I can’t use those American dollars here anyway… wait, they exchange it into Swedish kronor? …ah, well…

San Jose wins over Pittsburgh.
Joe Thornton with the Conn Smythe.

I always thought the currency in Sweden was the crooner.

“How much is that jar of canned herring?”
“Two Tony Bennets and half a Goulet.”

Montreal over San Jose.
Saku Koivu for Conn Smythe
(yes, I know you’re all going to laugh at me)

Oh, I should answer the question.

Joe Thornton does not score goals. Therefore he cannot win the Smythe. And everyone thinks the Sharks will win.

I’ll say Montreal (blatant adopted homerism) over Detroit in a battle of Original Six teams that will threaten to make my head explode if the Red Wings were to make it that far. The winner of the Smythe would then be Alexei Kovalev.

In other words, I have no idea.

Dear Answer Man,

OK Big Boy, who do you like in the playoffs?

Patrick (St. Louis-MO)

Patrick, let’s get one thing straight. It’s Big “Man”. I am Answer “Man”. Dig? Thanks Dude. Alright, it is that time of year. 16 teams and a whole lot of wars that will take place. Last year it was the Ducks and I thought it sucked. I read somewhere that a Euro has never captained a team to The Cup. Or maybe one has. Not sure but it isn’t a surprise. Historically those limp wrist Euros fade in the heat of the playoffs. Not a surprise. It’s just like how Firebirds fade against my Fly ‘84 Camaro.

Here’s how I see this year panning out. Look for the Sharks, Ducks and Gay-Ass Red Wings to be tops in the West. If Thornton can finally deliver, which he should, this may be the Sharks’s year. I will pick the Sharks then. Yeah, Sharks. Boy that sucks for the league though. Terrible exposure. Calgary is my sleeper in the West.

In the East it is Ottawa, Montreal and Pittsburgh. I don’t think Ottawa has the “marbles” or goaltending to go all the way again. They are lead by a Euro so they pretty much don’t have a chance. Montreal is too fancy and too Euro/French. That leaves the Penguins. I can see them in the finals but they would fold like a cheap hooker against a tough Western conference team. My sleeper in the East is the Rangers.

Final Prediction = Cup stays in the West because of toughness. What team will it be? If I had to pick, I’d go with the Sharks.

ok ill go off the board, the wild (the should be thew q team, if they see the stars second, they should win that, the ducks might kill em though)

vs

the penguins

in the “battle of teams that should no way be better than the blues but wasiely and for the forseeable future are”

obvioously el sid will win the award as the guins take the wild

I see a Caps – Dux finals, with a peaking-at-the-right-time Washington team going 7 games against the Mighty Fucks. I’m officially on the Ovechkin bandwagon, so that’ll be my Smythe pick. Cup to the Caps, and Sid the Kid weeps silently to himself that night.

Or, Tim, to borrow a line from the late George Harrison…
“While the league’s star gently weeps.”

… exactly, Gifty. Of course, the question would be weither or not Bettman would even offer a shoulder. Cold bastard, probably not.

He’d need to be on a platform to offer a shoulder to Sidney.

Then again, he’d need one for Mickey Carroll too.

Okay, what’s taller, Mickey Carroll, or the Stanley Cup?

According to NHL.com, Lord Stanley:
“Weighs 35 pounds and stands just under three feet in height”

According to IMDB.com
Mickey Carroll stood “4’ 7” (1.40 m)". Also, this piece of trivia:
Actual god-father was mobster, Al Capone.

Gotta love the interwebs …

While I usually quit thinking about hockey once the Blues are out, I find it easier this year having gone w/o NHL Playoffs two years in a row. Just two you say? I went to see the Oil kick the Ducks ass in the spring of 06. This was at the LA ducks of anaphlem Hondy centre ehh.

OK, on to the predictions…the Q crew out with a typical lame effort in the playoffs. (who’d a thunk it ehh?).
Oh wait…we are doing the finals and conn smyth.
Caps over Wings in a rematch of 97-8. This time they aren’t inspired by some guy that can’t walk let alone play anymore. (Is that too mean?).
No Esa Tikkane to miss a wide open net.
However, Ovy gets con smyth after going cold in the 1st series, he lights it up the rest of the way.
I think I might actually watch this year. Hopefully, in HD.
(unless NBC trumps NHL playoff hockey for a freakin Cards game again.
DD

Don’t hate me, but I think the Wings will come out of the West if they don’t slump. Otherwise it’s the Sharks. In the East I’ll guess the Caps first, otherwise the Devils.
For Conn Smythe I’ll say Lidstrom if the Wings win, Nabokov if the Sharks win, Brodeur if the Devils win, and Ovechkin if the Capitals win.

Way to cover all the bases Dayton.

You only have a 75% chance of being wrong.

Hey Dayton … if wanted to avoid the fruit-Euro mocking, you’re on the wrong path. 3 of 4 of those Smythe picks are lacking in North American-ness

Devils beat Sharks in 6

dayton: lol… the wings… yeah right.

here’s my prediction that I totally made up on the spot with no logic: (Dayton, you’ll like this =D)

FIRST ROUND:
i believe that the wings will be knocked out in the first round due to the Hasekness of it all. Then the preds and the sharks will get into a violent street fight, Nabokov will become a fugitive. Although there isnt any preds left to play, they will still advance because Hasek sucks. And the remaining left of the sharks team will fall to Calgary because there isn’t any left.

Anaheim will fall to Dallas due to contracting the bird flu mid-round… everyone will die a horrible painful death.

On the way to the airport, a giant avalanche/mudslide will crush the Colorado team, thus Minnesota will advance.

STANLEY CUP FINALS: (i skipped the rest)

Minnesota will be the only team left in the western conference. They will defeat the preds in the semi-final round and advance to the finals.

The Boston Bruins will also be the only team left in the eastern conference. The eastern conference seemed to be fortunate enough to avoid natural disasters, so the rest of the teams were eliminated fair and square.

MINNESOTA WILD vs. BOSTON BRUINS (I bet nobody is going to pick that)

@ Christine …. so, the Conn Smythe goes to Mother Nature?

I’ll be pulling for the winner of the Flyers/Caps series, but
Rangers over Ducks
mvp = Drury

I’ll go Minnesota over Montreal (in six).

Demitra picks up the CS.

(Does Pavel count as a “fruity” European?)

Rich, damn straight he does. He’s almost numero uno. He has never shown up for the playoffs and I really doubt he will start now.

The Wild…puh-leeez. They lose just for the simple fact they have the gayest name ever…and I mean ever.

their goaltending is pretty much all they got going for them

“They lose just for the simple fact they have the gayest name ever…and I mean ever.”

If we look beyond hockey this isn’t true. The Kansas City Wiz wins that hands down.

As for the Wild’s chances…I don’t know. San Jose was the “sexy” pick, and I simply dont see it. I think the Dead Things goaltending is suspect…scratch that…I KNOW its suspect. I’ll admit I dont know exactly what to make of Dallas…but Colorado?? Nashville?? Calgary??

Anaheim has a shot I suppose…but I dont WANT them to win, thus my pick.

On Demitra: “He’s almost numero uno. He has never shown up for the playoffs and I really doubt he will start now.”

Is this really true? He was our leading goal scorer in the 98-99 run, and led the Blues in total points in the 01-02 playoffs.

True he didn’t contribute as much in the longer 00-01 playoffs, but he’d missed considerable time to injury that season.

Since ‘02 it isn’t like he’s had a lot of opportunities. We shall see.

FYI … the closing moments of VS’s playoff coverage, they announced that Manny Legace would be in studio Thurs-Sun for the goaltender’s perspective.

Thought that you all would want to know that.

Rich,
I hate to say it, but the stereotype is true for Demitra. When I used to write the front page for the GT predecessor Game Night Revue, I decided one time to Dispell The Untruths About Demitra And Tkachuk Not Being As Good In The Playoffs!

When I pulled the PPG stats, Demitra’s effectiveness dropped off by .5 PPG if I recall correctly. Tkachuks’ number was similar.

Thinking that the crucible of the playoffs affected every star player’s numbers like that, I pulled a few more guys on the Blues and other teams and found the opposite. Plenty of star players have similar PPG stats and plenty have up-ticks.

It’s true: some guys are playoff heroes and some are playoff zeroes.

Demitra and Tkachuk have historically been playoff zeroes.

revisiting the title of the post, “who ya got?”

Dooks would be very happy if he got Ms. Hayden Panettiere (pictured above) all to himself, thank you very much. _

In order of ability for the western conference. Don’t see the east teams except once every fucking decade, so I have NO idea. If Brodeur’s still playing, the Devils have a chance.

San Jose would be my pick in the West, as long as Nabokov’s limbs don’t fall off from overuse. Does Marleau show up? Thornton will.

Detroit – Hasek/Osgood in net? BWAHAHAHAHAA!!!!

Anaheim: The porn star, the Michelin Man, the incredibly stupid giveaway once removed, and the two retirees. BTW, heard dougie spent a lot of time in the press box at the end of the season. Slightly under the radar, but had almost as much trouble scoring as the Blues, whch is really bad.

Colorado: The song remains the same, except no Patrick Roy. Theodore is an implosion waiting to happen.

Dallas: They’re gonna miss Zubov, and have had trouble scoring in the playoffs, although Ribiero’s a stud.

Calgary – Mike Keenan. The team hates him. Especially the goalie.

Minnesota: good goaltending, neutral zone trap, ZZZZZZZZZ… Who needs to score when you can put the other team, the referees, and everybody else in the building to sleep?

Nashville – Tootoo can run anybody – it’s the playoffs, so, no body part on the ice-no penalty. That’s why the weddings got McCarty back.

Devils over Ducks in six games.

Brodeur wins the Conn Smythe.

B.

Dooks wrote:

"revisiting the title of the post, "who ya got?"

Dooks would be very happy if he got Ms. Hayden Panettiere (pictured above) all to himself, thank you very much."

==

Save the cheerleader, save the world, Dooks… ;-)

I’m kinda partial to Ali Larter, myself.

B.