The Puck Drops Tonight

Real quick NHL predictions here I spaced out on how much time I had left but hey have no fear the Experience is here.

Eastern Conference
1 Washington
2 Boston
3 Philadelphia
4 Buffalo
5 Pittsburgh
6 New Jersey
7 Tampa Bay 
8 NY Islanders
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9 NY Rangers
10 Winnipeg
11 Montreal
12 Carolina
13 Toronto
14 Florida
15 Ottawa

Western Conference
1 Vancouver
2 Chicago
3 Los Angeles
4 Detroit
5 Anaheim
6 St. Louis
7 San Jose
8 Nashville
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9 Columbus
10 Colorado
11 Minnesota
12 Edmonton
13 Calgary
14 Dallas
15 Phoenix

Eastern Finals: Bruins over Capitals
Western Finals: Kings over Canucks

2012 Stanley Cup Champions: Boston Bruins


Yeah yeah I picked the Bruins to repeat. Please tell me, why not? They return the same exact team save for Ryder, Recchi, and Kaberle. And while all three contributed during the Cup run, Ryder and Kaberle were rather useless during the regular season. The team is young as is, probably won the Cup before they were even ready to. This team is built to last. Timmy Thomas may not last forever, but that's why Tuukka Rask is here. Nothing more to say on that front.

And since we can't have Celtics-Lakers this year since there won't be an NBA season, why not start a new Boston-LA thing? Mike Richards was a huge pickup for the Kings, adding a great deal of depth for an already fairly deep squad in La-La Land.

That being said, Philly won't fall off the face of the Earth either despite trading Richards and Jeff Carter. The team is loaded with young talent already in Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk, a new goalie in Ilya Bryzgalov, and if they get anything out of Jaromir Jagr, watch out.

The Capitals will finally be legit contenders this year thanks to the addition of Tomas Voukn between the pipes.

The Rangers, much like the team they share Madison Square Garden with, will spend a lot of money, and then spend a long summer playing golf.

I like Alex Ovechkin to win the Hart Trophy (MVP), Zdeno Chara to win the Norris (defenceman), Ryan Miller to win the Vezina (goalie), Brayden Schenn to win the Calder (Rookie of the Year), Jack Capuano of the Islanders to win the Jack Adams (Coach of the Year), and Evgeni Malkin to win the Art Ross (scoring leader).

I wanted to put Winnipeg in the playoffs.  Didn't have the testicular fortitude. Islanders are my surprise team out of the East. I could go on about many other things but the banner's about to be raised here.....hey B's.