The Eastern Conference Shuffle

The Eastern Conference has been like board games as of late. Teams have been up-down and in-and-out of the playoff picture, like Shoots and Ladders.

Grab your wooden letters, place them carefully and strategically on the Scrabble board. Spell out the name of your team, with the bonus letters in place, and they just might make the cut after tomorrow night.

If you roll the dice on Boardwalk and Park Place, you may just pass. Stop on 'Go,' you may collect a berth into the next round, or, you may just 'go-to-jail.

I have plenty of more cliches, but, you catch my drift.

Let's take a quick peek, starting with the Atlantic Division.

Aside from the Richard Zednik quick recovery, is there a better 'feel-good' story of the year than The Pittsburg Penguins? What looks to be, a back-to-back playoff run, the Penguins are on a roll. Without phenom Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin has stepped out from Sid's shadow, and has proven to be a superstar in the. He has helped carry the team-in the absence of Crosby-to the top of the division. They are now tied with the New Jersey Devils for the top rank in the Atlantic.

Philadelphia is slipping, slipping and struggling. Now, I got a lot of heat from you Forsberg haters-but he can only help you!

The Flyers are in the midst of a 7 game losing streak, without Simon Gagne. Hey Philly, he could be done for the season! Does that help you with the Forsberg potential signing?! The Flyers are just one-point away from slipping out from the playoff picture, into 9th overall place in the East.

And look-out for the New York Rangers. They are just a mere 4 points away from the top-spot-and playing very well lately.

Off to the SouthEast. Certainly, the weakest division-not only in the East-but in the entire league.

Just 6 points separate this entire division-from Carolina(64) to Tampa Bay(58).

The Washington Capitals(62) Atlanta Thrashers(62) and Florida Panthers(60) are in the mix. It looks as though the winner of this division will obviously move on, while the second tier team-well, will be hitting the links early.

I don't see Washington pulling it out with their goaltending-granted they have the best player in the league in Alex Ovechkin.

The Thrashers are almost guaranteed to deal their second best player in Marian Hossa. (to my Boston Bruins-please!) So, I say they're out.

And the Panthers have had their best player, Olli Jokinen, on-the-block forever now. How focused can they be? A nice team, but not gonna cut it.

Last, but not least, the Almighty NorthEast Division:

The Ottawa Senators have been one of the premiere teams in the last number of years. They got hit with a few key injuries this season-ie:Dany Heatley-yet still manage to stay on top of the leader board. They also landed a steal-of-a-trade by aquiring D Mike Commodore and Stanley Cup Vet LW Cory Stillman from Carolina.

Their goaltending has been suspect-of-late. Ray Emery has been an absolute bust this season; while Martin Gerber started off white-hot, but has faded into a mediocre netminder. Playoffs? For sure. Cup contenders? Not this year.

The Boston Bruins have been a .500 team, more-or-less, this season, in the toughest division in the East. All Stars Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard and Tim Thomas are literally carrying this team. That is-until Marian Hossa comes aboard! I'm not losing hope here folks. Watch the B's slip in that all-important 8th seed.

Finally: The Montreal Canadiens.

My Pick for the Stanley Cup this year. The entire team is playing so efficiently.  From top-to-bottom, the Canadiens are the quintessential team in the.

Between the pipes-Christobal Huet has got to be a Vezina Trophy front runner. Back-up rookie Carey price has done a phenomenal job, when called upon.

The offense is dominanting. Alex Kovalev and Tomas Planec have been the go-to-guys, while Mike Komisarek, Roman Hamerlik and Andrei Markov round out the tough D-line.

Keep your eyes peeled in this playoff chase. The right move will 'king-me,' while the bad play will end up in, "you sank my battleship." 

PS. T-Minus 8 days before the Bruins acquire Marian Hossa... 

 

 

 

 

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