Been awhile, but it's been topic city lately, and it was seemed like a good idea to throw some ideas out there. Since making the move back to the north after school, hockey has made a big impact on my viewing pleasures and most notably the Bruins (the new NBC, old Versus, is adding to this). Anyways, I think it was time to show I might know something about the game played on ice, so here are a five things that I'm expecting to see for the second half of the year:
5 - The Oilers will play major spoilers: Edmonton is currently the second worst team in the NHL, only to Columbus, but are showing signs of life. With Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, and Jordan Eberle all playing and playing well, the future is bright. With three wins out of their last four, I could easily see the Oilers ruining other team's playoff chances with the amount of talent they have. Since Devan Dubynk has taken over, the team has been able to solidify its defense while their offense is now becoming more consistent.
4- Evgeni Malkin will show he's the best player in the NHL not named Sidney: Malkin is as hot as can be currently and will continue his pace. The Penguins need him to be everything that Sid can't be currently. This team has been thrashed with injuries this season, and still maintains a playoff spot in the East. With Ovechkin falling to levels the NHL has never seen him at, Malkin is proving he can be a star and not be in The Kid's shadow. The Hart Trophy will be in Pittsburgh, and Malkin will be the one holding it.
3 - The Pretenders will Pretend - Ottawa, Florida, and Minnesota currently find themselves in playoff positions are solid first half starts. However, if you look at the numbers a little closer, you'll see the flaws that will keep all three of these teams out of the playoffs. Ottawa gives up too many goals(-10 differential) and their starting goalie, Craig Anderson, is starting to prove why he is a journeyman. Florida actually is a below .500 team factoring in overtime losses, yet lead the Southeast (Washington will win it) and have no deep beyond the Versteeg-Weiss-Fleischmann line. The Wild started off hot, but injuries will prevent this team from getting back to the playoffs.
2 - Four teams from the Central and Atlantic Divisions will Make the Playoffs - Seems completely unrealistic that Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, and Nashville make it in the west, but it seems like a down year and Columbus sucks that much. The Rangers resurgence leads the East with Pitt, Philly and NJ yearly contenders. and it's no surprise that more offense gets them wins. But their defense is leading this year with the evolution of Del Zotto and Giradi. Oh, and Hank has nice hair and a good glove.
1 - The East will Win the Cup - The reason? Goaltending. It's head over heels better in the East including backups. Thomas/Rask, Hank/Biron, Fleury, Brodeur all match up over pretty much any team in the West(Howard excluded), and if any the postseasons have shown anything lately, hot goalies win cups. The experience in the East is much more than the West thus I see an advantage over teams like Nashville with Rinne, and most of the other goalies haven't proven themselves in the playoffs (Halak and Crawford). Overall, the quality of hockey in the East is better than the West from top to bottom, and I could see 7 out of the 8 teams making a strong push to win it all versus at most 3 in the West.
Only, time will tell and surely, the NHL will be picking up steam after the Super Bowl with it only competing with the NBA, which is a travesty in itself.
Until next time, you need to play it back to play it forward.
