The Stanley Cup Playoffs - Goon's Predictions

Who do you like to win Lord Stanley's Cup? I am taking the Boston Bruins to repeat as the Champs? What do you think? Who is your pick to win it all?

Western Division

1 Vancouver Canucks vs. 8. L.A. Kings – 1 Vancouver Canucks

2 St. Louis Blues  vs. 7 SJ Sharks – 2 St Louis Blues

3 Phoenix Coyotes vs. 6 Chicago Blackhawks – 6 Chicago Blackhawks 

4 Nashville Predators vs. 5 Detroit Redwings – 5 Detroit Redwings 

Conference Semis

1 Vancouver Canucks vs. 6 Chicago Blackhawks – Vancouver Canucks

2 St Louis Blues vs. 5 Detroit Redwings – St Louis Blues

Western Conference Finals

Vancouver Canucks vs. St Louis Blues – St Louis Blues.

Eastern Division

1 New York Rangers vs. 8 Ottawa Senators – 1 New York Rangers

2 Boston Bruins vs. 7 Washington Capitals – 2 Boston Bruins

3 Florida Panthers vs. 6 New Jersey Devils – 6 New Jersey Devils

4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5 Philadelphia Flyers – 4 Pittsburg Penguins

Conference Semi Finals

1 New York Rangers vs. 6 New Jersey Devils – New York Rangers

2 Boston Bruins vs. 4 Pittsburg Penguins – Boston Bruins

Conference Finals

1 New York Rangers vs. 2 Boston Bruins – Boston Bruins

Stanley Cup Finals

St Louis Blues vs. Boston Bruins – Boston Bruins

Visa Hockey Love Hurts

A person sent me this in an email today and I found this commercial to be very funny. Watching your favorite team either not make the playoffs or lose in the playoffs is tough to handle and sometimes it takes a few days to get over the sting of losing.

As a fan of the NHL's Boston Bruins, I had this same feeling for a very long time until they won it all last season.  Enjoy the video.

Brian Elliott's sick save against the Sharks.

Check out this really sick goalies save by former Badger goalie Brian Elliott on San Jose Shark Dan Boyle. I am sure that will probably be a candidate to be on of the top ten saves of the week. Elliot was making his season debut for the Blues and stopped 34/36 shots to give the Blues the win.

Jason Blake's arm cut in game against Sharks

This isn't pretty and I hope that former Fighting Sioux forward Jason Blake isn't hurt too bad. Let's hope that Jason makes a speedy recovery and will be back in the Duck's line up soon.

Los Angeles Times --- Ducks forward Jason Blake was taken to UCI Medical Center in Orange and was in need of sutures Friday night after suffering what was described as a severe cut on his left forearm late in the team’s 1-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks at Honda Center.

Blake, 38, was injured almost midway through the final period of the Ducks’ home opener. He was taken out of the arena on a special stretcher that allowed him to keep his arm upright as he was sitting, not lying on his back, a team spokesman said.

There is a God; Wild trade James Sheppard.

Image via WikipediaWow! This summer has turned out to be pretty good for the Minnesota Wild, they have made another note worthy trade, the Minnesota Wild finally unloaded Wild waste of a serviceable uniform James Sheppard.

Sheppard once labeled untouchable by former GM buffoon Doug Risebrough has been nothing less than an utter disappointment with the Minnesota Wild.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose and Minnesota have made their third trade of the off-season, with centre James Sheppard going from the Wild to the Sharks on Sunday for a third-round draft pick in 2013.

Sheppard was the ninth overall pick in the 2006 draft, but the native of Lower Sackville, N.S., never performed up to his first-round potential. He missed all of last season after breaking his left kneecap in an off-ice accident. Sheppard has 11 goals and 38 assists in 224 career games.

Sheppard was a restricted free agent, but he has already a signed contract with the Sharks.

In June, San Jose sent Devin Setoguchi as part of a package to Minnesota for all-star defenceman Brent Burns. Last month, the Sharks traded Dany Heatley to the Wild for Martin Havlat.

Related articles

• Sharks acquire centre James Sheppard from Wild for a 2013 draft pick (thehockeynews.com)
• Sharks acquire centre James Sheppard from Wild (theglobeandmail.com)
• Sharks acquire C James Sheppard from Wild (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Sharks Acquire C James Sheppard From Wild (abcnews.go.com)
• Sharks Acquire C James Sheppard From Wild (nytimes.com)

Wild Trade Martin Havlat for Ex-Badger Dany Heatley

Image via WikipediaWe don't need no stinking Badgers... I have to say that I am still in a state of shock, the Minnesota Wild pull off their second major block buster trade of the offseason in less than two weeks. Just 9 days ago the Minnesota Wild traded defenseman Brent Burns to the Sharks for forward Devin Setoguchi.

The Minnesota Wild have traded for ex-Wisconsin Badgers star and San Jose Shark Dany Heatley in exchange the Sharks get much injured and soft Martin Havlat. This could be a great trade because the Wild get their much need offensive threat after losing Marian Gaborik to the New York Rangers.

Carly Peters - Digital Media Coordinator “We are excited to add Dany Heatley, one of the top goal scorers in the NHL, to our team,” said Fletcher. “He is a quality player who has averaged more than a point a game in his nine-year career.”

Heatley recorded 64 points (26-38=64) in 80 games last season with the Sharks. The 30-year-old native of Freiburg, Germany ranked tied for 12th in the NHL with 11 power-play goals and added five game-winning goals. Heatley added nine points (3-6=9) in 18 playoff games. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound winger ranks first in the NHL in power-play goals (128) and game-winning goals (58), third in goals and fifth in points since he entered the league in 2001. He has has collected 689 points (325-364=689) in 669 career contests in nine seasons with Atlanta, Ottawa and San Jose. He was the winner of the 2002 Calder Memorial Trophy, named to the 2006 NHL Second All-Star Team, the 2007 First All-Star Team and has been named to the NHL All-Star Game four times.

Heatley is familiar with the midwest, having played two seasons (1999-2001) at the University of Wisconsin, where he notched 113 points (52-61=113) in 77 games and was named the 2000 WCHA Rookie of the Year and to the 2001 NCAA West First All-American Team. He was originally selected by the Thrashers with the second overall pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft.

Havlat tallied 116 points (40-76=116) in 151 games in two seasons with Minnesota. The 30-year-old has recorded 512 points (209-303=512) in 621 career NHL games with Ottawa, Chicago and the Wild.

You have to wonder if the Wild are done making moves? This could turn out being a very exciting summer. The Wild have some exciting young talent waiting in the wings as well in Zucker, Larsson, and Granlund.

San Jose Sharks hosed...

It would appear that the San Jose Sharks were hosed by a controversial icing call in the final seconds of regulation during the third period of Game 5. If you watch the video you will see that the puck hit Daniel Sedin in the shoulder and there shouldn't have been an icing call. Because of the blown icing call the Vancouver Canucks were able to score off of the face off to tie the game and send the game to overtime. The Canucks would go on to win in the second over time off of a goal by Canucks hack defenseman Kevin Bieksa.

Canucks wait the winner of Bruins and Bolts...

What a horrible way to end a terrific game. I think this game was an instant classic, unfortunately the Vancouver Canucks won... Don't get me wrong the best team won. Honestly, I really thought the San Jose Sharks were going to win tonight and return the series to San Jose, but it wasn't to be. I don't think we can tag the Canucks as a team of destiny, just yet. There is a lot of hockey left.

On the Vancouver Canucks, they are the most unlikeable hockey team in the NHL next to the "Les Habitants," personally, I can't stand them, they're extremely cocky, they run their mouths continuously, and some hockey fans and media pundits have already penciled them in as the Stanley Cup Champions.You shouldn't, they haven't won nothing yet. If the Canucks want to be Stanley Cup Champions they are going to have to earn Lord Stanley's Cup, because whoever wins the Eastern Conference final is going to bring it, both Tampa Bay and Boston are going to give the Canucks everything they can handle.


That being said, the Vancouver Canucks are a pretty  very good hockey team, they have decent defensive corps; just think, Keith Ballard is their 7th defenseman, that's how deep they are. They Canucks are deep up front and the Sedin Twins are very dangerous and you must be aware where they are on the ice at all times. 


Jumbo Joe one tough guy.

It was revealed after the game tonight that San Jose Forward Joe Thornton was playing with a separated shoulder in game five. Ouch.... I can't imagine playing a contact sport like hockey with a separated shoulders, Joe Thornton must have a high pain threshold to be able to play with that injury.

Ryane Clowe tap on Ryan Kessler...

Holy Cow! Are you kidding me? The dive by Canucks forward Ryan Kessler was worse than I had originally thought it was... If you watch the video you will see that San Jose Sharks forward Ryan Clowe barely touched Ryan Kessler who then flops to the ice like he has been shot.... If you noticed the announcers didn't spend a lot of time talking about the Clowe love tap either, also look how concerned Kessler's teammates were as well, they knew. What a fraud!!! This Vancouver Canucks team is a bunch of phonies that looked like they spent last summer taking acting and drama classes. These clown Vancouver Canucks throw their head back any time they are touched by the San Jose Sharks. 

Keith Ballard check on Jamie McGinn

Wow!!! I have to say, what a beautiful old style hip check by former Minnesota Gopher and Vancouver Defenseman Keith Ballard. Ballard had been a healthy scratch for most of the Stanley Cup Playoffs; Ballard's benching went back to game two of  the first round of the NHL playoffs against the Blackhawks where he was replaced in the line up by Canucks rookie defenseman Aaron Rome. Ballard was given a second chance today when Aaron Rome was injured in game three on a check by Jamie McGinn.

Sharks Joe Thornton is hit by the Canucks' Raffi Torres

This is the hit that injured Sharks star forward Joe Thornton... Not much you can say about the hit, it was a clean shoulder to shoulder check by Canucks' hack Raffi Torres. According to the Sharks head Coach Todd McLellan there is no update on Joe Thornton at this time. Being it’s a knock out game for the San Jose Sharks, you have to think that unless something is broken, Joe Thornton will probably be in the line up for game five.

Sharks' McGinn will not be suspended for hit on Rome.

Vancouver Sun Image

I believe that is the right decision by the NHL. Seriously, watching the game in time I thought the hit was barely worthy on a penalty. Just my humble opinion… In fact I was watching this game with my buddy and after the McGinn hit Rome he said, “play that hit back again” in watching the hit, I don’t think it warranted a five minute penalty. What do you think? I am sure there are Canucks fans that are upset with the hit, so what? The fact that the league reviewed this hit is a puzzler to me because there were worse hits that went un-penalized by the NHL Wheel of Justice during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If you want to take a look at the hit you can click on the hit [on this link]

TSN.CA STAFF ---- There will be no supplementary discipline against San Jose forward Jamie McGinn, who received a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct in the third period of Friday's Western Conference final.

McGinn had a hearing Saturday with NHL hockey operations, and learned he did not face a suspension after a review of the incident.

McGinn, who drew into the lineup after watching Games 1 and 2, received a five-minute boarding call for his hit on Vancouver Canucks defenceman Aaron Rome. Rome had to be helped off the ice after the hit and didn't return.

The Sharks trail the series 2-1 after winning a Conference Final game on home ice for the first time in franchise history.

Game 4 is Sunday in San Jose.

Jamie McGinn boards Aaron Rome hearing today from NHL

San Jose Sharks leftwinger Jamie McGinn has a hearing with the NHL for this hit on Vancouver Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome according to @TSNBobMcKenzie.

SJS Jamie McGinn has disciplinary hearing with NHL this afternoon for hit on VAN's Aaron Rome.

So in your opinion is this hit worthy of a suspension? Based on what the NHL has let go in the playoffs I wouldn't be surprised if no suspension is giving on the hit.

Ben Eager on Bieksa, "he's a phony"

While it's no mystery that San Jose Sharks forward Ben Eager is a bit of a meat head and had a very rough game last night and he could be looking at a suspension from the NHL after he smoked Daniel Sedin from behind with an unneeded vicious boarding penalty. Eager looked like he was going to come unhinged on the San Jose Sharks players bench last night following the Kevin Bieksa and Patrick Marleau fight, all things considered Eager does have a valid point; Kevin Bieksa does like to go after the opposition's talented guys that don't fight and shies away from fighting the heavy weights and though guys that are known for racking up fighting majors and penalty minutes in the NHL. In case anyone forgot, Kevin Bieksa went after a non fighter in Chicago Blackhawks forward Viktor Stalberg during the first round of the NHL playoffs.

"We've seen that before with Kevin," said Ben Eager. "It's sad that someone's gonna sign him for big money when he's a phony. He goes after our top players. He's been asked many times, by lots of players throughout the League (to fight), and he's declined."

So it would appear that the Vancouver sports writers might have short memories when it comes to their beloved player hack Kevin Bieksa. While Eager might like the moral high ground in this situation and is a documented meat head, a bit of a loose cannon and acted like an unhinged psychopath that cost his team a power play goal, by taking an unneeded penalty and frankly should be watching game three from the press box. Seriously, you can’t really take him to task for speaking the truth, can you? Even if the Vancouver Media and fans have a short memory, it's a proven fact that Kevin Bieksa does pick his spots when it comes to fighting, so the Vancouver Canucks beat writers and fans might want to take their blue, green, silver, white goggles off when looking at this situation.

Eager, of course, couldn’t leave it at that, and after taking 20 minutes in penalties and damaging his team’s chances to win, he called Bieksa a phony in the post-game locker room, accusing him of picking his spots and not fighting the real tough guys.

“I’m not going to say too much about that,” said Bieksa. “Right now, my focus is on winning the series, and if they want to worry about that kind of stuff, that’s to our advantage. Our power play did a great job tonight of making them pay for some of their penalties.”

 I think it's safe to say that this series is going to get more exciting going into games three and four in San Jose. It will also be interesting to see if the Sharks can at least put up a fight and contest this series and not just let the Canucks take them to the woodshed. 

Kevin Bieksa vs Patrick Marleau

If I was the head coach of the San Jose Sharks, I am not so sure that I would encourage one of my top offensive players; that being Patrick Marleau to fight a tough hack guy like Kevin Bieksa, who has already fought three times during this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs.

I don't know, you would think that the Sharks wouldn't want to risk Patrick Marleau getting hurt by breaking a hand smashing Bieksa in the face. I understand that Marleau is trying to rally his team but there are others on the Sharks team that could have fought. Ben Eager would have been a better candidate based on the fact that his stupidity cost the Sharks a power play goal.

Incidentally, since Jeremy Roenick Called Patrick Marleau gutless on national television Marleau has picked up his game scoring three points in his last three games (3g-0a-3pts). So you do have to give Marleau credit for stepping up and challenging a player like Bieksa.

 

conference finals predictions

Boston Bruins vs Tampa Bay Lightning: i find this series to be really interesting. Tampa Bay has the firepower to match any team with guys like Vincent Lacavailer and Martin St. Louis. the Boston Bruins have gotten good goaltending throughout the playoffs from Tim Thomas and Tampa Bay has as well with Dwayne Roloson. If Boston wants to win the series they will need to activate their defenseman into offensive zone and to take advantage of Chara's rocket shot from the point. the bruins need to break down Tampa Bay's 1-3-1 trap and to get their big guys like Milan Lucic and Michael Ryder in front of Roloson who is very good at stopping the first shot and doesn't give up a lot of rebounds. If Tampa Bay wants to win they will want to keep getting points from guys like dominic moore and teddy purcell to help out the big guns and for Roloson to shut down boston's top line of Lucic,Horton, and Krejci. I like the Bruins in 6 games because of the play of Tim Thomas in these playoffs, he has been amazing and i think the Bruins top line is going to have a big series.
Guys to Watch in this series: Krejci, BOS and Martin St. Louis, TB

San Jose Sharks vs Vancouver Canucks: in the western conference we have a battle of two teams that at times in the playoffs have been very inconsistent and have giving up big leads in previous series. I think we haven't seen the best of the Sedin Twins yet and expecting them to have a big series. the MVP of the playoffs so far has been Ryan Kesler, who seems like he is a man on a mission so far and is dominating every facet of the game. He is seen as one of the best two-way players in the NHL. The key for the Sharks to win this series is too shut down the Sedins and Kesler. The play of Dan Boyle of SJ in the playoffs has been amazing and he has made some key defensive plays as well as setting up a lot of offensive chances. Devin Setoguchi has also had a great playoff run so far and look for that to continue in this series. Anetti Niemi had a great series vs the Red Wings and that save he made vs Datsyuk in game 7 was just awesome. this series is going to come down to goaltending and i think Niemi has the advantage over Roberto Luongo in this series because Luongo has been very inconsistent throughout the playoffs and i think Niemi is coming into this series with a lot of confidence after taking down the red wings. i like the San Jose Sharks In 6 games because of the play of Niemi
Guys to Watch in this Series: Joe Thornton, SJ and Ryan Kesler, VAN

2010-2011 Detroit Redwings Season Reflection (REDWING77)

Check out 1:08 and the last 40 seconds of this film. Incredible. Datsyuk is good.


What a Year

We had our ups and downs or lefts and rights, so to speak, but our year has come to an end thanks to an incredible Game 7 performance by the San Jose Sharks. Interesting, to me, that the goaltender that did us in was the same goaltender that last year was cast aside as being a nice story but will be the soft spot that will eventually sink the Hawks. I wonder how Philly is feeling knowing that they could've gotten Niemi if they wanted him. To be honest, I'm not even sure they tried.

What a Career

It's largely anticipated, if it hasn't already been announced, that Mike Modano will retire from hockey. This is a guy who has been incredible for pretty much his entire career. He put the US on the map when it comes to all time hockey greats. Sure, he's no Gretzky or Howe. However, until Modano came along, we were always the "Feel good" story to hockey. The "little brother God bless him" of hockey. It's true that Canada still dominates the hockey world and the hockey legend arena, and will probably do so for eternity to come, but it's nice to be in the mix.

I wish him the best and I thank him for being a team player his final year after being such a pivotal part of the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars organization.

Oh, and by the way, this was the guy who wanted to end his career in Minnesota. He wanted to sign with Minnesota after the lockout and Risebrough balked saying that Modano's game "wasn't compatible with the Wild system of hockey." It's not often that someone who is a surefire, first ballot Hall of Famer isn't described as a sure fire fit, even if the Hall of Famer to be is in the twilight of his career. That's ok. The Wild are great offensiv... ahm... Moving on...

I'd also say that Chris Osgood's career, at least as a Red Wing, is over. Or it should be. Can't imagine wanting to pay Osgood to be a backup when you had pretty good backup goaltending in Joey MacDonald and a potential NHL prospect in McCollum in the wings.

My Awards:

Unsung Hero: Nicklas Kronwall -> It's hard to call any Red Wing unsung. I wanted to put Franzen here, but how is he unsung? Kronwall is one of the best open ice hitters in the game and he can contribute in both the offensive and defensive zones. Maybe Jimmy Howard belongs here.

Most Improved Player: Abdelkader - The guy didn't impress me at all his rookie season. He did ok this year. Not top line good, but certainly much better at what he was asked to do.

Best Overall Player: Nicklas Lidstrom -> He's 41. He's better than most D half his age. And Chelious may have played longer but only Lidstrom has been effective almost his entire career.

Best 2 way forward: Pavel Datsyuk -> Need I explain this? Oh, and by the way, I wonder what GMs who drafted players before Datsyuk (he went in the 6th round) thought of him before he was drafted. It's not hard to imagine what they think of him now.

MVP: Datsyuk again. The guy is arguably top 5 among active players in terms of overall value to his team. I wonder what kind of frenzy would occur if he hit the free agent market?

The morning after; Sharks and Redwings game seven

Last night I witnessed one of the more climatic ending to a game seven that I have seen in some time, the Bruins and Habs series was pretty good as well during the first round, for disclosure, I have to admit that I am a Boston Bruins fans first and foremost, second; I am an NHL hockey fan so I will watch any team, at any time play hockey on television, I have had the NHL package on cable for at least 8 season in a row. Finally, I am more of a San Jose Sharks fan than I am a Detroit Redwings fan, that being said, it was hard to take my eyes off of the television screen last night, the action in this game was fast and furious, thank God this game wasn’t a clunker by any means. We had enough clunker games in the Nashville and Vancouver series.

Finality of a Knockout game

I also think that both teams in this series were very good solid balanced hockey teams – great talent through the forward lines, good defense and very good goaltending. Special team for both clubs are very good as well it was a shame that one of these two teams had to lose.

I believe that either team could have won this game/series if the bounces had gone their way. Last night the bounces went the Sharks way and they were able to stop a three games slide. The thing that made this series very good was that both teams got up and down the ice and the games were played at a fast pace, when one team got a few good scoring chances, the other would counter attacked very well in response.

Last night I thought the Sharks started the game the way they wanted, they got a two goal lead one off a very bad turnover and they limited the Redwings time and space. The Sharkswere very fast through the neutral zone and were generating offensive opportunities from the Redwings miscues and untimely turnovers.

It was a shame that one of these teams had to lose but that's hockey and I always love watching the teams at the end of a series shake hands and wish the other team well. It’s very interesting to watch the hand shake because both of these teams got after it during this series it was a very heated and contested series, unlike the later games of the Bruins and Flyers.

Pavel Datsyuk is awesome

After watching the Redwings the last couple of season I have to say that Pavel Datsyuk is currently one of the best two way players in the NHL and I would love to seem him on my favorite NHL (X2) teams. It was revealed that Datsyuk had an injured wrist and wasn’t taking faceoffs but still managed to score (2g-7a-9pts) and 8+ in seven games. If the Redwings had advanced to the finals I believe that Pavel Datsyuk would have been a very good candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

Joe Thornton should be ashamed of himself with this shameful dive.

h/t to Puck Daddy.. This is absolutely shameful and unbelievable, the league officials are starting to look like a joke when they let this stuff go on... Joe Thornton should be fined by the NHL for embelishment and should have been given a 10 minute misconduct for this despicable behavior. I mean seriously, are we to believe that little love tap from Johan Franzen would cause a big man like Joe Thornton to crumble to the ice like he had been shot. In looking at the video I am not sure Franzen even touched him. If I was Franzen I would be upset as well.

Joe Thornton OT winner

Joe Thornton has had a reputation for choking during the playoffs, if you don't believe me all you have to do is go to http://www.google.com and type Joe Thornton and Choke. I think last night Joe Thornton exercised some playoff demons.