference:

Boston Bruins (1) vs Montreal Canadiens (8)

Boston have led the conference from virtually day one. This is a rematch of the same series at the same stage last season, in which, oddly, the seedings were reversed. This is I think indicative of the season Montreal have had; powerplay has struggled, Carey Price in goal has struggled (and will probably sit in favour of Jaroslav Halak), and the late-season firing of coach Guy Carbonneau has had only marginal positive effect. Nevertheless, the biggest arena in the NHL and 21,000 screaming Quebecois means Montreal is a tough place to play. And these teams hate each other, so possibly fights galore. Verdict: Boston in 6.

Washington Capitals (2) vs New York Rangers (7)

Critics of Washington generally cite the fact they play in a weak division for their high attacking stats. There may be some truth to this (who would't fancy playing Atlanta, Tampa, and to a lesser extent Florida 6 times a season), but who would argue that a top forward line of Ovechkin - Backstrom - Semin isn't a really dangerous one? Add defenceman Mike Green (73 points in 68 games is a record most top line forwards would be happy with) on the powerplay and they are a formidable attacking force. New York started like a train, but spluttered to such a degree that coach Tom Renney was fired mid season in favour of John Tortorella, winner in 2004 with Tampa (booo!). They have improved, but not enough to win the series. Verdict: Washington in 6.

New Jersey Devils (3) vs Carolina Hurricanes (6)

The Devils went on a tremendous run starting at about Christmas, and ran away with the Atlantic division. Zach Parise and Patrik Elias have filled their boots in the run. With hall-of-fame goalie Martin Brodeur, they'll be very hard to beat. Carolina came from seemingly nowhere midseason with the sacking of Pete Laviolette and the hiring of 2006-winning coach Paul Maurice to score goals for fun in a 14-3-2 tear down the stretch. Nevertheless, I think NJ are a much stronger side. Verdict: New Jersey in 5.

Pittsburgh Penguins (4) vs Philadelphia Flyers (5)

Last year's finalists Pittsburgh were in danger of not qualifying for the post season at all in early March. The firing of Michel Therrien seems to have had the desired effect; since late February they are 16-2-3. The trade-deadline acquisitions of Kunitz and Guerin meant Sidney Crosby actually has proper wingers to play with. Consider Art Ross trophy-winning Evgeni Malkin in addition and a fit Sergei Gonchar on the powerplay (19 points in 26 games), and they look set for another deep run. This is a rematch of last season's conference final, and I don't think the outcome will be any different Verdict: Pittsburgh in 5.

Western Conference:

San Jose Sharks (1) vs Anaheim Ducks (8)

A case of the irresistable force meets the immovable object? The Sharks' 53-18-11 record was the best in the league; goals come from all over the team, and they have a top goalie in Evgeni Nabokov. The Ducks won the Cup in 2007 based on miserly defence, and both Niedermayer and Pronger remain on the blue line. The Ducks were another team in danger of not qualifying at the trade deadline, but improved drastically down the stretch. With the Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry line and Selanne on the powerplay they will always score goals, but will their shaky goaltending and ageing defence still be up to the job. The Sharks have flattered to deceive for many years in the playofs, and I think this one might go the distance. Verdict: Sharks in 7.

Detroit Red Wings (2) vs Columbus Blue Jackets (7)

Reigning champions Detroit finished only marginally behind San Jose in the standings and still remain a tough proposition. With Hossa, Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen on the top lines, goals aren't a problem and any defence that contains Nicklas Lidstrom is difficult to beat. Only one chink in the armour, and that's their horrible goaltending. Both Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin have not, to be frank, covered themselves in glory this season and could derail the team. Compare this to Columbus, who's rookie goalie Steve Mason has appeared from nowhere and carried his team to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. With star forward Rick Nash, they could prolong the series, but I think, ultimately Detroit may just have too much firepower. Verdict: Detroit in 5/6.

Vancouver Canucks (3) vs St. Louis Blues (6)

The Canucks pipped the Flames to the Northwest division title by a single point in the end. Fair's fair: their record of 24-7-2 from February 1st onwards is phenomenal and they eventually overhauled a hobbled-by-injuries-and-salary-cap Calgary (once 13 points clear!!) decisively last Tuesday. With Roberto Luongo between the pipes, goals against should be low and they have a miserly defence. Goals have come from all over the team; the Sedin twins have been on fire down the stretch, and Burrows and Kesler have had career years. Can they carry it on in the postseason? Mats Sundin has been, relatively speaking, a bit of a bust (9G, 19A, -5 rating in 41 games) and will need to step things up. St Louis are the cinderella team in this years playoffs. They were dead last in the new year, and have had terrible injury problems. As the team regained some of the injured players, results have improved and a scary powerplay carried them over the line in the last week. They are unheralded, and have few 'name' players; can they carry on? Verdict: Vancouver in 6.

Chicago Blackhawks (4) vs Calgary Flames (5)

Which team is the real Calgary Flames? The one that went 30-11-5 between November and February, or the one which limped out the blocks and hobbled over the line? To be fair, the team has been crippled by injuries in the last 6 weeks and last night was missing Bourque, Phaneuf, Regehr, Sarich, Giordano, Roy and Glencross. The salary cap meant that no players could be called up to replace them, resulting in the Flames being the first NHL team to win a game with only 15 skaters for >20 years last night. Hopefully, some of the injured are back for Thursday. Sadly, it appears Regehr and Sarich are long term absentees and may only play in later rounds, should the Flames even get there. Plus points from the dismal last week are the return to form of Cammalleri, and the performance of rookie defencemen Adam Pardy, Matt Pelech and John Negrin. A big huge negative is the Flames powerplay, now 0-43 in ten (TEN!) games. But what of the opposition? Chicago are brimming full of young, skilful, fast-skating talent, and won all 4 games against Calgary this year. Add to that goalie Nikolai Khabibulin's 22-5-2 lifetime record against Calgary - including the 2004 Stanley Cup Final for Tampa - and it's a troubling matchup. More seasoned watchers than I liken this year's Chicago team to the Pittsburgh team of 2007; similarly talented but very playoff inexperienced, and ultimately knocked out in the first round by Ottawa. I hope this is a good analogy. Verdict: in a way hard, since I have no idea who is fit from a Calgary point of view, and who will be called up from the farm team. There are even rumours that Rhett Warrener (out all season on LTIR) and Anders Erikkson (in the AHL all season for being, er, useless) could be called up. So my head says Chicago in 6, but given last night's glimmer of hope, I'll say my heart says Calgary in 7. And that I probably shouldn't listen to it.