2nd Round Western Conference

                              The Vancouver Canucks vs The Nashville Predators

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Before the Vancouver Chicago series started, Chicago had previously had Vancouver's number for the past two seasons. The Blackhawks twice handled the Canucks and even went on to win the Stanley Cup last season. A new-look Hawks team came into the post-season as an 8-seed while the Canucks walked away with the Presidents Trophy this year with seemingly no issues. They started the series that way as well going up 3-0. Chicago then benefited mightily from the return of Dave Bolland in game 4. Bolland was able to shut down the Sedins for the remainder of the series while still putting points on the board. This allowed Chicago to come back in the series and almost become the 4th NHL team to come back from being down 3-0 in a best of 7 series and the second team in the last two years. However two goals from Alex Burrows in game 7, including the OT winner, was enough. The real story in this series was Roberto Luongo. Luongo had another stellar regular season and was looking to put his playoff failures behind him. Things started well but he was then pulled in games 4 and 5 and didn't get the start in game 6. Cory Schneider got the nod after coming in well in relief the previous two games. However during a penalty shot attempt by Michal Frolik, Schneider went down with a severe leg cramp and back in went Luongo. He then played well enough to get the series clinching victory in OT in game 7. Vancouver will need Luongo to be consistent if they are looking to be more than just the best team from the regular season.

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The Nashville Predators were able to move on to the second round for the first time in their franchise history by defeating the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks were looking dangerous as they came into the playoffs with Corey Perry on fire and a determined 41year-old Teemu Selanne. Selanne was able to score 6 goals in the 6 games the Ducks played in the series but perhaps staring Dan Ellis in goal was not the way to begin the series. He was pulled in favor of Ray Emery who held down the fort the rest of the way. The Preds used great defense and goaltending along with great play from Mike Fisher and were able to take out the Ducks in 6 games. The goaltending of Pekka Rinne was superb and will have to be more so if the Preds are going to take out the Canucks. Not a lot of people have had faith in the Preds in years past but I feel they could have easily past the first round in years past but let those failures help them this year. A team that had two 50 point players in Martin Erat and Sergei Kostitsyn did enough defensively to take out the likes of Corey Perry, Teemu Selanne, Bobby Ryan and Ryan Getzlaf. This Predator team has great coaching in Barry Trotz and leadership in Captain Shea Webber.

This match-up may seem obvious to some as the high-powered Canucks look to continue on for their quest for the Cup. This series will be low scoring and probably quite physical. The Predators are not afraid of the Presidents Trophy winners and will use their team depth to possibly catch the Canucks off guard. Vancouver is coming off a tough 7 game series last round as they only finished off the Hawks a few nights ago. The Predators have had some time to rest and take a look at their opponents and will look to jump on Roberto Luongo who looking to regain his confidence.

X Factor
The X factor for this series is going to be Mike Fisher. The role of Fisher will be similar to that of Dave Bolland in the previous series. He is the top centerman for the Preds and will enjoy the roll of attempting to shut-down the Sedin twins. He will also need to put some point on the board if Nashville will skate away into the Western Conference Finals.

I personally felt the Cancuks would do enough to get by Blackhawks this year and they made that much more difficult than it had to be. I still feel that Roberto Luongo is not going to be able to take his team through a two month playoff run. Mike Fisher will prove to be a huge deadline trade for Nashville as he will shut down the Sedin twins.

Predators in 7

                                    The Detroit Redwings vs The San Jose Sharks

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The Detroit Redwings made moving on the second round look so easy I nearly forgot they were involved because their series ended so long ago. The Wings made and easy exit of the Phoenix Coyotes in a four game sweep even without the services of Henrik Zetterberg. Zetterberg will likely be back for the next series as he has had plenty of time to rest up. The Coyotes were looking to get revenge after being embarrassed on home ice in game 7 of last year. They were unable to win a game in the series and for many moments looked like they didn't belong there in the first place. The Wings have too much experience and were just too much to deal with. Jimmy Howard out played Ilya Bryzgalov and that was the ultimate difference in the early defeat. Shane Doan was again the only Coyote that really stood up to the mighty Wings who are now looking at revenge on San Jose for their playoff exit last season.

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The San Jose Sharks last season were able to make it all the way to the West Finals where they were swept by the eventual champions. This was still considered a slight success as the Sharks were being known as playoff busts after years past. They were handed division opponent Los Angeles in the first round this year and should have been able to handle them easy given the Kings loss of Anze Kopitar just before the playoffs began. Instead the Kings fought hard and lost a few close games in overtime and benefited greatly from the goal tending of Jonathan Quick. The Sharks finally got that big goal from Captain Joe Thornton as he was able to score the game winner in the series clinching game. This was a huge lift of the big man's shoulders as he has been given the blame many times in years past when his team has been unable to advance. Other Sharks stepped up as well in this series as they had too even coming back in game 3 when down 4-0 to win 6-5 in overtime. Comebacks like that can do a lot for a team's confidence when they know they are never really out of a game. Will the confidence carry on against a healthy Detroit team?

The Redwings are incredible deep and have steady goal tending. This team has been there and done that and will look to again make quick work of their opponent. The Sharks have many more offensive weapons than the Phoenix Coyotes did and will definitely pose more of a problem. Last year San Jose took advantage of a Detroit team that was forced to 7 games by the same Phoenix Coyotes. They were able to take care of the Wings in only 5 games but that will not happen this year. The Sharks will have to jump on the Wings early and hope Antti Niemi is able to play better than he did in the LA series as he was pulled twice. A tandem will not set the Sharks up for success as they can not allow the Redwings to get big leads.

X Factor
The X factor in this series will be the play of Joe Thornton. Jumbo Joe is the striving force behind this Sharks team as he was given the captaincy over Patrick Marleau, who was arguably the best player for the Sharks last year during their playoff run. Thornton will have to be a physical presence along with produce on the score sheet. If he can make a significant impact the Sharks have a chance to do just what they did last year.

The Redwings are healthy and rolling along and that spells bad news for the Sharks. The Wings only issues proves to be nothing behind goalie Jimmy Howard, so given he stays healthy the Wings should be just fine.

Redwings in 6

The Story of the Year

 

 

   Let me start out by saying I don't want to sound like a "homer" because I live in Arizona and have been a fan of the Coyotes since 1997 when they came to the desert from Winnipeg. They are also the main reason I got in to hockey and why it has shaped my life the way it has, but the Phoenix Coyotes are the story of the year as they march into the playoffs. The Coyotes currently sit at 4th place in the Western Conference after a loss on Tuesday Night to the 1st place Chicago Blackhawks. After Sunday night's shoot out victory in Dallas the Coyotes had won 9 straight games dating back to March 3rd at the trade deadline. Phoenix made key additions to their team and look to be very dangerous. One name that I had my eye on was Lee Stempniak due the fact that he has had previous success and that Phoenix got him for very little. He has since scored  9 goals and 2 assists in the 9 of the 10 games he has played in with the Coyotes and has been exciting to watch. All of the additions appear to definitely strengthen this team.

   During the 9 game winning streak the Coyotes have five shoot out victories including their last three. They have admitted to not playing their best hockey yet continue to find ways to win which is what the good teams do, especially at this time of the year. They have set numerous franchise records including wins in a season, wins for a single goaltender, overall points in a season, consecutive home wins, and then tied the most overall consecutive wins with 9 dating back to the 84-85 Winnipeg Jets. The Coyotes have done all of this and will most likely finish the season without a player scoring 30 goals or even 60 points. Many of the top level teams thought of as top contenders for the Cup have one or even two well known stars in the league while the Coyotes are playing great team hockey. The most notable name on the roster even being mentioned for an award at season's end is goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Ilya has accumulated 39 wins and a league best 8 shut outs and has a save percentage of .921. He is one of two goalies reasonably considered for the Vezina (Best Goalie) and is in the top 5 for the Hart Trophy (MVP). He has been a rock for this team all season and makes the big saves when he has to. An award that will definetly be given out is that of the Jack Adams award for the Coach of the Year to Phoenix head coach Dave Tippett. Tippett was fired from the Dallas Stars last season after failing to reach the playoffs for the first time in the last 7 years that he coached them. He has brought in his great defensive style and the more the team kept winning the more they believed in him.

   The Phoenix Coyotes were expected to finish last in Western Conference according to ESPN's pre-season rankings and many others assumed a similar finish. Stemming from last summer the team is still looking for ownership and is currently owned by the NHL. Some teams cried foul about the teams deadline acquisitions, saying they would not have other wise had the money if they were not owned by the NHL. That is something we will never  know and can not just be assumed. This team was in ruins last summer after several years of the Gretzky experiment not paying off. I personally feel losing Gretzky as coach was less of a reason for the team's success compared to the addition of Dave Tippett. If they playoffs started today then the Coyotes would be set to play the Los Angeles Kings, a team the Coyotes are very familiar with and would be a great first round match-up. I feel that this is a win-able series for the Coyotes looking to win their first playoff series since moving from Winnipeg. This will be their first playoff appearance since 2002. Many of the players on the current roster have little to no playoff experience so only time will tell how they will finish this story book season. No one predicted this team would be here at this time of the year, so hopefully the surprises will continue in the post season.

Trade Deadline

The trade deadline is finally over and there is a lot to look at.  Not a lot of big names moved as many of those happened before the Olympic break. Names like Kovalchuk to New Jersey and Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Dion Phanuef to Toronto. A lot of things that we knew were coming did and then some that were expected that didn't. This wasn't the craziest trade deadline day but significant changes were made and there were definite winners and losers today.

Noteworthy trades
The Phoenix Coyotes were rumored to possibly be looking to dump Peter Mueller and add some offense to their line-up. By the end of the deadline the Coyotes ended up making several moves. Most worth mentioning was that of sending Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter to Colorado for Wojtek Wolski. This is a great move for Phoenix considering the disappointing play of Mueller this season while the team is excelling. Both Wolski and Mueller are looking for new starts in their new homes. The deal that was done shortly before this one was that which brought back defenseman Derek Morris from Boston. Morris was with the Coyotes from 03-09 and was well respected in the Coyotes locker room. Also on defense for a young team going to the playoffs, the Coyotes brought in Mathieu Schneider. He may help on a power play that is ranked 29th in the league or he may not find his way on the team at all. The Coyotes were very busy today as the also added Lee Stempniak, Alexandre Picard, and Petteri Nokelainen.

The Washington Capitals added some depth as well to what is expected to be a long playoff run. The Caps high octane offense needs no help so they added D men Joe Corvo and Milan Jurcina. Jurcina was previously with the club and I'm sure is happy to be back as the Caps are a top the league standings while Columbus is struggling mightily. Washington also added F Scott Walker and F Eric Belanger for 3rd line depth purposes and to help their penalty kill.

The Anaheim Ducks are looking to make a push for a playoff spot and may have helped themselves by adding Lubomir Visnovsky for Ryan Whitney and later Aaron Ward.  Vesa Toskala didn't last long as the back up as he leaves for Calgary in exchange G Curtis McElhinney. G Joey MacDonald was added as well.

The LA Kings had talk of taking F Ray Whitney and before that Ilya Kovalchuk. Instead they have brought on F Fredrik Modin and F Jeff Halpern. Not nearly the same amount of power but still improvements for a good team.

The Pittsburgh Penguins added Jordon Leopold and Alexei Ponikarovsky to their line-up making them again dangerous, especially in the East. Ponikarovsky has yet to play for the Pens as he has issues with his visa for playing in the United States. This problem should soon be resolved and the Pens will be a force in the Eastern Conference yet again come playoff time as they are looking to repeat as champions.

The Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs did their big trades prior to the Olympic break. As I mentioned earlier Toronto brought on Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Dion Phanuef. The Flames recieved Ian White, Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Jamal Mayers from Toronto while the Leafs also got Fredrik Sjostrom and Keith Aulie in addition to Phanuef. In order to bring on Giguere the Leafs also traded with Anaheim by giving up Jason Blake and Vesa Toskala. The Flames started the season well but were going through a rough patch and decided to go through with the big change. They also traded away  Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust for Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik of the New York Rangers, who don't appear to be any better or worse. It is too early to tell if the Flames made the right choice but GM Brian Burke and the Maple Leafs are clearly looking to make a lot of changes and adding Phanuef and Giguere is a great start. As for the Ducks Jason Blake is a nice addition and they have already traded away G Vesa Toskala for Curtis McElhinney.

There was a long debate on where Ilya Kovalchuk would go after turning down a $101 million deal over 12 years from Atlanta. The Kings seemed like a good fit as they would be able to possibly give him an extention and not make him simply a rental player. I personally enjoyed hearing the possibility of this as I live in Phoenix and would get to see him quite often. This deal never happened because The New Jersey Devils came in an gave the Atlanta Thrashers enough to make them give up their superstar. Although to others looking in it doesn't appear the Devils gave up that much. In the deal the Devils traded youngster Niclas Bergfors, D man Johnny Oduya, the young captain of the world junior Canadian team Patrice Cormier and a 2010 first-round pick. This deal has seemed to make the Thrashers play more like a team while the Devils struggled out of the gate. I'm still unsure whether this deal will pay dividends for the Devils this season. They will try and re-sign him after the season but that may be unlikely, so this is probably a rental situation and the Devils are going for it all this postseason.

The Chicago Blackhawks were very quiet this trade deadline however they have close to the best record in the league and shouldn't need to change much. The only question mark is whether the combo of Cristobal Huet and Antti Niemi is good enough to take the Hawks to the Cup. All the experts were sure the Hawks would at least attempt to make some move at the goaltender position but they didn't and we will see how that works out for them. The one move they did make was trading young defenseman Cam Barker for some experience on D in Kim Johnsson from the Minnesota Wild.


The Ottawa Senators made a couple trades that seem minor but should ensure them a playoff spot. They picked up Matt Cullen and Andy Sutton which in the East are actually good acquisitions. The Eastern Conference is close right now and some poor teams will make the playoffs. The Senators were considered a bad team to start the year but have played well as of late and have the talent to maybe upset in the early rounds but shouldn't go deep in the playoffs.

Winners
The Phoenix Coyotes for the first time were buyers at the deadline and they may have made significant progress in becoming one of the elite teams in the West. (at least for now)The Coyotes have added some scoring and solidified their defense and hope to surprise some people in this years playoffs.

The Washington Capitals made moves that should make them a legitimate contender for the Stanley Cup. I'm sure they were already considered a contender but these moves at least let people know they are leaving it all on the line this year.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have added defense which come playoff time should be very beneficial. The Pens are looking to repeat and have a some what better team than last year and in the East could maybe at least still get to the finals.

It would be hard to say that the New Jersey Devils hurt themselves in any way by adding the likes of prominent 50 goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk has done little lately but it will be interesting to see what happens with him and this team come playoff time.

Losers
There were teams that were expected to make specific moves and chose not to and were considered losers on this day as they did not improve their teams in anyway.

The Philadelphia Flyers lost 1st string goalie Ray Emery for the season and were looked at to make a significant move. With many goalies available the Flyers chose not to make any moves and chose to stick with Michael Leighton as the starter, who has been on waivers 3 or 4 times in his career and that is exactly where the Flyers got him. He replaced Brian Boucher as the back-up with his play and has become the starter. The Flyers will have to look to Leighton in the playoffs even though he has never started a postseason game due to their lack of activity during the trade time period. This move or lack their of may not hurt the Flyers but only time will tell how Leighton will payoff for a team that has been searching for a franchise goalie since Ron Hextall retired.

The Edmonton Oilers have many players on their roster with large contracts that are not paying off and could have been dealt, most notably Sheldon Souray. The Oilers are last in the league but mainly due to injuries however, they could have eased the pain by unloading some money and chose not too. They did unload Visnovsky and will also probably take the number one overall pick in the upcoming draft. 


The Boston Bruins were also expected to make a move for a scorer and chose to stick with their current squad except chose to add defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. A need seemingly not necessary by the fans.

Several other moves were made as it was a busy trade deadline day however, none to important. If I didn't mention the moves made by other teams that is because the team did not improve or decrease they instead stayed the same and will probably not affect the overall standings in many ways.