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.
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