Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Hannibal]

Pittsburgh in 5
Montreal in 7
Rangers in 7
Boston in 6
Chicago in 4
Anaheim in 7
San Jose in 7
LA in 6

[Hannibal]

My favorite time of the year other than opening week of college football and New Years Day

[Hannibal]

Ugh -- I'm reminded of why I hate late games so much. Anaheim vs Detroit is on only 2 and a half hours after the 7:30 game. We'll be lucky if we only miss the first five minutes.

Eastern Conference next year finally. Thank God

[Hannibal]

Looking at NHL realignment -- with next year's plan, the Islanders with 55 points would be knocked out of the playoffs, but Winnipeg would be in in the West with 51 points. I hope that they'll eventually go to a conference-less system where they just pick the Top 16 teams and give the four division winners seeds # 1 through 4.

[Tony G]

There have always been inequalities in the system. I won't get weepy over which not-quite-bottom-feeder team gets in or out. It's sort of like who gets into March Madness. Does anyone really care who team 67-62 are?

[Ghengis Jon]

All Original Six in the playoffs? When was the last time THAT happened?

[Hannibal]

2002, I think. But don't quote me.

[Tony G]

1939 When it was the original 6 not all the teams made the playoffs, only the top 4

[Tony G]

oh and also

1995-96 was the last time

Detroit, Chicago, and Toronto captured the first three positions in the Central Division
Boston and Montreal were 2nd and 3rd in the North East
The Rangers were 2nd in the Atlantic

Prior to that...1986-87 and 1977-78 were the only other two times (Montreal, Boston and Chicago were the only teams to qualify through the 70s, 80s, and 90s...Toronto, Detroit, and the Rangers all took many early golfing vacations)

[Hannibal]

There have always been inequalities in the system. I won't get weepy over which not-quite-bottom-feeder team gets in or out. It's sort of like who gets into March Madness. Does anyone really care who team 67-62 are?

At the end of the day I guess I don't care that much either, but I'd like to see the league do away with conferences anyways. I believe that was the original realignment proposal from a couple years back. To me, the perfect setup would be to play everyone else in the league at least two times, and then play everyone in your division five times, and then do away with East-West for the playoffs.

[Optimus Prime]

Pittsburgh in 5
Ottawa in 7
Rangers in 7
Boston in 6
Chicago in 5
Anaheim in 6
Vancouver in 7
LA in 7

[Optimus Prime]

Hanni deep draft this spring, Jones, Nate Mackinnon & Jonathan Drouin will be Stars in the NHL, can't miss players.

Colorado won the NHL draft lottery and the right to make the first pick in this year's entry draft. The Avalanche had an 18.8 per cent chance of winning the lottery after finishing the regular season with a dismal 16-25-7 record.

The Florida Panthers, who finished last overall with a 15-27-6 mark, had the best odds of winning at 25 per cent. But they had to settle for the No. 2 pick when the draft is held June 30 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

The remaining teams, in order of selection based upon the lottery, are Tampa Bay, Nashville, Carolina, Calgary, Edmonton, Buffalo, New Jersey, Dallas, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Winnipeg and Columbus.


Reminder get your NHL Playoff picks in, if not you're probably in the camp and may enjoy watching HBO's, 'Behind The Candelabra' with the likes of Hack.

Even Vader is onboard.

[Ghengis Jon]

Pittsburgh in 5
Montreal in 6
Capitals in 6
Boston in 6
Chicago in 4
Detroit in 6
Vancouver in 7
LA in 6

[Hannibal]

As I predicted, we're missing the faceoff of the Wings game on Versus, and it looks like the Minn-Chi game is going into overtime.

[Optimus Prime]

West coast games suck Hanni, although I watched the game in a central time zone.

Wings were outworked most of the game but obviously they just need a split, let's see what adjustments Babcock makes for game 2.

Chicago looked flat for most of the game, shame they won in OT.

LA / St. Louis Series was a dandy, the Kings were thoroughly outworked for 59 1/2 minutes until Quick was pulled and LA manged to score with the extra attacker. Blues Lucky to win in OT on a Quick puck miscue while shorthanded.