The Final Week of The Season

The last week, for some of us it begins the forming of a true brotherhood where fans, players, and cities alike come together under the banner of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. After having a team eliminated from contention some fans walk away until the Draft comes up in June while others look for a hot team to follow in the playoffs to try and rally behind as an undergod..of course your their happiness and not our own. The final group lies in those just wanting to watch excellent hockey played over two months while ripping on any mishaps they stumble up along the way. Hey if our regular seasons gave us drinking problems then it is only fair we include you in our misery. Before this begins next week April 11th we still have a mess of standings, teams, and matchups to analyze.

Western Conference
As of right not getting into specific matchups is a bit premature because they change rapidly overnight. Rather, it would be more beneficial to see what the remaining teams must do to afford themselves a playoff fate.

-Vancouver Canucks = locked down in the 1 or 2 seeds and fighting for the Presidents Trophy with New York (and maybe the Blues). The Canucks must gain a higher point total as they cannot catch the ROW stat category as a tie breaker. Ending the year on a back to back with Calgary/Edmonton is not a difficult schedule but both teams will want to hurt their divisional foe in any way they can, possibly costing them the first seeding.

-St. Louis Blues = The Blues have a busy rest of the week with games against Detroit, possible first round opponent Phoenix, and scuffling Dallas. Those are all winnable and it will be interesting to see what their compete level is during the week and more importantly how their play affects the standings of the lower seeds.

-LA Kings = These guys are in trouble but control their own destiny. Carter is out with an apparent deep bone bruise on his ankle and they will need him sooner than well, later might be training camp. Home and home against San Jose to end the year and likely decide who takes 3rd overall in the West. LA wins out and they are golden, they lose out and either miss the playoffs entirely or get a dangerously low seed.

-Nashville Predators = Nice position for them, overtook 4th place tonight and have an easy schedule this week with DAL/COL. Both teams are fighting for their lives but neither poses much of a threat to Nashville on their game.

-Detroit Red Wings = Wings are 1 point back on Nashville but have one game in hand. They also have a tougher final schedule of the Blues, Devils, and Blackhawks which leads me to think they finish 5th

-Chicago Blackhawks = Could sneak into a higher seed than 6th with a favorable matchup with the Wild and an always tough game against Detroit. Their fate may already be set however, merely awaiting that 3rd seed opponent.

-Phoenix Coyotes= They could climb all the way up to third if they and San Jose sweep their games this week, they could still fall shy of the playoffs

-San Jose Sharks = Speaking of SJ, if they lose out to LA and remain at 92 points, Colorado winning out would have them jump them in the standings (max 92 points, but higher ROW for Avs.)

Outsiders: For Dallas and similar to the Avs, winning out (despite giving points away to the Sharks tonight) puts them at 93 points, this allows for SJ to get 1 point out of 4 possible and the Avs can knock them (SJ) out. Phoenix is a little safer from Dallas, only needing 1 point to make the playoffs. The Avs can only catch the 8 seed at 92 points and that itself looks slim.

What if? Wednesday - 3/14/12 "Guy Hebert stays in 1997."

The 1997 playoffs.

Anaheim v. Detroit in the Western Conference semi-finals was one of the more exciting sweeps I have ever seen in my time as a Red Wings fan. 4 games, 3 go to Overtime. It was touted as a battle of goalies that had been playing extremely well in Detroit's Mike Vernon and Anaheim's Guy Hebert. Unfortunately for the Mighty Ducks Hebert went down in Game 1 with an injury. Mikael Shtalenkov did just fine between the pipes, but Hebert was the guy in southern California.

He was athletic and smart. The guy had the game down pat. Not quite Olaf Kolzig, but was capable of stealing games.

One has to remember that the sweep included 3 OT games and one 5-3 win for Detroit. For my money Hebert takes this series to 7 games. They have an entirely legitimate chance to win. The top line of Kariya/Selanne/Rucchin had been on fire, and Hebert had a chance to take two or three shutouts, even in Detroit. Jari Kurri and Brian Bellows had also been playing well.

That said, let's ask WhatIfSports.com how this series would have played out.

Game 1 goes to the Mighty Ducks. Goals by Yzerman, Mironov, Rucchin (2). Hebert with 39 saves in an incredible performance.

Game 2 is a shutout for Mike Vernon. Goals by Yzerman (2), Pushor.

Game 3 is a 5-3 win for the Ducks. Goals by Shanahan, Pushor (2), Rucchin (4), Selanne, Yzerman (3), Kurri

Game 4 gives Anaheim a 3-1 series lead with a 5-4 OT win. Hebert with 56 saves to Vernon's 44. Goals for Mironov, Rychel, Shanahan (4), Kariya, Sandstrom, Selanne (GWG) (2)

Detroit goes 2/2 on the powerplay which would prove to be the difference as they stay alive with a 4-2 victory back on home ice. Goals for Rucchin (5), Sandstrom (3), Dollas, Errey, Larionov

Detroit forces a Game 7 back on home ice with an emotional 3-2 OT win. Goals for Shanahan (5), Rucchin (6), Holmstrom, Kariya (2), McCarty (OT GWG)

Game 7 sees Detroit going down after an elite one goal performance by Guy Hebert. The game was tied until the last 4 minutes when back to back goals 60 seconds apart doomed the Red Wings. Goals by Kariya (3), Shanahan (6), Trebil, Rucchin (7)

Now let me reread my article...

"For my money Hebert takes this series to 7 games. They have an entirely legitimate chance to win. "

Welp.

I'm drunk and have had NHL Network on all night - 3/12/12

Here's how this series will go:

• I've had NHL Network on for at least 3 hours half watching highlights while I watch episodes of archer or waste my time on useless message boards.  So yeah, I don't know a lot about the game other than goal and fight highlights.
• I'll let you know about all of the matchups tonight and analyze them, including the other stupid segments they have on NHL Tonight/NHL Live.  Yes, it'll probably be pretty biased.
• I'll let you know how much I hate Jamie McLennan and I'll make fun of the things that come out of his mouth

Alright, enough rules.  Good thing my first time only has 4 games, otherwise this would get ugly.

3/12/2012

MTL 2 at BUF 3

A team that's tanking vs a team that should be tanking.  Alright, I just looked at the standings and Buffalo actually is only 2 points behind 8th place Washington.  So maybe they shouldn't be tanking.  Roy shouldn't be playing as many minutes as he is right now, he isn't that good.  Neither is Brad Boyes.  But, if they make the playoffs instead of Washington or Toronto then you won't hear me complaining.  I hope Montreal gets a coach next year that doesn't speak English or French.  Only Mandarin or something stupid, just to see how Montreal reacts.  Why have I typed this much about such a bad matchup?

NSH 5 at PHX 4

I really really want to see a NSH vs STL playoff matchup.  So Nashville better start losing for it to happen in the first round, but I would put some money on it happening in the WCF.

ANA 2 at COL 3

Poor Ducks, they were on track to do what the Devils couldn't last year.  Too bad soon to be Calder winner Landeskog is really good.  I guess Colorado really wants Washington to look like fools with their first rounder.  Perry was out, no clue if it was serious, but I somehow remember it had to with his shoulder.  Hopefully he's back soon.

SJ 3 at EDM 2

All I remember is that San Jose broke a 4 or 5 game losing streak.  Good for them, going 1-4 every 5 games will definitely solidify a playoff spot.  One of these days Edmonton may have a slight chance at the playoffs, right?

On a related note, I'm curious what the rate is of the top 4 draft picks making it to the playoffs in the next year (if they make the team, obviously).  Maybe someone else can jump in here, but this year we have RNH who isn't making it, Landeskog where they're on the bubble, Huberdeau who I don't think played, and Larsson who is probably making it. 

Alright, that's enough for tonight.  Keep in mind, this series recurrence will be completely random, since I don't plan this stuff.

NHL GM Meetings provide about zero surprises, roughly infinite potential for jokes

The first day of the newly annual GM meetings went down today. And about nothing that should surprise any NHL fan actually happened. But I felt obligated to write about it, so sit down and shut up.

Several GMs were on board with the return of the red line, and thereby the 2 line pass. A lot of the managers believe that this would essentially slow down the game, and make it safer. Most of the GMs have expressed that rules like Rule 48 and Rule 41 are as far as the NHL can go to remove concussions "on site," so to speak. The general consensus was that the only way to change the concussion problem is to fundamentally alter the game. A sentiment that has been brought about by the likes of Don Cherry since roughly the day after concussions became an issue.

There is something to be said about a GM who believes that things should not change due to the limited entertainment value of a game with the 2-line pass rule. I understand fully that the game would be slower, but I would gladly rather watch a slower game with the leagues best players. In a league where there is already a call to contract the league because players who barely deserve to have a guaranteed spot in the AHL becoming regular NHL players, an environment where the best player in the game can miss almost 2 years from a head injury, I see very little legitimacy in the 'entertainment' factor. Slow the game down and give me Sidney Crosby. I will take this trade any day of the week.

Oh, there's also that sorta "messed up" part about refusing to change a needlessly dangerous sport for entertainment value.

On this subject, there was certainly something to be said about Brendan Shanahan's presentation about rule changes in representation of the Department of Player Safety. It was a video presentation. So essentially, as any hockey fans know, if that video was longer than 4 minutes, that coffee machine got a workout.

There were a few more rule changes proposed. Most of which were pretty simple and have been discussed publicly before. The hybrid icing that has been adapted by many leagues was brought up, and finally has some massive support. My guess is that since the USHL and NCAA have adapted it, the way it actually looks has become more visible to North American scouts and GMs. Of course, Brian Burke was happy to see it so accepted, since he has brought it up for the last 5 meetings. If the rule is adapted it would mark a momentous achievement.

It would be the first time Brian Burke has made anything better in 5 years.

The basic idea of hybrid icing is that the race to the puck can be cancelled by the linesman if he believes that the race will be clearly won by the team that was iced against. The "finish line" can either be an imaginary (or real?) line across the tops of the circles, or the dots. Either really works for me. I advocated this rule change when the CCHA was considering it, and am glad to see it. Races to the pucks on icing calls are a dangerous part of the sport that can be changed without fundamentally changing the sport.

There was also a proposal to remove the rule to allow hand-passes in the defensive zone.

Yes please, this rule prevents scoring, and changing it won't put any players in danger, and on two thirds of the ice this action is already illegal, so just get rid of it.

Vancouver GM Mike Gillis thought it was important to complain about officiating in the Stanley Cup Finals, where his team went 2-31. Also his team had more powerplays than the other team. Maybe if Mike Gillis wants to complain about how the powerplay situation is going, perhaps he should talk to his players, instead of other GMs about the officiating.

Also, Kenny Holland of Detroit brought up the idea of a 3 on 3 overtime after the 4 on 4 overtime period, but before the shootout. Mike Gillis of Vancouver supported it. Gee, what an odd couple of GMs to support a wide open, skill based mockery of hockey with six skaters on the ice.

In closing, most hockey fans saw this coming, Gillis complains about officials, he and Holland ask for a more skill based ending to a game (though Holland might have upped his support of the shootout this year), hybrid icing gets some support and concussions dominated the conversation.

See you tomorrow, hopefully with some actual news.

The Week Ahead: Mar. 12-19

As the playoffs approach every game is starting to take on a playoff-like feel. While the races aren't quite as tight as they have been in the last couple of years, there is still a ton of room for things to change before the end of the regular season. This week is going to play host to a lot of potential "Win and in" games, depending on how things go.

San Jose @ Calgary on Tuesday could see a matchup of teams battling for the 8th and final playoff seed in the West as well as two teams trying to right the ship and gain some momentum going forward.

Rumor has it that the Thursday night matchup between the Rangers and the Penguins could be the return of Sidney Crosby. The game is on NHL Network.

While lacking the intensity of a head to head matchup for a playoff spot, Colorado @ Buffalo on Wednesday could have two teams trying to stay in the playoff hunt.

The always-intense matchup between the Anaheim Ducks and LA Kings will see another iteration on Friday, and with the Kings sticking around .500 recently, they're going to want to get hot soon, and a win at the Pond would certainly give them that.

Important Fantasy points: Ottawa Senators play 3 games against 2 non-playoff teams this week, Detroit's Brendan Smith has 3 points in his last 4 games and is available in your league, I'm almost positive. Blake Wheeler is getting hot, but is going against a very hot Dallas team. I am back on the Ray Emery bandwagon.