I would like to see Marty win, as he's one of my favorite players on my favorite team... but in all fairness, I think Luongo "deserves" it more. He's stabilized the net for a team that, frankly, has had a long run of shitty goalies. He faces a couple more shots per game and more penalty kill situations per game than Marty, too. Stats wise they're nearly identical, and it's the GMs that vote for the Vezina, not the media retards, so I see Luongo getting it this year.

 

Probable first round matchups:

Detroit - Calgary
Anaheim - Minnesota
Vancouver - Dallas
Nashville - San Jose

8 teams, 10 good goalies. Even though Calgary is the weakest, Kipper could get hot and shut down the wings easily.

The east won't be as tight.

Buffalo - Montreal (Sweep potential = high)
NJ - NY Rangers (Sweep potential = moderate)
Atlanta - Tampa Bay (probably the most interesting matchup)
Ottawa - Pittsburgh (should be some exciting games, not sure if Pittsburgh is ready for the playoffs though)

 

Brodeur picks up win #48 against the Flyers, breaking Parent's record.

 

Just a thought about this... Parent played in 73 games (in a 78 game season) and the Flyers went 50-16-12... assuming even half those ties were won by the dominant flyers with the new rules, plus 4 more games for 82, Parent could have had 58-60 wins.

 

1) Long Line of Shitty Goalies... that's the understatement of the century (Cloutier, 'nuff said)

2) Yeah, I actually meant the Hart Trophy, in regards to the Media Votes. Crosby will probably win that anyways, but if not, then it would be Brodeur. As far as Vezina goes, Brodeur has more wins, but as far as top player on the team, game after game, it would be nice to see Luongo win. Devils have a bit more offense than the Canucks, and they don't leave it to the goalie to win every night.

 

Billy - are we picking match-ups already? I thought we'd wait until the weekend, when the season ends. Crap, that means I gotta make my picks!!

 

Canucks lost tonight, but they lost to the Avs.
Flames lost tonight too which puts the Avs just 3 points back from the Flamers for 8th

 

I think the east coast biased media does have a man-crush on Sid, so he'll get the Hart. He deserves it too.

Luongo is more valuable to his team than Brodeur, by a sliver. Vancouver's offense is a bit more potent, IMO, but the Devils' system helps out Brodeur a bit more - particularly being one of the least penalized teams.

 

I won't be here next week, so I'm making my picks now... based on probable results (actually, the slight chance of the 16 teams changing doesn't affect any of my picks.

Buffalo / 8 seed (Montreal) - Buffalo
New Jersey / Tampa Bay - New Jersey
Atlanta / NY Rangers - Atlanta
Ottawa / Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh

Note: If the seeds end up NJ/NYR and Atlanta/Tampa, I'm taking NJ and Tampa.

Detroit / Calgary - DeToilet
Anaheim / Minnesota - Anaheim
Vancouver / Dallas - Vancouver
San Jose / Nashville - San Jose

There's a lot of ways these seeds can get jumbled:

SJ can end up the 2 seed facing Minnesota, leaving Anaheim the 4 seed against Nashville. I'll take Nashville in that matchup, and SJ over Dallas.

Minnesota jumps over Dallas for the 6 seed and faces Vancouver. I'll take Minnesota.


I'll try to get online Sunday and update these.

 

PLAYOFF HOCKEY