I haven't published on this blog in a while because of a trip I took but I'm back with another general news update. This week I'll be talking about Sid Crosby and the high powered Pittsburgh Penguins, the Duncan Keith and Daniel Sedin incident and the race for eighth place in both conferences. My thoughts on Radulov can be found here so I won't write about him in this post. It's been busy around the NHL since I last wrote so this post should get me back caught up before the playoffs happen.
First, Sid Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. At this point they are the clear favorites to win the Stanley Cup because they have so much offense, steady defence and a strong goaltender. Crosby's return a couple weeks ago gave roved their depth because even without out him they were on a eight game winning streak and close to passing New York for first in the conference. Most of that can be attributed to the play of Evgeni Malkin who leads the league in points with 97 and James Neal who has emerged as a big time scorer with 35 goals. Add Crosby to the mix and they have three of the most talented offensive players in the game on their team. However, what separates Pittsburgh from other teams is their depth. Middle six forwards such as Chris Kunitz, Pascal Dupis, Matt Cooke and Jordan Staal are having career years and giving the Pens plenty of secondary scoring. Their defence is also deep with Kris Letang and Paul Martin leading the way offensively while Brooks Orpik and Zbneyk Michalek blocking shots and shutting down opponents. Add the 41 wins by Marc Andre Fleury and you have a team in Pittsburgh that can do now wrong. They will certainly be one of the more exciting teams to watch this playoff and they should be expected to go on a long run this year.
This past Wednesday in a game between the Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks, an incident occurred that sparked the head hit/concussion debate again. Hawks defenceman Duncan Keith elbowed Canucks forward Daniel Sedin in the head in a very obvious manner. Keith made no effort to get the puck or avoid Sedin's head and instead recklessly targeted him. Sedin left the game and hang played since because of concussion like symptoms similar to Sid Crosby of Pittsburgh and Nick Backstrom of Washington. The hit that knocked Backstrom out since January got Rene Bourque a 5 game suspension and Brendan Shanahan likely compared those two incidents when deciding on Keith's suspension. It was noted that Sedin hit Keith about 30 seconds earlier in the shift and that both players were stars on their team. Keith was eventually given a 5 game suspension.
I feel five games isn't enough. Ron Maclean made a point on hockey night this past Saturday when he said what Keith is giving up may actually help the Hawks. He only loses $100 000 of his salary on a contract that sees him get close to $6 million every year for 10 more years. Plus he will be healthy and rested by the playoffs because he won't be playing. Sedin also will miss more than five games and without him in the playoffs Vancouver won't go far. Keith may have knocked the whole Canucks team out of contention past the first round this year. For those reasons and for the after effect of the play, I think Keith should have got 10 games at least. I understand how it will be really hard to take a player like that away from a team in the playoffs but he did that to Vancouver's roster. Shanahan is going to find himself in a tougher position once the playoffs come around and it will be interesting to see how he reacts to any dangerous hits.
The playoffs start on April 11th meaning the end of the season is fast approaching. Some teams have already clinched playoff spots and others have been mathematically eliminated, but some teams fates are still up in the air. In the Western conference Colorado is battling with 4 Pacific division teams for 7th and 8th. One of the Pacifc teams will get 3rd by winning the division but any of them cold easily get it. LA, San Jose, Dallas and Phoniex all have good teams. But Dallas and Phoneix don't have enough offense to compete with the other three and so my prediction for the last spots are
3rd place and Pacifc Divsion winner: San Joes Sharks
7th place: Colorado Avalanche
8th place: LA Kings.
Now to the Eastern Conference. This race was a lot closer a couple weeks ago but teams like Toronto, Tampa Bay, Carolina and Winnipeg have been struggling lately which virtually eliminate them. Washington, Buffalo and Ottawa are the 3 teams left for 2 playoff spots and this race will come down to the wire. The Sabers rely completely on their goalie Ryan Miller and he has been red hot lately. Ottawa seemed like a lock about a month ago but a bunch of recent loses (and a big win against Pittsburgh) has them barely holding on to 7th. And Washington got promising news that Nick Backstrom was cleared for practice and Alex Ovechkin has emerged as a goal scorer again which could see them get in. So my prediction is:
7th place: Ottawa Senators
8th Place: Buffalo Sabers
That's my recap for this week. With the OHL playoffs starting this past Thursday and my hometown Windsor Spitfires barely getting in, I'll get to go to at least one more game as press for them when the host the London Knights in game 4 of their first round series. The Knights are ranked second in Canada and already have a 2 game series lead which means this Thursdays game could be the last home game of the year. I hope to get some interviews with the Spits and some Knights after that game and have them up in a post on Friday.
As always feel free to comment below this post or send your thoughts to josh@jbenny.com. My website is www.jbenny.com and my twitter is @jbenny15. Thanks for reading.
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