Playoff Breakdown: Western Conference

Let's take a look now at the teams from the Western Conference and how the first round should play out.

Western Conference 
1. San Jose Sharks vs 8. Colorado Avalanche 
If there is one team out of the 16 that will most likely not win the Stanley Cup this year it's the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche's play at the end of the season was extremely poor compared to how they started the season. They barely made the playoffs and their young new comer Peter Mueller, who has scored 20 points in 15 games, is out indefinitely. Having said that if there is one team that should not overlook an 8 seed it's the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks once again won the Western Conference during the regular season and did so with tremendous talent. Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, Dan Boyle, Joe Pavelski, Ryan Clowe, and Rob Blake make for quite the roster but will it take them anywhere in the playoffs? Last year is a close memory of being the top point team in the league and leaving after the first round. Evgeni Nabakov has been a strong goalie for the sharks for a number of years during the regular season but has never been successful in the playoffs. Will he be able to lead this team beyond the second round? Maybe. But for now they will be ok. The Sharks will move on in this series but just because of their past I don't want to give them too much credit. 

Sharks in 6

2. Chicago Blackhawks vs 7. Nashville Predators
The Chicago Blackhawks were on many people's pre-season radar to fight for the Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks followed up the praise with a tremendous season including a division title and a second place finish just behind the Sharks. The Hawks have a great young core group that should keep this team a threat for a long time. Young stars like Patrick Kane (89 points) and Captain Jonathan Toews, (68 Points) D-man Duncan Keith (69 points) and don't forget about Marian Hossa and all of his recent playoff experience. The Nashville Predators are that little team that could. They keep on trucking despite their fluctuating roster. Barry Trotz does a good job getting this team into the playoffs or at least fighting for one at the end of the year. They have every year been unsuccessful in the playoffs but this has been a great regular season for the Preds. The Predators will fight and they will claw to do as well as they can but will likely fall short to a Hawks team looking to prove they can take the west. The Hawks only question all year has been who will start in goal and at this point that is still unknown. They will possibly look to continue to rotate Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi. 

Blackhawks in 5

3. Vancouver Canucks vs Los Angeles Kings
The Vancouver Canucks were led all season by the play of Henrik Sedin and his league-leading 112 points. He has been extremely consistent and has been a rock this year. The team values the play of Captain Roberto Luongo, however I consider him to be a very beatable goalie and we will see what he brings to the playoffs. The team also gained help from Henrik's brother Daniel and 35 goals from Alex Burrows. Vancouver was a difficult team to play against this year and look better then they have in some time. The Los Angeles Kings have had a remarkable season for recent standards and even competed for the top spot in the Conference at one point this year. Ryan Smyth and Anze Kopitar were huge at the beginning of the season and later fell off a bit. Kopitar's furious start looked to take the Kings to the top but when he slowed down so did they. The Kings have benefited from the rise of G Jonathan Quick who manned a 72 game season. Los Angeles has been consistent since their fast start and are back in the playoffs for the first time in 8 years. The young defensive talent of Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson has been monumental for this team along with the leadership on young American  Captain Dustin Brown. This will be a hard fought series with home ice advantage being very good to the Canucks. I think this LA team is on the rise but their youth will catch up with them. 

Canucks in 6


4. Phoenix Coyotes vs Detroit Redwings
The Phoenix Coyotes have had an incredibly improbable season and have finished 4th in the Western Conference. The Coyotes have a better record then the third place Vancouver but the Canucks are division winners. The Coyotes are a well mixed group of veterans and youngsters that is the quintessential team. This is a team with no 60 point player on it that late in the season was fighting for top spot in the conference. The Coyotes won 9 straight after the trade deadline picking up several key players including Lee Stempniak and Wojtek Wolski. Ilya Bryzgalov has had a Vezina caliber season and the Coyotes are ready for their first playoff appearance in 8 years. The Detroit Redwings went through early woes as injuries plagued this team to the point where late in the season people were questioning whether or not they would make the playoffs. Chris Osgood has fallen off significantly but the play of Jimmy Howard has kept the team afloat. Many big time analysts say Jimmy Howard is the main reason for the Redwings righting the ship in late in the season but I for one disagree. This is a team that has been to the last two Stanley Cup finals the last two years and has an abundance of talent. To say a rookie goalie is the one to thank for the team having the best record since the Olympic break is unlikely. Detroit got healthy and back came Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, and Niklas Kronwall. This team is loaded with talent and playoff experience much more than this current Coyotes team has. Everyone said this was the year the Coyotes would move past the first round. People also said no one wants to play the Redwings in the first round. Something's gotta give. This for me would be a dream Conference finals series but it is a first round match-up. The teams tied the season series two a-piece and both are looking their best. The Coyotes won a lot of games by the shoot-out and in the playoffs there is no shoot-out but they found ridiculous ways to win in several circumstances. This will be an incredible series.

Coyotes in 7

Playoff Breakdown: Eastern Conference

  With the last games of the season over the playoff picture is clear and the East needed the final day to finish the current spots.

Eastern Conference
1. Washington Capitals vs 8. Montreal Canadians
The Washington Capitals' offensive statistics are staggering compared to any other team in the League let alone the Eastern Conference. Starting at the top with Alex Ovechkin, (50 goals 109 points) who should have little problem doing what he does best in this series. This high powered offense includes Nicklas Backstrom (33 goals 101 points), Alex Semin (40 goals 84 points) and D man Mike Green with (19 goals 76 points).  This team is built to score and they will, a lot. Although being in the bottom 1/3 of the league in penalty killing may catch up with them but as far as this series goes it won't matter. The Montreal Canadians lie in that area of teams that make up the bottom half of the Eastern Conference to make the playoffs. Teams that were in the top 8 in their conference but were not in the top 16 of the league and are lucky to still be playing. Brian Gionta, Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri make for decent play but not enough to compete. Scott Gomez was a recent acquisition that has been a clear disappointment in what it could mean for this team if he was playing what his contract is worth. 57 points in 78 games with 47 being assists is average and not worth his 8 mill a year. Don't forget that number one seeds do get up set in hockey but not this time. 

Washington in 5

2. New Jersey Devils vs 7. Philadelphia Flyers
The New Jersey Devils look pretty good going into the postseason and Brodeur with another 40+ win season. The Devils finished the season beating out the Penguins for the division title and taking the 2 seed from Buffalo. Then on the last game of the season the Flyers beat the New York Rangers to slide in to the 7th spot and are the last team in the playoffs. The Flyers could have very easily not been here and have some serious questions marks in net. Brian Boucher has done well lately but this is a team that has not been successful when Boucher is behind the pipes. But when you look at the season series the Flyers have taken 5 of 6 and look to be the one team the Devils didn't want to see. This is why the Flyers went to get Chris Pronger whom the team named team MVP at seasons end. He carried an 8 seed Edmonton Oilers team to game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals in 2006. Not saying that is likely with Boucher in net but it may get them through a rough long series.

Flyers in 7

3.Buffalo Sabers vs 6. Boston Bruins
The Buffalo Sabers have won behind the incredible play of Goalie Ryan Miller and find themselves with home ice advantage in the three spot. The Sabers are not much talked about but have a goalie that can carry a team far. Derek Roy quietly scored 69 points with Tim Connolly and Jason Pominville not far behind. Boston on the other hand won their way into the playoffs at the end of the season and are looking to not be an easy out. Scoring is spaced out on this Boston team much like Buffalo but have only two 50 point players. Boston will end up with two number one draft picks to come but misses scoring from Phil Kessel. Tim Thomas has not been the same since last season but the emergence of Tuukka Rask will have him with the start even with no prior playoff experience. This series may show some surprises later but Buffalo looks to be a bit stronger and sits where Boston maybe thought they would be at the start of the season.

Buffalo in 6

4.Pittsburgh Penguins vs 5. Ottawa Senators
The Pittsburgh Penguins have an abundance of talent lead by Captain and 51 goal scorer Sidney Crosby. The team is not quite where they thought they would be at this point but no one is over looking the two-time defending Eastern Conference champs. Fluery has been inconsistent but again come playoff time he has played more time in the last two years then anyone. Ottawa Senators will miss the play of Alexi Kovalev and it's difficult to know how Elliot will play in net. The Senators do have Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza both whom had good seasons but the only other notable player to have an impact on this series is Anton Volchenkov. The Pens are much more built for the playoffs then Ottawa and shouldn't have much of a problem with them.

Pittsburgh in 5