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Don't watch many teams full games except for the Canucks especially the east but from what I've on the west Wild, Kings, Blackhawks and Sharks in that order for me.
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For me the kings will be the team to beat in the western conference come playoffs...toss up between penguins and bruins in the east. cant believe how short the penguins are
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Penguins have signed Jarome Iginla from Flames this week, he may start tonight. He is a top forward with a physical presence who will get a stack of points for them.
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Pens are certainly stacked up front and are rightfully fav as the East will have an advantage this year with the compressed schedule and their relative little travel compared to the west teams. The eastern team in the final should be a lot fresher come the final than the team in the west who will probably have had to go through a few wars and far more travel to get there.
Working on that premise I'd put a decent bet on Bruins to win it all, Rangers as my long shot and Pens just cover my stakes. Anyway thats my theory and I'm sticking to it. ![]() ![]() |
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Haha Swardean - will be enjoying a few glasses and hockey galore tonight - will only have hockey for following 4 nights as back at work. Has been a busy week or so - I think Penguins will need a while to totally get over Crosby injury and I'm not sure about Iginla trade. Pens may suffer from egos already more than Boston appear to, but time will tell. Pens took a long time to get control against Isles the other night (and were out-played by same opposition at Nassau the week before) and I reckon come the playoffs the pressure will be squarely on them. They may find it tough against perhaps Isles (hopefully) or Winnipeg/Carolina who will play with a bit of abandon - that could upset them. For once I seem to have built a decent portfolio as the season has gone on. Have Isles and Oilers at treble figure prices and hopefully one of them can sneak in as well as nice prices about Boston/Chicago/LA.
Totally agree with RG re the freshness of Eastern teams. Its born out by the home/away results east/west. As the traipse is so vast for the western teams they tend to do much better at home, for the eastern teams its less of an issue. Will be looking for stick-out prices about the draw in the coming weeks. Can see a lot of games played under the fear of losing between teams near the cut-off line in coming weeks - Hills in particular have been very friendly in recent weeks where the surprising CBJs have been concerned. You may not read this in time Swardean but the peruvian team have looked quite stylish in the Copa this year and cannot see them losing at home to poor Columbian opposition - a decent warm up for tonights main events.....Go Isles |