Hey all,
For the past three years, I have had the blast of predicting the Stanley Cup playoffs. What started as a boredom fighter in college turned out to be a tradition after I successfully predicted the Stanley Cup winners in 2010 (Chicago) and in 2011 (Boston). Last year was the first time my bracket got completely slaughtered, and I wasn't even close to predicting the winner due to an unbelievable Los Angeles Kings team. This year, I look to redeem myself and have fun applauding/screaming at my television when one of my round picks advances.
Since there is still one game to be decided in the Eastern Conference today, I'm going to start with the Western Conference, write about the Eastern Conference sometime tomorrow, and consolidate the two with my Stanley Cup winner on Tuesday or Wednesday. The playoffs start on Tuesday, so everyone wash your jerseys, stock up your beer cooler and say your goodbyes to your loved ones for the next month. Why?
Because it's the Cup.
2013 WESTERN CONFERENCE PREDICTIONS (QUARTER-FINALS)
No. 1 Chicago Blackhawks vs. No. 8 Minnesota Wild
Predicted Winner: Blackhawks
Reasoning: The Chicago Blackhawks have had a season for the record books. Granted, they had the advantage of a shortened season due to the NHL lockout, but the Blackhawks have been on top all year and haven't shown signs of budging. They finished with the NHL's best record (36-7-5), had the highest goals for/goals against ratio (+53) and dominated with points leaders. Patrick Kane was fifth in the NHL in points (55) and fifth in goals (23). The team's goaltenders, Corey Crawford and Ray Emery, ranked third and fourth for goals against average respectively, sharing a 1.94 GAA. Jonathan Toews had the league's third-highest plus-minus rating at 28. To sum things up for the Wild, they had no league leaders this season and boasted a mediocre record of 26-19-3. The Wild is also the only team in the Western playoffs with a negative goals for/goals against ratio (-5). This series will go five games at best (if the Wild are that lucky). Otherwise, don't expect Chicago to break a sweat.
No. 2 Anaheim Ducks vs. No. 7 Detroit Red Wings
Predicted Winner: Ducks
Reasoning: Any other year in playoff, I would always put my money on the Red Wings to go through the first round with little competition. They have been my favorite team in the West for a while, but this is the first time I'm going to give them a thumbs down. Other than the fact Detroit is seventh seed right now, the Red Wings and the Ducks look quite equal on paper. Anaheim had a successful season with a 30-12-6 record. The Red Wings had a little bit of trouble with a 24-16-8 record to finish out the season (10 points behind the Ducks). What is going to kill Detroit is their lackluster away record (11-9-4), especially with the Duck's home-ice advantage. The Red Wings goals for/goals against average wasn't anything to applaud at just +9 compared to the Duck's +22. The two things that would save the Red Wings at this point would be their goaltending and momentum from a season-ending four-game win streak. This is all wishful thinking on my behalf, however. I think the Red Wings will still put up a fight. I see this series going at least six games.
No. 3 Vancouver Canucks vs. No. 6 San Jose Sharks
Predicted Winner: Sharks
Reasoning: Vancouver and San Jose are veterans of the playoff scene in the West. Vancouver even had a shot at the Stanley Cup in 2011 but were cut short by the Boston Bruins, despite the former being the No. 1 seed in the West. Last year, the Canucks were also the No.1 seed and lost in the first round to the eighth-seeded L.A. Kings. It's this choking mentality that puts the Sharks in favor in the first round. The Canucks are a shadow of their former glory. Their goaltender, Roberto Luongo, hasn't been able to stay consistent after repeated disappointing playoff runs. The Sedin twins, who led the league in assists and points without competition, haven't made their usual impact. San Jose has had better luck with goalie Antti Niemi, who shared a three-way tie for most wins this season (24). The biggest threat to San Jose is their away record (8-14-2) since Vancouver has home-ice advantage, but the Sharks took Vancouver to the cleaner all three times they faced off this season. This series will go about six or seven games with both teams fighting hard.
No. 4 St. Louis Blues vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Kings
Predicted Winner: Kings
Reasoning: The Kings are suffering the Stanley Cup curse experienced by most teams who try to repeat their previous success. The Blackhawks had similar bad luck when they won the cup in 2010 and barely made playoffs the following season. Fifth place in the West isn't bad, and it's actually better than where the Kings were last year (eighth). The Blues are also in a good spot, but they haven't had a good season against the Kings (St. Louis lost all three meets against the Kings). The numbers between the two teams are almost identical with the Kings having a slight advantage. The biggest challenge to the Kings is the Blues' home-ice advantage (The Kings were 8-12-4 away.) The Blues also have to worry about the Kings' offense (Kings' forward Jeff Carter had 26 goals this season, the fourth highest in the league.) I don't envision the Blues going down easy, so this meet can go six, seven games easily.
WESTERN CONFERENCE PREDICTIONS (SEMI-FINALS)
No. 1 Chicago Blackhawks vs. No. 5 Los Angeles Kings
Predicted Winner: Blackhawks
Reasoning: The Kings made their case last year when they knocked the No. 1 Vancouver Canucks on their back ends. Depending on how the Kings perform in the first round, they have a chance at making a repeat. The difference between last year's Canucks and this year's Blackhawks, however, is the Blackhawks don't typically choke. The Blackhawks dominated the year they beat the Philadelphia Flyers (who had a similar Cinderella story to the Kings). The Kings and Blackhawks didn't face off in the playoffs when both teams played last year, so who knows if the outcome would have been different. Regardless, the Blackhawks have the better offense, better defense, better goaltending and better records all around. The crutch for the Kings is their previously mentioned away record, and this will kill them in Chicago, where the Blackhawks had only three regular-season loses all season. If the Kings have similar momentum to last year, they may win a game or two, but I don't see this series going past six games at most.
No. 2 Anaheim Ducks vs. No. 3 San Jose
Predicted Winner: Ducks
Reasoning: This should be a pretty awesome series. The biggest factor will be goaltending, with both teams having stellar goalies. The Ducks have Jonas Hiller, who has seen playoff action and performed well. The Sharks have Antti Niemi, who is also no stranger to playoffs. This will be a low-scoring series, but that doesn't mean both teams don't have firepower. Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan are two of my favorite forwards on the Ducks roster. They're both young and have skilled shooting. Meanwhile, the Sharks boast a veteran squad with forwards Scott Gomez, Martin Havlat, Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. No team in the West has a stronger group of vets beside the Detroit Red Wings. The biggest flaw for San Jose is their away record, but anything goes in the playoffs. This will also be a long series -- easily going into six or seven games.
WESTERN CONFERENCE PREDICTIONS (WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS)
No. 1 Chicago Blackhawks vs. No. 2 Anaheim Ducks
Predicted Winner: Blackhawks
Reasoning: These have been the two best teams in the West all season. It's not too surprising that I would choose these two going into the Western Conference finals. Both teams had impressive home and away records, so I don't think home-ice advantage will have the same effect as it has the other games. Both had high scoring and great goaltending. Out of these two factors, I think scoring will be the most important in this series. This is where the Blackhawks dominate. Chicago was second in goal scoring this season (behind the Pittsburgh Penguins). They have more than enough players who know how to do it, including Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp and Jonathan Toews (all who won the cup in 2010). Corey Crawford has done an impressive job in net this season and should hold his own to advance the Blackhawks to the finals. This will be a tough series, will go six or seven games and will be one hell of a match-up.
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