Postseason, Stanley Cup, and Final Standing Predictions

Every year, I do a prediction of the final standings at the end of the season, how the postseason will play out, and who will get to drink from Lord Stanley's famous Cup come summer.

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

I'm starting with the Eastern Conference because, frankly, I think the West is going to take the Cup...again.  Between the Hawks being able to replace(in my opinion) most everything they lost, the astronomical odds of the Wings getting bit that hard by the injury bug two years in a row, and the Canucks' improvement on D, I don't believe the East will win.

But I digress.  For the Eastern Conference, the Division Champs will go: Penguins(Atlantic), Boston(Northeast) and Washington(Southeast). 

The Pens will take the Atlantic because they are still stacked, essentially.  Although they lost Bill Guerin and Sergei Gonchar, adding Aaron Asham was a smart move to add some grit and fiestiness to the lineup to protect Sid and some of the other finesse players.  Philly had to dismantle a little too much, like the Hawks, however Philly didn't replenish either through the farm team or through free agency.  NJ is still working on Kovy, which is going to be the death of them.  While Kovalchuk is great, they have spent too much of the offseason going after him and will end up having to spend too much on a single player.  The most I could see Kovalchuk score in a single season is maybe 50 goals, since that was more or less the league leader last year.  Last year, NJ scored 216 goals.  Is a player that will ultimately go for around $8mil(or about 15% of the total team salary) worth that much?  Especially since the team needs more grit, which is one of the reasons they got the early exit from the playoffs.

Boston will end up on top of the Northeast essentially for lack of competition.  The only other quality team in that division are the Buffalo Millers...er...Sabres, my bad.  While Miller is, in my opinion, the best goaltender in the league, an outstanding goaltender cannot take you everywhere.  Outside of the crease, Buffalo has some up-and-coming stars, but nothing ready quite yet.

Washington is an outstanding team, with an offensive juggernaut up front.  Personal feelings of Ovechkin aside, he is an offensive machine, plus surrounded by Backstrom and Semin, combined with a slightly-above-average defense led by Norris Candidate Mike Green, they look to make the playoffs in the top three.  However, Varlamov, again, will not be up to the task and until they solve their problems in the crease, they won't drink from the Cup.

Eastern seeds:

1.  Pittsburgh

2.  Washington

3.  Boston

4.  NJ

5.  Philadelphia

6.  Buffalo

7.  TB

8.  Ottawa

Round 1:  (1)Pittsburgh beats (8)Ottawa, (2)Washington beats (7)TB, (3)Boston beats (6)Buffalo, (4)NJ beats (5)Philadelphia.

Round 2:  (1)Pittsburgh beats (4)NJ, (3)Boston beats (2)Washington

Round 3:  (1)Pittsburgh beats (3)Boston

WESTERN CONFERENCE:

The Western Conference is again stacked and much stronger than the East.  The way I see it, there are three teams vying for the Conference Title.  These are(in alphabetical order):  Chicago, Detroit, and Vancouver.

Before I get to those teams, my choices for the divisions:  Chicago(Central), Vancouver(Northwest), and LA(Pacific)

Obviously, the Blackhawks have some talent since they hoisted the Cup last year, but had to shed some good players to stay under the Cap this year.  Shedding Huet will free up some space, but more importantly, Stan Bowman has done a miraculous job in replacing the lost players with farm replacements and siging some older players.  The biggest players that people complain about is the loss of Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, and Kris Versteeg.  The trading of Byfuglien was a genius move by Bowman, for two reasons.  First, Byfuglien will never be worth more than he was at the end of last season.  Second, Byfuglien isn't worth everything he's cracked up to be.  He had an outstanding postseason, but so did Huet before the Hawks got him.  Also, he was playing on a line with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, in front of the League's best defense, and a goalie that had a great postseason.  The other big thing was the loss of Antti Niemi.  However, the replacement of Marty Turco is a good move because a) Turco is a proven, consistent goaltender that had the same stats as Niemi, but playing behind a subpar defense, and b) Turco will be a great mentor to either Toivonen or Crawford.  But, the Hawks will still be a potent and dangerous team, with an incredible amount of depth through the offense.

The Red Wings.  You would be hard pressed to find a franchise(In any sport) that has been as dominant for a decade as they have.  Their team is still potent, granted older than they used to be.  Especially with the reacquisition of Hudler and the recent signing of Modano, they will be a good team.  I haven't heard yet if they plan on playing Helm and Abdelkador in the NHL or keeping them down for another year, but those players will be outstanding in a few years.  They are a deep team from top to bottom, and the defensive duo of Rafalski and Lidstrom is about as good as it gets in the League.  Other than signing Helm, Abdelkador, getting Hudler back, and resigning Modano, they haven't done much, but that is a combination of the Cap as well as not really needing to do that much.  The injury bug(and I hate blaming injuries) plagued them all year last year, so they never really got the great chemistry you need for the playoffs.  I also think that their early exit at the hands of the Sharks is a sign of their age (finally) catching up to them.  But, you never know with the Wings, as their ability to develop late draft picks into stars is always there.

Finally, Vancouver is up.  They have had a very good offseason, with the exception of losing enforcer Willie Mitchell(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdYwRIEVYFs), which is replacable.  Mitchell is oft injured, and therefore not dependable in the postseason.  However, to replace this, Vancouver has signed Hamhuis, which is a fantastic signing.  In addition, they have added Manny Malhotra, faceoff mastermind and all around good center.  Combine this with the Sedin twins(whom I still don't consider to be at their full potential...yet), a goaltender that when hot is unstoppable, and a very deep team, and you have a recipe for success.  This team will be very dangerous next year.  They have depth that is comparable to the Hawks' last year, so this should be a good year for them.  The only shortfall I see with the 'Nucks will be a shortage of grit and bangers in the corners.

Los Angeles is a very young, up-and-coming team with outstanding potential.  With rising stars like Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, and a very good roster, they will take their division, and may get deep into the playoffs.  They made improvements last year and will be a good team as long as they stay healthy and Quick remains on top of his game.  He had times last season that it seemed anything on net was a goal.  But, they will no doubt take their division.

1.  Vancouver

2.  Chicago

3.  Los Angeles

4.  Detroit

5.  San Jose

6.  Phoenix

7.  Colorado

8.  Nashville

Round 1:  (1)Vancouver beats (8)Nashville, (2)Chicago beats (7)Colorado, (3)LA beats (6)Phoenix, (5)SJ beats (4)Detroit.

Round 2:  (1)Vancouver beats (5)SJ, (2)Chicago beats (3)LA

Round 3:  (1)Vancouver beats (2)Chicago

STANLEY CUP FINALS:

Vancouver beats Pittsburgh in 6 games, on home ice.

Thoughts?