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
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