The Perplexing Problem of Playoff Postulation
Well, the playoffs begin this evening. I'm not involved in any playoff pools, but I thought I'd put up my picks for this year. Last year I managed second place in the pool I was in, mainly thanks to the fact that almost no one else picked any upsets in the Western Conference first round, which was only upsets. Anyways, here are my picks, including the amount of games each round will go.
At which point the Sabres will take it in 6 games against Nashville.
A few points about this. First, I am very hesitant to not pick any upsets in the West this year, mostly due to last year. I think Vancouver will edge out the Stars, and I think San Jose will put up a fight, but with Vokoun back, Nashville will take it. It seems at least one other person agrees with me, saying that if there is going to be an underdog this year, it'll be from the East (I read that after making up this list, I should tell you).
I am also hesitant to pick both the Lightning over the Devils and Ottawa over Pittsburgh. They're risky picks, and I have been tempted to change them, but its too late now. I think Pittsburgh, if they won, would follow the same path as Ottawa, and probably the same thing if New Jersey won.
Its too bad the Canadian teams didn't do better this year, with only three managing playoff spots. I may have over-compensated though, by making Ottawa and Vancouver go as far as they do. And I would be happy to be proven wrong about Ottawa, as the last thing I want to hear is obnoxious Ottawans braying and goading Leaf fans for three rounds of playoffs. They should just be thankful they won't see Toronto in the playoffs, because... well, we all know how that would end, don't we.
And those are my picks. Go teams. Go teams, go.
1 comment:
I should mention here, that while that playoff tree is drastically different from what actually is, I did pick correctly 6 of 8 times in the first round. Its just that because of their placements, me picking Tampa and Nashville to go on, it completely screwed with my tree.
Even in the second round, it looks like I may have picked the eastern conference final matchup correctly, as Ottawa will very likely move on, and the Sabres probably will too. My pick of Nashville in the West has completely pooched that conference, though.
And I called it at the beginning of the series, the winner of the Sabres-Rangers series will take it all. We'll see how that works out...
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