If The Stanley Cup Playoffs Started Today: Eastern Conference Prediction

Sean Avery against Martin Brodeur and Sidney Crosby versus Alex Ovechkin: That’s the way the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs would stack up if they started that way. Many hope they stay that way.

The stars may be aligning for a first round meeting for Sean Avery with the New York Rangers and Martin Brodeur with the New Jersey Devils. The points for the top eight teams in the Eastern Conference of the NHL are aligned that way today.

The first round of the playoffs would feature Boston (46-17-10 ― 102) playing the Montreal Canadiens  (36-27-9 ― 81) or, more likely, the Florida Panthers (35-27-11 ― 81) and the Devils (47-23-3 ― 97) against the Rangers (38-27-8 ― 84).

We would see Alex Ovechkin And the Washington Capitals take ( 45-23-6 ― 96) take on Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin With the Pittsburgh Penguins (39-27-8 ― 86). That would be another series a lot of people would want to see.

The Philadelphia Flyers  (40-22-10 ― 90) would play the Carolina Hurricanes  (40-28-7 ― 87)

In the second round, the Rangers could play the Penguins, in another re-match from last year at this time. Both teams look very different. The Rangers lost Jagr, Stracka, and Avery, but got Avery back and added Antropov, Derek Morris, and coach John Tortorella.

The Penguins lost Marian Hossa, Georges Laraque, Gary Roberts, Ryan Malone, and Jarkko Ruutu, but they added Bill Guerin and Kunitz. 

The Penguins recently jumped ahead of the Rangers in the standings, 86 points to 84, after looking like they were out of the playoff picture most of the season, fighting “the curse of the Stanley Cup.”

(Teams that come second in the Stanley Cup finals have had a hard time getting back into the finals the following year.)

Whoever wins the Eastern Conference will likely face the Detroit Red Wings, who have been first in the Western Conference most of this season after winning the Cup last year. They lost no-one and added Marian Hossa.

Both the Penguins and the Rangers made Hossa strong offers but he reportedly took less money so he could join the Red Wings and take the Stanley Cup back to the Czech Republic, where he grew up playing hockey.