What A Finish Shaping Up In The East!
With five teams trying to finish first in the east, it will be a crazy finish at the end.
As long as the New Jersey Devils have Martin Brodeur on their team, they will be in the race for first in the east, as their whole team is built around Brodeur, and a boring put you to sleep style of play, but at least it seems to work for them in the win column, they have a great All-Star goalie and that helps win championships in the NHL, however they lack scoring punch.
The Ottawa Senators are a good offensive team, and have some good defenseman, but will they be able to solidify the goalie position by the time the play-offs begin? The Sens have skill almost everywhere, but their recent demise has let other teams in the race for first in the conference as it looked like the Sens were running away with it earlier this season.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Ryan Malone, Petr Sykora, Jordan Staal, Marian Hossa, I think they have enough scoring punch, but even-though their defence can score, they lack defensively, and who will be their no.1 goalie? The Pens also lost their grit master in Colby Armstrong, but they seem to be doing well anyway.
The re-surging New York Rangers, with Brendan Shannahan, Jaromir Jagr, Scott Gomez, Martin Straka, and Chris Drury, the Rangers have scoring punch, and a really good goalie which is why they are only 6 points back of the #1 seat in the east, their defence seems to be picking it up at the right time as well.
The Montreal Canadiens, with all the players that have scored for them this year helping the Habs be three goals away from having the most in the NHL, they have enough scoring, Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak are the ones who will have to carry the load which is the question mark for the Habs, their defence is good, not great, but good, but their goal-tending will determine what the outcome will be for them in the end.
Every team listed above has question marks surrounding them as they head into the play-offs, which is why it is so entertaining to watch this year, call it parody if you will, I call it every team needs something, and that might be what makes the east this year, whatever the outcome of the end of the season, it will be interesting to watch the next ten games in the regular season for each team.
Author Bio
An avid hockey fan. Favorite team is the Montreal Canadiens.
I grew up in Montreal following the Habs all my life.
My thought is that hockey is the greatest sport.
I eat and sleep hockey.
I watch anywhere between 250-400 NHL games a year.
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I’m just hoping the Rangers finish 6th, and show the NHL that their stupid divisional seeding is causing issues in the playoffs. I’d rather play Carolina than NJ or MTL/OTT in the first round, although with Carey Price, Montreal is intriguing. 6th place seems like the right target if you’re not going to finish top 3.
Sadly, the NHL has apparently voted this down a few times, in the interest of marketing…
by Dan Rakusan on March 14th, 2008 at 1:04 AM EDT
The NHL should stop, and actually think of what their doing before they do it, not after.
by Bryen Owen on March 14th, 2008 at 1:12 AM EDT
Wouldn’t you agree with division leaders making the playoffs (on a re-balanced sched with less impoetus on divisional play), but getting seeded based on points earned from thereon in?
To me, the problem isn’t rewarding division winners, but if you’re in the SE division, you play a bunch of shit teams times, and it’s like a Micheal Vick dog-fight to win your division, not beat the top 8 teams in the conference. I’m all for Vick (debate for another day), but I feel the divisional winners should only benefit by a free playoff berth, not by seeding…….
by Dan Rakusan on March 14th, 2008 at 1:18 AM EDT
I agree, first eight teams in each division make it, but order of points, not the way it is now, it makes no sense that the Stars are 4th, they should be third, and the same in the east, Carolina should be in the no. eight position, not third,
by Bryen Owen on March 14th, 2008 at 1:24 AM EDT
Yup, and I personally place all blame on Europeans…lol
Just buggin ya. Realistically, all players need some form of motivation, and I don’t believe winning your division should mean anything more than making the playoffs. Beyond that, let results show your worth.
by Dan Rakusan on March 14th, 2008 at 1:45 AM EDT
Exactly.
by Bryen Owen on March 14th, 2008 at 2:26 AM EDT
Here’s a question: Do you think division winners SHOULD get an automatic ticket to the playoffs? OR, perhaps, would the league best be served by adopting a system whereby there are only two divisions in each conference, and the two division leaders aren’t guaranteed a playoff berth?
Also, how about having less than 50% of teams actually qualify for a playoff spot? Seems funny that losing is a REALLY hard thing to do in the NHL. Yes, I’ve seen a 9-7 team go deep in NFL, but seriously… Let’s make the CUP something to TRY for!! No more default winners!!! LMFAO!!
I hate using acronyms, but, let’s face it, that’s there the world is headed. So, to simplify it for Bettman and company – Division leaders SHOULD make playoffs, but only two divisions in each conference, and ranked according to points earned.
by Dan Rakusan on March 14th, 2008 at 2:43 AM EDT