Premature Playoff Predictions

It's never too early to make playoff predictions, as long as you don't mind being wrong LOL.

And who knows, you might be right...if you're a betting person, you might even win big. More on that in a bit... :pirat:

So I thought it would be fun for us to make our predictions post-ASG. (Fully expecting these will be revised right up to the start of the Cup dance)

CBS Sports lists the playoff matchups as of today:
http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/standings/playoffrace

East:
Boston-Carolina
Washington-Buffalo
New Jersey-Philadelphia
Montreal-NY Rangers

West:
San Jose-Edmonton
Detroit-Minnesota
Calgary-Dallas
Chicago-Anaheim

Now this is really interesting, because there are more than a few instances where the lower seed has a chance to beat the higher seed.

From a bettors' perspective, Belmont Sports' site, which is updated daily, lists the Stanley Cup odds for these teams as follows:
http://www.belmont.com/live-lines/hockey/nhl-stanley-cup-lines/

San Jose 3-1
Detroit 3-1
Boston 5-1
Washington 10-1
Montreal 12-1
New Jersey 15-1
Philadelphia 15-1
Calgary 15-1
Chicago 15-1
NY Rangers 20-1
Anaheim 30-1
Buffalo 40-1
Edmonton 40-1
Minnesota 50-1
Carolina 60-1
Dallas 60-1

In this thread, IMHO it would be cool to see what everybody thinks about the playoff chances of these teams (or the ones who might take their places).

Who will win against who? Why do you think so?

BTW about Belmont Sports, from their site:
Belmont.com was founded and incorporated in 1996, and today is one of the most trusted and respected Casino Sport Book sites on the Internet.
They are located in the Dutch Antilles.

Have fun everybody!

Fun! I'll play. :D

East:

1.Boston
2.New Jersey
3.Washington
4.Philly
5.Montreal
6.NY Rangers
7.Florida
8.Buffalo

1.Boston vs Buffalo > Boston in 5
2.New Jersey vs Florida > NJ in 7
3.Washington vs Rangers > Washington in 6
4.Philly vs Montreal > Philly in 6

1.Boston vs Philly > Boston in 7
2.Washington vs NJ > NJ in 7

1.Boston vs NJ > NJ in 7

East Finalists: New Jersey

West

1.San Jose
2.Detroit
3.Calgary
4.Chicago
5.Dallas
6.Anaheim
7.Columbus
8.Minny

1.San Jose vs Minny > SJ in 6
2.Detroit vs Columbus > Detroit in 5
3.Calgary vs Anaheim > Calgary in 7
4.Chicago vs Dallas > Chicago in 7

1.SJ vs Chicago > SJ in 5
2.Detroit vs Calgary > Detroit in 7

1.SJ vs Detroit > SJ in 7

SJ vs New Jersey > SJ in 7

Very cool...!!!

Here's my shot, assuming things stay the way they are in the CBS ranking:

Round 1/East
Boston>Carolina in 4
Buffalo>Washington in 7 (the Caps' goaltending lets them down)
Devils>Flyers in 7 (more physical than you would expect)
Rangers>Canadiens in 5 (the Habs' collective weakness on D exposed)

Round 1/West
San Jose>Edmonton in 5 (the Oil win one at home)
Detroit>Minnesota in 6 (Lemaire confounds Babs' Boys for awhile)
Dallas>Calgary in 7 (Turco triumphs over Kip in overtime slugfests)
Chicago>Anaheim in 6

Round 2/East
Boston>Buffalo in 5 (Sabres steal one in Beantown to no avail)
Devils>Rangers in 7 (An epic duel between Brodeur & Lundqvist)

Round 2/West
San Jose>Detroit in 6 (the Wings' goalies falter)
Chicago>Dallas in 6 (The Bulin Wall trumps Turco)

Eastern Final
Boston>Devils in 7 (all seven games go to OT, the last goes 4 OT periods, Thomas and Brodeur embrace each other at centre ice as the marathon ends)

Western Final
Hawks>Sharks in 6 (Sharks shocked by Bulin as Sharp hero for Hawks, OT thriller in Game 5, Nabby goes down in Game 6 and Byfuglien blasts bomb past Boucher for the winner)

Stanley Cup Finals
The first 'Original Six' Final in thirty years--since the 1978-79 Habs-Rangers.

Scotty Bowman, the coach of that winning Montreal team and now Senior Advisor to the Hawks, is asked about 'destiny' on HNIC by Don Cherry and Scotty just smiles. "It isn't over 'til it's over", he says, unknowingly quoting both Yogi Berra and Lenny Kravitz.

Fans go wild, TV viewership is through the roof as the Bruins and Hawks put on a show for the history books. A seven game thriller with winning goals from the most unlikely heroes, like Shane Hnidy and Ben Eager.

Thomas and Khabby both go down, and their backups duel in Game 7, as Tuukka Rask and Cristobal Huet are the gladiators in a 0-0 game.

It is settled in the first minute of overtime on a fluke goal by Hawks' reserve winger Pascal Pelletier who plays only in that game--and on his wrong wing--due to an injury to Patrick Kane in the warm-up.

The Chicago Blackhawks win their first Stanley Cup since 1961.

No idea if this is possible...but it would be a great story. :pirat:

Hahah. Hmmm....who's your favourite team again?

Seriously, it's quite possible, but I think Florida gets it - and if someone upsets someone, it's gonna be Florida. They could go far actually (they'll be my darkhorse).

I think Washington would destroy Buffalo, but I agree with you that at some point their tending will let them down.

:D Y'know...I still remember watching that Hawks-Wings Cup Final in '61. It was magical. Hull, Mikita, Hall, Howe, Delvecchio, Sawchuk...unbelievable hockey.

Here's a video from that series:
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=sB-csuX0GBk

So of course I'm biased LOL.

Haha nice Dave. Good little story would be crazy if something like that happened!

Thx caissie...honestly, I am just happy to see the Blackhawks revived as a franchise and to be an exciting team. There's so much history, and so many great stories...lots of crazy ones too.

The '61 team actually didn't have that great a record (29-24-17, 3rd of six teams), and nobody really expected them to upset the then-mighty Canadiens (41-19-10).

But the young Bobby Hull, Bill Hay and Stan Mikita; Pierre Pilote, one of the great innovators on defense; the amazing Glenn Hall who played all 70 games in goal and had six shutouts; role guys like Kenny Wharram and Eric Nesterenko, and vets like Eddie Litzenberger...were a T-E-A-M. As Stan Mikita said, "Not the best team. But we put it all together at the right time."

The Hawks are just way cool. 8)

Hmm...just realized I messed up on my playoff seeding for the 2nd round..oh well, guess I'll just have to rewrite the story, eh... :oops: