NHL free agency started on July 1st and it was much more active than I first thought. With the initial rush mostly over and most teams looking forward to training camp, I figured now would be a good time to review some of the moves that were made.

I’ll refrain from using the terms “winners” or “losers” right now because nobody will really know that until the season is played out. If someone were to write a winners and losers column a year ago, I’m sure the Red Wings would’ve been the winners for signing Marian Hossa and Pittsburgh the losers for letting him go…how did that work out again? So with that thinking in mind, I’m just going to give my two cents on some of the deals (and only some of the teams) that took place during draft day and during the signing period. We’ll just have to revisit this column after next season to see how accurate I was (or wasn’t).

Anaheim

- I like what Anaheim has done so far. Signing Saku Koivu to a modest one year deal to play with friend Teemu Selanne should work out well. Trading Chris Pronger away as he headed into the last year of his deal was a good move. They got a very good return from Philadelphia out of an expiring contract so instead of losing him for nothing or getting next to nothing for him at the trade deadline, they maximized their return during the off-season. Very nice. If I were the GM, my next move would be trying to move J.S. Giguere and his $6 million dollar cap hit, then sign Jonas Hiller to a long term extension.

Atlanta

- Unless the words “contraction” or “relocation” are involved, I highly doubt I’ll be excited about Atlanta hockey. They have a chance to lock up Ilya Kovalchuk as he heads into the final year of his deal, but realistically they should be looking at trading him and getting something for nothing. I’d be very surprised if he re-signs with the Thrashers. Granted he would be getting a big pay day, but one would think he would actually like to win at some point in his career (and play in front of more than 128 fans per night).

Buffalo

- I would’ve liked the Sabres to have been slightly more active, but I didn’t expect it. I hear a ton of bashing by hockey fans about how the Sabres are so cheap and they just let everyone go. I’d like to mention that the players they have let go (Briere, Drury, Campbell, McKee) all have busted with their new team, or they are very close to busting in Campbell’s case. It’s almost as if the Sabres knew these guys weren’t worth that much money and decided to bite the bullet. Sure they took their hits at the time, but they are looking pretty smart right now. I could sit here all afternoon and rattle off some of the dumb contracts that were handed out this summer. I’ll take a cheap team any day to a team throwing $4 million dollars down the drain per season to drag Nik Antropov on the ice and have him act like he gives a damn.

Now that I’m done ranting, I can talk about what the Sabres actually did do so far. One area they had to address was blue line toughness and they did just that by signing Steve Montador. I was highly in favor of this move before free agency started so I was quite pleased when they announced the deal. If they were to acquire another defenseman and move Henrik Tallinder and/or Toni Lydman I’d chalk this up as a successful off-season. That will be a tough sell though and I don’t see it happening. Re-signing Matt Ellis doesn’t exactly excite me either. There has to be another move made before the season starts.

Losing Jaroslav Spacek hurts on the offensive side, but I really could care less. I said prior to free agency that I would only want him staying in Buffalo if he took a pay cut and it was evident from the start he wouldn’t do that. After seeing what Montreal paid for him, I’m very happy the Sabres didn’t offer a similar deal. Sure they will have to replace his 45 points, but that is where players like Chris Butler and Andrej Sekera will come into play.

Regardless, they were only two points out of the playoffs and most likely missed out on those points when Ryan Miller was out. Miller will be back and he’ll have some more attitude protecting him this time around (or so I hope). If he stays healthy next season, I see post-season hockey in Buffalo’s future. Then again, Scott Gomez is now in their division so all bets are off.

Calgary

With NHL free agency getting started on July 1^st, we’re going to take a quick look around the league to see who is available and who the best option is.

In my final installment of free agent rankings, today we’re looking at the forwards that will be available on July 1^st. When I first glanced at the list I was somewhat surprised at the amount of talent that will be available, but of course, the salary cap will be a huge factor in signing these players.

You may notice after reading this that I didn’t include players like Joe Sakic and Mats Sundin. I’m guessing that if Sakic even plays, it will definitely be in Colorado, so why bother ranking him in the top tier. I didn’t even want to rank Sundin because of the mess he caused last season by waiting and waiting and waiting, so I just left him off completely. He isn’t a big deal anyways.

Please note: by the time this is posted some of these players may have their rights traded to their future new teams. This was written with the most current information that was available at the time so I apologize if some of these players won’t actually be available on July 1^st.

1. Marian Hossa (Detroit) – I was pretty hesitant to put Hossa at number one for a few reasons but decided to do it anyways. For one, his disappearing act in the Finals would concern me greatly if I were a GM. Two, there was a rumored deal during the playoffs that he was already going to sign a long term extension with Detroit before he even hits the market, so writing all this and putting him at number one could be a complete waste of time. However, the deal hasn’t been announced yet (officially) so I decided to write about him anyways.

Since coming into the league, Hossa has been a dynamic player. Since the 2002-03 season in Ottawa, Hossa has tallied regular season point totals of 80, 82, 92, 100, 66 and 71. The fact that his two highest point totals were with Atlanta astounds me even more.

For the most part I don’t think Detroit regrets signing him. He scored an even 40 goals and added 31 assists during the regular season and despite the above mentioned disappearing act in the Finals, he still tallied 15 points in 23 playoff games. Honestly, if my team signed him I would be dancing in the streets, so with that in mind I had to rank him number one.

I’ll be interested to see what he does if Detroit doesn’t come through with the extension though. If he takes the big money from Edmonton it would be a complete flip flop from last off-season where he took the shorter deal to win a Cup and he would resign himself to a career of 8^th place finishes in the Western Conference. Chances are his rights will be traded if he doesn’t sign with Detroit.

2. Martin Havlat (Chicago) - Since the 2002-03 season with Ottawa, Havlat has been nearly a point a game player. In that particular season he had 59 points in 67 games. In 2003-04 he had exactly 68 points in 68 games. In 2005-06 he only played in 18 games for Ottawa but still managed 16 points.

He was then dealt to Chicago where he tallied 57 points in 56 games, 27 points in 35 games and 77 points in 81 games this past season. He also racked up 15 points in 16 playoff games this past season for the Hawks.

If I were a GM, the number of games played would be a glaring concern for me. However, you have to take risks as a GM and I think the 28 year old Havlat would be worth the risk. I’m not an expert on hockey in Chicago but I would be surprised if they let Havlat go. Just taking in the fact that they have Nikolai Khabibulin’s monster deal coming off the books would indicate to me that they would have enough to re-sign Havlat.

3. Henrik/Daniel Sedin (Vancouver) – Since both of these guys want matching contracts and won’t split up, I don’t see any use in using up two spots in the rankings for them. Since the lockout Daniel Sedin has put up regular season point totals of 71, 84, 74 and 82. In the same time span, Henrik has scored an impressive 75, 81, 76 and 82 points. As you can see, whichever team decides to sign these guys are getting proven scorers and a deadly scoring line.

But here is the problem. Quite a few teams don’t have an ample amount of money to spend on July 1^st, let alone throwing down the money for two of the top scorers at one time (which will be necessary to sign these guys). The Sedin twins have gone on record stating that whoever signs them will have to fork over matching 12 year/63 million dollar contracts. Granted that is a modest 5.25 million per season per player, but it might be hard to find a team with 10.5 million available to invest in two players that will play on the same line. Throw in the fact that they are both 28 and the contracts will last until they are 40, and things get a little bit shakier.

Regardless, whoever gets these guys will be improving their offense a great deal. If Vancouver lets them walk, they will surely notice the drop-off in offense next season. Like Hossa, if they don’t return to Vancouver I am looking for their rights to be traded. I would also like to thank an extremely unreliable hockey site for mentioning the Sabres with the Sedins and now getting my hopes up. Does anybody actually think that would happen? I don’t. I’d love it though.

4. Mike Cammalleri (Calgary) – Cammalleri racked up an impressive 82 points in 81 games last season for the Flames. It was his best season since the 2006-07 campaign with Los Angeles where he had 80 points in 81 games. With a salary of $3.6 million per season, Cammalleri will most likely be looking for a nice little pay raise once he officially hits the market.

I’d be careful in giving him a huge contract though. He only has four full seasons of NHL experience (the others were split between the NHL and AHL). In those four seasons, only the two I mentioned above were worthy of a big fat contract. Nevertheless, he will be worth the risk for some GM and will definitely get a nice new deal out of it.

5. Alexei Kovalev (Montreal) – When Kovalev seemed to give a crap last season; he was premier player and someone I worried about when he had the puck. He had a few issues which resulted in him being left at home during a brief road trip mid-way during the season. I’m not sure I can fully blame Kovalev for that though, since it seems like playing in Montreal isn’t exactly the easiest thing to do.

In the past two seasons for the Habs, Kovalev finished with 84 and 65 points. The 84 point season also helped Montreal lock up the top spot in the Eastern Conference (before falling in the second round). Kovalev is 36 years old and with the potentially shaky play last season, I’d be worried about throwing huge bucks at him. Of course, if my team did sign him I’d be able to talk myself into the deal in about .000034 seconds.

6. Marian Gaborik (Minnesota) – Since the lockout, Gaborik has been better than a point per game player. (66 in 65, 57 in 48, 83 in 77 and 23 in 17). In looking at those numbers however, one might notice that he hasn’t played a full NHL season since…well…ever. To his credit, he did play in 81 games in 2002-03, but I would still be worried about his durability.

This is one player I would be worried about if my team signed him. I would immediately be happy and think about all the goals that would be scored, but then I’d have to think about how risky the signing would be. Trust me; I root for the team that recently signed Tim Connolly to a 2 year / 9 million dollar deal. I talked myself into that deal by saying “if he can stay healthy, it will be a bargain.” Gaborik falls into the same category. Although he is more dynamic, he runs the same risk for whatever team signs him this summer. In my opinion, having one of those players on my team already is more than enough. I’ll pass.

7. Saku Koivu (Montreal) – Koivu is an interesting player hitting the market. He can definitely score, but he has battled quite a few health problems over the years that may drive his price down. This past season he scored 50 points in 65 games, which is a good number, but not worthy of $4.75 million per season (in my opinion). With him being such a mainstay in Montreal, it would be hard for me to picture him elsewhere. Then again, Montreal really has their hands full this summer. Speaking of that…

8. Alex Tanguay (Montreal) – Tanguay has bounced around a bit during his career, but has proven he can score wherever he goes. Before this past season, Tanguay hadn’t played in less than 69 games in his entire career. His last contract was slightly over $5 million per season, which in my mind is still too much for him. One would think Montreal is going to have to keep at least one of these three guys listed in the top 10, so it will be interesting to see who they choose. For the record, Tanguay is the youngest at 29 years of age.

9. Bill Guerin (Pittsburgh) – I hate putting Guerin this high on the list, but I feel like I have to. First, he is 38 years old and second, before being traded to Pittsburgh he was just collecting a paycheck from the Islanders. If he took a pay cut from his monster $4.5 million per season deal, he would be a decent signing. It would make the most sense for Pittsburgh to hang on to him since he seemed to mesh well with the Crosby gang, but I’ve already read rumors that he might head back to New York. I know…it makes no sense to me either.

(Ed note: Shortly after writing this the news broke that Bill Guerin did in fact take a pay cut to stay with Pittsburgh, a good deal for both sides. Score one for common sense!)

10. Nik Antropov (NY Rangers) – Antropov’s short stint in New York was partially successful, minus the fact that the Rangers went out in the first round. Before his trade to New York, Antropov was busy disappointing the Leafs organization and pissing off their fans. He has never played in a full 82 games and never finished with more than 56 points. One might wonder what exactly he is doing on the list. Well, for only making $2.15 million per season, most teams could get over his inconsistent play if he could still manage at least 50 points per season. Now whether he can actually do that or not, that’s another story.

11. Brian Gionta (New Jersey) – Gionta has been a fairly average player with the Devils but has been consistent during his time as well. Since the lockout he has finished the regular season with 89, 45, 53 and 60 points. There are always rumors of him coming to Buffalo but I suspect that’s mainly because he is from Rochester, NY. Maybe this is the year the Sabres go out and get him, but I’m not holding my breath. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind having him, but it would definitely have to be at the right price. Just because he calls his home very close to Buffalo doesn’t mean he should be the highest priority.

12. Keith Tkachuk (St Louis) – Tkachuk has been a very consistent and productive player during his long NHL career. At the age of 37, I’m not sure how many years he has left in the tank. Minus the year he was rented to Atlanta (that worked out well), he has spent the better part of this decade with St. Louis. Unless I’m missing something, I don’t see him signing anywhere else this summer.

13. Erik Cole (Carolina) – Cole had a homecoming this season as he was shipped back to Carolina at the trade deadline. He wasn’t a huge factor during their miracle playoff run finishing with only five assists and zero goals in 18 playoff games. He did have 15 points in the last 17 games for Carolina so he can still be a productive scorer. He only had 27 points in 63 games for Edmonton so I would think that he plays best in Carolina’s system and would end up staying there again for another run at the Cup.

14. Mike Comrie (Ottawa) – Mike Comrie is an interesting player as he hits the market. I was doing a little research on his stats and they don’t look like anything Earth shattering, but I still wouldn’t mind seeing my team sign him on July 1^st. Maybe it’s the fact that he seems to burn Buffalo every time they face him. Yeah, that must be it. At the age of 28 he is still fairly young and should be a productive player for whoever signs him.

15. Mike Knuble (Philadelphia) – Knuble has been a consistent threat during the last four seasons in Philadelphia. He has finished with 65, 54, 55 and 47 points in the last four regular season campaigns. At the age of 36, he may only get a short term deal, but I wouldn’t be opposed to having him on my team. In four of the last five seasons he has played in all 82 regular season games. That kind of durability can be hard to come by these days. I foresee him moving on only because Philly’s cap situation is pretty muddled already and that was before they acquired Chris Pronger from Anaheim.

957. Maxim Afinogenov (Buffalo) – When Buffalo lets Afinogenov walk this summer, it will be the definition of “addition by subtraction”. This guy can’t leave Buffalo fast enough as far as I’m concerned. I just have to wonder what part of his game the Sabres will miss the most. The blazing speed? The turnovers? The spin-o-rama into a subsequent turnover? The missing of the net? The non-scoring? It’s so hard to decide.

1047. Miroslav Satan (Pittsburgh) – One of the most frustrating factors in watching the Pens hoist the Stanley Cup was knowing that Miroslav Satan is going to have his name forever etched into the Cup. Seriously, has there ever been a more non-deserving player win a championship? Well, Rob Johnson does own his very own Super Bowl ring so I guess Satan has that going for him.

With NHL free agency getting started on July 1^st, we’re going to take a quick look around the league to see who is available and who the best option is.

Continuing on with our free agent rankings, today we’ll take a look at the defensemen that are available. The list is a little bit longer so I tried to rank the top 15 available defensemen as opposed to the top 10 goalies that are hitting the market.

Defensemen are a lot harder to rank because every team wants something different. I could rank them based on offensive performance, but then I’m ignoring some of the better “defensive defensemen”. So keep that in mind when reading below whom I think are top 15 available on July 1^st.

1. Jay Bouwmeester (Florida) – It’s hard to argue that Bouwmeester isn’t the top d-man available on July 1^st. Websites and blogs went crazy around the trade deadline with tons of scenarios of where he could be traded to. Florida decided to hang on to him at the time in hopes of making the playoffs, but they fell just short and Jay-Bo is as good as gone. Former Florida GM Jacques Martin must have known this and took off to coach the Montreal Canadiens this upcoming season.

He played in all 82 games for Florida last season racking up 42 points in the process. He has six years of NHL experience playing in all 82 games in five of those six seasons and he is only 25 years old. I suppose based on those facts one could say he is definitely worthy of the big payday, but I’d be hesitant to throw the bank at him. We saw how that worked out for Chicago last off-season and I’m willing to bet they would love a way out of Brian Campbell’s enormous contract.

If Florida is smart (highly doubtful), they will trade his rights before July 1^st so they at least get something for him. Word is the Flyers are doing everything in their power to acquire his rights. In a recent Palm Beach Post article, it was said that “Bouwmeester, who is building a house in Edmonton, has made it known he wants to play somewhere hockey is taken more seriously than in South Florida."

2. Rob Blake (San Jose) – Rob Blake has consistently been one of the better defensemen in the league, but at age 39 he is running out of time. He tallied his best season last year with San Jose since his 2005-06 campaign with Colorado. He finished the regular season by playing in 73 games, tallying 45 points and finishing +15.

Blake made a cool five million last season so that is enough to scare off most teams. I’d say his best bet would be to stay in San Jose for another season or two before hanging up the skates. I could see San Jose signing him back since they were very successful during the regular season before choking it all way in the first round. The tandem of Blake and Boyle is something I’d want to hang on to if I were a GM. Then again, San Jose might go in a completely different direction after their most recent playoff debacle.

3. Mathieu Schneider (Montreal) – Schneider came to Montreal before the trade deadline and made an immediate impact with the Habs before getting injured and missing the rest of the season. In 44 games with the Thrashers last season he had 15 points and was a -10. In the following 23 games with Montreal, he had 17 points and finished -2. Schneider is no spring chicken but I think he would be a valuable asset to a team looking for help on the power play this upcoming year. Anything more than a one year deal might be a bit much though. I would have zero issues with my team signing him, assuming it was a reasonable short-term deal.

4. Steve Montador (Boston) – Like Schneider, Montador was a trade deadline acquisition except he went to Boston. He is a perfect example of what I wrote about before starting the rankings in terms of point production alone. This guy isn’t going to light up any scoreboards, but I would LOVE to have him on my team. He has that “Don’t Take Crap from Anyone” attitude that I love in a blue liner (when he isn’t playing my team). With him only being 29, I’d jump for joy if my team signed the guy to at least a three year deal. In fact, please excuse me while I write a letter to the GM.

5. Rob Scuderi (Pittsburgh) – Rob Scuderi is another type of defenseman I would love to see playing in Buffalo. He has shown he is durable by playing in 78, 71 and 81 regular season games in the past three seasons for Pittsburgh. This past season was his best in term of plus/minus finishing +23. The previous two seasons he was a +3 which is still good overall. Scuderi is only 30 years old and will no doubt be looking for a raise after only making $750,000 this past season. If Pittsburgh can’t bring him back, look for them to trade his rights like they did for Ryan Malone last off-season.

6. Mattias Ohlund (Vancouver) – Ohlund hits the market after spending his entire career with Vancouver. He has been a very consistent defenseman in the points department finishing with 30, 35, 20, 28, 36, 29, 34, 33, 31, 24 and 25 respectively. He made $3.5 million this past season for the Canucks and a contract similar to that is to be expected. He is only 32 so whichever team locks him down can do it with a solid three or four year deal and expect the same point production he has given in the past. I’m not sure if Vancouver will bring him back, only because of the fact that they need to deal with the Sedin twins and I would assume that they are the top priority.

7. Jaroslav Spacek (Buffalo) – I’ve been a fan of Spacek for most of his tenure in Buffalo, then again, it’s nice to see a defenseman actually score once in a while. He has said publicly that he doesn’t want to go somewhere new and start over again, but he would need to take a pay cut to stay in Buffalo and I just can’t see him doing that. This past season was his best with Buffalo playing in 80 games and finishing with 45 points. Like I said, I would like to see him back with the Sabres but it would need to be for less than the $3.3 million he made in his last deal.

8. Marc-Andre Bergeron (Minnesota) – Bergeron made approx. $1.7 million this past season in Minnesota and he produced accordingly. He had 32 points and was a +5 in 72 regular season games. At the age of 28, he is still a little raw in the experience department but some team will be calling for his services. I could see him getting a little bit of a pay increase but he shouldn’t get any more than $2.5 million per season.

9. Nick Boynton (Florida) – Lucky for Florida, they have two defenseman in the top 10 (and a goalie in the top 10 as well). Boynton is only 30 years old with seven years of NHL experience. He has had some durability issues in the past playing in 54, 59, 79 and 68 games in the past four seasons. This past season was his best statistically as he finished with 21 points and was +7. If Florida loses Jay-Bo on July 1^st (they will), they should look to sign Boynton so not all is lost.

10. Adrian Aucoin (Calgary) – Some might ask what my criteria is for coming up with these rankings and to be honest, there are several factors that go into it. For instance, last season Aucoin played in 81 games and finished with 34 points which is much better than Nick Boynton who is listed above. However, Aucoin also made $4 million last season (Boynton made approx. $2.95) and Aucoin is five years older. So if I were playing GM I might value Boynton a little bit more because he is younger and would help my cap situation slightly. Aucoin has also only played 70+ regular season games seven times in 15 seasons which is also something that might concern me.

11. Paul Mara (NY Rangers) – I’ve seen quite a few Rangers games and Mara isn’t exactly someone who strikes fear in me when he is on the ice. In fact, his play has dropped off dramatically since tallying 47 points in 2005-06 with Phoenix (23, 17 and 21). He has a career plus/minus of -95 which isn’t exactly a bargaining chip when going to the table this summer with league GM’s. However, his salary was only $1.95 million which isn’t much considering some of the other deals that will be flying around. If the Rangers are still trying to keep their fantasy team together, he’ll most likely be back with the Rangers next season.

12. Derek Morris (NY Rangers) – Morris was a trade deadline acquisition that basically had no impact for the Rangers as they choked in yet another post-season appearance. Kudos to the Rangers for giving it the old college try though. He was fairly productive in terms of points after only getting 12 points in 57 games with Phoenix, finishing with another eight in 18 for the Rangers. (I guess it makes a difference when you’re playing on a real NHL team). Regardless, his contract is a hefty $3.95 million and if he is looking to make anything around that, I’d rather he go to another team than mine because that money would be better off going to someone else.

13. Hal Gill (Pittsburgh) – Hal Gill hasn’t been the most durable defenseman for Pittsburgh, but has been one of the better ones. He only had 10 points in 62 games this season, but finished +11 which in my book is a pretty decent number. Before his injury plagued season a year ago, He finished two campaigns in Toronto scoring 20 points in both and finishing in the positives in both. He is a sound defenseman who hasn’t finished worse than -4 since the 1998-99 season. With a price tag of $2.1 million, I wouldn’t mind seeing him suit up for my team.

14. Jordan Leopold (Calgary) – In yet another trade deadline acquisition, Leopold was sent to Calgary to help them finally win the Stanley Cup. Obviously the Flames failed in that bid and Leopold didn’t really produce the way he was expected. In 64 games with Colorado he racked up 20 points, but was a - 10. In the following 19 games in Calgary, he only had four points and was a -5. He only made $1.5 million, but I don’t see anything in him that can’t be found in the AHL. If my team signed him I would just shrug my shoulders and sigh a little bit. In fact, if Buffalo made any play for Leopold I would have to wonder what exactly he brings to the table that Nathan Paetsch can’t already.

15. Karlis Scrastins (Florida) – Rounding out the top 15 is yet another Florida Panther. Scrastins played in 80 games last season racking up 18 points and finished +9. While those numbers are decent, they are somewhat misleading. Before last season, the last time he played in 70+ games was in 2005-06 with Colorado. Before last season, the last time he finished with a +1 or better was in 2003-04 with Colorado. So as you can see, he might be a decent pickup at the right price, but most GM’s might be leery of signing him to anything major or long-term. I can see Florida bringing him back as well to help hide the fact that they royally screwed up the Jay-Bo situation.

As mentioned previously here, both Devin and myself will be making our predictions round by round for both the NHL and NBA playoffs. We encourage you to join in, so either email one of us your picks, or comment on one of our posts with your picks before the 1st round gets started. Devin will have his picks posted tomorrow, but the series begin on Wednesday, so make sure you get your picks to us before then. Scoring is pretty simple, you get 5 points for picking the correct series winner and a bonus 5 points if you get the number of games correct as well. Results will be posted as we progress through each round. So without any further ado, here are my first round picks.

Eastern Conference:
1. Boston vs. 8. Montreal

These two teams are very familiar with one another and history suggests this matchup will be closer than it likely ought to be. The main difference for me is that Tim Thomas has had a Vezina like campaign this season for Boston while Carey Price has been shaky at best. Boston is also a much more physical team which usually wins out come playoff time. Montreal has been a very up and down team all year long and this series depends entirely on which Canadiens unit shows up. I think they'll play well enough to present a challenge, but ultimately not well enough to advance. I'll take the Bruins in 6, but they should at least be tested in the 1st round.

Bruins in 6 games

2. Washington vs. 7. NY Rangers

I expect this series to go the distance as this is a pure offense vs. defense battle. The Caps were near the leaders in scoring this season, while the Rangers are a very defensive minded team. The goalie matchup, which is always a big deal in the postseason is leaning in the favor of the Rangers with Henrik Lundqvist. Jose Theodore remains a bit of a question mark for the Capitals, but luckily this Ovechkin guy is pretty good. Playoff experience is also very heavily in New York's favor, but ultimately their inability to score is going to hurt them. Washington takes this one in 7 games and I expect at least one horribly stupid antic from Sean Avery and at least one incredible game from Ovechkin.

Caps in 7 games

3. New Jersey vs. 6. Carolina
This series seems to have the most likelihood for an upset in the East, as Carolina has been the hottest team in the league down the stretch. The Hurricanes have a fair amount of fire power offensively and the return of Erik Cole at the trade deadline has really given them a spark. Add to that Cam Ward's very high level of play as of late, Vezina like in fact, and the Canes are a tough task for the Devils in the first round. I'm picking against them for two reasons though really... 1. I can't stand picking against Martin Brodeur in a close matchup, he's just a machine, and with the bolstered offense in NJ this season, lead by Zach Parise, Brodeur could make the difference. 2. I think we all know at this point I don't much care for the Hurricanes and more particularly their fans. If they lose in the first round, the bandwagon empties in a hurry and I don't have to hear about them every where I turn for a long while. Devils in 6, at least I hope.

Devils in 6 games

4. Pittsburgh vs. 5. Philadelphia
Well, this was going to be my upset pick (though not much of one) in the East, until Philly couldn't handle their business yesterday and lost the home ice advantage in this series. This should be a high scoring series if nothing else, as both teams are definitely offensively based. Philly is terrific on the power play, but not so much the rest of the time, so if Pittsburgh can stay out of the penalty box, it'll go a long way for their cause. Marty Biron is a good goalie in this league, but he seems to have trouble playing at a high level for more than a few games at a time, and that's a problem this time of year. At the end of the day, Pittsburgh has more firepower with Crosby, Malkin, and company, and while this may not be the same team that made the Cup Finals last year, they're going to get at least one step closer than Philly this year. Penguins win this one in 6 games.

Penguins in 6 games

Western Conference:
1. San Jose vs. 8. Anaheim

While these two teams don't have the traditions of Boston and Montreal, the 1/8 matchup in the West is equally intriguing. Most probably haven't noticed, but these two California teams have been amongst the best in the West for several years now. Only one of them has translated that success in the postseason however. The Sharks come in as President's Trophy winners with the best record in the league, but they have struggled in the playoffs the past few years. The Ducks on the other hand, come in much like Carolina in the East, as one of the hottest teams in the league as of late. Anaheim has the core group of veterans from their Cup winning team still in tact and will be a handful for San Jose. I think the outcome of this series lies directly on the shoulders of Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov and I'll take the Sharks in 7... but I won't be the least bit surprised to see Anaheim pull off the upset.

Sharks in 7

2. Detroit vs. 7. Columbus
Detroit stumbled into the playoffs, not doing well at all down the stretch. That doesn't much matter though, they've got loads of playoff experience on their roster and they're the defending Cup winners. Columbus on the other hand is making their postseason debut, and even their best players don't really have the playoff experience to rely on either. Rookie goaltender Steve Mason has been impressive to say the least this year, but this is a completely different environment now and the Red Wings fire power might have him sweating bullets. The Red Wings have question marks in net with Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin as neither have been overly consistent this year, but both are playoff tested and proven, and either will be good enough to get by the Blue Jackets. Detroit takes this series in 5 games at most.

Red Wings in 5

3. Vancouver vs. 6. St. Louis
This series is a difficult one to pick for several reasons. First, I'll admit to not seeing hardly anything from either of these teams throughout the year. Second, they both come in absolutely on fire through the late part of the season. Neither of these teams has any playoff experience to speak of really, with Vancouver making the lone playoff appearance between the two since the lockout season. St. Louis has risen up from being one of the worst teams in the league to in the middle of the playoffs now and they do so despite having an injury riddled season. Vancouver's Roberto Luongo is one of the best goaltenders in the league and the logic here should be to go with him as the deciding factor. For some reason though, my instincts tell me to take the Blues in this series, so that's what I'm doing... St. Louis in 6 games.

Blues in 6

4. Chicago vs. 5. Calgary
Calgary kind of fell apart down the stretch and handed the division over to Vancouver, though to be fare, injuries had something to do with that. The Flames are banged up, especially amongst their defensemen. Trade deadline pickup Ollie Jokinen will finally get to see some playoff action and if he can rekindle (yes, that's a bad Flames pun right there!) the spark he brought initially, it'll go a long way towards Calgary advancing. The Blackhawks on the other hand are one of the youngest teams in the league and have little playoff experience. It'll be interesting to see how Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews handle the increased spotlight of the playoffs. I see Kiprusoff outplaying Khabibulin in this series and it ultimately making the difference. The Blackhawks are going to have plenty of future opportunities with their youth, but this isn't their year. Honestly, my main reason for picking the Flames is because I haven't picked a single Canadian team to advance so far, and that simply wouldn't be good business for the NHL. Calgary moves on in 7 games.

Flames in 7 games