I’ve said before, so I won’t give the extended version of the argument, but the NHL playoffs isn’t the best form of ice hockey.
It seems like half the shot attemts are blocked, teams are too worried about making mistakes to really gamble and in general it’s a less fun atmosphere. And don’t get me started on the little skirmishes that take place after every time the goalie freezes the puck.
I went into more detail last year, so I won’t repeat myself here.
As for this season, we get to try out this new, more interesting playoff system with a true bracket instead of reseeding. Whether it leads to better and more interesting matchups will remain to be seen, but we do have some good ones in the opening round.
So here’s the picks to click.
OPENING ROUND
Colorado over Minnesota in 5
Chicago over St. Louis in 6
Anaheim over Dallas in 4
Los Angeles over San Jose in 5
Boston over Detroit in 5
Montreal over TampaBay in 6
Pittsburgh over Columbus in 7
New York Rangers over Philadelphia in 7
OVERALL
Eastern Conference finalists: Pittsburgh
Western Conference finalists: Los Angeles
Eastern Conference champ: Boston
Western Conference champ: Colorado
Stanley Cup champion: Boston
Conn Smythe winner: David Krejci, BOS
That’s actually not too far off what I called at the beginning of the season, picking a Boston-Pittsburgh Eastern final, but with the Pens going on to conquer the Kings and win the Cup.
As for the fact that I’m taking Patrick Roy’s young Avs to win the West, well, I’m an old-school Nordiques fan, so I must represent.
As for some of my pre-season predictions that didn’t pan out, the teams I thought would make the post-season but didn’t were Toronto, Washington, Edmonton, Vancouver, Ottawa. Looks like I just had too much love for the Canadian clubs.