With only 1 spot up for grabs on the last day of the regular season, Chicago needed a win against Detroit Dallas to steal in – and they fail, going down 5-3 to Minnesota
Vancouver Canucks (1) v (8) Chicago Blackhawks
Last years Stanley Cup Champions Chicago find themselves very lucky to have made the 8 in the West. To keep inside the salary cap the Blackhawks moved out vital members of that cup team. Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, Brent Sopel, Cam Barker, John Madden were all integral parts of that cup winning team and are now plying their trade elsewhere. They have also lost netminder Antti Niemi, who started every game in last years run.
Have the Blackhawks replaced these with equal / better players? Only just sneaking into the playoffs on the last day of the season would suggest not.
Meanwhile, they face Vancouver who have won this years President’s Trophy with a whopping 117 points – have 2 of the top 5 point scorers in the Sedin Brothers and with Luongo between the pipes have one of the best netminders in the NHL.
Key players for the Blackhawks – Kane and Toews. Can they drag this team deep into the playoffs without the support they had around them last time?
Key players for Vancouver – the Sedin’s. For the 2nd year in a row the best 2 players in the league, can they take this form into the playoffs this time?
My Verdict
Canucks 4 v 1 Blackhawks
San Jose Sharks (2) v (7) LA Kings
The LA Kings had a pretty good regular season themselves. With the Western Conference being so close come the end of the season the Kings could have finished as high as 4th with a couple of extra points.
They will need strong netminding from Johnathon Quick if they are to get through this match up - one of a few young netminders going into the playoffs with something to prove.
LA will need the likes of Anze Kopitar and Ryan Smith on top form with the likes of Doughty and Johnson chipping in from defence. However, unless all the players are on top form i can't see the Kings getting past this round 1 match up.
My Verdict
San Jose 4 v 2 LA Kings
Detroit Redwings (3) v (6) Phoenix Coyotes
The Redwings have made the playoffs now for the 20th consecutive year - the longest active streak in American sports. Some feat. Phoenix are back in the playoffs against Detroit, losing last years round 1 match up 4-3. Can the Coyotes go further this year? In Bryzgalov they have an excellent netminder and with the emergence of Keith Yandle on defence the Coyotes are a tough team to crack. Experienced defencemen such as Adrian Aucoin, Derek Morris and Michal Rosival will need to be on top form and hopefully Ed Jovanski should be back in the lineup after a lengthy injury. Whether they have enough firepower to beat the Redwings is a different matter. They will need to keep all the games close to be in with a shout of making the 2nd round.
Having watched over 90% of the Redwings regular season games i can certainly say it has been an interesting season for them. A fantastic start to the season put them firmly in the playoff picture then the injuries started to hit. I firmly believe if they had not suffered with key players such as Pavel Datsyuk, Mike Modano, Brian Rafalski and Dan Cleary being out for lengthy periods the Wings would have run Vancouver close for the Presidents Cup. An injury to Jimmy Howard recently seems to have knocked his form and with Chris Osgood also being out injured for most of the season netminding could be key for Detroit to get through this round. They have plenty of depth in scoring and goals won't be a problem to come by - even Tomas Holmstrom has managed to start shooting rather than tipping them in. I think the Wings will be to strong for the Coyotes. Howard will step up to the plate after last years playoff experience and will see off the Phoenix challenge again.
My Verdict
Detroit Redwings 4 v 2 Phoenix Coyotes
Anaheim Ducks (4) v (5) Nashville Predators
In Getzalf, Ryan and Perry - Anaheim have probably the best line in the NHL currently. 103 Goals between the 3of them, plus another 30+ season from veteran Teemu Selanne means the Ducks have ample going forward. Jonas Hillier and Dan Ellis as the netminding tandem could be key, if one of them can get hot and on roll then scoring isn't going to be a problem for this Anaheim team.
Nashville have had a solid season and Pekka Rinne has been stellar between the pipes and boy, they are going to need him to be if they have any chance of winning this.
Kostitsyn and Erat are the only 2 Nashville players who made it to 50 points during the regular season, Hornqvist and Kostitsyn the only players with 20 goal seasons. Only Montreal have scored less goals in the regular season. Nashville play tough defence though, lead by Shea Weber. Low scoring games are what Nashville need - can they keep that top line of the Ducks at bay and pick off game by 1 goal?? I think the awesome firepower at Anaheim's disposal will overwhelm Nashville here.
My Verdict
Anaheim 4 v 0 Nashville
My pick to win the Western conference overall, as much as it pains me to say, is Vancouver. I'd love it to be the Redwings but i really think this is the Sedin's year. 2 players who have been the hottest players the past 2 years and in Luongo they have strong netminding and aren't relying on a good netminder getting hot at the right time. The West is a very tough conference to call - there could be a lot of high scoring games in many of the series that come about. I can see the East having tight games all the way through and the West being high scoring shootouts!
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