My Playoff Predictions 2008!
Tuesday · Apr 8 · 2008 | 3:38 PM PDTNobody asked me but I write a hockey blog and I'd be odd-man out if I didn't post my ill-informed predictions for the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. So prepare yourselves. By no means am I any sort of authority on analysis of the league (I only know my Lightning) so take it for what it is. And what can I say? I love the playoffs!
Without any reasonable explanation or rationale whatsoever, my picks are as follows.
CONFERENCE QUARTERFINALS
Montreal vs Boston
Canadiens in 4; Come on, you've seen their regular season record right?
Pittsburgh vs Ottawa
Penguins in 5; The Sens get one win, if that. Damn Pens are just too strong.
Washington vs Philadelphia
Capitals in 6; The Flyers were the worst team a year ago by a lot. Strides? Yes. But not leaps and bounds.
New Jersey vs NY Rangers
Rangers in 7; Tough one but I envision a long series with a tired Brodeur at the end.
Detroit vs Nashville
Red Wings in 5; You don't barely make the playoffs then knock out a club with 54 regular season wins.
San Jose vs Calgary
Sharks in 6; The Sharks will win the Cup.
Minnesota vs Colorado
Avalanche in 6; Just a gut call. No evidence to back it up.
Anaheim vs Dallas
Stars in 7; Champion schmampion.
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS
Montreal vs NY Rangers
Canadiens in 6; The Rangers will fall apart after the first round.
Pittsburgh vs Washington
Penguins in 5; The series of the year featuring Sid versus Ovie but I give it to Crosby and his cohorts.
Detroit vs Colorado
Red Wings in 6; I love it any time these two get together. Wings are powerful, though.
San Jose vs Dallas
Sharks in 4; The Sharks will run away with it.
CONFERENCE FINALS
Montreal vs Pittsburgh
Penguins in 7; Kind of cliché to go with Nos. 1 and 2 but I have no choice.
Detroit vs San Jose
Sharks in 5; Risky bet but there's a history of upset here.
STANLEY CUP FINALS
San Jose vs Pittsburgh
Sharks in 7; It'll be a hard-fought battle to the bitter end but my money's on them this postseason. But I admit the triangle theme is weird.
So there it is. Oh and don't bother emailing or commenting to say how wrong or stupid I am. I already know it.
Feel free to add your predictions below in the comments. I'm considering posting polls for each series to see what the majority are predicting. If this is something you guys are interested in, let me know. Playoffs start tomorrow. Get excited!
Reader Comments (35)
Definitely interested in the polls! Here's my predictions:
Eastern Conference
MTL vs BOS --- MTL in 5
PIT vs OTT --- PIT in 6
WSH vs PHI --- WSH in 6
NJD vs NYR --- NJD in 7
Western Conference
DET vs NSH --- DET in 5
SJS vs CGY --- SJS in 5
MIN vs COL --- COL in 6
ANA vs DAL --- ANA in 5
preds all the way!!!
Wooo Sharks! Too bad we're gonna win it with that horrid burnt orange on our jerseys!
gotta say, if you think the rangers are falling apart, think again. the rangers were the best intradivisional team in the league this year, were top 4 intraconference. They've been playing playoff hockey for 3 months now, and theres no sign of that stopping. If that isn't enough, they've been felled in regulation a mere 3 times since the ASB, and two of those three were at the hands of the Lightning and Panthers.
Watch out.
408, if burnt orange is what it takes for SJ to get over the 2nd round hump (and conf. finals hump for that matter), go burnt orange. ok maybe not really.
I think MTL will take the east though. And I think MIN will take care of COL this year.
i cant see NYR falling apart in the second round, especially to MTL. They've looked mighty comfortable against them this season(save for that crazy 5 goal blown lead thing)
I see NYR v. PIT in the conference finals in the East
SJ v. Det in the west
Pit v. Det in the cup
Det winner
You CAN barely make the playoffs and and knock off a first seed. Historically, Detroit has been bumped off by an eighth seed, 4 times in the last 15 years. 93-94 by the Sharks. 00-01 by the Kings. 02-03 by the Ducks. 05-06 by the Oilers, in which they lost the series 4-2 after amassing 58 wins that season.
First we shall start in the west.
Detroit vs Nashville
Red Wings in 4
ya nashvilleis good but pfft they have no chance.
San Jose vs Calgary
Sharks in 6; i was gonna sayi think the flames will win, just cuz i like em but... ide be lying i i said so.
Minnesota vs Colorado
Avalanche in 7, dont know why
Anaheim vs Dallas
ducks in 7; they will lose in the second rounf though.
EAST:
Montreal vs Boston
Canadiens in 6; i hate boston
Pittsburgh vs Ottawa
Penguins in 6; Pens are just too strong.
Washington vs Philadelphia
Capitals in 6; ovetchkin, plus the flyers are pathetic
New Jersey vs NY Rangers
Devils in 7; Brodeur is a winner, what else can you say.
i too thought that the sharks and pens would make it to the finals! that would be a very entertaining series. and whats this "big" thing coming????
no... I'm not giving justification since you didn't. but there's no way that San Jose will beat Detroit in FIVE. its not gonna happen
Ducks are 20-5-1 since Selanne came back... Schmampions, heh? We'll see...
Aren't they also something like 1-20-5 when Pronger is suspended?
My predictions actually look quite similar but I picked Montreal and San Jose in the Finals with Montreal taking the Cup. I HOPE!
everybody is writing off detroit, well i hate to tell you but just like last year, they are gonna beat out the sharks, and unlike last year they arent gonna stall in the conference final. look for a detroit/rangers final, orginal six ftw
Don't be hating on the B's here...they're not gonna get swept, at least. Bergy's coming back, after all!
Mtl-bos = mtl 4
Pit-Ott = ott 7
was- phi- was 6
ny-nj- nj 7
det-nash- nash 7 ( yep got to have one upset at least )
sj- calg =sj 6
ana-dall- ana 7
min-col = col 7
ahaha, i love how everyone but Chris is against the Stars.
does Anaheim really seem THAT unstoppable?
afterall, Stars lead the regular season series between the two 5-3.
if that's not reason enough to give the Ducks some doubt, then i dont think anything can sway them.
Go Stars.
I think the flyers will win in six, but unless montreal is upset, they will make it no further than that, if on the other hand boston does win, and so does pittsburgh, I think the flyers will take Pittsburgh. I dont know about the Rangers series, two teams who dont score with great goaltending, i see alot of OT in that series. I think Pittsburgh could choke again, this is almost the same series as last year, except ottawa has been falling apart as of late, but are still a stronger playoff team than Pitt, gonchar is weak in the playoffs, so if fleury. In the west i think the teams to beat are DET, The ducks, and The wild. Strong Goaltending wins cups. The Ducks look to me like the most complete team in Hockey, a great goalie, stacked defense and good scoring. The wild had a shot last year if they hadnt played the ducks in round one, I just think the Avs are injured, and Theodore doesnt seem like he can carry a team through the playoffs, at least not in the past. I dont think the sharks are anything to get excited about, they do this every year and let their fans down (i used to love them and the ducks until they changed to these god awful unis) But on the other hand anaheim changed to those atrocities they call jerseys and won a cup, could work for san jose too.
As much of a CAPS and Ovechkin fan I am, there's no way the'll win against Philly; I mean this is a team that the penguins didn't want to play and purposely lost against.
They are too tough
and they have 7 20 GOAL SCORERS
okay, there's only one matchup that matters to me and im going to voice my opinion on it:
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS OVER WASHINGTON CAPITOLS IN 6
can someone please explain to me why they think the capitols are better than the flyers?!?! it makes no sense! sure they have olvechkin, but other than that they have an ok goalie and two fossils compared to philadelphia's great depth. the flyers have SEVEN 20+ goal scorers along with amazing balance from the 1st to the 4th line.
as long as philadelphia plays the same rough and tumble type of game they've been doing all year i see no possible way washington wins.
meh. I'm picking the Sens to pull off the biggest first round upset. IMHO Pittsburgh lacks the goaltending to go deep in the playoffs. Ty Conklin.. no. Dany Sabourin.. no. And M.A. Fluery has never been the same goalie since he scored on himself to lose the WJ gold medal game. (Like Tommy Salo was never the same after the weak goal in the Olympics)
Also picking the Stars/Wings/Sharks/Canadiens/Rangers/Caps to win in the first round.
So lyndon you and chris aren't the only one for the Stars. Stars in 6 (in what will be the most boring first round series)
Not sure if I'm correct about this but don't they get reseeded after the first round?
Your match ups would be Montreal Vs. Washington and Pens Vs. Rangers
I thought they get reseeded by points after the first round. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
monteal would play nyr 1 vs 5 and pittsburgh would play Washington 2 vs 3
I really, really hope you're right about the Sharks.