Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Round One NHL Playoff Prediction Post

Say that five times fast…

Earlier this morning my friend Chris posted a nice NHL Playoff prediction post.  I started to reply to him and suddenly realized that my comment was encroaching on the length of his post to begin with so it seemed just as good a time as any to throw out a playoff prediction post of my own.

So I’ll start off by sharing what I was writing back to him.  If you didn’t get over to read his post first that’s probably a good idea so you know where I’m at.  See the link up there?  Yeah click that and I promise it will open in another window.  Don’t worry, I’ll wait.

Interesting choices right?  And by “interesting” I mean spot on (mostly).  In quotes is my reply to him because I’m too lazy to go through & fix all the pronouns…


“I agree with all but one of your predictions (have to disagree on Nashville).

I tried to avoid even reading the paragraph on the PA teams because frankly no matter who takes the series both teams scare the begeezus out of this Bruins fan. Of course to play either of them means one or the other has to get through the Panthers or NJD.  Lord willing its NJ because I have no love for FLA.  Then that of course also means the B's have to take the Caps (as you predicted, though I see it in 5 not 7 JMO) AND then take the Rangers (because seriously, sorry Ottawa but it was really nice of you to try).

Anyway, that's about all I can think about at this point and its all projections based on fandom where I try to imagine the B’s in the Cup Finals again more than anything else.  Here’s why…we just found out that Horton is shut down for the rest of the season (sadly that’s not a shock but still a morale blow to the guys). 

Quaider won't be playing game 1 (and I predict he's done too but I can hardly bring myself to even say it out loud) and its possible Boychuck won't be playing game 1 either.  That's 2 of our strongest D which means we have to make a choice on who to play instead - Mottau, Krug, or (oh god help us all) Corvo.  Two newbies (1 B's newbie, 1 NHL newbie) and an idiot who hasn’t learned over the course of an entire  season how to play our style of hockey.  Sigh.

And then there's the question of Rask.  Thomas can't play every game so we'd get Khudobin which would be great if we knew how the kid played but, as Yoda would likely say – one start does not a playoff goalie make. 

Not going to blame a shallow talent pool if we go down to NYR in the semi's but we'd have to work our freaking asses off to take that series.  Did it last year but the spirit was way different (as I've already said in a prior post).

So my thoughts on all the first round teams are as follows (no thoughts on number of games though, I don’t go that far):

Eastern predictions...
B's over Caps
Rangers (shudders) over Ottawa
Pens over Philly (though I don’t like saying it out loud because the name Malkin haunts me at night…)
Devils over Panthers

My predictions in the west...
Vancouver over Kings (the rioting will have to wait at least one series)
Blues over San Jose (if the Sharks took this I think it would be the biggest upset in hockey right now)
Red Wings over Predators
Coyotes over Chi-town (and though you know I'm a huge B's fan I'm also a hockey fan so to see these guys win it all this year is a secret wish of mine so the team would find it just a bit difficult to move...but don't tell anyone, gotta protect my street cred)”

Now, to expand on that whole last thought about the Coyotes.  Of course I’d love to see the Bruins in the Finals, of course I’d love to see them win it again as proof it wasn’t a 39 year broken curse fluke.  I mean hell I’m a huge fan, no question about that.  And some of those guys aren’t going to be playing maybe ever again so to get their name on another Cup would be like validation for the lack of penalties / punishment handed out in response to their injuries.

But (and it’s a big one) I live in Phoenix now.  This in no way, shape or form means I’m no longer loyal to my team though.  The reason I’d love to see the Coyotes win it all is truly because I just love hockey and I think there can be a place for the Coyotes here in the desert.  They need to stick around.

It isn’t like we don’t have talent out here, Smith is actually a pretty decent goalie.  Sadly their defense is somewhat lacking (other than Yandle who’s at 40 something points on the season…and it doesn’t hurt that he’s from Boston originally.  Not the team, the town.  And you all know how I feel about my Townies).  Offensively we have a decent number of good players too – Doan, Torres, Vrbata to name just a few.

I think they can certainly make a really good run for it this year and if the Bruins happen to make it all the way too you can bet your ass you’ll see me in the stands.  Secretly wishing for a Coyotes win but wearing my black and gold.


Pic courtesy http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockeynightincanada/ but I edited for my semi finals predictions in my trusty Photoshop program.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haha..awesome. I love it when a reply becomes its own post. You might be right about the Red Wings, but how the heck would Phoenix get past them if you are? The psychological advantage alone is worth two wins.

I didn't realize your Bruins were so banged up on 'D', though I've heard about Corvo's incompetence. Yikes. Poor Horty's out again, eh? Sheesh. I know injuries are part of the game, but they always seem to happen to the same players. Maybe Seguin will step it up again, this'll be his team soon enough.
Pittsburgh scares the piss out of me, too. I'd be thrilled if the Devils faced them in the Conference finals, but that's as far as I can see NJ going. Pitt's probably gonna win it all. Again. Ugh.

Nothing wrong with adopting the local team as your second favorite, especially with a townie like Yandle on the team. Are you gonna try and get out to Glendale for a game, or is it too far from where you're at? I really hope they stay where they are....

As much as I rant about Canadian trolls trying to take 'our' teams, that's more directed at Winnipeg than Quebec. I know how hard it is to lose the team you love, but they shouldn't be rooting for that to happen somewhere else. One word: expansion.
Quebec in the east, Seattle in the west, keep the Coyotes in AZ. Problem solved.

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

I know, I know. That's why I stopped at the first round predictions. I started thinking about the Coyotes and B's needing to get past Detroit & NYR and almost started sobbing. If memory serves I don't think the B's won a single game against the Rangers this season...sure maybe that means we're due but I literally shudder when I hear their name this year. Stupid New York!

Yeah keep your eye on the Bergeron line (usually with Seguin & Marchand [♥ <-- yes, that is a bubble heart because, yes, I'm apparently in 6th grade {which is about how old Marchy actually is but no matter, the boy can play hockey}] when there are no injuries & Claude has to shuffle lines) as far as +/- goes all 3 of them plus Chara & Kelly are the top 5 in the NHL. Fast & efficient, love that line. But yeah, our D is kinda screwed. And Horton is basically this season's Savard which makes me sob because the kid with Lucic & Krejci was pretty much unstoppable. And then Sestito went ahead & stopped him. Jackwagon.

Anyway, with LA AND Flyers winning yesterday maybe our predictions were off (???)...but only in the west damn it! ;-)

We've hit Jobing.com Arena for a couple games. One early season against the Blues (funny enough it was a Groupon and dude I've never sat in such a quiet & empty arena in my entire life! With how good they did this season now that place would be jammed) and then of course one against the B's (which my Aunt planned her trip to visit us from Boston around, of course!). I'd wager 65-75% of the arena was in black & gold :-)

And yet again, a post-worthy length comment (um, can ya tell I like hockey much? haha)

Anonymous said...

Lol...Marchand, huh? Is he really called the 'little ball of hate', or did Pres. Obama just pull that out of his ass? I think that was Pat Verbeek, like 20 years ago. You're not gonna get any crap from me about crushing like a 6th grader. I do it all the time! Anyway... The B's did a great job of containing the Caps but man they gotta get more than one past that Holtby kid.

It was good to see Jobing.com arena full and loud, esp. after they won in OT. Most of the Game 1's were upsets...except for the Rangers, of course. Grrrrr.


It's nice to have someone who appreciates the occasional hockey-themed blog post. Most of my readers gave me the equivalent of a polite nod.

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Yup, I can get past the nose because the little Townie smirk is too cute for words haha. And I really just enjoy watching him on the ice - he sticks his tongue out when he's making a really good play or skating hard which is like a poker tell but lets you know he means business. The nickname was Verbeek's originally, yeah. Which was cool as far as I was concerned that our POTUS knew anything about hockey (assuming). But mostly he gets called the brat, or rat, by the team. Or just Marshy. Anyway, he's in the celebrity top five (which I think needs to be increased to 10 at this point lol)

I don't even get a polite nod...notice how you & I are the ONLY ones writing on this post? lol

Rob-bear said...

Delightful fairy tale. The Leafs will take the Cup! And by then, Hell will have frozen over, too.

Bugs Bunny had a way of describing me: "What a maroon!" Even though the Leafs colour is blue. (The Montreal Maroons are no longer an NHL team.) Sorry if I confused you.

Blessings and Bear hugs!
Bears Noting
Life in the Urban Forest (poetry)