Monthly Archives: April 2012

Apr 29

NHL Playoffs: Another Pair of Idiots Guides to the 2nd Round

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Well that sure was a strange first round, wasn’t it? Between the approximately 312 goals scored by Philadelphia and the 9 scored by St. Louis, Nashville, LA, and Phoenix combined, we saw it all. The first week had an insane amount of violence, but then things calmed down. We saw more overtime games that you could possibly imagine and the two favourites for the Stanley Cup are golfing while the Phoenix Coyotes are playing the latest games in the history of their franchise.

After the first round, Glen, Troy and the Coin all had some struggles., with the standings coming out as follows:

In third place we had the coin who correctly predicted series wins for the Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues, and the Nashville Predators, we have the coin!

In 2nd place, correctly guessing…err prognosticating the Rangers, Devils, Blues, and Predators all winning, with an extra point coming for going with the Rangers 7 game victory bringing his point total to 5 is the proprietor of this blog, Glen!

And in first place with a 5-3 record based on correct predictions for the Rangers, Devils, Blues, Coyotes, and Predators, plus correctly predicting the series length for the St. Louis Blues is Troy! Like the Western Conference we seem to be having a changing of the guard here.

For the next round we’ve got the following Predictions…

WESTERN CONFERENCE

#2 St. Louis Blues vs. #8 Los Angeles Kings

Remember after Michael Leighton made it to the finals and everyone kept saying that you don’t need goaltending to win? Well look at the roughly 712 shutouts that these two teams combined for this year and start to think again. As the Vancouver Canucks can attest to, the Kings are not a typical eighth seed, but the Blues looked damn scary in their last trip to California. After seeing records set in Philly-Pittsburgh last round for offense, expect records to be set for defense here.

Troy Says: In the West goaltending was king in the first round. All four Western Conference teams have amazing goaltending so with that in mind it’s most likely going to come down to good offence, or inversely, poor defence.  St. Louis is a young team with exceptional talent. Everything is coming together for them at the right time. However, keep in mind that the team they beat in the first round was San Jose….the chokingest team…..ever?!  If you look at what the Kings did in the first round it’s quite impressive. Los Angeles knocked out the defending Western Conference Champs and President’s trophy winners in 5 games. And you can’t even blame it on Luongo! This leads me to believe that at the end of the day, LA is the better team. LA has been on this precipice for a number of years now. Everyone was wondering when they were going to get over the hump and start making some noise and with the addition of a guy like Richards I believe this is their time.

Most Interesting Story: Could it be anything other than goaltending and defense? These were the two best defensive teams in the league during the regular season with the Blues allowing 165 goals and the Kings allowing 179.

Most Interesting Statistic: Despite these two teams sharing a Conference for most of their existence, they have only met in the playoffs twice before. The Blues swept the Kings in the 1969 Western Division final to earn their second straight trip to the finals, and again in 1998 to advance to the second round.

Glen’s Prediction: St. Louis Blues in 6 games with around 15 total goals scored.
Troy’s Prediction: I’ll take LA in 6.
Coin’s Prediction: LA in 7
#3 Phoenix Coyotes vs. Nashville Predators
Remember after Michael Leighton made it to the finals and everyone kept saying that you don’t need goaltending to win? Oh wait, we’ve already made that point? Well it’s further underscored here as we have two of the most impressive goalies in the first round. These two teams match up very well, they both have stellar defense, intelligent coaches, gargantuan goaltenders, and were both almost forced to move to Hamilton. Expect this series to be insanely close.
Troy Says: This series seems somewhat identical to St. Louis vs LA. They are both young teams with exception goalies and this as well will be a very tight series. I find this one a tough one to call. In my eye the Preds had the more impressive first round knocking out the Wings in 5 games whereas it took Phoenix 6 games to take out the Hawks. Nashville is lead with one of the toughest blue lines in the league and their ageless coach has this team firing on all cylinders. The Coyotes are in brand new territory and as such this is the first time this franchise has made it past the first round since the move from Winnipeg. From that I can figure that Nashville has the edge in experience and with two youngish teams that can make a large difference. This will be a close series but I’m going with Nashville.
Most Interesting Story: Offense. When Radim Vrbata is the closest this series have to a game-breaking forward, then it’s curious to all it an interesting matchup. Yet somehow, someway this year, the Predators are Top 10 in the NHL in Goals For and Number One in the Power Play. With everything else so close between these two teams, expect the ability to put pucks in a net, even if it is by committee, to be the deciding factor.

Most Interesting Statistic: The only time either of these teams won more than four games in a single playoff was last year when the Predators won six.
 
Glen’s Prediction: Nashville in 7 games with both teams combining for three shutouts.
Troy’s Prediction: Preds in 7
Coin Says: Predators in 4
EASTERN CONFERENCE
#1 New York Rangers vs. #7 Washington Capitals
These two teams survived Game 7 scares to make it to this point. This is their third playoff showdown in the last four years, with the Capitals taking the previous two as the favourite, the roles are reversed this time around. Will the results also be?
Troy Says:  Well….I picked Washington to fall flat on their faces against Boston and I was dead wrong. I sincerely didn’t think they had a shot at all. But notice who was, or better yet, who wasn’t, leading this team. It wasn’t Ovechkin; it was Matt Hendricks. This guy was everything for Washington in the first round. I find it interesting that Ovie has taken a bit of a back seat with this team and it hasn’t hurt them in the least. On the New York side, they shows some balls in coming back against Ottawa to win in 7 but as a number one seed against the number 8 seed they should have never been in that position to begin with. This team has made some major strides this year but nonetheless I think they can be beaten. I’m ready to put some faith in the Caps in this round. They severely impressed me with their play against the defending champs and they deserve some credit for that.

Most Interesting Story: Coaching.  Both teams have high end offensive players but are choosing to play a defense-first style. Tortorella has made the Rangers are kings of blocking shots, and Dale Hunter has somehow convinced Ovechkin and Semin that a 1-4 system is better than no system at all. Perhaps the winner of this series will come down to who lets their horses out of the barn at the right moment.
Most Interesting Statistic: Alexander Ovechkin has seen as many NHL Game 7s as Madison Square Garden.
Glen’s Prediction: Rangers get revenge by winning in 5
Troy’s Prediction: Capitals in 5
Coin’s Prediction:  Capitals in 5
#5 Philadelphia Flyers vs. #6 New Jersey Devils
The Patrick Division lives!!!! These two teams have long been geographic rivals, and will renew their hostilities once more. This series should be a very good once as it is the only one of the four series to feature two teams with over 100 points, and both of them were lower seeds last round. The Flyers used great forechecking and the stretch pass last round, but will it work against the team that quite literally wrote the book on positional defense?
Troy’s Prediction: New Jersey has run into a powerhouse in this round and I can’t wait to see the slaughter. Brodeur, as much as I love him, is not the goalie he used to be. Combine that with the fact that Philly averaged approximately 30 goals per game against Pittsburgh in the first round and this series may not be pretty for Marty’s GAA. New Jersey is going to try and trap like they always do and Philly is going to blow right through it.
Most Interesting Story:  Goaltending! Last round Ilya Bryzgalov was bad, but was able to escape criticisms based on the fact that Marc-Andre Fleury was worse. Martin Brodeur was very inconsistent  last round, and you have to wonder how much gas he has left in the tank. Both goalies should be on short leashes in this round. The Flyers were not afraid to run and gun last round, but you have to wonder if it will work so well this time.
Most Interesting Statistic: These two teams have met four times before in the playoffs, the winning team has gone on to win the Stanley Cup twice and lose in the finals one other time.
Bonus statistic: Despite advancing to the second round for the first time in his career, teams with Ilya Kovalchuk have a record of 5-11 in postseason games.
Glen’s Prediction: Flyers in 6
Troy’s Prediction: Flyers in 4
Coin’s Prediction:  New Jersey in 7
Quick Picks for the Third and Fourth Rounds:
Glen Says:
Predators over Blues in 6
Rangers over Flyers in 5
Predators over Rangers in 6 to win the Cup and send Canadians rioting. Rinne for Conn Smythe.
Troy Says:
LA over Nashville in 7
Philly over the Caps in 6.
Philly over LA in 5. Giroux with the Conn Smythe.
Coin Says:
Nashville over LA in 6
New Jersey over Washington in 7
New Jersey over Nashville in 7
That would be poetic after all of the relocation rumours from ’95, wouldn’t it be?
Apr 27

Weekly Plus/Minus: Playoff Eliminations, RAW starring Brock Lesnar, Mysterio Suspended, and more!

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Welcome back to our weekly talk about the best and worst of our favourite sport and pseudo-sport! Since we left off last week, we’ve had an Extreme Edition of RAW, and the NHL Playoff Field get cut in half. We’ve got lots to get to, hit the damn banner!

Playoff Overtime: There has been a lot to love, and a lot to loathe with the first round of the playoffs so far. For every crazy-fun Philly-Pittsburgh game or close goaltending duel between Ottawa and New York, there have been some dull trapfests between Florida and New Jersey or Boston and Washington.

But we can most certainly all agree that the insanely high amount of Overtime games is a ton of fun. We get such loveably unlikely heroes as Joel Ward and Michael Boedcker or superstar clutch moments from Niklas Backstrom or Jonathan Toews. The NHL does Sudden Death better than anyone else, and it’s hard not to get incredibly excited by moments like this.

Blaming Luo: Astute readers will look at the banner at the top of this page and presume that we here at Blade Jobs of Steels are not the biggest fans of the soon to be former Canucks goaltender. Having said that, the fact that he has become, in the words of Don Cherry, an escape goat in Vancouver is nothing short of shocking.

Luongo loses two games and is a pariah, Schneider loses two games and is a saint. Sure Luongo has his issues and certainly shares some of the burden here, but this is a team that was only able to score eight goals in five games when it mattered the most. Sure Daniel Sedin was injured, but where was Henrik? Where was Kesler? Where was Booth? Where was Raymond? Where was Burrows? This team has serious problems with clutch goals and finding a new goalie to blame — make no mistake about it Schneider will take the fall someday – won’t solve this.

WWE Monday Night Raw, Staring Brock Lesnar: There is nothing to not love about Brock Lesnar’s contract signing this past week. The stipulation that if he beats John Cena that the name of the show needs to change is nothing short of brilliant.

Lesnar is bound to get some cheers, he’s a huge cross-over name and he’s going after John Cena. But he is coming across like he has utter contempt for the WWE, and there is no way that doesn’t get him some serious heat with even the smarkiest of fans. This run is already starting to remind me of The Rock’s 2003 heel run, which is arguably the greatest that the Great One has ever been. Hopes are insanely high for this right now!

Viva La Roidza! News broke late Thursday night that Rey Mysterio was suspended for his second violation of the WWE Wellness Policy and will miss 60 days after failing a drug test. The next failure on his part leaves him on the unemployed line.

This is horrible news for the company, as Rey Mysterio is consistently one of the top draws in the company and could have made a huge impact on his return. The Smackdown roster has an abundance of heels looking to move up the ladder, and a feud with a returning Mysterio would have helped any of them out immensely. Sadly, they’ll have to wait two months as Rey-Rey clearly hasn’t learned much from his first lesson a few years back.

New Blood Rising: As we talked about once before here, there is a sea change taking place in the Western Conference. None of the four teams still playing in the West have won a Stanley Cup before, so we are guaranteed to have at least one team get a shot at their first sip of the Cup.

Add in the Washington Capitals, and the very strong performances in the first round by the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers and we have some optimism that a few teams will have their names engraved on the Cup for the first time. What remains to be seen is if they can use that to build momentum in the market like Tampa Bay and Dallas, or if they will still have attendance problems and struggle in their market like Carolina and to a lesser extent, Anaheim.

Racist Tools: If you have no read Harrison Mooney’s excellent piece on Puck Daddy about the ridiculous reaction to Joel Ward’s overtime goal, give it a read.

There’s not much to add that Mr. Mooney did not cover, and his perspective as a person of colour really helps drive this home.

Seriously, it’s 2012, why is racism still a thing?

 

 

Prediction for the Week: Cody Rhodes and Kharma leave Extreme Rules as champions.

Apr 25

The Reshaping Western Conference

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Well who the hell saw this coming?

 The Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks, and Chicago Blackhawks represent every Western Conference finalist since 2009, and all but two since 2007, and now they are all golfing. Three of those four teams bowing out in a paltry five games, while Chicago needed approximately 600 Overtime Periods to last one longer than their former Main Event competitors.
None of the Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, Phoenix Coyotes, or St. Louis Blues have won the Stanley Cup and we are already guaranteed that one of them will have a shot at their first title. If that isn’t shocking enough, remember that the Coyotes and Predators have never been to the Cup Finals, or even past the second round before. The Blues made the Cup finals in their first three years of existence, going 0-12 in the process, the NHL got so tired of those lopsided series that they moved the Blackhawks into the Western Division right after in order to have a not terrible team in the finals. The Kings are the most recent franchise to end up getting a shot at the Cup, and their one and only chance came 19 years ago when a certain Mr. Gretzky was their captain, and this was only their second series win since losing out to the Canadiens in ’93.
What’s more interesting than the changes in the West, is how all four teams have taken very different paths to get here. The Coyotes have one team comprised almost entirely of castoffs and beating the entire world. The Predators have slowly and patiently been building to this moment for most of the decade. The Kings underachieved for most of the season before making an incredibly bold move in February and peaking at the right time. The Blues have been a team poised to break-through “someday” only to show everyone that someday is in fact, today.
If there’s one thing we can learn from this, is that there is no one way to build a team in today’s NHL, no matter how often GMs look to copy one another. All you need is vision, commitment and hard-work. Oh, all world goaltending doesn’t hurt, does it? Did you catch that one Burkie?
Apr 20

Weekly Plus/Minus: NHL Playoffs, Brock Lesnar/John Cena, Goalies, Violence, and More!

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Greetings one and all! After taking a couple of weeks off, welcome back to the Weekly Plus/Minus were we look at the best and worst in the ring and on the ice. With the NHL Playoffs well underway and the WWE being in a great post-Wrestlemania period, there is certainly a ton to discuss. Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

American Born Goalies: For the longest time Canada, and especially Quebec was seen as the Goalie Factory. In recent years, some have made the argument that Finland has supplanted French Canada as the new place to look to find a good back-stopper.

This post-season could end up as a bit of a coming out for American Born goalies. While Tim Thomas has taken a slight step back he’s still been very good. Scott Clemmensen has played very good in relief, Corey Schneider has been even better, and Craig Anderson has flown under the radar this post season, and has been keeping pace with Henrik Lundqvist since the 3rd Period of Game 1.

Of course the one American goalie who has been down right spectacular has been LA Kings netminder Jonathan Quick. This entire season has been a coming out party for Quick, but he has really upped his game against one of the best offenses in the league. If they awarded a Conn Smythe every round, Quick would be the runaway favourite to take it for the first round. Make no mistake here we are watching something very special here with Jonathan Quick, and it wouldn’t be very surprising to see them make it pretty far this Spring.

If you’re still not sold on the strength of American goalies, remember their 2010 Olympic Hero is out golfing. These guys are going to be very tough to score on in Sochi.

Goalies That Play in Pennsylvania: This series has flown in the face of all logical, sane predictions. Everyone expected the big names on Pittsburgh to run roughshod over the Flyers and give us a very long, intense series.

Instead we’ve had Claude Giroux and Sean Coturier top the scoring, we’ve had the Penguins blow two 3-0 leads, and we’ve had three straight blow outs that have been better known for the cheap shots and violence than the majesty on ice which we were all expecting.

At the core of it though, there are the men behind the net. Before the playoffs everyone was trumpeting Marc-Andre Fleury as a money goalie and that currency has certainly been devalued. Ilya Bryzgalov has (perhaps less surprisingly) been impossible to predict. On one moment he absolutely robs Kris Letang with the save of the year, and the next moment it looks like the Tupac Hologram would be a more serviceable goaltender.

Both teams were hyped as Cup contenders before the playoffs, but whoever wins this Keystate Showdown is going to be in serious trouble if they come up against Tim Thomas or Henrik Lundqvist in the future.

New Stars Rising: WWE Legend Mick Foley has recently been engaged in an on-line feud with prospect Dean Ambrose, these two calling each other out on Twitter has been blurring the lines between fiction and reality quite nicely. Apparently the plan is to give Ambrose a huge program right away and make him a major name very quickly.

Add in the fact that recently (re) debuted Lord Tensai got a huge win over John Cena, and it looks like we may finally be seeing some new stars come in. Sure it won’t be as big as the Class of 2002 which included Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, and Shelton Benjamin, but it looks like we may finally be getting some new big names on the horizon.

Randy Orton vs. Kane: This feud is still going on, really?

It was boring and obvious filler before Wrestlemania, it’s boring and obvious filler for Extreme Rules, and damnit it’s boring and obvious filler in this column.

Orton deserves better, and so do you, Dear Readers.

 

Brock Lesnar: The return of The Next Big Thing, could be one of the best things to happen to the WWE in a very long tim. He’s brought with him a ton of buzz, cross-over appeal, and some legitimacy.

While many would obviously question matching him up with Cena right away and not holding off until Wrestlemania, sometimes you have to strike while the iron is hot. Having him give an F5 to John Cena the night after Wrestlemania was an amazing way to have him return, and to have those two face off so soon really helps carry the post-Wrestlemania buzz even longer.

The possibilities for Lesnar going forward are incredibly exciting, and it’s fun to imagine potential matchups with The Rock, The Undertaker, Randy Orton, or CM Punk, and it’ll be even more fun to not have to imagine them anymore.

Obvious Double Standards: Here at a site that’s 50% Dedicated to professional wrestling, you certainly won’t find a ton of complaining about violence in sports.

The complaint here is coming out of the Department of Player Safety. Brendan Shanahan has the hardest job in the league, and for the most part has been very good at it. However, some things here are a little strange.

Aaron Asham cross-checks a guy during play and gets four games while Niklas Backstrom gets only one game for a cross-check to the face when the clock ran out. The book will certainly be thrown at Raffi Torres for his late hit on Marian Hossa, but James Neal only got one game for obvious head-hunting. Shea Weber gets nothing for ramming Zetterberg’s head into the boards, but Andrew Shaw gets three for bumping a goalie, of a team owned by the league no less.

The message is clear, third and fourth liners are fair game for suspensions but people who have the ability to dictate the game like Neal, Backstrom, and Weber can get slaps on the wrist. This makes it seem like Johnny Laurinitus is in charge and all of these top liners are people like Mark Henry and Dolph Ziggler, and that’s in nobody’s best interest.

 

 

Prediction for the Week: Only one series goes to seven games.

Apr 12

Penguins vs. Flyers and Why the NHL Won’t Change Their Playoff Seeding

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Last night we had to privilege of watching a phenomenal game of what should be a phenomenal series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers. After this series was clinched a few days ago the complaints starting coming in.

How could these two great teams meet in only the first round? The Penguins had the second best record in the Conference and fourth in the league, while the Flyers had the third highest point total in the East and sixth most in the league. Meanwhile inferior teams in Boston and Florida get a higher seed, an easier opponent, home ice advantage, and a better chance of advancing. It’s a shame that one of the Pennsylvania teams will be golfing in two weeks, to say nothing of those two Central Division teams in the same situation.

Cries have gone up to switch things around (including on this very blog) with the three most common suggestions being: Top 8 in each Conference just make it, Division leaders guarenteed a playoff spot; The NBA Model with the Division leaders getting a top four spot; or Top 16 make it no matter what.

As intriguing as it would be to have a Top 16 NHL Playoffs, this option seems highly unlikely. The travel schedule would be unreal, and perhaps more importantly, there is less of a chance to have rivalries and repeat matchups. What are the odds that Vancouver and Chicago would have played each other for the past three years if they weren’t locked in the same half of the league? So let’s throw this out as both fair and fun to consider, but highly unlikely.

The other two options leave things certainly more equitable. They would instead give us the following series:

TOP 8 IN CONFERENCE                                         
#1 New York Rangers vs. #8 Ottawa Senators
#2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #7 Washington Capitals
#3 Philadelphia Flyers vs. #6 Florida Panthers
#4 Boston Bruins vs. #5 New Jersey Devils

#1 Vancouver Canucks vs. #8 Los Angeles Kings
#2 St. Louis Blues vs. #7 San Jose Sharks
#3 Nashville Predators vs. #6 Phoenix Coyotes
#4 Detroit Red Wings vs. #5 Chicago Blackhawks

NBA MODEL                                         
#1 New York Rangers vs. #8 Ottawa Senators
#2 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #7 Washington Capitals
#3 Boston Bruins vs. #6 New Jersey Devils
#4 Florida Panthers vs. #5 Philadelphia Flyers

#1 Vancouver Canucks vs. #8 Los Angeles Kings
#2 St. Louis Blues vs. #7 San Jose Sharks
#3 Nashville Predators vs. #6 Chicago Blackhawks
#4 Phoenix Coyotes vs. #5 Detroit Red Wings

First off, it’s entirely coincidental that both of these options give us the same Eastern Conference matchups, as we can see it doesn’t hold true in both Conferences.

Of course everyone looking at that is salivating at the thoughts of another Crosby-Ovie showdown, but that’s only an option because of how disappointing the Capitals were this year. Had they preformed even half way to expectations things would be very different. Outside of that fluke, the only real “WOW” series is Detroit-Chicago in the 4-5 slot. Of course, hardcore hockey fans would probably find some fascination in all of the matchups, but the fact is: we’re not the target, and we can’t be.

The fact is that we’ll watch anyway. Even if there somehow was a Columbus-Minnesota showdown in the first round, those of us who come up with these crazy schemes are likely to watch it anyway. What the NHL needs to do is get ways to hook in the casual fan, and for better or worse the Philly-Pittsburgh and to a lesser extent Detroit-Nashville help with that.

With this current crazy system lets the NHL (and NBC) do is give a higher chance of a true “Main Event” to happen in the first round. The league gets to hype the hell out of one, or both, of these showdowns to get eyeballs on the television. Of course, they would draw better if they were playing in the 3rd round, but there are no guarentees of that happening, with all of the upsets that happen in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

To take it to the other half of this blog, professional wrestling, we should look to the King of the Ring tournament. From 1993 to 2002, the WWF/E would have an annual tournament on Pay-Per-View with the winner being crowned King of the Ring. This was great for hardcore wrestling fans, but the casuals didn’t seem to want any part of it.

In the 1993 event, Bret Hart had great 2nd and 3rd round matchups with Mr. Perfect and Bam Bam Bigelow, which many casual fans would have paid to see, but there was a big problem. They weren’t advertised, since they happened later on in the night, and were only deemed as possible. Instead the company was only able to hype up matches like Mr. Perfect vs. Mr. Hughes and Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Hacksaw Jim Duggan, as they were the first round showdowns, which few people really wanted to see.

The company had to change their plan and instead give us first round matchups that could help sell the card on their own. Perhaps the best example of this was in 2000, when the two favourites to win the tournament were Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho. It would have been great to have these two face off in the finals, and it would really add some prestige to the event, but instead they were matched up in the first round. After Angle won, his next two matches against Crash Holly and Rikishi were pretty much foregone conclusions, but that point it didn’t matter. We had already made the investment and bought the event, we were stuck with those matches. People paid for the definite matchup in Angle-Jericho who may not have paid for the possibility of Angle-Jericho.

And that’s where we come back to hockey. People will watch Philly-Pittsburgh in the first round, hopefully some of those casual fans will be entertained enough to follow the winning team to the second round and beyond should they be so lucky.

The league needs a marquee series in the first round. They need something to sell people right from the start, and hope to get them hooked going forward. The second round usually gives us at least one good series like Boston-Philadelphia, Detroit-San Jose, or Pittsburgh-Washington, while the third and fourth round can usually sell themselves (unless it’s Edmonton vs. Carolina and you don’t live in Canada).

Still don’t buy that this is the league’s motivation? Consider their failed realignment plan, if we had those divisions and the same standings (which is of course impossible since there would be different standings and we would get: VAN-LAK, PHX-SJS, STL-CHI, NAS-DET, BOS-BUF, OTT-FLA, NYR-NJD, PIT-PHI.

Yes, we would still get Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia in the first round, to be our first round Main Event, with Nashville vs. Detroit to serve as a nice undercard. The proposed Conferences involved lumping most of the big US Draws in one division to give us a good chance for a Main Event in the first two rounds, and then the other top draws like Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, and Chicago get divided up and placed with some second tier draws like Tampa Bay, St. Louis, and even Nashville and Dallas to give us a good chance of a solid undercard for those other nights or late games.

The fact is that the NHL is a business, and as such is focused on the bottom line first and fairness second. It just makes more business sense to have a higher chance of having a guaranteed barn burner then to hope for one later, and like it or not, we’ll most certainly be getting these Angle-Jericho style matchups were the potential winners are going head to head at the beginning.

Of course the Stanley Cup Playoffs will most certainly lead to some more compelling series in the second and third rounds, since hockey isn’t scripted like professional wrestling. That is unless you’re a Flyers fan, then you may have other opinions on that…

Apr 11

NHL Playoffs: Another Pair of Idiots Guide to Every Series in the Eastern Conference and the Stanley Cup Finals

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Yesterday, myself and special guest Troy looked at the playoff series in the West, today we’ll look at the East, which features the real marquee matchup of the first round in Philly-Pittsburgh.

#1 New York Rangers vs. #8 Ottawa Senators

The Battle of teams that are 6-8 places ahead of their pre-season predictions! That’s right, the Senators were expected to be near the bottom of the Conference, while the Rangers were thought to be a bubble team, sitting in their usual 7-9 spot, but yet, here we are. Both teams have worked very hard and been very well coached to get to this point, but the clock will strike 12 for one of these Cinderellas very soon.

Troy Says: How surprised is everyone to see the Sens on the playoffs? I don’t think there were many people this year that thought they had it in them. Karlsson has emerged as one of the best defencemen in the league. According to NHL.com he’s joined by Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey, and Denis Potvin as the only players to lead blueliner scoring by more than 20 points. That’s just flat out impressive. Their goaltending has also been good this year even though Anderson has been inconsistent at times. The play of Alfredsson and Spezza has been a big boost and their veteran leadership will certainly help this team. Too bad they’re up against the Rangers though. New York is a team I’ve enjoyed making fun of for the last number of years because they’ve been trying to buy their way to a cup and each time they’ve fallen flat on their faces. This year though they’ve finally got it right. Brad Richards has fit in very nicely and their young D corps has been impressive. Add to that Lundqvist in the net and this will be a hard team to beat. The only chance Ottawa has it to outscore them, which they are capable of doing.

Most Interesting Story: Goaltending, goaltending, and goaltending! The Senators have been striking gold all season with their men in the cage. First Anderson plays dynamite, and then when he gets hurt, Lehner steps in, and then they give Bishop a whirl and he looks great too. It doesn’t matter who they seem to put in, they seem to have some success.

Success, though is in the eye of the beholder, as few goalies have been as successful as current Vezina favourite, and potential Hart Trophy nominee, Henrik Lundqvist, who has been absolutely lights out this year. These two teams oddly match up very well in every other position, great playmaking centre, dynamic (but injury prone) scoring winger, and some great young d-men, but when it comes to the most important position, it’ll be like Ancient Rome. The Senators may have to bow to the King, but it’ll be a close fight to the end.

Et tu Bishop?

Most Interesting Stat: The Rangers earned 17 more points than the Sens this year, and allowed 53 less goals than they did. Both of these differences are tops amongst all of the playoff matchups this year. That being said, the Sens scored 23 more goals than the Rangers.

Glen’s Prediction: Rangers in 7 with both teams combining for four shutouts along the way.

Troy’s Prediction: For my money though this is New York’s series.

New York in 6

Coin’s Prediction: Senators in 7

#2 Boston Bruins vs. #7 Washington Capitals

Let’s see, where do we even start here? The defending champions taking on a team that thinks “Because it’s the Cup” is a reference to their Jock Straps? Or Tim Thomas exercising his rights as a Free Citizen by winning some games in DC, or will that damn Lamestream Media throw him off his game?

This is a simply fascinating series both on and off the ice and will no doubt provide endless analysis going forward.

Troy Says: This is not going to be a fun series for Washington. Washington is a team that tends to choke in the playoffs and they’re going against the defending champs. Not good. What is good though is that Ovechkin finally decided in the last few weeks to put the team back on his shoulders again and he has been his old self which is fun to see.

Most Interesting Story: Toughness! You have one team that is perceived as being soft against another team that often has the words “Big” and “Bad” in front of their name. Both teams have a ton to prove.

Chara vs. Ovechkin will be the most interesting matchup on the ice to watch for the next two weeks. Both men are big, both men can hit, and both men can take a hit. Chara is one of the best in the league and slowing guys down, but if Ovechkin is truly motivated than he’ll have his work cut out for him.

Most Interesting Statistic: The Boston Bruins scored 61 more goals than they allowed this year, far and away tops in the NHL, while the Capitals allowed 8 more than they scored. The Caps join their division rival Florida as the only teams in the league to make the playoffs with a negative goal differential.

Glen’s Prediction: Bruins in 4 with both Alex’s combining for only 2 goals

Troy’s Prediction: This could be a fun high scoring series, but it’s not going to last long.

Boston in 4.

Coin’s Prediction: Capitals in 6

#3 Florida Panthers vs. #6 New Jersey Devils

Much has been said about how little the Panthers deserve this spot. They backed into the three seed with a series of losses, they only have the sixth best record in the Conference, they have an embarrassing -24 goal differential, they lost a zillion games in overtime, and I heard some people blame them for both the Kennedy Assassination and the hole in the ozone layer. But the fact is, all of this doesn’t matter. Sure the standings probably should be changed, but they haven’t been. The 2012 Florida Panthers are not the first inferior team to benefit from the standings, and probably won’t be the last one. Right now everyone has zero wins and that’s all that matters.

Troy Says: Florida?? Really? They still have a team? Wow….and not only are they in the playoffs but they won their division so they actually have home ice against the Devils. As much as I like to make fun of this team they are worthy of their position. They don’t have that high end talent but they are consistent and can wear you down. The Devils however do have that high end talent. And they have three 30 goal scorers this season so if one cylinder isn’t firing, they have lots more to go to. Add to that Marty Brodeur who – even though he’s gotta be in his 50s by now – is still a damn good goalie and I think Florida’s return to the post season will be short lived.

Interesting Matchup: Coaching! Peter DeBoer was hired as the Panthers coach, was given nothing, and then thrown under the bus for it. Thankfully he was given another chance by the Devils this year and made the most of it, helping them return to the playoffs and post over 100 points in the process.
But rookie head coach Kevin Dineen has been pretty great this year too, sure Dale Tallon gets a ton of credit for his July 1 chemistry experiment working out, but Dineen was there to make sure that it didn’t blow up in anyone’s face.
Interesting Stat: This is only the third first round series since the Lockout between two teams that both didn’t make the playoffs the year before. The other two were both in 2008, Montreal-Boston and Washington-Philadelphia.

Glen’s Prediction: New Jersey Devils in five with three of the games going to overtime.

Troy’s Prediction:  New Jersey is like Detroit in that once they’re in the playoffs all bets are off.

New Jersey in 6.

Coin’s Prediction: Devils in 5

#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. #5 Philadelphia Flyers
This is the absolute main event! This series will be a rough, high scoring affair featuring two of the most exciting and dynamic teams in the league. These two teams have a chance to show everyone what’s right about our beautiful game, but also what’s wrong with it. Hopefully they make the right choices.
Troy Says: This is the series everyone wanted. I can’t wait! The only shame is that this is happening in the first round and not the third. This series is worthy of a Conference Final and at the end of it, a very good cup contending team will be going home. Philly is a tough team, much tougher than Pittsburgh, but they also boast some serious offensive ability. It’s this toughness that will be hard on Pittsburgh. Also, for the first time in a long time, Philly finally has a legitimate and unquestioned number one goalie in Bryzgalov. He stunk out the joint last year in the playoffs with Phoenix so he’ll definitely be looking to atone so look for him to be strong. Other than the toughness, Pittsburgh can counter everything Philly has. Pittsburgh has unreal talent up front and a solid defensive group that will make life tough for the Flyers. Behind it all you have the reliable Marc-Andre Fleury and that’s what could tip this series. This one could go the distance.
Most Interesting Matchup: It may be cliche to say goaltending here, but how could it be anything else?
In the red corner you have a calm, cool, collected goalkeeper who showed Niklas Lidstrom how clutch he could be back in 2009. In the blue corner you have a man best known for waxing poetically about masks and the size of the universe.
How these two men perform when it counts will be a fantastic story to watch for the next few weeks.
Most Interesting Statistic: Despite these two being labeled as blood rivals, they’ve only met in the playoffs five times before, with two of those coming post-Lockout. The Flyers have faced the Rangers twice as many times in the playoffs, with the Penguins most common playoff opponent being the Washington Capitals.

Glen’s Prediction: Pittsburgh win in six of the best game you’ve ever seen

Troy’s Prediction:  Pittsburgh in 7.

Coin’s Prediction: Pittsburgh in 6

Quick Picks: The 2nd and 3rd Rounds

Glen Says: 

Devils over Rangers in 6 stunning games
Penguins over Bruins in 7 heavy games
Penguins over Devils in 5 to move on to face the Canucks
Finals have Penguins over Canucks in five with Crosby scoring the Overtime winner to leave the city very conflicted.

Troy Says:

NYR over New Jersey in 7 (Callaghan gives a Messier-like guarantee!)
Pittsburgh over Boston in 7
Finals: Penguins over Canucks in 6
Coin Says:

Penguins over Senators in 6
Devils over Capitals in 4
Penguins over Devils in 7
Finals: Detroit over Pittsburgh in 5

Does the coin know it’s not 2008 anymore?

Apr 10

NHL Playoffs: Another Idiot’s Opinions on Every Series in the Western Conference – UPDATED

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock and/or are in Phoenix, you must be getting excited about the NHL Playoffs. The first round starts on Wednesday with some pretty exciting games.

Every series has a fascinating storyline or two coming through. How about DeBoer coaching his old team? How about Jonathan Quick’s potential to Halak a series win here? How about the Predators arriving on the big stage? And let’s not even get started on Philly-Pittsburgh, which will be the absolute main event of this round!

I’ll do my best to project every series in advance, and I’m pretty certain that I’ll be wrong. I’ll flip a 1 Jiao coin (0.1 Yuan) and see it no doubt beat me. This post will feature the Western Conference, tomorrow we can look at the East and the finals.

UPDATE – April 11: We’ve also been blessed to have the thoughts of our very good friend Troy. Followers of my old blog will certainly remember his hockey related thoughts.

#1 Vancouver Canucks vs. #8 Los Angeles Kings

This series is not the mismatch that you may expect out of a 1-8 matchup. The Canucks are a two-time President’s Trophy Winner, and reigning Western Conference Champions. The Kings were fantastic down the stretch, save those two games with the Sharks and Ryan Clowe’s stick from the bench.

Most Interesting Story: This story will be all about three men, Jonathan Quick, Roberto Luongo, and Cory Schneider. If there is anyone out there who could pull a Halak, it’s Jonathan Quick. He’s long been overlooked and underrated, but it’s safe to say that he’s arrived this year. His 10 Shutouts and 1.95 GAA is borderline otherworldly. Luongo’s meltdowns against Chicago and Boston were eye opening and every bad goal he has is going to get everyone looking at the bench to see if Alain Vigneaut is going to bring out the hook. Nobody in the playoffs is under more pressure than Roberto and it’ll be fascinating to see how he preforms.

Most Interesting Statistic: The Canucks scored 54 more goals than the Kings this year, the biggest difference of any series. Of course, Jeff Carter is returning from an ankle injury and who knows anything about Daniel Sedin’s concussion.

Official Prediction: Canucks in 7 with Schneider winning games six and seven

Coin Says: Canucks in 6

Troy Says: This could be an interesting series. In my mind Vancouver isn’t as strong as they were last year, and LA is stronger than they were last year so this is hardly a typical 1 vs 8 matchup. Having said that though I believe Vancouver is stronger mentally and although LA is a team just waiting to explode, I don’t think this is their year just yet. Make no mistake though, Jonathan Quick is entirely capable of stealing this series. Luongo is going to have a short leash and if LA’s goaltending is better than Vancouver’s then this will not be a fun series for Canucks fans. Fortunately for Vancouver Luongo tends to choke later on in the playoffs so I’m sure for now he’ll be good enough.

Vancouver in 6.

#2 St. Louis Blues vs. #7 San Jose Sharks

I scribbled down my playoff predictions at the start of the year, which was lost, and I do think that I had these two facing off in the 2-7 seed. Now before I pat myself on the back, it was the other way around, the powerhouse #2 Sharks against the upstart #7 Blues. Funny how things change. These two teams have been incredibly surprising, for insanely different reasons.

Most interesting story:  It’s been said many, many times that life is managing your expectations. The expectations for this series are fascinating. Somewhere the Blues became a Cup Contender (or did they?) and the Sharks became the plucky underdog. The Sharks haven’t been a lower seed in the playoffs in years, and haven’t been a true underdog in even longer. Everyone who was watching hockey in the mid to late 90s remembers their huge upsets over the likes of the Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames, and yes even the St. Louis Blues. Can they do it again? On the other hand, the Blues have won a ton of games against teams that overlook them. How on earth will they perform as heavy favourites?

Most Interesting Statistic: Both teams has stellar home records. The Sharks were 26-12-3 at the Shark Tank this year, which has the fifth best home record in the Western Conference. One of those teams ahead of them? Why the St. Louis Blues who were a stunning 30-6-5 at home. The Sharks played 0.500 hockey on enemy soil and the Blues weren’t much better. The Sharks will need to pull out at least one road win in order to advance, and the Blues will be looking to the same to make this a quick series.

Official Prediction: Blues in 6 with Game 6 being their only road win of the series

Coin Says: Sharks in 4

Troy Says: St. Louis has been a monster of a team this year and in fact came very close to beating out Vancouver for the President’s Trophy. Their goaltending tandem of Elliot and Halak has been stellar and their young guns are extremely good. As for San Jose it’s really hard for me to see them going far in the playoffs because….well…let’s face it…they usually choke. I don’t think they’ll choke this year but unfortunately they’re up against a really strong team. San Jose was winless against the Blues in the season series and in fact only scored three goals in those games so it’s going to be a tough road for the Sharks.

St. Louis in 5

#3 Phoenix Coyotes vs. #6 Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks may be back. They won the Stanley Cup in 2010, were forced to dismantle and barely made the playoffs last year. They spent a very good portion of the fall and early winter near the top of the Conference before dropping down for a bit in February, before putting it on at the end. There were very low expectations for the Coyotes this year, but once again they surpassed them by a mile. The last two years the off-ice distractions got the better of them, will it happen again?

Most interesting story:  For approximately the 412th straight year, the story is the same. Will this be the last time the Coyotes play in Phoenix? It seems all but set that they will be on the move. Don’t expect there to be any announcement until after they’ve been eliminated, the NHL needs those home dates after all.

Most Interesting Statistic: Both of these teams come in very hot! These two teams have a combined 13-2-5 in their last 10 games.

Official Prediction: Blackhawks in 7 with all four games in Phoenix as sellouts with crazy crowds

Coin Says: Blackhawks in 5

Troy Says:  This is a bit of a pick em series for me. It’s 3 vs 6 series but Chicago finished the season with more points than Phoenix so it’s hard to say who the better team is. The big equalizer is Mike Smith. He’s been lights out this season but if Chicago were to get Toews back before the end of this series watch out. He makes them a better team and could be the difference. Chicago has some game breakers on their roster but if Mike Smith keeps to his regular season form this series will turn into a battle of attrition.

Phoenix in 7.

#4 Nashville Predators vs. #5 Detroit Red Wings

This is the clear marquee match in the West, Weber vs. Lidstrom, Trotz vs. Babcock, Swedish vs. Russian forwards. This series is going to be a ton of fun and should flat out be a war.

Most interesting story:  This series is clearly Old vs. New. Both teams are clearly very good, but also clearly heading in opposite directions on the trendline. The Predators are looking to make their maiden voyage to the promised land, while the Wings are looking to get there one last time. Other then ages, these two teams are very similar, great defense, phenomenal coaching, and scoring by committee, so the Master vs. Student vibe should carry over well.

Most Interesting Statistic: The Nashville Predators have played 40 playoff games as a franchise. Niklas Lidstrom has played over six times as much, clocking in at 258 heading into this postseason.

Official Prediction: Nashville in 6 with Rinne stealing at least one game, and three games heading to overtime

Coin Says: Detroit in 6

Troy Says:  We’ve seen this series before but I don’t think Nashville has ever been the higher seed. When’s the last time Detroit went into a series as the underdog? It’s hard to think of Detroit in that way but that’s what they are. Especially after Radulov came back. He changes everything. He’s another major weapon that Nashville can use against the Wings. Nashville has been the more consistent team while Detroit – even though they won a record 23 games in a row at home – comes into the playoffs with a lot of questions. Having said that though, how hard is it to bet against Detroit in the playoffs? They’re the anti-San Jose Sharks! I believe this is Nashville’s series though. It may take them every home game, but I think they’ll get it done.

Nashville in 7

Quick Picks: The 2nd and 3rd Rounds

Glen’s Predictions:

Vancouver Canucks over Chicago Blackhawks in seven emotional games

Nashville Predators over St. Louis Blues in seven hellacious games

Canucks defeat the Predators in six to advance to the finals

Troy’s Predictions:

Vancouver over Nashville in 5
St. Louis over Phoenix in 7
Van over St. L in 5

Coin Says:

Vancouver over San Jose in seven

Detroit over Chicago in six

Detroit over Vancouver in five

Tune in tomorrow for the East and the finals!

Apr 09

Historical Stats for the Sixteen Playoff Bound Teams

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With the NHL Playoffs scheduled to start tomorrow, everyone and their mothers are throwing playoff predictions out there (expect some on here tomorrow by the way…), but before that, we should learn a bit about the sixteen teams headed to the big dance.

In this blog, we’ll look at some strange historical statistics for every team. Obviously not every team has an equal history — we’re looking at you Nashville — but there are some interesting and rather bizarre stats out there.

All stats come from Wikipedia, most of them from the List of [Insert Team Here] Seasons.

Boston Bruins: The Bruins and the Canadiens seem to need each other in a Batman-Joker kind of way — we’ll leave you to figure out which team is which comic book character. Dating all the way back to the Bruins inaugural season in 1924, they have only made the playoffs seven times previous to this when the Habs missed out. Of those times, they won the Stanley Cup once in 1970, lost in the second round once in 1999, and lost in the first round the other five of those times. They’ll look to buck that trend and not join the Canadiens on the golf course this time.

Chicago Blackhawks: Since losing the Stanley Cup Finals in 1992 to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Blackhawks have only won nine playoff series, six of which came in 2009 and 2010!

Detroit Red Wings: If making the playoffs the past twenty seasons wasn’t impressive enough, they have only lost in the first round six of those times, with three of those loses coming in the first four years of this streak.

Florida Panthers: Since defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins on June 1, 1996 in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Florida Panthers are 1-12 in playoff games.

Los Angeles Kings: Since making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1993, the Kings have made the playoffs only six times, and were only able to win one playoff series, and that was eleven years ago now!

Ottawa Senators: The Senators have made the playoffs 12 times in their history. Nine of those times they were defeated by either the Buffalo Sabres, Toronto Maple Leafs, or Pittsburgh Penguins. Oddly those other three loses came in mile stone series for them. First trip to the second round, defeated by the Capitals. First trip to the third round, defeated by the Devils. First trip to the finals, defeated by the Ducks.

Pittsburgh Penguins: The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins lost a playoff series when they had Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal all in their lineups was the 2008 finals to the Detroit Red Wings.

Philadelphia Flyers: The franchise has lost their last six trips to the Stanley Cup finals (1975, 1980, 1985, 1987,1997, 2010), which ties the Detroit Red Wings six finals loses from 1956 to 1995 for longest streak in NHL history.

Nashville Predators: Last year, the Preds won six playoff games. In their previous five trips to the post-season, they won a total of eight.

New Jersey Devils: Despite going 2-5 in playoff series since the Lockout, the Devils are a stunning 22-17 in playoff series dating back to their miracle run in 1998.

New York Rangers: In the six previous times that the Rangers lead their division in the regular season, they tended to not do very well in the post-season. They were only able to win two rounds of the playoffs once during those years.

Bonus Stat: 87% of people said “94″ aloud after reading the last paragraph.

Phoenix Coyotes: The last time this franchise won a playoff series, Sidney Crosby was in his mothers womb. In the past 25 years, they have blown a 3-1 series lead three times, a 3-2 series lead once, and lost another game seven. This gives them a streak of 12 consecutive failed attempts to close out a series

San Jose Sharks: Their 21 seasons without a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals is second only to the Phoenix Coyotes/Winnipeg Jets 1.0 for longest of any active franchise in the league.

St. Louis Blues: Like the Panthers, the Blues are in a very long playoff slump. Since winning Game 4 against the Vancouver Canucks on April 16, 2003, the Blues have been an abysmal 1-11 in the playoffs since then.

Vancouver Canucks: Since the NHL assumed control of the Stanley Cup in 1926, the losing finalist has only ever won the Cup the next year six times, the ’33 Rangers, ’43 Red Wings, ’53 and ’68 Canadiens, ’84 Oilers, and ’09 Penguins. Being a true Canadian team, the ’12 Canucks would like to Make it Seven.

Washington Capitals: This franchise has blown a 3-1 series lead four times, tops of any team in the league.