NHL Playoff Thread-Mania...

[cinch]

(There's not a thread on this already, is there? Couldn't find one... . )

Playoff pairings... and predictions!

*********************THE PAIRINGS**************

WEST

Dallas vs. Edmonton
Detroit vs. Anaheim
Colorado vs. Minnesota
Vancouver vs. St. Louis

EAST

Ottawa vs. New York Islanders
New Jersey vs. Boston
Tampa Bay vs. Washington
Toronto vs. Philadelphia

**************** THE PREDICTIONS*****************

ROUND 1

Dallas 3
Edmonton 4

(Shut up, I have dreams!)

Detroit 4
Anaheim 2

Colorado 4
Minnesota 1

Vancouver 4
St. Louis 2

Ottawa 4
New York 2

New Jersey 3
Boston 4

(That's my big gamble-hunch)

Tampa 4
Washington 0

Toronto 4
Philly 2

***

ROUND 2

Detroit 4
Edmonton 1

Colorado 4
Vancouver 3

Ottawa 4
Boston 2

Tampa 1
Toronto 4

***

ROUND 3

Detroit 3
Colorado 4

Ottawa 3
Toronny 4

***

STANLEY CUP FINAL

Colorado 4
Toronto 2

MVP: Forsberg

*********

Anyone?

PS: I'd also like to make it clear that just because I have T.O. making it to the final, does NOT mean that I am a fan in any way. Personally, I hope Philly sweeps... but I just don't think that'll happen.

[Pekka]

Ok my predictions:

Round 1

Dallas vs. Edmonton -> Dallas WINS (cinch keep on dreaming)

Detroit vs. Anaheim -> Detroit WINS

Colorado vs. Minnesota -> Colorado WINS

Vancouver vs. St. Louis -> Vancouver WINS

Ottawa vs. New York -> New York WINS

New Jersey vs. Boston -> New Jersey WINS

Tampa vs. Washington -> Washington WINS

Toronto vs. Philadelphia -> Philadelphia WINS

Round 2

Dallas vs. Detroit -> Detroit WINS

Colorado vs. Vancouver -> Colorado WINS

New York vs. New Jersey -> New Jersey WINS

Washington vs. Philadelphia -> Philadelphia WINS

Round 3

Detroit vs Colorado -> Detroit WINS

New Jersey vs Philadelphia -> New Jersey WINS

Finals

Detroit vs. New Jersey -> Detroit WINS (once again)

[Pekka]

Oh and MVP Fedorov

[Kontiki]

Pekka, there's a problem with your predictions once you get to the second round. If Dallas and Detroit both win, they can't face each other until the Western final. Assuming these teams, plus Vancouver and Colorado get through, the second round would be Dal-Van and Det-Col. The highest seeded team left always plays the lowest seeded team left.

[Pekka]

Damn it. Yeah I know, I was too tired and just started picking forgetting that . That's how they play play offs in every league, I'll make some changes.

[Imran Siddiqui]

ROUND 1

Dallas 4
Edmonton 2

Detroit 4
Anaheim 2

Colorado 4
Minnesota 3

Vancouver 4
St. Louis 3

Ottawa 4
New York 2

New Jersey 4
Boston 1

Tampa 3
Washington 4

Toronto 2
Philly 4

ROUND 2

Vancouver 4
Dallas 2

Colorado 3
Detroit 4

Ottawa 2
Washington 4

New Jersey 4
Philadelphia 2

ROUND 3

Detroit 4
Vancouver 2

New Jersey 4
Washington 2

FINALS

New Jersey 4
Detroit 2

[Guynemer]

Holy crap, Vancouver lost today? Hmmm...

Well, to carry on my tradition of top notch prognostication (at least in the Western Conference), away we go--

Dallas over Edmonton in 6--Oilers are plucky, but just plain outgunned.

Detroit over Anaheim in 5--Lord, how I hate 10:30 PM game times.

Colorado over Minnesota in 4--The Fates weren't kind to the Wild, were they? Battle all season to get into the playoffs, and they draw Patrick Roy in the first round.

St. Louis over Vancouver in 7--I previously said that there is no way the Canucks would lose to the Blues. That was before St. Louis got a clutch playoff goalie in Chris Osgood, while the Canucks have to make due with Dan Cloutier. This one really could go either way, but the winner is toast in round two anyhow.

Ottawa over New York in 5--I thought the Islanders would pull-off the upset... until they traded Osgood. Garth Snow? Toast.

New Jersey over Boston in 4--No way they're going out as chumps two years in a row.

Tampa Bay over Washington in 5--This year's Carolina? Maybe, except the Lightning are a much better team than the Canes ever were. This should be a cakewalk for Khabibulin.

Toronto over Philadelphia in 5--Any team that names Keith Primeau as captain is in deep, deep, deep dog****.

A relatively upset-free first round.

ROUND TWO

Dallas over St. Louis in 6--Marty Turco is a regarded as a God in these parts, and the NHL has learned why this year. Not enough firepower in St. Louis.

Detroit over Colorado in 7--Epic. Again.

Toronto over Ottawa in 5--*****slap.

New Jersey over Tampa Bay in 7--Lightning could be very dangerous in upcoming seasons, but for now just not enough experience to hang with the Devils.

CONFERENCE FINALS

Detroit over Dallas in 6--This one really could go either way; I just think the Wings are better, even just slightly, in every position--except goalie. Turco will have to be superhuman to win this one--he is capable, but I think it'll just be too much.

Toronto over New Jersey in 6--This has been a long time coming for the Leafs. Brodeur might be the best goalie on the planet, but he doesn't have the supporting cast necessary to put goals past Belfour--this'll be especially true with the Leafs start beheading Devils players ten minutes into the series.

FINALS

Detroit over Toronto in 5--Same thing I picked this year, would be even more meaningful this year. Two Original Six teams, Cujo vs. Toronto, Belfour vs. his old nemesis the Wings, and could just be Steve Yzerman's swan song.

LUDICROUSLY PREMATURE CONN SMYTHE PICK--Sergei Federov or Steve Yzerman; flip a coin.

[cinch]

Guynemer:

Toronto over New Jersey in 6--This has been a long time coming for the Leafs. Brodeur might be the best goalie on the planet, but he doesn't have the supporting cast necessary to put goals past Belfour--this'll be especially true with the Leafs start beheading Devils players ten minutes into the series.

Brilliant.

...

Colorado & Toronto... you'll all see!

[Kontiki]

Too much optimism about Toronto, IMO. I'd say they'd be lucky to beat Philly in the first round, and I don't think Ottawa would fold against them again.

Without going series-by-series, my predictions come to this:

Colorado vs. New Jersey, and Colorado wins.

I'd really consider either Detroit or Ottawa to be there, or both, but when it come down to the crunch time, I'll put my money on the best goalies. Lalime has yet to experience big-time pressure, and I don't think Joseph is a real winner.

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Too much optimism about Toronto, IMO. I'd say they'd be lucky to beat Philly in the first round, and I don't think Ottawa would fold against them again.

Too much optimism in TO? That's all we can live on after 35 years of drought.

Things are looking tough for Toronto. Too many injuries, not enough time to get the players to gel as team. Meanwhile Philly has come together. Amonte has surprised me. Gagne is healthy and getting points again (too late for my regular season pool ). This one is going to go seven games, but TO will win because Belfour knows what it takes to win and that will make the difference.

[Tingkai]

"You know what I remember most about that year?," said [Brian] Skrudland about the 85-86 playoffs when he played for the Canadiens. "Toe Blake [the Canadiens' Hall of Fame coach] was in our dressing room a lot. After we beat Boston in the first round, he told us, 'you haven't won anything yet.' After we beat Hartford, same thing: 'you haven't won anything yet;' and then he said the same thing again after we beat the Rangers. Finally, we go in and beat Calgary to win the Stanley Cup and afterwards Toe Blake says to us: 'That's just one.' I'll never forget that."

[Sava]

WEST

Dallas vs. Edmonton
Detroit vs. Anaheim
Colorado vs. Minnesota
Vancouver vs. St. Louis

EAST

Ottawa vs. New York Islanders
New Jersey vs. Boston
Tampa Bay vs. Washington
Toronto vs. Philadelphia

Round 1
Dallas over Edmonton in 6
Detroit over Anaheim in 4
Colorado over Minnesota in 5
St. Louis over Vancouver in 6

Ottawa over NYI in 5
NJ over BOS in 7
WAS over TB in 6
PHI over TOR in 6

Round 2
Dallas over STL in 6
DET over COL in 6

PHI over OTT in 6
NJ over WAS in 5

Round 3
DET over DAL in 5
PHI over NJ in 6

STANLEY CUP
DET over PHI in 6

notes: Detroit is still a powerhouse... they have so many Cup Rings in that organization that they will roll over everyone. Colorado is the only real threat, but its likely that Forsberg will have some sort of injury, Sakic has been brittle all year, and they aren't as skilled on D without Ray Bourque. Roy will be the key for them, but I think Detroit it too powerful. Vancouver has made its presence felt, but their goaltending is suspect. And not much depth past Naslund and Bertuzzi. Anaheim, Edmonton, and Minnesota are jokes, only EDM has a chance to upset. St. Louis might be able to take Vancouver, maybe even Dallas if they get really, really lucky; but they would get spanked by COL or DET. DET wins the West.

Philly has been playing well since they got Amonte. They have the scoring, the size, the skill on D, and good enough goaltending to beat the Devils, the only real threat to them. Ottawa isn't built for playoff success. Toronto can't match the skill of Philly, or the goaltending of NJ. Washington and TB are jokes... (but then again, so was Carolina). Boston has no goaltending, they'll be watching the 2nd, 3rd, and Finals from home. Philly in the EAST.

MVP - Lidstrom... (maybe Joseph) With the depth at forward, I think Lidstrom will have a great playoffs. He'll rack up the +/- and finish with a strong point total. Joseph isn't as skilled as a Roy or Hasek, but still could get hot in the Playoffs. I don't think any one Detroit forward will soar above and beyond the rest to win the Conn Smythe, their system just doesn't give someone the opprotunity to explode like that. Detroits game is a team game, they have 5 guys that have scored at least 50 goals a season, some point in their careers. Lidstrom is the corner-stone of that D, and his +/- will reap the benefits of that offense.

[Ben Kenobi]

Canucks lose the Division title and have to play ST LOUIS!



Vancouver over St. Louis in 7

Long tough series Colorado should have had.

Edmonton over Dallas in 7.
Dallas is not as good as Detroit.
Edmonton is riding high.

Detroit over Anaheim in 4.
Easy.

Colorado in 6 over Minnesota

Second round
Vancouver in 7 over Colorado.
Another long, tough series.

Detroit in 5 over Edmonton

Third Round

Vancouver in 7 over Detroit
A man can dream can't he?


East:

Ottawa in 4 over NY Islanders
New Jersey in 5 over Boston
Washington in 6 over Tampa Bay
Toronto in 6 over Philadelphia

Ottawa in 6 over Washington
Toronto in 7 over New Jersey

Toronto in 7 over Ottawa

Stanley cup:
Vancouver over Toronto in 6.

MVP:

Bertuzzi.

[Tingkai]

If you were the Canucks, which team would you prefer to play: Minnesota or St. Louis.

I'd prefer St. Louis. Osgood hasn't been that great in goal. While Minnesota has two strong goalies plus Lemaire will slow the game down and that works against Vancouver.

So maybe the Canucks let LA win. That pits the Avs against the Wild and who knows, maybe the Wild upset the Avs.

Meanwhile, Canucks will be able to take down the Blues in a game that suits Vancouver's style.

[cinch]

I think you may be right about that, Tingkai... St. Lou and Vancouver both play an offensive game, for the most part, and that may suit the Canucks just perfectly.

No team should underestimate Minnesota, I think. Lemaire has got that team functioning at a level previously unheard of for such a young team. And the revolving-goalie thing may serve them well...

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Colour me excited.