Many Questions to Answer in Wild West

The Western Conference playoff teams have been decided and only seeding is left to be determined. Congratulations to the San Jose Sharks for winning their first President’s Trophy in the team’s history. Also, Columbus is in the playoffs for the first time since the team’s inception into the NHL. There is also plenty of excitement in St. Louis and Chicago who are back in the playoffs for the first time since the lock-out. Along with those facts there are some exciting stories developing amongst the teams who have qualified for the playoffs. Will Detroit be able to repeat or is there goaltending finally going to get the best of them? Is Chicago’s young team ready for the spotlight on the big stage or is this going to be a quick “dry run” resulting in an early exit. How will the fans in Columbus react to the normal highs and lows of a playoff run? Will San Jose finally get over the hump and enjoy the playoff success that many people believe their team should experience? Will the Ducks of two years ago re-emerge and possibly get the puck back to Anaheim? Can Calgary live up to the trade-deadline hype that developed around their acquisition of Olli Jokinen ? There are a lot of questions to be answered and many stories to be played out. It will be a lot of fun to watch the match-ups get locked in and for the playoffs to get rolling. No matter who you’re rooting for and regardless of which Conference that team belongs to every Western Conference Playoff series will have incredible story lines and will be extremely exciting.

Top Teams Face Early-Round Exits

Coming down the stretch there have been a number of teams who are all but assured of playoff spots who have hit some turbulence. For example, New Jersey is in the middle of a six game losing streak, while teams in a similar position like Boston, San Jose, Calgary, Chicago, etc. have all hit similar rough patches in recent weeks. On the other hand teams who have been battling just to get into the playoffs (Pittsburgh, Carolina, St. Louis, Columbus, Vancouver to name a few) have really hit their stride as of late and are on their respective hot streaks. So what should be made of all of this? Well, quite frankly I think it’s great to have so many top teams becoming mediocre and teams working hard every night to get in getting so hot. That is because I think it will make for a very exciting and intriguing first round. No matter what the match-ups are there is going to be potential for a lot of upsets with a lot of teams with home-ice advantage finding themselves in a hole right off the bat. There are a lot of clichés to describe teams as being “battle-tested” or “playoff-ready” and while they may be true in a lot of cases (hence why they’re clichés) the intensity level of a team come playoff time is probably the biggest deal of all. As a result, what we’re seeing right now are a number of teams battling to get into the post-season playing with a high level of intensity. The players are hanging on every shift, every pass, every hit, every save, every goal; and that is exactly the mode you need to be in to be successful in the playoffs so it should be to their benefit to have been playing at such a high level for so long leading up to the playoffs. Meanwhile, the other top teams are muddling along just trying to “stay sharp” as their minds start to tire of the regular season and they begin to look ahead. By doing that the players are putting half-a** efforts into their playing which results in them losing their edge and can result in not just loses but a loss of focus and energy that can lead to injuries. All of that boils down to this; the teams who have been desperate will have that intensity level in the playoffs right away while the top teams will have a hard time just turning on that switch. By the time they do the series could be 2-0 heading into the other teams’ building and by that time the hill may be too big to climb resulting in plenty of first-round upsets.

Flames Looking to End Playoff Woes

In the off-season the Calgary Flames acquired a lot of players they felt would help get them over the hump (i.e. the first round of the playoffs) they have been unable to surmount since the 2004 cup finals appearance. The signing of Todd Bertuzzi, Mike Cammalleri, etc. along with sewing up Curtis Glenncross among others seem to be working pretty well so far as the Flames now sit on top of the Northwest Division after their 6-3 victory in St. Louis Tuesday night despite the three game skid that proceeded Tuesday’s game. Winning the division will be a tall order for every team in the division as it is arguably the most competitive division in the league this season, so Calgary certainly cannot count on winning it to secure decent playoff positioning. However, although the ultimate goal is to win the Stanley Cup, step one for Calgary is to win the first round and it seems this is the year that will happen. Jerome Iginla is once again playing very well leading the team in scoring and Kiprusoff’s goals against average is a solid 2.98. But what I think will accompany the high-level playoff stars like Iginla and Kiprusoff come playoff time is the team’s size. Being able to wear down opponents in a long series is what Calgary will have to do to be successful. In recent years teams they have played in the post-season have not seemed to wear down too much come games 6 and 7 allowing their offense to post high shot totals late in the series helping oust the Flames. This year I think they are better suited for a long series and if they can manage to avoid either Detroit or San Jose in the first round the Flames will advance to round two, then after that all bets are off.

Kurt Warner Fantasy Stock Rising