After watching PJ Swenson’s great Stanley Cup interview and with the (weak) hubbub surrounding the NHL All-Star game, I couldn’t help but think to a few months from now when the games start to matter again.
With all that in mind, I thought it would be fun to conjure up the most appealing Western Conference playoff matchups that are within the realm of reason (sorry Kings and Oilers fans).
Detroit vs. Colorado
After all these years, the Red Wings still are the gold standard of the NHL and Joe Sakic is still considered the face of the former Nordiques franchise (even if this season is marred by injuries).
But chances are, at least in the case of Quoteless Joe, that the times will be changing soon enough. So wouldn’t it be nice to watch one last battle of the NHL’s greatest modern blood feud? Hell, maybe we can even get Claude Lemieux to turtle on the ice during the ceremonial first drop of the puck.
For the record, if the playoffs started today, this would be the first round pairing.
Minnesota/Columbus vs. Dallas
I lump those two teams together for a simple reason: both teams bring Ghosts of the Stars Hockey Past. The atmosphere in Minnesota when the Stars came to town during the playoffs, with former North Star (can you believe he actually skated with an N on his jersey at one point?) Mike Modano would be surreal. And that would be good, because aside from a Ribeiro deke here and a Gaborik breakaway there, the games would probably be bland enough to put Mario Lemieux in a trap induced coma.
The Columbus Blue Jackets would bring The Ghost of Stanley Cup Past in the form of former head coach Ken Hitchcock. Could the formerly mustachioed former coach lead his ragtag group of upstarts past his older, more talented former team? That would be an interesting storyline, no doubt.
Detroit vs. Vancouver
The best team in the league against the league’s best goalie…it really doesn’t get much better than that. Also: could the Sedintwins use their super secret Swedish doppelganger tricks to bedevil mechadefenseman Niklas Lidstrom? (No)
Calgary vs. San Jose
Joe Thornton vs. Jarome Iginla; Kipper vs. Nabby; Mike Keenan vs. Ron Wilson; a big, talented offense against a big, tough defense. This series would feature enough contrasting elements that people would grow ill from Irresistible Force vs. Immovable Object references.
Detroit vs. Anaheim
It would be a travesty if the best series from last year’s playoffs didn’t take place again. If I were a gambling man, I would put money on that being the WCF for a second year in a row. Who would win? That’s hard to say.
But the Ducks would have the man curse that is Bertuzzi on their “side” this time around.
As great as all of these matchups would be, the only battle that has to happen is the one you saw coming a mile away
San Jose vs. Anaheim
This needs to be the year that the Battle of California takes place. Come on guys, seriously. Stop teasing us.
I never thought it would happen, but it did. I got attached to the Dallas Stars.
The moment that Trevor "Seriously, I only score big goals. I don't score any other goals but big ones." Linden made it 2-1, I started feeling depressed. And when I saw American Hero Mike Modano with tears rolling down his pop-star shagging face, I got REALLY depressed.
All apologies for my lack of posting over this crucial Stars (near) comeback, but believe me, I was watching at the edge of my seat (which, by the way, is apparently far away from a computer).
For now, I'll leave you with a hodgepodge of thoughts. As far as future Stars posting, I'd like to do so, especially since Rudy Kelly is the Roberto Luongo to my Marty Turco when it comes to Kings posts.
(OK, maybe Luongo to Roman Cechmanek.)
Anyway, here's the hodgepodge as promised:
I'm not the first person to mention this, as 1310 The Ticket covered this base. But in case you didn't get access to the My 27 telecast of the Stars game, a considerable moment of announcer-based jinxing occurred. The channel featured a graphical overlay detailing Turco's crazy shutout streak, ignorantly looking past the fact that the Canucks were outshooting the Stars 12-1 at that point in the 2nd period . If that wasn't enough, Razor Reaugh just about put "the whammy" on Turco by saying that nothing short of an accident would allow a goal to squeak past Turco. In that same minute, Henrik Sedin "accidentally" scored a nice one-timer PP goal on Turco. Whoops.
By my completely unscientific count, Luongo easily had 2 "You've-gotta-be-kidding me" saves per game in this series. His save on Stu Barnes in the 3rd period was outright astounding.
Here's my "No Shit" observation: Turco wasn't at fault. In fact, Razor Reaugh and company were wise to point out an interesting fact about Turco's collegiate career: he was 9-2 in elimination games at the University of Michigan. Time to blame Tippett.
Boucher was a disappointment in this series.
Norstrom came as advertised: he was a very solid and (counter to my regular season observations) noticable defensive player. He drew a key penalty by taking the puck deep into the Canucks zone and did a great job throughout the series.
So much for the resurrection of Markus Naslund. Two seasons ago, he was my first-round pick in a fantasy hockey draft. Now he'd be lucky to be my third LW. Naslund might be the last person in hockey to think that Todd Bertuzzi has anything to offer the world.
Someone needs to introduce the Canucks to the front of the net. Or they should at least find a couple of North American scoring threats.
Luongo or not, the New York Rangers are probably the only team in the second round that I'd rather face than the Canucks.
People with time on your hands, please research this for me. Turco shut out the Canucks three times in this series. Has any team lost a playoff match where the goalie got 2 shutouts, let alone 3? Crazy.
Now, if you don't mind me I'm just going to cry take care of my itchy eyes.
Damn Scott Burnside. The guy covered a lot of the same bases I was going to, including using the phrase "The Nagy Factor." Dammit.
While Burnside did a great job with his preview, I figured the series could use a "Dr. Z" from Sports Illustrated-style breakdown. Of course, this will probably make me look an idiot.
Matchup #1: Canucks O vs. Stars D
Meet theSedin twins. After the Canucks oddly drafted the twins with back-to-back picks, they quickly drew the mocking attention of anyone who loves to make fun of Gingers and twins [read: anyone who is neither a Ginger, nor a twin].
Is it me or is there an unspoken list of OK groups to discriminate against? To my knowledge, there are three key groups of people.
1. Too-tall-to-be-coordinated people such as George Muresan.
2.Poor, defenseless bald men [special kudos to bald-in-denial icons such as Hulk Hogan and Clippers center Chris Kaman - who to my disgust shaved his head]
3. And finally, awkward male twins.
I think it says something about our society. OK, that's not really true.
What was I talking about again? Oh, right...the Canucks under-powered offense v. the Stars clingy defense.
As Burnside beat me to saying, the Canucks certainly don't have a ton of offense beyond the puck cycling mania of the Sedin twins. It's kind of amazing that people were raving about the "package deal" possibility of Forsberg-Naslund, when the superior Swede duo was right under their nose. [At least when you consider Foppa's health issues and Naslund's decline]
Naslund is not quite the factor he used to be, and even in his gravy days the Canucks did little in the playoffs.
The Stars D might not have the same kind of muscle that the Canucks D does, but do you really need much beef against the dainty Canucks?
Edge: Stars D
Funny commercial edge: Sedin twins
Matchup #2:Stars O v. Canucks D
The Stars haven't exactly been the poster-children for the New NHL. This is my way of saying that they, for the most part, have the aesthetic drawing power of Wet T-Shirt contest between Rosie O'Donnell and John Goodman.
They did make things a little bit less agonizing by adding oomph in Ladislav Nagy and Mike Ribeiro, but that won't make people confuse them with the Buffalo Sabres.
The Stars O needs to continue their positive trend of being one of the best teams at coming back from deficits, but even more important, they need to protect Turco with the occasional early lead.
Sadly for the Stars, this is not very likely.
Edge: Canucks D
Matchup #3: Special teams
OK, I'll level with you on this one: I don't have a clue. The Canucks have a fantastic PK and so do the Stars. The Stars have a slightly better powerplay, with two defensemen in Boucher and Zubov who can light it up.
Slight Edge: Stars
Real Edge: Bloggers who research and use statistics
Matchup #4: Goaltending
On some level, I cannot help but think: Turco's a good goalie, right? Sooner or later, much like the Ottawa Senators, something has to go right. Right?
I mean, really, Turco was great at the All-Star game when he was mic'd up. You feel bad for the guy, especially since the Stars playoff seeding didn't always reflect the talent on their roster for the past few runs.
But man, Turco didn't get the hot chick hanging out with eyesore treatment with this one. With all that pressure on Turco not to choke, the sad fact is that he could stand on his head and still very likely be the inferior goalie.
Luongois a playoff newbie, but with all the hype he's encountered over the years, who would have thought that the other guy would be on the hot seat?
Edge: Luongo gets the nod while the Stars suffocate Turco with "When will the other shoe drop?" talk.
Fearful prediction: I don't know why, but I can't help but pick the Stars 4-2, since a game 7 might make Turco implode. Pass the antacid.
I lump those two teams together for a simple reason: both teams bring Ghosts of the Stars Hockey Past. The atmosphere in 
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