The East Conference will be represented by either Montreal or the Rangers. Who saw that coming?

Not me.

Well I had half right ;)

So our off-again/on-again Expansion talks here in Seattle is back on-again


NHL commissioner Gary Bettman visits Seattle officials to get update on arena status - NHL.com - News

Horrendous end to the series for the Bruins. I'm not going to blame coaching/management like a lot of fans do because I've seen enough of the Julien/Chiarelli pairing to know they're an elite pair relative to the rest of the league.

I think the blame really has to go to Krejci and Marchand in particular, and to a lesser extent Rask and the defensive group as a whole. They got caught far too often with Montreal cheating up ice for odd-man breaks, but at the end of the day, the Bruins generated more quality opportunities and should have been able to finish way more often. Some of the credit goes to Price, but a lot of it was just flat-out missing the net regardless of what Price was doing.

Bergeron and Smith were the only forwards I was truly happy with this playoffs. Lucic and Soderberg had their moments, as did the 4th line and the constant replacements for Kelly's wing spot. Iginla and Eriksson underperformed, but they shouldn't be held as accountable as a Krejci or Marchand in terms of expectations.

On defense, I was only really happy with Boychuk for his consistency and Hamilton for his game-breaking ability. Miller struggled for the first time all year against Montreal, Chara obviously fell off a cliff after his hand injury in the middle of the Habs series, and Krug, while great offensively as usual, got caught a bit too much out of position. Bartkowski was the worst player on the ice in the series. He was clearly playing in way over his head as a top 4 D though.

I place a lot of blame on Rask for how the series started, but I think the D was more at fault to close out the series than Rask was. Definitely a bit worrying to see his numbers vs. MTL now that they'll probably have to play them every year in the playoffs though.

I'm not really sure what to do going forward. The team is built better than almost anyone, they have so much playoff experience, and they should be expected to do very well every year, but with the new playoff format, facing Montreal is a catastrophic problem for Boston. There's no glossing over it, the Canadiens are simply an awful match up for the Bruins. It's a tough problem to pinpoint the cause as well. Everyone says "it's Montreal's speed", but the Bruins D-core was actually pretty mobile this year. Obviously the Candiens collapse in the slot and cheat up ice for breaks on blocked shots, rebounds or missed nets, so I think the defense just has to be a lot more aware. Seems like a pretty obvious and routine thing, but that was the main problem in the series and any other time they play Montreal.

Overall, I think they should just stick with the plan. They should be able to beat almost any other team, and it's a coin flip every time they play Montreal. No use blowing it up to counter one specific team. They'll just have to accept it the way it is.

As for general thoughts on the playoffs, it's definitely the West's Cup to lose. Not that the Rangers or Canadiens are bad teams, but I can't see either one squeaking out a win against Chicago or Los Angeles. Maybe Anaheim, but I still think that's unlikely (both for Anaheim making the Final or for an East team to beat them). Both Montreal and New York would probably be playing "not to lose" rather than going out to win against those high-octane, dominant possession teams, if that makes sense.

I still like the make-up of the Kings the best, but Chicago is just playing stupidly good hockey. Their confidence should be (and is) through the roof. Too many game-breakers, too much confidence, too much clutch ability. And most importantly, they always stomp on teams when they're down. Really tough to imagine them not winning at this point.

Who are you taking for the Memorial Cup, Paul? I'm thinking it's between the Oil Kings and the Storm, with the edge to Guelph. Just too much firepower up front.

My favourite team is whoever is playing the Oil Kings. :) Yes I'm a little bitter.

TBH I haven't really followed the OHL or QMJHL, but I think the Oil Kings won't be afforded the luxury of having a seven game series to adjust to their opponent like they did so well against Portland. But if they defend in the zone like they did against Portland and get that level of goaltending then I think they'll take the cup.

Lets go Ducks, ruin Thom's brackets.

^ I don't think they can get any more ruined.

No doubt. I had Pitt all the way out. LOL Cindy Cosby blows.