NHL

[Kor Qel Droma]

Haha I was just looking at the standings myself.

 

Let's see, what's my predictions?

 

Eastern Conference:

Montreal(1) vs. Boston(8 ): Montreal in seven. Tim Thomas will stand on his head a whole lot during this long first round series, but the Bruins will lack scoring.

Pittsburgh(2) vs Ottawa(7): Pens in five.

Washington(3) vs Philly(6): Caps in seven? Philly is hot right now. But something about a young team of Russians under the wing of Sergei Federov could really be the birth of something here. Then again, this will be the first playoff experience for a few of the Caps roster. And aside from hot **** d-man Mike Green, who would really want a defence made up of Tom Poti, Brian Pothier and Jeff Schultz?

Jersey(4) vs Rangers(5): Rangers in six. If they show up.

 

Western Conference:

Detroit(1) vs Nashville(8 ): Nashville in six. Both teams have mixed it up in the past before, but I think Nashville will be hungrier.

San Jose(2) vs Calgary(7): Sharks in three. Because Calgary sucks that bad.

Minnesota(3) vs Colorado(6): Minnesota in five. The trap of the west will come alive! And Ryan Smyth will cry.

Anaheim(4) vs Dallas(5): Ducks in four. Although Dallas has won its past two games, they've looked godawful the half dozen or so before those. Pronger will go a whole series without being suspended.

 

With the amount of divisional matchups in the first round, I can see these games being pretty violent. Go playoffs!

Edited April 7, 2008 by Kor Qel Droma

[Kelverin]

Eastern Conference:

Montreal(1) vs. Boston 8 :Montreal

Pittsburgh(2) vs Ottawa(7):Pittsburgh

Washington(3) vs Philly(6):Washington

Jersey(4) vs Rangers(5): Jersey

 

Western Conference:

Detroit(1) vs Nashville(8 ):Detroit

San Jose(2) vs Calgary(7): Calgary

Minnesota(3) vs Colorado(6): Colorado

Anaheim(4) vs Dallas(5): Anaheim

[Volourn]

Eastern Conference:

Montreal(1) vs. Boston 8 :Montreal in 4 - No contest.

Pittsburgh(2) vs Ottawa(7):Pittsburgh in 6. Ottawa won't surrender, but Pens will win it.

Washington(3) vs Philly(6):Washington in 5 - Ovechkin handles this series easy. Tom Poti, btw, is underrated.

Jersey(4) vs Rangers(5): Rangers in 6. Brodeur gets this to 6 games; but the Rangers are better offensively (even though they lack goals too), and Lundqvist is Broduer's equal (now, not in career obviously.. yet). No sweep for devils to be sure.

 

Western Conference:

Detroit(1) vs Nashville(8 ):Detroit EASILY in 4. Mismatch big time.

San Jose(2) vs Calgary(7): SJ in 7. Toughs eries b/c of Calgary's Big 3; but ultimately SJ is better and they have home ice advantage.

Minnesota(3) vs Colorado(6): Colorado in 5. Minnesota is overrated plain and simple.

Anaheim(4) vs Dallas(5): Anaheim in 7 - Dallas will push Anaheim but Ducks have Pronger. He'll kill 'em before he loses in the 1st round.

Edited April 7, 2008 by Volourn

[mr insomniac]

Montreal vs Boston: Montreal in 5. Boston will win one just because its Bruins/Habs.

Pittsburgh vs Ottawa: Pittsburgh in 5. What the hell happened to Ottawa??

Washington vs Philly: Washington in 6. As has been said Philly is hot again, but no match for Ovechkin and co.

New Jersey vs New York: Meh. Okay New York in 6. Brodeur's magic has to end sometime.

 

Detroit vs Nashville: Detroit in 5. Nashville is overmatched, but they might steal one.

San Jose vs Calgary: San Jose in 7.

Minnesota vs Colorado: Colorado in 6. Just say NO to the trap

Anaheim vs Dallas: Anaheim in 6.

 

Overall I think sharks/flames and ducks/stars will be the two most entertaining series... and the ovechkin show of course.

[Krookie]

Montreal

Pittsburgh

Washington

New Jersey

 

Detroit

San Jose

Colorado

Anaheim

 

The 3 teams I usually root for (Devils, Penguins, and Sharks) all made it. I guess I have a pretty good shot at being happy.

[Hurlshort]

This is going to be a good playoff year:

 

Montreal versus Boston - I'm happy the B's made the playoffs, and I think they'll steal 2 wins, but the Habs will still win in 6.

 

Pittsburgh versus Ottawa - Pens in 6. The Sens have experience, but I can't see them getting out of their current funk.

 

Washington versus Philly - Caps in 7. This will be entertaining, both of these teams have major holes, but they seem to find ways to win.

 

New Jersey versus New York - Devils in 5. Brodeur has done this before.

 

Detroit versus Nashvile - Detroit in 4. But hey, I never expected Nashville to make the playoffs, so who knows?

 

San Jose versus Calgary - San Jose in 5. I don't like the match up. There is a lot of history there. But my home team better win.

 

Minnesota versus Colorado - Minnesota in 7. This is like the Caps/Flyers match up. Holes on both teams, but entertaining for sure.

 

Anaheim versus Dallas - Ducks in 6. The Stars haven't looked great lately. Unless Richards finds a way to ignite their offense, they are toast.

[mkreku]

Montreal vs Boston: Montreal in 6. Everyone expects the Bruins to just lie down and die, but this is the play-offs! Still, Montreal are too good for them.

Pittsburgh vs Ottawa: Ottawa in 7! Noone believes in Ottawa right now, but if Alfredsson comes back in time I think they'll pull it off with experience. Ottawa IS the better team, they just need to get out of their funk.

Washington vs Philly: Washington in 7. This might go either way, but the Caps has Ovechkin. I've seen him decide games before, he might continue to do so in the play-offs. This will probably be the most entertaining match up in the first round for me.

New Jersey vs New York: Rangers in 6. Based on the teams record this season (7-1 for the Rangers!) plus I'm hoping Lundkvist will finally show what he's capable off in the play-offs too.

 

Detroit vs Nashville: Detroit in 4. Noone believes in Nashville. NOONE! But Detroit has looked sooo good this season and now they've got Homer back..

San Jose vs Calgary: Calgary in 7. Iginla & Kiprusoff will be like Jagr & Hasek in the '98 Olympic Games when the Czech's won gold.

Minnesota vs Colorado: Minnesota in 6. Gaborik plus rock solid defence will stymie Sakic, Hejduk and Forsberg, and what does Colorado have then?

Anaheim vs Dallas: Dallas in 6. No stars (despite the name) but Dallas is an even team and they're good. Anaheim will be upset by them.

 

I also predict that I will be way off on exactly everyone of my predictions

[Volourn]

"plus I'm hoping Lundkvist will finally show what he's capable off in the play-offs too."

 

Weird. I was sure he did that last year...

[mkreku]

Well, I'm not saying he was bad. I'm just saying I hope he'll show he has what it takes to go deep in the play-offs. Being bounced in the second round doesn't really show what he can do.

[Volourn]

He was awesome last year in the playoffs. 2nd round loss or not. It's called a team game for a reason. It was a series that could've gone either way, after all.

[Kor Qel Droma]

I want to change my pick in the Dallas/Anaheim series. I forgot that Edmonton has their first round pick. This really feels weird, but go Stars?

[Deraldin]

Seems like it's about time I threw in my own picks here, but before I do, here's Maggie The Monkey's picks for the first round.

 

Eastern Conference:

Montreal(1) vs. Boston (: Montreal

Pittsburgh(2) vs Ottawa(7): Pittsburgh

Washington(3) vs Philadelphia(6): Philadelphia

New Jersey(4) vs New York(5): New Jersey

 

Western Conference:

Detroit(1) vs Nashville(8 ):Detroit

San Jose(2) vs Calgary(7): San Jose

Minnesota(3) vs Colorado(6): Minnesota

Anaheim(4) vs Dallas(5): Anaheim

 

And now for my picks.

 

 

Eastern Conference:

Montreal(1) vs. Boston (: Montreal in 5. This one won't even be close. Tim Thomas will steal game 4 to prevent the sweep and end the losing streak at 14 games.

Pittsburgh(2) vs Ottawa(7): Pittsburgh in 6*. This depends on which Ottawa team shows up If the Ottawa we've seen most of the season shows up then Pens take it in 6. If the Ottawa that started the season shows up, they take it in 5. I unfortunately don't see that happening though.

Washington(3) vs Philadelphia(6): Washington in 6. With all due respect to the rest of the team, Ovechkin puts Washington over the top in this series.

New Jersey(4) vs New York(5): New York in 7. This is a tough one. Neither team has really been hot lately. Brodeur will steal a couple wins from the Rangers, but will ultimately be left hanging by his offence.

 

Western Conference:

Detroit(1) vs Nashville(8 ):Detroit in 5. I fail to see how anyone can argue against the Wings winning this series. They'll be too much for Nashville to handle.

San Jose(2) vs Calgary(7): San Jose in 7. Another really tough series to predict. San Jose has been on fire since the trade deadline, but Calgary won the season series. San Jose gets the edge based on consistency.

Minnesota(3) vs Colorado(6): Colorado in 6. The old timers reunion will manage to get this one done, but not without a few fights along the way.

Anaheim(4) vs Dallas(5): Anaheim in 7. The third tough one, this time because of lack of exposure. If Dallas manages to get everyone over the Flu they should be able to do some damage, but I'll go with the safe bet of Anaheim here.

 

EA Sports ran their simulation and it predicted a Habs/Sharks final with the Sharks taking the cup.

Edited April 8, 2008 by Deraldin

[Qwerty the Sir]

My playoff predictions basically agree with all yours so here my regular season award guesses and personal picks:

 

Hart (most valuable player):

 

1) Alexander Ovechkin: 65 goals and 112 and took his team into the playoffs

2) Evgeni Malkin: second in scoring and carried his team without Crosby

(I don't think anyone else is very close to these two)

 

Pearson (most outstanding player):

 

1) Alexander Ovechkin: does the most important thing in the game better and more than anyone else - score

2) Daniel Alfredsson: most complete player in the game and exceptional defensively

3) Evgeni Malkin: Pierre McGuire said "he's changing the parameters of hockey" :D

4) Jarome Iginla: like Alfredsson a very complete player and good leader

5) Vincent Lecavalier: best player in the game for much of the first half and played last half with injury

6) Henrik Zetterberg: another complete player who was also hampered by injury

(I thought there were a lot of top players very close this season)

 

Norris (best defenseman):

 

1) Zdeno Chara: Lidstrom will win but I believe Chara was better this season as he does everything

2) Nicklas Lidstrom: never a bad choice also does everything

3) Sergei Gonchar: really picked up his defensive game and helped carry his team

 

Vezina (best goalie):

 

1) Martin Brodeur: always thought he was overrated but easily his best season this year and he is definitely the best

2) Evgeni Nabokov: him and Thornton were the Sharks for more than half the season

3) Dan Ellis: probably the most underrated player in the game right now

 

Selke (best defensive forward):

 

1) Ryan Kesler: not much to say but he is a great checker

(I think the trophy should go to the best defensive forward instead of two way forward like it has done many times in the last 15 years and there are a lot of players who are very similar so I just picked one)

 

Calder (best rookie):

 

1) Patrick Kane: consistently great player for a team he shouldn't have made

2) Jonathan Toews: would probably win if he wasn't injured so often

3) Nicklas Backstrom: started slowly but heated up when Ovechkin did though there's no denying he helped him as well

[Deraldin]

I hate it when websites completely change their layout. The new TSN

[Krookie]

I have a feeling Cheechoo is going to make up for his lackluster regular season in the playoffs.

 

Or maybe that's just me hoping he's going to make up for his lackluster regular season in the playoffs.

[Deraldin]

Referee list for the playoffs has been announced. No Mick McGeough, who according to Wikipedia retired three days ago!

[Hurlshort]

I have a feeling Cheechoo is going to make up for his lackluster regular season in the playoffs.

 

Or maybe that's just me hoping he's going to make up for his lackluster regular season in the playoffs.

 

I'd call it a lackluster first half. The guy had like 19 goals in the last 30 games.

[Krookie]

Yeah, but I'm sure Thornton wouldn't have minded some help in that first half (when him and Nabokov were basically carrying the team)

[Kor Qel Droma]

I hate it when websites completely change their layout. The new TSN

 

The vote is in! The site redesign = ugleh.

[Deraldin]

I hate it when websites completely change their layout. The new TSN

 

The vote is in! The site redesign = ugleh.

 

I'm pretty ambivalent towards it, but I have to give them props for making the background a grey instead of white.

[Hurlshort]

I used to get a lot of errors on the old TSN site, so hopefully this will be better in that regard. Still, I prefered the simpler look.

[Deraldin]

I used to get a lot of errors on the old TSN site, so hopefully this will be better in that regard. Still, I prefered the simpler look.

 

With the limited time I've had with the new site, it does seem to be a little better. I've still gotten a half dozen errors today, but that's in about 3 dozen visits so far today.

 

It used to have about twice that number of errors.

Edited April 9, 2008 by Deraldin

[mkreku]

I like the new design. I thought the old design was ugly.

[Deraldin]

They need to work on the comments sections. You get two lines of the comment to start. Click on the comment once and it expands, but if the comment is long enough you still don't get the whole thing. You click the "MORE" button and you get taken to a new page with just that one comment in full. You finished that comment and want to read another one? You have to click back and then click twice on the next comment.

 

What was wrong with the old method? One click, one comment.

[mkreku]

I can't even find the comments anymore