Any interest in a NHL playoff thread?

[Chaerophon]

Having biases of my own, I've watched the Canucks completely reshape their game in the last month, and, in my opinion, they are a more playoff-ready team now than they were with Bertuzzi in the lineup. With a better commitment to team defence and a better distribution of responsibility throughout the lineup, I think that they could, against all odds, do quite well this year.

My picks for teams to make it through to conference finals are as follows:

Canucks v. Red Wings

Leafs v. Devils

We'll have to see what happens, I suppose. Dallas could be a team to be reckoned with if they start rolling. Same goes for Ottawa; if they get past Toronto, they could be the team to beat.

However, in my opinion, Colorado is done in six vs. the Stars.

EDIT:

A more expansive prediction:

EAST

1) Tampa Bay Lightning over New York Islanders (8)

(2) Boston Bruins over Montreal Canadiens (7)

(6) New Jersey Devils over (3) Philadelphia Flyers

(4) Toronto Maple Leafs over Ottawa Senators (5)


Second Round:

Devils over Lightning

Leafs over Bruins

WEST

(1) Detroit Red Wings over Nashville Predators (8)

St. Louis Blues (7) over (2) San Jose Sharks

(3) Vancouver Canucks over Calgary Flames (6)

Dallas Stars (5) over (4) Colorado Avalanche

Second Round:

Red Wings over Blues

Canucks over Stars

We'll have to see, and remember, I have my own biases ;)