The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.

May 20, 2013

The Hockey News - May-20-13

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011378/9828088-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="321" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN Columbus is young, but if gets an early lead, it has as vicious a killer instinct as any team, going 12-0 when leading after two periods.HOW THEY LOSE Even after trading for sniper Marian Gaborik, the Jackets won&rsquo;t overwhelm with offense. They owned the league&rsquo;s worst power play (12.4 percent) and no player had more than 27 points. If they don&rsquo;t beat you with defense, they don&rsquo;t beat you.QUESTION MARK Can anyone predict what we&rsquo;ll see out of Gaborik? The 31-year-old Slovakian right winger produced at a near point-per-game pace after joining Columbus, but is an inconsistent playoff performer. Gaborik had just one power play goal after netting 10 for the Rangers last season. The offense-starved Jackets need him to score more.GOALTENDING Although he was chased out of Philadelphia last summer, Sergei Bobrovsky has found redemption in Columbus. The 24-year-old Russian was the Blue Jackets&rsquo; MVP for most of the season and demolished his personal bests in GAA and SP. If the Vezina Trophy frontrunner doesn&rsquo;t compete at that level in the playoffs, Columbus is going nowhere fast.26.3Columbus&rsquo; shots per game, which ranked 29th in the NHL through mid-April. It was 14-8-7 when outshot. Last season, the Blue Jackets finished 14th in shots per game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02941/9828081-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="568" height="593"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIAN GABORIK (GABORIK: JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03777/9828074-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="684" height="541"></div>0-0Playoff record past 3 seasons27.7Average age0Players with Cup rings374Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04621/9828067-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS 150-1

<div class="byline">&#x2013; BILL VILONA</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011956/9827481-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="393" height="958"><figcaption class="caption-body">PENSACOLA POWERPatrick Knowlton loves the fact the Ice Flyers won the SPHL President&rsquo;s Cup on home ice. (KEITH WALLACE)</figcaption></div>THE CELEBRATION STARTED ON the ice at the Pensacola Bay Center, where nearly 5,000 fans cheered, held signs and recorded it with cell phones. Then it moved into the Ice Flyers&rsquo; raucous room.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021387/9827474-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="192" height="148"></div>That&rsquo;s where third-year pro Patrick Knowlton, one of the Pensacola&rsquo;s playoff stars, stood with his arm around linemate and best friend John Dunbar.The Ice Flyers&rsquo; 2-0 victory April 14 against the Huntsville Havoc in the deciding game of the Southern Professional League President&rsquo;s Cup final created this euphoria. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t script it any better than this,&rdquo; said Knowlton, 26, amid a haze of cigar smoke and sprays of champagne. &ldquo;Whenever you can win anything, whether it&rsquo;s checkers or a championship in hockey, it&rsquo;s unbelievable. Winning here in Pensacola, in front of these fans, it&rsquo;s unbelievable.&rdquo;Knowlton and rookie Dunbar, the team&rsquo;s top scorer in the playoffs, rejoined Pensacola in March after stints in the ECHL. They were among four Ice Flyers players who&rsquo;d received free agent opportunities in January, triggered by player movement throughout the minor leagues when the NHL lockout ended. But they all wanted to come back to Pensacola and reconnect with Ice Flyers&rsquo; first-year coach Gary Graham. &ldquo;Gary opened doors for a lot of us when the lockout ended,&rdquo; said Dunbar, 21. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a terrific coach. We said if there is any way to come back here, let&rsquo;s make it happen, let&rsquo;s win a championship. And that&rsquo;s exactly what we did.&rdquo;The goalies shone in the best-of-three final. The Ice Flyers&rsquo; Ross MacKinnon, named playoff MVP, had two shutouts and a 1.24 goals against average. Huntsville&rsquo;s Jesse Kallechy starred throughout the playoffs, facing 323 shots, for an average of 40 per game, and allowing just 17 in eight games.For Pensacola, the title is the biggest pro-sports feat in the city&rsquo;s history. The Ice Flyers led the SPHL in playoff attendance, averaging 4,113 per game. Their total attendance, nearly 110,000, is one-third of the population in the entire two-county region. &ldquo;We knew what it meant to bring a pro championship to Pensacola,&rdquo; Graham said. &ldquo;We wanted to be the group to do it and we made it happen.&rdquo;Pensacola is the fourth Florida pro team to win a title. They join the Tampa Bay Lightning (2004), the ECHL&rsquo;s Florida Everblades (2012) and International League&rsquo;s Orlando Solar Bears (2001). &#9632;

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ICE FLYERS FLY HIGH

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-011225/9828400-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="310" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03652/9828393-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="494" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOHN TAVARES (TAVARES: STEVE BABINEAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HOW THEY WIN To make it past the first round, much less sniff the Stanley Cup, requires Evgeni Nabokov to continue his April renaissance and a whole lot of team luck to displace a heavily favored higher seed. Resurrecting David Volek from 1993, however, is more likely than a championship rapture for Islanders fans.HOW THEY LOSE Nabokov was mediocre the first three months of the season and New York was one of the league&rsquo;s worst defensive teams before April 1. Then the Islanders fooled everybody and went on a 6-0-2 run, allowing no more than two goals in any game and just 10 total. Nabokov played in all of them, posting a 1.26 GAA and .948 SP.QUESTION MARK John Tavares, Matt Moulson, Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic have zero playoff experience. How they fare dictates whether the Islanders have any chance of success.GOALTENDING Nabokov has 80 games of playoff experience over nine post-seasons, getting to the second round five times and the conference final twice. The Isles need every bit of his wily veteran wit to pull any upsets.12Away wins for the Islanders, seventh in the NHL. New York was the only team with a losing record at home (10-11-3) to have a winning mark on the road (12-5-2).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02826/9828386-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="684" height="541"></div>0-0Playoff record past 3 seasons28.5Average age0Players with Cup rings193Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04550/9828379-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

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75-1 NEW YORK ISLANDERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-01443/9829208-1-eng-US/f0049-012.jpg" title="f0049-01" width="474" height="592"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GUESS WHO: TRAVIS GOLBY/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;I debuted as a Penguin in &rsquo;00-01 and had more playoff starts than regular season.&rdquo;</blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;I had my AHL logo on my mask when I made the NHL and was dubbed &lsquo;Moose&rsquo; as a result.&rdquo;</blockquote><blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;Now with the New Jersey Devils, I serve as Martin Brodeur&rsquo;s backup.&rdquo;</blockquote> &#9632;

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Guess WHO!

<div class="byline">WITH JASON KAY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-012247/9826904-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="526" height="919"><figcaption class="caption-body">(RYAN BROOK/TC MEDIA)</figcaption></div>THE MORE SIDNEY CROSBY&rsquo;S career unfolds, the more it mirrors that of his boss/former landlord, Mario Lemieux. Get drafted first by Pittsburgh. Check. Save a franchise. Check. Win a Stanley Cup, Hart, Art Ross and help lead your nation to international glory. Check.This season could be the capper. In 1991-92, Lemieux, 26 and in his eighth NHL season, was coming off two injury-marred years in which he played 85 games total. His back was again causing him serious pain and limited him to 64 contests, yet he still won the scoring title. And he was gunning for his second Cup. Crosby, who&rsquo;ll be 26 later this year, is in his eighth season and coming off two injury-marred years in which he played a total of 63 games. His grip on the Art Ross was loosening down the stretch thanks to a broken jaw, but it wasn&rsquo;t inconceivable he could return and triumph. He also is intently focused on Cup No. 2.What makes it even spookier is it&rsquo;s not the only valid Mario comparison on the roster; you could make a case Evgeni Malkin&rsquo;s details are closer. At 26, Malkin&rsquo;s 6-foot-3, 212-pound frame and on-ice presence are more reminiscent of No. 66&rsquo;s (6-foot-4, 210 pounds). To boot, Malkin, like Mario, already has his Conn Smythe and two Art Ross Trophies. Malkin, who has had his own injury battles, is a three-time first-team all-star (two for Lemieux thanks to Wayne Gretzky; one for Crosby).Fanning the analogy team-wide, there are other parallels to the &rsquo;92 champs, notably depth and experience. Both feature killer one-two punches at center with Lemieux/Ron Francis and Crosby/Malkin. Rugged Kevin Stevens scored frequently and battled hard (Chris Kunitz). Savvy vets Joe Mullen and Bryan Trottier played key roles (Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow). Ulf Samuelsson was despised (Matt Cooke), while the rest of the back end featured high-end skill and grit in Paul Coffey, Larry Murphy, Kjell Samuelsson, Gord Roberts (Kris Letang, Paul Martin, Brooks Orpik, Douglas Murray). We haven&rsquo;t even mentioned under-heralded Rick Tocchet (the far tamer Pascal Dupuis) or sophomore sensation Jaromir Jagr (whoops, no twin here; James Neal comes closest). Finally, one-time phenom Tom Barrasso, who&rsquo;d had his ups-and-downs, emerged as a money stopper (Marc-Andre Fleury).It&rsquo;d all be so easy to anoint a Cup champ if not for those deadly Hawks (see pg. 28). You know, the same club the Pens met in the &rsquo;92 final.NEXT ISSUE JUNE 2013CUSTOMER SERVICE AND TO SUBSCRIBE: <a href="http://THN.com">thn.com</a>CONTACT US: <a href="mailto:editorial@thehockeynews.com">editorial@thehockeynews.com</a><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021902/9826897-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="414" height="222"></div> &#9632;

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DEJA-VU ALL OVER AGAIN

What gives with all the Olympic hype around Carey Price? There are a host of goalies who deserve to be No. 1, but are not even mentioned in your &ldquo;National Netminders&rdquo; feature (April 15). To pick Price over Marc-Andre Fleury and Roberto Luongo is sad. To quote your cover story: &ldquo;the only person who doesn&rsquo;t have him publicly pegged as Canada&rsquo;s man for Sochi is himself.&rdquo; Well, add me to that list. Fleury is much more proven and until Price leads his team to a Cup, he has no place being mentioned.Jasen Golding, Fredericton, N.B.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012477/9827036-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="541" height="739"></div>CONTACT US:<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021687/9827029-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="140" height="86"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><a href="mailto:letters@thehockeynews.com">letters@thehockeynews.com</a><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-031008/9827022-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="70" height="70"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>/thehockeynews<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04641/9827015-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="70" height="70"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div>/+thehockeynews<h2>DIVISIONS DIVIDED</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="140" height="86"></div>Ryan Kennedy wants to name the new divisions, Gretzky, Hull, Orr and Roy (Editor&rsquo;s Notebook, April 15)? Wow. How about Howe? You know, Mr. Hockey? Even Gretzky honored Gordie by doubling up his famous No. 9.Don MacIntyre, Interlochen, Mich.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="140" height="86"></div>After the Islanders, Sabres, Capitals and Canucks all dabbled with updated jersey/logo designs, they all &ndash; to the delight of their fan bases &ndash; reverted to color schemes similar to those worn in yesteryear. It&rsquo;s only fitting then that all NHL fans be treated to the return of the rightful names of the two conferences, Campbell and Wales, and divisions, Smythe, Adams, Norris and Patrick. Now if only the Nordiques and Whalers would return.Andy Buzin, New York</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BLAME THE GAME</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="140" height="86"></div>Can we all stop talking about goalie equipment as if it is the reason for a drop in scoring? (Inside Hockey, April 15) If goalies and their equipment have improved over time, can the same not be said about skaters (who can now shoot better than ever before)? The trap and other defensive systems have once again become &ldquo;cool&rdquo; as officiating standards have dropped off. That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s behind the dip in scoring. Goaltenders should not be the scapegoats for a much larger problem the NHL has let develop before its eyes.David Fawcett, Abbotsford, B.C.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>HIRE THE FIRST SHOT</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="mon012.jpg" title="common01" width="140" height="86"></div>After hearing a variety of suggestions to create more energy at the end of games, I think this change in format is order: run the shootout before the game, predetermining a winner if the game is tied after the final whistle. This would push the team that lost the shootout to work extra hard during the game. The fans still get their shootout and maybe everyone shows up on time.David McDonald, Abbotsford, B.C.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>WELL RUN DRY?</h2>Re: Ken Campbell&rsquo;s &ldquo;Will Craig MacTavish Take Oilers To The Next Step?&rdquo; <a href="http://THN.com">THN.com</a> column, April 15<div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="mon022.jpg" title="common02" width="70" height="70"></div>Here we go, back to the future. MacTavish got sacked as their coach, but now he&rsquo;s their GM. I think I know the end of the story already.Steve Tilk</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="mon022.jpg" title="common02" width="70" height="70"></div>Old boy or not, &lsquo;MacT&rsquo; is a smart hockey guy. If Kevin Lowe lets him do his job, this might actually work.Rob Berry</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="mon042.jpg" title="common04" width="70" height="70"></div>Massive blunder (yet again) by the Oil. They need to take a cue from Montreal and clean house completely. &lsquo;MacT&rsquo; has nothing left to give that organization.Cody Murphy</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><h2>BIGFAN</h2>Mike NayanookeesicGeraldton, Ontario<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-05503/9826959-1-eng-US/f0006-052.jpg" title="f0006-05" width="483" height="591"></div>THINK YOU ARE A BIG FAN? SUBMIT YOUR PHOTOS AT <a href="http://THN.COM/BIGFAN">THN.COM/BIGFAN</a> &#9632;

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GET CUP BEFORE CALL

WHICH TEAM IS THIS YEAR&rsquo;S STANLEY CUP DARK HORSE?Tommy Kay @tommystwocents:Kings got in at 8th last year, Rangers have a King in goal and will be in at 8th as well. Coincidence? Nah&hellip;Glen Cockerton @Rockee_Raccoon:The Maple Leafs can take advantage of the East right now. Coming into playoffs hot, confident and no injuries.Phil @heater50:Washington Capitals. Alex Ovechkin playing the way he is. Dangerous!Jayce @JaycePrime:The St. Louis Blues have the size, skill and depth to really make some noise.Emiliano Barajas @ZJnanoShark:#SJSharks have a hot goaltender, deep blueline and underachieving offense.Aaron Chan @mapleleafmuse:The Islanders could give teams lots of trouble. John Tavares is an elite game-breaker and Evgeni Nabokov has solid playoff experience.Vic Meredith @vicmeredith:The darkest of all dark horses, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Ride &lsquo;Bob&rsquo; into the playoffs and off into the sunset with Lord Stanley&rsquo;s Cup.Scott Larkins @sklarkins:The Jets will be the dark horse! They&rsquo;ll squeak in and their fans will make some serious noise!John S. @nogoal99:Not sure about dark horse, but I have a great candidate for the black sheep of the league: #SABRES &#9632;

CHIRPS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021496/9827098-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="474" height="125"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-012188/9827091-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="374" height="785"></div> &#9632;

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PUCKPOLL

QUESTION: I&rsquo;m shocked how poor the Southeast Division is and my Florida Panthers are dead last. Why do you think this is happening? Do you think it will be like this next season?Derek Davis, London, Ont.ANSWER: The Southeast Division certainly has lived down to its reputation this season and the Panthers have been the worst of the bunch. Given they were in rebuild mode as soon as GM Dale Tallon took over, 2011-12 was more of an anomaly than this season. They&rsquo;ve still got a ways to go. As for next year, I can guarantee things won&rsquo;t be the same &ndash; mostly because of divisional realignment that will move Florida and Tampa Bay together with current Northeast Division teams and the Capitals and Hurricanes with current Atlantic Division squads.QUESTION: What do you think about Steve Ott&rsquo;s comments regarding Buffalo fans booing the Sabres (he thinks it&rsquo;s ridiculous)? Seems rather naive to me.Brian Pesci, Lackawanna, N.Y.ANSWER: I think Ott&rsquo;s point about the effect booing has on young players and negativity breeding negativity is fair. That said, he should know that being a sports fan isn&rsquo;t always about rational behavior. You can&rsquo;t blame Sabres fans for the awful results that have come in a season of big expectations. They&rsquo;re as frustrated as Buffalo&rsquo;s players are and this is one of the few outlets for them to collectively express that emotion. What&rsquo;s the easiest solution for the Sabres to resolve this issue? You guessed it: win more games.READ MORE &lsquo;ASK ADAM&rsquo; EVERY FRIDAY AT <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a> &#9632;

ASK Adam?

<div class="byline">&#x2013; ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-05522/9827174-1-eng-US/f0008-052.jpg" title="f0008-05" width="248" height="281"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-012366/9827167-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="735" height="750"><figcaption class="caption-body">MARIAN HOSSA130 PLAYOFF GAMES (HOSSA: DALE MACMILLAN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-031290/9827160-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="630" height="746"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE THORNTON114 PLAYOFF GAMES (THORNTON: ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-04736/9827153-1-eng-US/f0008-042.jpg" title="f0008-04" width="1024" height="1079"><figcaption class="caption-body">WING OF DINGA 39-year-old Dallas Drake helped set the tone for Detroit during their 2008 triumph. (DALLAS: DAVE SANDFORD/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>AT THIS TIME OF YEAR, THE benefit of having a wealth of playoff experience on a Stanley Cup contender is hotly debated. And there&rsquo;s a reason why that continues: though there&rsquo;s evidence of the value of players who have been through the post-season wars, statistics demonstrate teams can&rsquo;t expect to win an NHL title simply by accumulating the most playoff experience.In the first seven years of the salary cap era, the team with more post-season games-played than any other franchise went on to win it all only once (Detroit in 2008). The other Cup-winners were in and around the average amount of playoff experience (see pg. 12). So yes, it isn&rsquo;t as if you can get by without some players on the roster who know how different the game gets after the regular season ends, but you do have to pick your veterans wisely.Take that 2008 Red Wings. GM Ken Holland brought back veteran right winger Dallas Drake at the end of a 15-year NHL career. Drake was 39 when the playoffs began and didn&rsquo;t hit the scoresheet much, but his physical play and leadership were invaluable. &ldquo;He played great the first 15 to 20 games and the second half I thought was a bit of a struggle for him, but come playoffs he was a big-time factor for us,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;It seemed like every game in the first seven to 10 minutes, he&rsquo;d get in and lay a couple real good licks on the opposition&rsquo;s defense and send a message to keep their heads up.&rdquo;As Mark Recchi showed when he first arrived in Boston at the trade deadline in 2009, the playoff-experienced veteran also can be a de facto coach or at least a respected conduit between players and their coach. Such was the case when the Bruins were down to the Carolina Hurricanes three games to one in their second round series. The system that served Boston so well that season no longer was working, but none of the players who comprised the team&rsquo;s core had the gumption to tell coach Claude Julien their strategy needed alterations. Recchi took matters into his own hands, approached Julien and adjustments were made that allowed the Bruins to get back in the series.Former defenseman and current TSN TV analyst Aaron Ward, who was part of that 2009 Bruins team, said the right type of experienced playoff veteran is invaluable to the process of chasing a championship. &ldquo;Playoffs are about having an arsenal allowing you to battle different types of circumstance,&rdquo; Ward said. &ldquo;If you get into a physical game, you need guys who have the ability to respond. If you get into a run-and-gun game, you need guys who can do that. But you also need people in your room who are familiar with the circumstances, the highs and lows&hellip; Veteran guys provide a level of comfort.&rdquo;Boston leads all teams in playoff experience this season with more than 1,300 games. By contrast, the Toronto Maple Leafs have just 206. (See pg. 31-45 for breakdown.) &ldquo;Do I think really young teams can win four rounds?&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;Probably not, but they sure can win a series.&rdquo;Even the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers had to have their hearts broken in the 1983 Cup final before they understood what had to be sacrificed to win. Just about every player has to learn that lesson through a trial by fire. &ldquo;With veterans, odds are you know what to expect,&rdquo; Holland said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s only the odds.&rdquo; &#9632;

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PICK YOUR VETS WISELY

<div class="byline">By Charlie Teljeur</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0009-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-012106/9827205-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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THE INSTIGATOR

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03905/9827236-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="579" height="440"><figcaption class="caption-body">(SKATE: CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>+PLUS</h2><h3>ALL ON SAME TEAM</h3>Yotes&rsquo; Keith Yandle, a Beantown native, writes &ldquo;pray for Boston&rdquo; on skate after marathon bombing.<h2>&ndash;MINUS</h2><h3>A HELLISH RUN</h3>Devils lose 10 straight games after franchise goaltender Martin Brodeur records career win 666.<h2>+PLUS</h2><h3>BIG GESTURE</h3>NHL and NHLPA partner with You Can Play. Flyers scout Patrick Burke runs the point for YCP.<h2>&ndash;MINUS</h2><h3>LOWE BLOW</h3>Oilers president Kevin Lowe makes fan flub at press conference. Soon after, he apologizes. &#9632;

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The Best & Worst

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MIKE BROPHY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-012341/9827274-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021716/9827267-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="992" height="1208"><figcaption class="caption-body">LOOKING AHEADWorlds gold will be on the minds of Paul Stastny and Jordan Eberle, but also an Olympic shot. (EBERLE+STASTNY: JEFF VINNICK/HHOF-IIHF IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IN RECENT YEARS, MANAGEMENT teams for Team Canada and Team USA have had difficulty coaxing NHLers to play in the World Championship.The disappointment of not making the NHL playoffs or losing in the first round, coupled with a long regular season, has caused some to decline invitations. That shouldn&rsquo;t be a problem for this year&rsquo;s tournament.Hockey Canada and USA Hockey have a little card up their sleeves: if players are healthy and asked to participate, and they have hopes of representing their countries at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, then they&rsquo;d better pack their bags for Finland and Sweden, the co-hosts for this year&rsquo;s World Championship. &ldquo;Usually when you look at the four-year cycle, the year leading up to the Olympics we get much more support than the other years,&rdquo; said Bob Nicholson, president and chief executive officer for Hockey Canada.That said, Canada and the United States face a different obstacle this year thanks to the fact the NHL regular season ends April 28, just five days before the World Championship begins. By comparison, the season ended April 7 last year and the first games at the WC were May 4. &ldquo;The biggest problem we face this year is the tournament starts on May 3, so we don&rsquo;t have the luxury of waiting for a while to name the whole team,&rdquo; Nicholson said. &ldquo;It will be tough enough when the NHL season ends to get the players on the planes and over there.&rdquo;As usual, many of the best players in the world will still be participating in the NHL playoffs and won&rsquo;t be available. But the likes of Steven Stamkos, Claude Giroux, Eric and Jordan Staal, Brayden Schenn, Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Shea Weber, Matt Duchene and Ryan O&rsquo;Reilly will be available to Canada and Andy Greene, Matt Carle, Jack Johnson, Keith Yandle, David Legwand, Paul Stastny and Erik Johnson for Team USA.Russia won the gold medal for a tournament-leading 26th time last year. Canada is next with 24 gold, most recently in 2007. The U.S. has won gold twice, but not since 1960.Steve Yzerman, who helmed Canada to gold at the 2010 Games in Vancouver, will again manage the Canadian Olympic team, along with Ken Holland, Kevin Lowe and Doug Armstrong. USA Hockey will name its management team when the NHL officially announces its participation in Sochi. You can bet both groups be monitoring closely the performances of some players at the World Championship, with next year&rsquo;s Olympics in mind. &#9632;

f0010-01

DRESS REHEARSAL

SIDNEY CROSBY is the most dominant offensive force in the NHL. His 1.42 career points per game is fourth in history. But what happens if you adjust the stats to reflect the level of offense in today&rsquo;s era? If you divide Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy&rsquo;s PPG by the average NHL goals per game during each of their careers and then multiply that by the league&rsquo;s GPG over Crosby&rsquo;s career (5.61) you get a modernized PPG and a more apples-to-apples comparison.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-031109/9827312-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="454" height="748"><figcaption class="caption-body">(CROSBY: GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>ALL-TIME GREATNESS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04765/9827305-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="1044" height="500"></div> &#9632;

f0010-03

THE WIZARDRY OF CROSBY

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-012282/9827343-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">GOLDEN GIRLSThe United States has won gold in four of the past five women&rsquo;s World Championships.</figcaption></div>OLYMPIC GOLD IN WOMEN&rsquo;S hockey will remain a two-horse race at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Competition behind Canada and the United States tightened at the 2013 women&rsquo;s World Championship in Ottawa with Russia becoming the third different country in as many years to win bronze. But the gap between the North Americans and the rest of the world in female hockey didn&rsquo;t close much.The U.S. reclaimed gold with a 3-2 win over Canada in the final. Canada has won 10 of 15 world titles, but the U.S. has won four of the past five. The Canadians will spend six months training and playing games in Calgary in preparation for the Olympics. The Americans will also train together full time during the 2013-14 season.Unless other countries commit to similar intensive schedules, scores between the North Americans and the Europeans could widen in Sochi. There were some closer ones in Ottawa. Finland held the U.S. scoreless for 53 minutes in their semifinal before the Americans scored three goals in a 3-0 win. But the Finns rely far too much on goalie Noora Raty and need more than 11 shots on net to upset the U.S. &ldquo;We cannot continue without improvement,&rdquo; International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said at the conclusion of the women&rsquo;s Olympic hockey tournament in 2010, which had five games with a goal differential of nine or more.That remark was interpreted as a threat to kick women&rsquo;s hockey out of the Games unless it became more competitive. It galvanized the International Ice Hockey Federation to invest more than $2 million into female hockey programs worldwide. &ldquo;I cannot imagine that an IOC president would kick women&rsquo;s hockey out of the program,&rdquo; said IIHF president, Rene Fasel.Thanks to a new WC format, the bottom two countries never face the top two, thus eliminating two embarrassing scores. Only one game in Ottawa had a goal differential of nine or more goals. The new format will also be used in Sochi.After years of ignoring women&rsquo;s hockey, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation began to care about it the moment Sochi won the bid to host the 2014 Games. The Russian women had a new coach in Ottawa and former NHL player Alexei Yashin was appointed GM in December.This sudden interest was too late to make significant gains on Canada and the U.S., but the bronze medal that was once perennially a contest between Finland and Sweden now has Russia and 2012 world bronze medalist Switzerland in the mix.Donna Spencer covers women&rsquo;s hockey for The Canadian Press &#9632;

f0012-01

U.S. AND CANADA, THEN THE REST

<div class="byline">&#x2013; GEOFF KIRBYSON</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021800/9827374-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="317" height="433"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JANA CHYTILOVA/HHOF-IIHF IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Life in the NHL isn&rsquo;t all charter flights, gourmet meals and monster paychecks.Sure, that fits for a select few superstars, but not for Sean Pronger and hundreds of his third and fourth-line colleagues.In Journeyman: The Many Triumphs (And Even More Numerous Defeats) Of A Guy Who&rsquo;s Seen Just About Everything In The Game Of Hockey, Pronger tears back the curtain to reveal the lives of players on the bubble &ndash; most of it focused on the never-ending dread they feel about getting sent back to the minors.In training camp, while the first-liners are finding their legs, going out to dinner and playing golf, the journeyman simply prays he&rsquo;ll find a jersey hanging in his dressing room stall every day.Even if you make the big squad, Pronger said there are plenty of signs your dream is about to get derailed (again). You get the nod calling you into the coach&rsquo;s office or, even more damning, you&rsquo;re centering two rehabbing players in practice.While some players would be bitter about playing for 16 pro teams in a career, Pronger decided it would be much easier if he could laugh at himself, often with hilarious results for readers. He starts off living in a mice-infested farmhouse without running water while toiling in the ECHL. He eventually played 260 games in the NHL. He was even briefly Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s linemate on the Rangers.Pronger tells the tale of informing The Great One he was nursing a monster hangover one morning, hoping for some help in getting through practice. But instead of the tape-to-tape passes Gretzky was known for, every pass that day was a wobbly hand grenade. Pronger writes: &ldquo;Turns out Wayne thought it would be fun to mess with me from the get-go. How awesome is that?&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-02

TALES OF A JOURNEYMAN

<div class="byline">&#x2013; KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-012260/9827412-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">TWO-TIMERSYuri Babenko hoists the Gagarin Cup for repeat KHL champions Moscow Dynamo. (KHL PHOTO AGENCY/YURY KUZMIN)</figcaption></div>NOBODY ON THE 2012-13 EDITION of the Moscow Dynamo was born the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup, but there&rsquo;s little doubt the Kontinental League champs channelled their inner 1966-67 Maple Leafs to win the Gagarin Cup.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021702/9827405-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="160" height="175"></div>Like the Leafs, Dynamo play in the most hockey-crazed and largest market in their country. Like the Leafs, they have a long and storied history. And like the 1966-67 Maple Leafs, Moscow won a championship using a collection of players that lacked star quality, a team made up largely of senior citizens by hockey standards.The average age of the players Dynamo used in the playoffs &ndash; which they capped with a 3-2 overtime win over Traktor Chelyabinsk to win the league final in six games &ndash; was 28. Led by their 33-year-old goaltender, and now two time playoff MVP, Alexander Yeremenko, Dynamo iced a lineup chock full of veterans with little NHL experience. There&rsquo;s a good chance Denis Kokarev will be the only Dynamo player on the Russian roster for the World Championship in May.That wasn&rsquo;t the case early in the season when the club had Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom in their lineup. Despite just playing just 31 and 19 games respectively, Ovechkin and Backstrom finished 1-2 in team scoring. A third NHLbound player, the Leafs&rsquo; Leo Komarov, played for Dynamo during the lockout.But it was the collection of steely veterans who were responsible for delivering the second straight Gagarin Cup championship to Dynamo.Yeremenko, who also played for a championship team with Salavat Yulaev, has won three straight titles. Thirty-one-year-old veteran Alexei Tsvetkov scored the deciding goal in overtime. And two 35-year-old stalwarts, defenseman Konstantin Gorovikov and center Yuri Babenko, played all 21 playoff games for Dynamo.One player who must have felt out of place was 18-year-old defenseman Andrei Mironov, who&rsquo;s expected to be a late-round pick in this year&rsquo;s NHL draft. In its mid-season rankings, the league&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau had Mironov ranked as the 26th-best European skater.After the championship, attention turned to whether Ovechkin, Backstrom and Komarov would have their names engraved on the trophy and receive championship rings. League bylaws state a player who plays at least half of his team&rsquo;s games that season gets his name on the trophy, so Ovechkin will likely have his name engraved.As far as championship rings are concerned, those are distributed at the discretion of the team. All three will probably receive one.As for Traktor Chelyabinsk, the team put in a valiant effort and were the picture of resilience throughout the post-season. Not only did they come back from a pair of two-game series deficits earlier in the playoffs, but the team had to deal with a meteorite hitting the city in late February, casting doubt as to whether they could even host their first round playoff series. &#9632;

f0014-01

DYNAMO DYNAMITE

Do you need experience to win the Stanley Cup? Yes. No. Sort of. As part of our analysis (see pg. 8), we looked back at each of the seven postseasons since the 2004-05 lockout and calculated the number of playoff games for players on each post-season team. Aside from the Detroit Red Wings in 2008, Cup teams were middle of the pack, neither top three nor bottom three, and usually close to the average. In red parentheses for the Cup winner is its rank of experience compared to the other 15 playoffs teams that season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-031150/9827443-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="470" height="1601"></div> &#9632;

f0014-03

AIM FOR MIDDLE

<div class="byline">&#x2013; JASON WRYGHTE</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-012025/9827526-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="695" height="792"><figcaption class="caption-body">ILYA KOVALCHUK (JIM MCISAAC/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>THE OLD-SCHOOL MEASUREMENT OF special teams is goals scored or allowed divided by opportunities. But is that the best reflection of a club&rsquo;s performance on the power play or penalty kill?If a team gets a power play and just eight seconds in one of its players gets a penalty, the man-advantage is over, but it&rsquo;s still goes down as a power play chance. And if a team uses its offensive stars to kill penalties, its shorthanded goals aren&rsquo;t included in its effectiveness on the penalty kill. There&rsquo;s also the problem of five-minute majors, which count as one power play chance.So, what if special team rankings weren&rsquo;t based on percentage of chances, but on the time it takes to score or be scored on?Take St. Louis and Los Angeles. Both ranked ninth in power play percentage. But that didn&rsquo;t account for the Blues&rsquo; five shorthanded goals against, nor was it a measure of the Kings&rsquo; power play efficiency. Los Angeles had scored five more power play goals than St. Louis in only 19 additional minutes of man-advantage time. Suggesting their power plays are equal is misleading.There&rsquo;s also New Jersey, which ranked 18th on the penalty kill. But teams thinking the Devils&rsquo; weren&rsquo;t dangerous when down a man or two were fooling themselves. They&rsquo;d scored 11 shorthanded goals &ndash; four by Ilya Kovalchuk, who led the NHL &ndash; offsetting some of the 27 power play goals scored against.With all this in mind, we&rsquo;ve re-evaluated each team&rsquo;s power play and penalty-killing prowess. The new-school measurement accounts for shorthanded goals allowed on the PP as well as shorthanded goals scored on the PK and re-ranks teams (indicated in chart as &ldquo;move&rdquo;) according to how long it takes on average to score a goal on the PP or allow one on the PK.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021548/9827519-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="657" height="2530"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-031124/9827512-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="657" height="2537"></div>(Standard NHL ranking in parentheses. Statistics as of games played through April 14.) &#9632;

f0016-01

It Takes TIME

<div class="byline">BY KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011904/9827613-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="295" height="280"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021411/9827606-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="453" height="1009"><figcaption class="caption-body">(D. SEDIN: GLENN JAMES/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-031005/9827599-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="547" height="948"><figcaption class="caption-body">(H. SEDIN: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04677/9827592-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="639" height="1083"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BOUWMEESTER: MARK BUCKNER/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-05465/9827585-1-eng-US/f0018-052.jpg" title="f0018-05" width="407" height="411"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2>When the St. Louis Blues played the Vancouver Canucks down the stretch, David Backes and Ryan Reaves hit everything that moved. They had 11 hits, half of the team total.You can understand their rationale. The Canucks were playing the second of back-to-back games on the road and the way to slow down a talented team such as the Canucks is deliver the body on them. That&rsquo;s particularly pertinent when the team has seven regulars over the age of 30, which puts them among the league leaders.Should the Canucks win the Northwest Division, they&rsquo;ll have reigned over the league&rsquo;s second-worst group six of the past seven years. And while most of the rest of the division is a wasteland, the Minnesota Wild are coming on. The Canucks, on the other hand, are hanging on.Let&rsquo;s start with the Sedin twins. Not only are they no longer 100-point scorers, they&rsquo;re barely point-per-gamers. They&rsquo;re both 32 and while they should be able to play a few more years when their contracts expire in two years, the decline has begun. And with the Sedins, they&rsquo;re both going to leave at the same time.The Canucks, meanwhile, are faced with a salary cap crunch, with $62 million devoted to just 15 players, and needing to resign or replace Derek Roy, Mason Raymond and Max Lapierre. Of course, ridding themselves of the Roberto Luongo contract, whenever that happens, will free some cap space and reduce the 30-and-over contingent by one. But with little help on the way after the trade of Cody Hodgson &ndash; they finished as the 29th-ranked team in THN&rsquo;s annual Future Watch edition &ndash; the Canucks have to maximize the time they have left with the talent available to them.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-06364/9827578-1-eng-US/f0018-062.jpg" title="f0018-06" width="373" height="371"></div><h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2>One rival executive completely understands why Blues GM Doug Armstrong went out and bolstered his blueline at the trade deadline by acquiring Jay Bouwmeester and Jordan Leopold. &ldquo;He sees this as the opportunity for this group and he&rsquo;s going for it,&rdquo; the executive says. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t fault him for that.&rdquo;The Blues aren&rsquo;t a particularly old team. They have an impressive array of young talent currently playing in the organization and waiting in the wings, but they&rsquo;re also a budget team. The Blues would have trouble keeping this group intact even if they were to spend to the upper limit of the salary cap. But with the second-lowest payroll in the league, ahead of only the Phoenix Coyotes, the Blues will almost certainly be closer to the floor than the ceiling.Among the players hitting restricted free agency this summer are defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, Kevin Shattenkirk, Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund, the latter two being 1-2 in goal scoring for the Blues. Reliable veteran Andy McDonald will be an unrestricted free agent, with both goalies, along with Vladimir Sobotka and Jay Bouwmeester, two years away from free agency.With Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, Ty Rattie and Dmitrij Jaskin, along with two capable young goaltenders in Jake Allen and Jordan Binnington on the way, the Blues are well positioned to be a legitimate contender for years to come.Most NHL teams go through a cycle in which their window closes because their top talent gets older. The Blues are the opposite. They have an overabundance of young players who are getting better and reaching the potential pinnacle of their careers. Too bad they probably won&rsquo;t all be around to see it happen in St. Louis.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021247/9827571-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="292" height="284"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2>News flash: the window of opportunity for the Red Wings is closing. That&rsquo;s because it&rsquo;s always closing. But you get the feeling, after the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom last summer, it went down a good number of notches.Detroit still has some ridiculous high-end talent. No conversation about the best player in the world can be held &ndash; and we looked this up &ndash; without Pavel Datsyuk. And with Henrik Zetterberg getting back to being about a point-per-game player, the Red Wings are indeed still blessed.But there&rsquo;s talk Datsyuk is considering going back to finish his career in the KHL when his contract expires after next season. And Detroit&rsquo;s average age of 28.8 trails only Vancouver (28.9), Philadelphia (29.2), Anaheim (29.3), Boston (29.3), Pittsburgh (29.5) and New Jersey (30.5).The problem for the Red Wings isn&rsquo;t at the top end, it&rsquo;s in the all-important middle of their lineup. As good as Detroit has been at drafting despite low draft positions and traded picks, there&rsquo;s only so long they can wait for guys such as Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm and Cory Emmerton to become prime-time players.The Wings were in the hunt for Jay Bouwmeester, but weren&rsquo;t willing to surrender another first-rounder. That says something.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03849/9827564-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="300" height="277"></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2>Credit Sharks GM Doug Wilson with having an ample amount of foresight. Instead of relying on veterans to help in the pursuit of a playoff spot, he dealt Douglas Murray, Ryane Clowe and Michal Handzus at the trade deadline.That was in an effort to avoid losing them for nothing in free agency and give some of their younger players an opportunity to fill the void. The bad news is there isn&rsquo;t much there in the way of young talent. The Sharks rank dead last in THN&rsquo;s annual Future Watch edition.Shark mainstays Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski &ndash; combined age, 130 &ndash; will be unrestricted free agents after next season. After a white-hot start, Marleau has cooled considerably and is way off his usual offensive production. Thornton remains almost a point-per-game player and seems to have redefined himself as a responsible two-way guy who can play down low, which likely means his numbers will take a hit as the years go on.After spending much of the year fumbling in the dark, the Sharks played much better in the second half. If this team is going to shed its reputation as a playoff disappointment, it&rsquo;d better do something about it really soon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04646/9827557-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="271" height="271"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2>Let&rsquo;s come to grips with reality: the Rangers aren&rsquo;t as good as we all thought they were. Last season was an aberration by a team that responded to its hardline coach and played every game like it was its last. No team can make the game that difficult for that long. So now the Rangers are left to the status of surprise team instead of legitimate contender. If they&rsquo;re going to challenge for a Stanley Cup, it&rsquo;ll be because they jumped up in the playoffs and surprised everyone, though the prospects based on their regular season play aren&rsquo;t particularly encouraging.To do so, it&rsquo;ll be on the shoulders of 31-year-old goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. For all his regular season heroics and international success, Lundqvist has yet to turn in a lights-out Ken Dryden-circa-1971-esque performance in the playoffs. Entering this year&rsquo;s post-season, &lsquo;The King&rsquo; has been with the Rangers for eight seasons and has won just four playoff series, with two of them coming last year against lower-seeded teams. That&rsquo;s a big hole in the resume.There&rsquo;s no reason to believe Lundqvist, who&rsquo;s scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in 2014, won&rsquo;t remain at the top of his game for another four or five years, but unless he performs superhuman feats in the spring, Gotham will watch its chances fade away. &#9632;

f0018-01

FEATURES

TIME’S ALMOST UP

<div class="byline">BY MICHAEL TRAIKOS</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011657/9827644-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!Dion Phaneuf has the Leafs, as well as Blue and White fans, pumped for the playoffs. (GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>OH, BABY DON&rsquo;T IT FEEL LIKE heaven right now. Don&rsquo;t it feel like something from a dream.&rdquo;As Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers sung in 1981, the waiting is the hardest part. No team knows that better than the Toronto Maple Leafs, who last won the Stanley Cup in 1967 and have gone nine years and two lockouts without a playoff appearance, the NHL&rsquo;s longest active drought.This season, however, at least one of those streaks is coming to an end.Barring a collapse of U.S. housing market circa 2008 proportions, the Leafs will have clinched a playoff spot by the time you&rsquo;re reading this for the first time since 2004. To put into perspective how much time has elapsed since then, consider that Nazem Kadri wasn&rsquo;t yet in high school and five players from that team not only retired, but have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.In fact, only Nik Antropov (Winnipeg), Tomas Kaberle (Montreal), Alexei Ponikarovsky (New Jersey) and Matt Stajan (Calgary) are still playing in the NHL. So there are not a lot of players on the Leafs roster who truly know what to expect when springtime hockey in Toronto finally arrives.All anyone knows is it&rsquo;s going to be crazy.How crazy? &ldquo;Every home game we&rsquo;d win, it was a huge party outside,&rdquo; Ponikarovsky says of the 2003-04 playoffs. &ldquo;Couldn&rsquo;t actually get home, because Yonge Street was just piled up. Nobody was moving, everybody was just with flags outside, running around screaming, knocking on the windows.&rdquo;There&rsquo;s a temptation to cash in on that enthusiasm, by planning parade routes and draining every last marketing dollar out of what has been a long time coming &ndash; not only for the Leafs, but for the entire city. Aside from the Toronto Argos, who recently celebrated a Grey Cup, the Toronto Raptors haven&rsquo;t won a playoff round since 2001, while the Toronto Blue Jays have gone almost 20 years without a playoff appearance.Still, the Leafs have been cautious in how they approach their return to respectability. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t mention the &lsquo;P&rsquo; word around here,&rdquo; says Tom Anselmi, president and COO at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. &ldquo;Yeah, it does feel like a long time. But the past is the past and we&rsquo;re just excited about the team right now. It&rsquo;s all feeling good right now. Seeing our fans enjoy it will be the best part of all this.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s not just the fans. The TV networks, at least those north of the border, have to be just as excited to have the Leafs, as well as potentially four other Canadian teams, in the playoffs. A year ago, only the Ottawa Senators and Vancouver Canucks qualified. And both were out after the first round.Of course, Toronto could also be a one-and-done. But, through the eyes of many, just being there puts the planets back in alignment and gives order back to the league.Love them or hate them, the Leafs are a polarizing team that provides greater benefits to the NHL when they&rsquo;re successful rather than the punch line of a joke. This is a team that sells out every home game and causes attendances to spike when playing on the road, regardless of where they are in the standings.The Leafs might not be the New York Yankees or Dallas Cowboys of the NHL (winning has something to do with that), but the league benefits more with them in the playoffs than out of it. &ldquo;I like talking to business people about it,&rdquo; says Dave Poulin, the Leafs vice-president of hockey operations. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re building an end product here and there&rsquo;s a process that we can&rsquo;t accelerate. Now it all fits together.&rdquo;Indeed, there&rsquo;s a level of excitement with this year&rsquo;s Leafs. Unlike in the past, when the team traded draft picks and prospects for a chance at the Cup, Toronto has one of the youngest rosters in the NHL. This appears to be the start of something special. The waiting is finally over. &#9632;

f0020-01

LONG, LONG TIME COMING

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011542/9827696-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">STILL SEARCHINGJussi Jokinen, Douglas Murray, Jarome Iginla and Brenden Morrow are all looking for their first Cup.(OPENER, JOKINEN+IGINLA: GREGORY SHAMUS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES; MURRAY+MORROW: BRUCE BENNETT/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS GM Ray Shero envisioned specific roles for Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow, Douglas Murray and Jussi Jokinen when he made a successful play for all of them before the trade deadline. He did not, however, envision them in Speedos.During a mid-April road trip to Florida, the Penguins got a chance to bond with the new members of the flock and the chosen form of hazing was a game of beach volleyball where the new guys and rookies had to wear the skimpiest of gear. &ldquo;That was interesting,&rdquo; says freshman Beau Bennett. &ldquo;My thighs didn&rsquo;t take the sun too well, but it was all fun and games. I probably had the worst. It wasn&rsquo;t even a Speedo, it was more of a woman&rsquo;s bikini. I&rsquo;ll probably re-gift it to my girlfriend back home.&rdquo;Pittsburgh was a winner on most pundits&rsquo; trade deadline board and is primed for another return to the Stanley Cup final. The full complement of the Penguins&rsquo; reloaded arsenal had yet to get into full swing through mid-April, with Sidney Crosby healing from a broken jaw, James Neal shaking off the symptoms of a recent concussion and Evgeni Malkin nursing an upper body injury. For the record, Geno&rsquo;s ailment didn&rsquo;t appear to be a sunburn, as had been reported by a Pittsburgh newspaper.Even without three of the top players in the NHL, Pittsburgh has been buzzing and the key for the new recruits was to get in and not upset the applecart, as exciting as it was to join a team that was all-in for glory. &ldquo;Winning takes care of a lot and it feels pretty good,&rdquo; Morrow says. &ldquo;When I got here the team was on a good little run and I didn&rsquo;t screw things up. Then we found some wins after a bit of a lull, so it feels good.&rdquo;The key to the new-look Penguins is that the players acquired are round pegs to fit in round holes. This wasn&rsquo;t about Shero grabbing as much scoring as possible off the market. Iginla can certainly do that, but Morrow is the perfect veteran third-liner now, banging and crashing while providing solid minutes. In a 6-4 win over the flagging Montreal Canadiens, he drove star defenseman P.K. Subban up the wall, eventually fighting the Habs ace. Jokinen steps in down the middle while Crosby is on the mend and brings that always important playoff depth. Murray has his imposing 6-foot-3, 245-pound frame and all the ill will it directs at opposing forwards. On top of the bulk, Murray is also a brainy sort (the Cornell alum is one of the inventors of a hands-free multi-faucet beer keg tap) and points to the true value of Shero&rsquo;s deals, which didn&rsquo;t give up a single roster player. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not how great that guy is, it&rsquo;s that multiple positions get improved,&rdquo; Murray says. &ldquo;Someone on the third line now moves to the fourth line, so you actually improve on multiple positions.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">I don&rsquo;t know if we can want it more. For us, each guy is motivated &ndash; Craig Adams</blockquote>Right now, the Pens are surviving thanks to depth players such as Bennett, Joe Vitale and Tanner Glass. With the full roster healthy, they&rsquo;ll get pushed down the ladder, but they still have the talent to contribute once that war of attrition that is the NHL playoffs goes into deeper rounds.Of course, last year&rsquo;s Pittsburgh edition looked pretty smart, too, until a first round meeting with archrival Philadelphia became a nightmare of bad goaltending and dead dreams. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t lose to the Flyers because we were looking past them, we lost because we didn&rsquo;t play well enough,&rdquo; says veteran right winger Craig Adams. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re working on our game, building an identity and a consistency so that doesn&rsquo;t happen again. Whenever you have a good team in the playoffs you have a chance and those chances don&rsquo;t come around very often. Everybody realizes that. We&rsquo;re prepared and we don&rsquo;t need motivation, we just need to play well.&rdquo;But the themes for motivation do keep cropping up. Not only is there unfinished business for the squad that flamed out in 2012, keep in mind Crosby wasn&rsquo;t on the ice for the end of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s last Cup victory in 2009. He was stapled to the bench after getting crunched in the second period by Detroit&rsquo;s Johan Franzen. Yes, his knee was fine enough to enable the young captain to hoist the mug afterwards, but it&rsquo;s pretty likely &lsquo;Sid the Kid&rsquo; would love to recreate his Olympic gold-medal winning score with new teammate Iginla on NHL ice. On top of that, none of the new four players brought in at the deadline has won the Cup before, yet all have missed it.Iginla has come closest, captaining the Calgary Flames to Game 7 of the final in 2004 only to fall 2-1 to Tampa Bay. Morrow got to Game 6 of the final with Dallas, losing by the same score to New Jersey one year after the Stars won it all when he was in junior with the Western League&rsquo;s Portland Winter Hawks. Jokinen missed Carolina&rsquo;s Cup run by three seasons, getting as far as the conference final with the Hurricanes. Murray was a member of San Jose Sharks underperforming squads of recent years that never got beyond the conference final. Even 36-year-old backup goalie Tomas Vokoun has a story: he joined the Washington Capitals last season in hopes of getting out of the first round for the first time as an NHLer, only to get injured on the eve of the post-season. Rookie Braden Holtby stepped in and helped Washington upset second-seeded Boston before falling to the Rangers and Vokoun was traded at the draft to the Penguins. So is it Win One for the Gippers? Not quite. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s always nice storylines and a million reasons why you want to win,&rdquo; Adams says. &ldquo;But at the end of the day, I don&rsquo;t know if you can want it more. For us, each guy is motivated.&rdquo;Now it&rsquo;s just a matter of getting everyone on the same page. The Penguins organization hasn&rsquo;t been satisfied with throwing its talent on the ice and saying &ldquo;go.&rdquo; In reality, there&rsquo;s a Pittsburgh way and it&rsquo;s not as simple as learning what &ldquo;Yinzer&rdquo; means or how to get your Primanti Bros. sandwich prepared (double meat, double cheese, duh).For example, there&rsquo;s the simple poster the team brings with it on the road: &ldquo;Hunt,&rdquo; decorated with a bull&rsquo;s-eye. That&rsquo;s to remind players that when the Penguins forecheck, they&rsquo;re going in for the puck and they&rsquo;re not going to peel back if they initially fail; it&rsquo;s an always-moving-forward philosophy. The subtleties don&rsquo;t end there. &ldquo;Minimizing opportunities for the other team is a big thing with us,&rdquo; says coach Dan Bylsma. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re tough, we&rsquo;re physical, we grind those situations down.&rdquo;On top of that, the Penguins are expected to do such things at speed. &ldquo;They really push the pace here,&rdquo; Morrow says. &ldquo;Everything&rsquo;s quick, transition-quick. In Dallas we may have held onto the puck longer and made some more possession-type plays. This is just a quick pace, get pucks deep. They&rsquo;ve got a lot of faceoff plays to memorize, there&rsquo;s a bit of a playbook. We&rsquo;re like NFL quarterbacks, studying for the first couple days here.&rdquo;Fortunately, the vets are quick studies. &ldquo;It took me a long time to learn, but these guys are so good already it only took them a couple games,&rdquo; Bennett says. &ldquo;The Penguins&rsquo; system isn&rsquo;t the easiest to play, but it&rsquo;s really fun once you get the hang of it.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011481/9827689-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="1070" height="1434"><figcaption class="caption-body">DEADLY DEJA-VU?Sidney Crosby hopes to rekindle the magic he and Jarome Iginla had at the 2010 Olympics. (CROSBY: GREG FIUME/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-021066/9827682-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="666" height="745"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ALEX LIVESEY/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Though you might think the three players coming in from the Western Conference would be less familiar with the Penguins&rsquo; Way, Murray points out teams on the left side of the continent actually have a distinct advantage over their Eastern counterparts: when the Western players get to the rink, the Eastern games are already on TV, so they can watch what&rsquo;s happening before hitting the ice themselves. &ldquo;When I first heard I was traded I wondered where and when I heard it was Pittsburgh I got excited,&rdquo; Murray says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s no secret all the talent that is in here, but they also play hard, which I love.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011492/9827675-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="1394" height="1004"><figcaption class="caption-body">TALK IS CHEAPEvgeni Malkin isn&rsquo;t known for sparkling interviews, preferring to make statements on the ice. (CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Asked whether the road trip offered him a good opportunity to get to know his new mates, Murray says he&rsquo;s never had a problem making friends, grinning only the way a hockey player who figured out how to get beer out of a keg faster and knows Tiger Woods&rsquo; ex-wife can grin. But it&rsquo;s important for the Penguins to have their house in order once the post-season comes. Morrow notes it&rsquo;s obvious who this team runs through and his new teammates appreciate the situation he and a couple other of the recruits are going through. &ldquo;Brenden and Jarome and Dougie, they had only ever played on one team before, so they had lots of experience bringing in guys and making them comfortable,&rdquo; Adams says. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s different when you switch teams and it can be a little bit uncomfortable.&rdquo;Not only were the players one-franchise guys, but Iginla and Morrow were captains with no-trade clauses, waiving the statute to join the Black and Gold. Which brings us back to the southern road trip through Carolina and Florida. &ldquo;The timing was good,&rdquo; Morrow says. &ldquo;Coming to a new team, people have families and things away from the rink, so you don&rsquo;t spend a lot of time together other than when you&rsquo;re putting the gear on. So it was good to hang out, play some beach volleyball, get some sunburns and reminisce.&rdquo;Ah yes, reminisce. Could a certain golden goal at the 2010 Olympics have come up, the one where Crosby screamed out &ldquo;Iggy!&rdquo; to draw a pass from the Canadian power forward, culminating in an overtime victory over the upstart archrival Americans? Don&rsquo;t forget, Morrow was also on that team, earning his medal by throwing his weight around (especially against Russia) and generally being a beast of a competitor. Plus, Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury was the third-stringer for the team and filled that thankless role with enthusiasm. &ldquo;That was a fun couple of weeks we had in Vancouver,&rdquo; Morrow says. &ldquo;Hopefully we can keep the good times rolling.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">How you finish a season definitely has an effect on how you start the playoffs &ndash; Brooks Orpik</blockquote>At this point, the two most critical factors will be health and expectations. Though Neal was skating in mid-April and was free of symptoms from his concussion (courtesy an elbow from the Rangers&rsquo; Michael Del Zotto), he still had to pass a battery of tests. Crosby&rsquo;s broken jaw didn&rsquo;t have to be wired shut after he took a puck off the puss against the Islanders, but his return date was up in the air.The remaining cast can win games, but they&rsquo;ll need the full complement to get out of the East and certainly if they&rsquo;re going to best Chicago, Anaheim or Vancouver in a potential Cup final. And as last year&rsquo;s shocking mule-on-a-greased-floor performance against Philadelphia proved, the post-season is no place to find your footing. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve learned in years past that you really want to finish strong,&rdquo; says Brooks Orpik. &ldquo;How you finish a season definitely has an effect on how you start the playoffs. If you can keep that momentum going, you can generate all that energy and roll that into the first round. If you tip-toe in there, it&rsquo;s really hard in this league to turn the switch on.&rdquo;And the Penguins won&rsquo;t have the benefit of tip-toeing anywhere. They are the highest-profile team in the NHL and the deadline deals only magnified the glare, particularly on Calgary&rsquo;s favorite ex-captain. &ldquo;It was nice having Iginla come in right after me,&rdquo; Murray says. &ldquo;It took away all the spotlight away from me being the new guy. They talk to him all the time. I slid right under the radar.&rdquo;With Crosby out, Iginla has been deluged with requests for his voice (Malkin interview scrums are still an interesting bit of minimalist theatre) and the universally respected winger has been forced to step back to maintain focus on the task at hand.When Ray Bourque was traded to Colorado in 2000 from his beloved Bruins, he didn&rsquo;t win the Cup on his first try. He had to sign a one-year deal to get the chalice in his second season with the Avs. With an emotionally bolstered Boston providing the stiffest test in the East and Chicago dominant in the West, the Penguins are no sure thing to take their second title in five years. But their GM has provided all the tools, all the personality and all the storylines.Will the glare of that spotlight prove too overwhelming? We know the new guys in Pittsburgh have Speedos, but they may need to double-check the beach bag for some sunglasses, too. &#9632;

f0022-01

POWER OF : THE PENS

<div class="byline">BY ADAM PROTEAU</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011470/9827734-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">TOUGH TO BEATThe Blackhawks, with five, are the only team with less than 10 regulation losses. (JONATHAN DANIEL/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IN A MODERN-DAY NHL PREDICATED on parity, you can make a good case for at least 10 teams as potential Stanley Cup champions if everything goes right for them. So it was little a surprising that when THN&rsquo;s editorial team gathered in mid-April to make our prediction of a Cup winner, it was basically a two-team affair. Half of the staffers leaned toward Pittsburgh. And why not? Any team with Sidney Crosby has a better-than-average chance of doing big things.But the other THNers (including the one who wrote this article) looked to the West. In a split decision, we&rsquo;re going with the Chicago Blackhawks as our Cup pick. There are several reasons why. Specifically, why we&rsquo;re taking them over the Penguins.Reason 1:&nbsp;Jonathan Toews. The Blackhawks captain isn&rsquo;t the world&rsquo;s best player, but in the eyes of hockey executives canvassed by THN he&rsquo;s the most worthy challenger to Sidney Crosby. &ldquo;When we play them, he&rsquo;s consistently their best player,&rdquo; says St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the engine for that team.&rdquo;<blockquote class="pullQuote">Chicago has won many games in many fashions. That&rsquo;s the sign of a very good team &ndash; Doug Wilson</blockquote>Adds Sharks GM Doug Wilson: &ldquo;Toews is way beyond his years in the way he plays, his approach. When your best player sets that standard example of how you should be playing in all three zones, that has as much of an impact as anything else.&rdquo;It isn&rsquo;t just that Toews&rsquo; all-around game is as flawless as they come (though that&rsquo;s a major factor in the respect he commands throughout the league). It&rsquo;s that he&rsquo;s the only guy remotely capable of being Crosby&rsquo;s equal. In many respects &ndash; maturity, focus, desire &ndash; Toews is a mirror image of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s captain. If the two teams played in the final, he would be as formidable an opponent as No. 87 has ever seen.Reason 2:&nbsp;Goaltending. The biggest question about Chicago going into the season was its netminding, so much so even Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo was mentioned as a possible trade target. But Hawks GM Stan Bowman stuck with the tandem of Corey Crawford and Ray Emery and has been rewarded with standout, nearly identical seasons from both: Crawford posted a 17-4-4 record, 1.92 goals-against average and .926 save percentage and Emery amassed a 16-1-0 mark, 1.91 GAA and .923 SP.Contrast that consistency with the bipolar performances Pittsburgh has seen from Marc-Andre Fleury and backup Tomas Vokoun. Fleury still has the ability to steal a game and earned his 2009 Cup ring with a string of stellar showings, but he&rsquo;s also proven capable of having his doors blown out. He hasn&rsquo;t won a playoff round since 2010 and his past three post-season save percentages have been below .900. Meanwhile, the 36-year-old Vokoun hasn&rsquo;t played a minute of playoff hockey since he was a Nashville Predator in the 2007 post-season.The Blackhawks don&rsquo;t have a marquee, clear-cut No. 1 between the pipes, but what they do have this time around is more reliable goaltending options than do the Penguins. &ldquo;Is either guy one of the top five goalies in the league? No,&rdquo; says one a former player and current NHL executive. &ldquo;But do they give you comfort they can go the distance and play well enough to win? Yes. Look at Cam Ward in 2006 or (Antti) Niemi when Chicago won. Now you&rsquo;ve got two guys in Chicago who are pretty hot right now. Pick your poison.&rdquo;Reason 3:&nbsp;Familiarity. Nobody doubts Penguins GM Ray Shero made his team better at the trade deadline by acquiring veterans Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow and Douglas Murray. But between the new faces and injuries to Crosby, Iginla, Neal, Kris Letang and Paul Martin, this isn&rsquo;t a squad that will be totally familiar with one another by the time the playoffs begin. The entire team will have to adapt on the fly to different roles.On the other hand, one of the biggest advantages the Blackhawks have held through this shortened season is their familiarity with one another. The only piece they added via the trade market during the year is veteran Michal Handzus and he had already played for Chicago once before. There is no new coach, no different players to assimilate into the system. This was a factor in the Hawks&rsquo; record-breaking streak of 24 games without a regulation loss at the start of the season. That familiarity has bred consistency in a way no other team has been able to duplicate. Small wonder Chicago had just five regulation losses when the next-best team had 10. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve played well as a team across the board,&rdquo; Wilson says. &ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have a record like theirs because of smoke and mirrors. They&rsquo;ve performed at a higher level than just about everybody else. Chicago has done that and won many games in many different fashions. That&rsquo;s the sign of a very good team.&rdquo;Reason 4:&nbsp;Balance. One year ago, the Hawks were playing cornerstone defensemen Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook nearly 27 and 25 minutes a game. This year, coach Joel Quenneville has cut their minutes significantly: Keith now averages 23:57 a game and Seabrook 22:12. In addition, youngster Nick Leddy has performed much better after having his minutes cut from 22:04 a game last season to 17:10. He was a plus-16 through 42 games after posting a minus-12 last season. How have they reduced the pressure on their blueline? Simple: the off-season acquisition of veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re not running Seabrook and Keith into the ground,&rdquo; says an NHL scout. &ldquo;Leddy has stepped up to play a bigger role. (Johnny) Oduya and (Niklas) Hjalmarsson have been an effective shutdown duo. It&rsquo;s a team that&rsquo;s evolving, but still for the most part is structurally the same.&rdquo;The Penguins, meanwhile, were doing the opposite and leaning harder on their top defensemen. Before they were injured, Kris Letang and Paul Martin were averaging more ice time than they did last year, with Martin up more than two minutes. The bottom end of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s defense is a dog&rsquo;s breakfast of rookies (Simon Despres, Robert Bortuzzo) and thirtysomethings veterans (Murray, Mark Eaton) nearing the end. Simply put, Chicago&rsquo;s defense has more talent and depth than Pittsburgh&rsquo;s.Reason 5:&nbsp;Supporting cast. The Penguins are as dangerous as anyone with Iginla, Morrow, Chris Kunitz and James Neal representing secondary threats after Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But Chicago has at least as many weapons to turn to besides Toews and fellow superstar Patrick Kane, including Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp and rookie revelation Brandon Saad.Sharp and Hossa are in their early 30s, but they are first-line players for virtually any other team. Can you say that about Morrow and Iginla? Not anymore. And when you consider how well Hossa and Sharp play a two-way game, it&rsquo;s clear the Hawks enjoy an advantage here as well.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-011294/9827727-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="1212" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">CORE PIECECorey Crawford gives the Hawks exactly what they need: consistency in the crease. (BILL SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>In sum, the Blackhawks have it all. A second Cup for Crosby & Co would be no surprise, but when you have the type of year Chicago is enjoying, you earn the title of the gold standard and the odds-on Cup favorite. &ldquo;Chicago has from start to finish been the most consistent team during the season,&rdquo; Armstrong says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ve been able to overcome injuries to players like Sharp and haven&rsquo;t missed a beat. Their forward groups are interchangeable and they&rsquo;ve added depth on the back end. Their goaltending is very strong.&ldquo;They are the team to beat.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-01

MAGIC VS. BIRDS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="mon032.jpg" title="common03" width="248" height="281"></div>IN PARTNERSHIP WITH<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04538/9827814-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="302" height="317"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011344/9827807-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="862" height="732"><figcaption class="caption-body">CORY SCHNEIDER (SCHNEIDER: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02912/9827800-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="591" height="924"><figcaption class="caption-body">ZDENO CHARA</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03691/9827793-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="833" height="1027"><figcaption class="caption-body">SIDNEY CROSBY (CROSBY: JOE SARGENT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>THIS WAS ALWAYS GOING TO BE A DIFFERENT YEAR. With the lockout shortening the NHL schedule to 48 games in just 99 days, conventional wisdom and regression to the mean were basically useless in predicting how this campaign would shake out.And how fun is that? The worst three teams in the Eastern Conference last season &ndash; Montreal, Toronto and the Islanders &ndash; were all jockeying for post-season position. Meanwhile, in the Western Conference, Detroit&rsquo;s incredible streak of 21 straight playoff appearances was in serious jeopardy and Anaheim had jumped from worst to first in the Pacific Division. Needless to say, you&rsquo;re going to need a pretty detailed map to navigate the upcoming Stanley Cup tournament. We&rsquo;re here for you.On top of past staples such as fantasy rankings and the number of roster players with Cup rings, we&rsquo;ve added more nuggets of information, such as total playoff games accrued by each roster and every team&rsquo;s average age (all stats include players on injured reserve). In the following pages, we reveal how all the contenders win, how they lose, what question mark needs to be answered and how the crease is looking.Buckle up, it&rsquo;s going to be a crazy ride.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-08240/9827786-1-eng-US/f0031-082.jpg" title="f0031-08" width="300" height="173"></div>Click&nbsp;<a href="http://THN.com">THN.com</a>&nbsp;for daily playoff analysis, columns and Puck Panels featuring THN&rsquo;s experts<h2>STANLEY CUP ODDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05430/9827779-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="839" height="426"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-06364/9827772-1-eng-US/f0031-062.jpg" title="f0031-06" width="474" height="554"><figcaption class="caption-body">JONATHAN TOEWS (TOEWS: BILL SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>POOL TOOL</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-07298/9827765-1-eng-US/f0031-072.jpg" title="f0031-07" width="1274" height="192"></div>The fantasy section for each team (following a points-only scoring system) includes 2012-13 player stats, career playoff numbers and a star rating to assist poolies. Players are ranked on a scale of one to five based on this season&rsquo;s results, past playoff performance and the likelihood of a deep playoff run. Injuries are also factored in. Players who are injured, but have a strong chance of returning for the playoffs are signified by a red cross and some have diminished ratings because of the health risk. Injured players not expected to return in time are excluded from their teams&rsquo; fantasy rankings. New this year is our power play point stat column (PPP), as strong playoff performers often do their damage on the man advantage.Last day of regular season&nbsp;April 28, 2013First day of NHL playoffs&nbsp;April 30, 2013Last possible day of Stanley Cup final&nbsp;June 28, 2013 &#9632;

common03

PICKS & PROJECTIONS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011456/9827873-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="315" height="179"></div>HOW THEY WIN The Ducks have been one of the most offensively potent teams in the NHL, relying on three solid units up front and getting different heroes every night. A dozen Ducks have double-digit point totals, including Kyle Palmieri and Daniel Winnik.HOW THEY LOSE This may sound basic, but when they don&rsquo;t score. Anaheim&rsquo;s offense dried up for spells, though never long enough to do damage. Come playoff time, however, that could mean the difference between moving on and heading home.QUESTION MARK Anaheim had 52 minutes more on the penalty kill than on the man advantage as the season came to a close, one of the worst disparities in the league. And the PK was ranked in the bottom third. Can the Ducks cut down on the fouls in the playoffs before it&rsquo;s too late?GOALTENDING Anaheim seems to trip over great goalies on recruiting jaunts. The latest is Swedish vet Viktor Fasth, who presided over the Ducks&rsquo; excellent run at the opening of the season and kept the party going, sitting just outside the top 10 in GAA. Fasth platooned with Jonas Hiller, giving the Ducks two great options.3Regular Ducks with a 15-percent scoring rate or greater (Andrew Cogliano was shooting at a 20-percent clip), compared to just one the previous season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02985/9827866-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="537" height="573"><figcaption class="caption-body">RYAN GETZLAF (GETZLAF: GLENN JAMES/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03718/9827859-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="685" height="542"></div>2-4Playoff record past 3 seasons29.3Average age4Players with Cup rings621Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04543/9827852-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

ANAHEIM DUCKS 12-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05422/9827932-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="321" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN When the Bruins play 60 minutes of disciplined, puck-control hockey, they are almost unbeatable. The key to much of their success is they&rsquo;re the best faceoff team in the league, so they start with the puck. And because they have such big bodies with skill, they usually do a good job of hanging onto it.HOW THEY LOSE Lapses in concentration and a strange inability to start games well often leave the Bruins fighting to get back into them. They have a more balanced attack than when they won the Cup two years ago, but their top players tend to go through long slumps. We&rsquo;re talking about you, Milan Lucic.QUESTION MARK The Bruins had the worst power play of any Stanley Cup winner when they captured the championship in 2011. Their play with the extra man is even worse this season. How can a team that can&rsquo;t score on the power play go deep in the playoffs?GOALTENDING Coach Claude Julien has never believed in overworking his No. 1 goalie during the regular season and that will benefit Tuukka Rask, who will taste his first real playoff experience in three years. The Bruins have supreme confidence in Rask&rsquo;s clutch ability.64Career playoff points Jaromir Jagr is ahead of Patrik Elias, who is second in among active NHLers. Jagr has 189 career post-season points and Elias has 125.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06360/9827925-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="633" height="575"><figcaption class="caption-body">TYLER SEGUIN (SEGUIN: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07292/9827918-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="684" height="542"></div>26-19Playoff record past 3 seasons29.3Average age19Players with Cup rings1,300Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-08248/9827911-1-eng-US/f0032-082.jpg" title="f0032-08" width="1274" height="609"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-09201/9827904-1-eng-US/f0032-092.jpg" title="f0032-09" width="522" height="26"></div> &#9632;

f0032-05

BOSTON BRUINS 11-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011477/9827984-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="321" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN Buffalo may not continue its working relationship with Ryan Miller after this season, but it still needed its cornerstone goalie to play well to have a chance at the playoffs. When Miller&rsquo;s SP was lower than .900, the Sabres&rsquo; record through 44 games was 2-8-2. Buffalo got back into the race when Miller posted SPs of .946 or higher four times through mid-April.HOW THEY LOSE When the opposition scored three or more goals on Buffalo, the Sabres&rsquo; record was 5-14-4. They lacked the firepower to run and gun with the big boys and that was before dealing captain Jason Pominville. Their special teams are a mess.QUESTION MARK Which Thomas Vanek will show up? The sniper who led Buffalo in scoring despite losing 10 games to injury or the ineffectual playoff performer whose production drops from nearly a point per game to almost half a point per game?GOALTENDING If Miller falters, coach Ron Rolston can turn to Jhonas Enroth. The 24-year-old was good in relief and will audition for the starter&rsquo;s job next season if Buffalo deals Miller and goes with a tandem of Enroth and recently acquired prospect Matt Hackett.46.2Buffalo&rsquo;s faceoff winning percentage, which ranked 29th in the NHL. The Sabres have finished higher than 23rd only once since the 2006-07 season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-021034/9827977-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="603" height="590"><figcaption class="caption-body">THOMAS VANEK (VANEK: BILL WIPPERT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03815/9827970-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="684" height="541"></div>5-8Playoff record past 3 seasons26.8Average age0Players with Cup rings395Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04663/9827963-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

BUFFALO SABRES 550-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05537/9828036-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="321" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN With Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, the Hawks can ice two first-line units every night. They boast plenty of youth and depth to support their stars, too. Rookie Brandon Saad keeps getting better, Dave Bolland saves his best for the playoffs and Andrew Shaw has the blend of scoring touch and snarl every team needs this time of year. Chicago was careful not to overwork Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook and now has the luxury of playing its top two blueliners half the game during the playoffs. If not, Johnny Oduya, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Nick Leddy are there to eat minutes.HOW THEY LOSE The Hawks&rsquo; power play was weak for such a talented squad, ranking 21st at 15.9 percent. They&rsquo;ll find themselves in too many close games if they don&rsquo;t make opponents pay with the man advantage.QUESTION MARK Chicago has trouble keeping its scorers healthy. Sharp and Hossa missed time with injuries and often get nicked as quickly as they return.GOALTENDING Corey Crawford and Ray Emery each posted a GAA below 2.00 and SP above .920. One of them will give Chicago the goaltending it needs..912Corey Crawford&rsquo;s career playoff SP. When Antti Niemi backstopped the Hawks to a Stanley Cup win in 2009, he posted a .910 mark over the entire post-season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06480/9828029-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="555" height="553"><figcaption class="caption-body">PATRICK KANE (KANE: JAMIE SABAU/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-07412/9828022-1-eng-US/f0034-072.jpg" title="f0034-07" width="685" height="542"></div>21-14Playoff record past 3 seasons28.2Average age9Players with Cup rings885Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-08354/9828015-1-eng-US/f0034-082.jpg" title="f0034-08" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0034-05

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 5-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05524/9828140-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="321" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN The Stars love to slow the play down, holding on to the puck and setting up in the offensive zone. Dallas had one of the better attacks in the NHL, ranking top-10 in goals, though the since-departed Jaromir Jagr and Derek Roy played a big part in that.HOW THEY LOSE Keeping the puck out of the net has been a problem, particularly since starting netminder Kari Lehtonen&rsquo;s health has been wonky. Special teams have been average, but Dallas takes more minor penalties than most competitors (and certainly more than most playoff teams).QUESTION MARK Jagr still ranked second and Roy sixth in Dallas scoring weeks after being traded at the deadline. Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson command the attack, but Benn has yet to play a playoff game and Eriksson has only 22 under his belt.GOALTENDING Lehtonen has been good when healthy, but not the Finnish lion he became last season. His stats are down and in his absence the Stars got mediocre help from Richard Bachman and Cristopher Nilstorp. Lehtonen must shine if the Stars are going anywhere, but he was having groin problems again.4Dallas D-men playing 21 minutes or more per game. None of them (Robidas, Dillon, Daley, Goligoski) skates more than 22:30, leaving the Stars without a player in the NHL top 50.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06463/9828133-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="552" height="572"><figcaption class="caption-body">JAMIE BENN (BENN: ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-07392/9828126-1-eng-US/f0036-072.jpg" title="f0036-07" width="684" height="541"></div>0-0Playoff record past 3 seasons27.7Average age3Players with Cup rings312Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-08333/9828119-1-eng-US/f0036-082.jpg" title="f0036-08" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0036-05

DALLAS STARS 160-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-011230/9828192-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="305" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03700/9828185-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="510" height="588"><figcaption class="caption-body">PAVEL DATSYUK (DATSYUK: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HOW THEY WIN These aren&rsquo;t the powerhouse Red Wings of the past two decades, but they still can skate circles around their competition. Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Valtteri Filppula, Damien Brunner and Johan Franzen lead a skilled forward group that exploits slow-footed defenders. Detroit&rsquo;s blueline is getting healthy at the right time and the Niklas Kronwall-led unit has a nice mix of size and mobility.HOW THEY LOSE The Wings have been ousted from the playoffs for the same reason three straight years: a bigger, tougher team bullied them. Their forwards lack brawn, even with Jordin Tootoo on board.QUESTION MARK Jakub Kindl, Brendan Smith, Carlo Colaiacovo and Danny DeKeyser were key components of the &lsquo;D&rsquo; late in the season. That group has 11 career playoff games, all belonging to Colaiacovo.GOALTENDING Detroit was confident enough in Jimmy Howard to sign him to a six-year extension. His regular season numbers (127-66-25, 2.39 GAA, .917 SP) warrant the term, but he hasn&rsquo;t been nearly as good in the playoffs. He posted an .888 SP in the first round versus Nashville last season.2.48The Red Wings&rsquo; goals per game in 2012-13 as of mid-April. It marks by far their lowest team average since the 1976-77 season, when they scored 2.29 goals per contest.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02869/9828178-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="684" height="542"></div>13-15Playoff record past 3 seasons28.8Average age9Players with Cup rings1,160Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04602/9828171-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

22-1 DETROIT RED WINGS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05543/9828244-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="310" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06483/9828237-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="535" height="616"><figcaption class="caption-body">ANZE KOPITAR (KOPITAR: JEFF GROSS/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HOW THEY WIN The Kings blew past the competition to earn last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup. Their depth and two-way play is at the center of their success. Not only does Los Angeles boast responsible yet offensively skilled forwards like Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards and Dustin Brown, but the team also has two fantastic, offensively inclined blueliners in Drew Doughty and Slava Voynov.HOW THEY LOSE Focus has been a bugaboo for the defending champs. The Kings started poorly and were routed several times. Goalie Jonathan Quick has been more fallible than he was during his Conn Smythe run.QUESTION MARK Dustin Penner upped his game dramatically in last year&rsquo;s playoffs, adding 11 points in 20 games to the cause. He had just 12 in his 29 games this season, which included a streak of healthy scratches. The big man also struggled last season, so does he just save his best efforts for the playoffs?GOALTENDING Quick was nearly flawless en route to L.A.&rsquo;s first Cup win, so it&rsquo;s hard to fault him for regressing, especially since he had major back surgery in the summer. His stats have taken a big step back now, with a save percentage teetering around .900.5Regular defensemen 25 and younger playing for the Kings. Veterans Matt Greene and Willie Mitchell lost most of the season to injury. Greene returned in late April.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07414/9828230-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="684" height="542"></div>20-12Playoff record past 3 seasons27.3Average age21Players with Cup rings880Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-08324/9828223-1-eng-US/f0037-082.jpg" title="f0037-08" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0037-05

12-1 LOS ANGELES KINGS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-011338/9828296-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="316" height="191"></div>HOW THEY WIN The Wild added a lot of speed and skill the past couple seasons and the result has been a team that can not only gain the zone, but control the puck, cycle and create scoring chances. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter are A-list players who lead by example and are true difference-makers.HOW THEY LOSE Suter can&rsquo;t play 60 minutes a game and beyond him the &lsquo;D&rsquo; is susceptible to bigger, more rugged competition. Even with its newfound offense, Minnesota scores three or more goals just half the time, leaving little margin for defensive mistakes.QUESTION MARK The loss of Dany Heatley with a season-ending shoulder injury leaves a hole in the lineup only partially filled by newcomer Jason Pominville. Though he&rsquo;s no longer a 50-goal man, Heatley&rsquo;s presence on the ice helped spread out the defense.GOALTENDING One thing that hasn&rsquo;t changed in Minnesota despite a made-over roster is that the Wild ebb and flow more than ever on the performance of Niklas Backstrom. When the pending UFA is on, the Wild look unbeatable. That there&rsquo;s no proven support behind the 35-year-old is a little disconcerting.5Years since a Wild playoff game. The most recent player to score was Aaron Voros, from Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra, at 0:36 of the second period April 19, 2008.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02934/9828289-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="528" height="556"><figcaption class="caption-body">ZACH PARISE (PARISE: BRUCE KLUCKHOHN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03755/9828282-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="684" height="541"></div>0-0Playoff record past 3 seasons28.0Average age2Players with Cup rings513Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04613/9828275-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

MINNESOTA WILD 25-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05493/9828348-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="321" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN The Canadiens aren&rsquo;t big, but they&rsquo;re fast and dangerous. And when they use that speed to get to pucks first and win possession battles, they force their opponents to chase them. A renewed commitment to team defense has Montreal allowing among the fewest shots in the league.HOW THEY LOSE Much of the Canadiens&rsquo; success has come from paying attention to details and playing a disciplined system that suffocates their opponents. When they stray from it even a little and lag in their work ethic, the way they did immediately after they secured a playoff spot, they fall apart. And when things blow up for this team, they blow up real good.QUESTION MARK Which Carey Price will show up: the steady, unflappable and technically perfect goalie who has emerged as the favorite for Canada&rsquo;s Olympic team in 2014 or the one who looked porous in April?GOALTENDING Most believe Price will be just fine for the playoffs, but he&rsquo;s the little boy with the curl. When he&rsquo;s good, he&rsquo;s really good and when he&rsquo;s bad, well&hellip;If Price falters, the Canadiens have the comfort of knowing Peter Budaj has been excellent in relief.31Points, pro-rated over 82 games, by which the Canadiens were on pace to finish ahead of last year. After 43 games, they were projected for 109 points versus 78 last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06423/9828341-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="566" height="499"><figcaption class="caption-body">P.K. SUBBAN (SUBBAN: FRANCOIS LACASSE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07354/9828334-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="684" height="542"></div>12-14Playoff record past 3 seasons28.1Average age4Players with Cup rings662Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08290/9828327-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0038-05

MONTREAL CANADIENS 18-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05467/9828452-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="310" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07339/9828445-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="492" height="608"><figcaption class="caption-body">RICK NASH (NASH: GREGORY SHAMUS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HOW THEY WIN The Rangers have to flip the switch come playoff time, just like the Los Angeles Kings did last year. Their scorers have to suddenly wake up, their defense must stay stingy and, most importantly, Henrik Lundqvist has to be all-world.HOW THEY LOSE Bet on Lundqvist being sensational, but wager at your own risk if you think the Rangers find their scoring touch. Last post-season, they allowed only 26 goals in 14 games, but scored just 29. Shot-blocking and stellar goaltending go only so far.QUESTION MARK Last year, the Rangers went into the playoffs with one elite goal-scorer, Marian Gaborik, after he recorded 41 in the regular season. Nash was brought in to add another. Now the Rangers could be back where they started after shipping Gaborik to Columbus, leaving Nash as their sole sniper. He&rsquo;ll need support from the team&rsquo;s lesser lights and there&rsquo;s no guarantee he gets it.GOALTENDING Expect Lundqvist to be as good as he was in the 2012 playoffs. If he&rsquo;s felled by injury, Martin Biron is a capable backup, but hasn&rsquo;t handled full-time duty or played a playoff game since 2008-09.0Rangers wins in last year&rsquo;s playoffs in the eight games Lundqvist allowed more than two goals. This season, the Blueshirts won only two such games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06390/9828438-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="684" height="542"></div>11-14Playoff record past 3 seasons28.3Average age1Players with Cup rings799Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08288/9828431-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0039-05

20-1 NEW YORK RANGERS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01932/9828504-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="318" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN That&rsquo;s a really good question. How exactly are these guys doing it? Well, it starts with out-of-this-world goaltending regardless of who&rsquo;s wearing the pads in any given game. Then it branches out from there to a team that plays with such discipline and is on the puck so much that it can withstand the loss of its three best players for an extended period and remarkably remain in the playoff race.HOW THEY LOSE By not scoring goals &ndash; not enough of them and not at crucial moments. In their first 43 games, the Sens played 25 one-goal affairs. They won 10 and lost 15, six in overtime or a shootout. They have to work so hard to create offense that it often leaves them with little left to give at the end of close games.QUESTION MARK How can the Senators do any damage in the playoffs with one player in the top 100 in NHL scoring? That player is Cory Conacher, who had the majority of his points with the Tampa Bay Lightning.GOALTENDING In a word: outstanding. Through mid-April, the Senators were the third-worst team in the league in shots allowed per game with 32.3, but their GAA of 2.07 was second-best.13Players who qualify as NHL rookies used by the Senators through mid-April. Defenseman Andre Benoit would be the 14th if he weren&rsquo;t 29 years old.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02604/9828497-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="532" height="596"><figcaption class="caption-body">CRAIG ANDERSON (ANDERSON: ANDRE RINGUETTE/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03469/9828490-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="684" height="541"></div>5-8Playoff record past 3 seasons26.9Average age1Players with Cup rings641Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04375/9828483-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0040-01

OTTAWA SENATORS 60-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05319/9828556-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="324" height="194"></div>HOW THEY WIN Few teams come close to Pittsburgh&rsquo;s firepower and depth. And GM Ray Shero fixed the main problem: a lack of physicality. The Penguins prided themselves on team toughness, but needed to reassess after they were manhandled last year by Philadelphia. Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla have beefed up the flanks and Douglas Murray has added meat on the back end. Now no one will push the Pens around.HOW THEY LOSE If Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin is injured or Fleury has another post-season flameout. There&rsquo;s no Jordan Staal to fill in for one of the team&rsquo;s star centers and Tomas Vokoun has lost the only two playoff rounds of his career.QUESTION MARK Despite his team&rsquo;s 26 goals in last year&rsquo;s lone series against the Flyers, Fleury let in just as many, leaving him with a 4.63 GAA and .834 SP. Since winning the Cup in &rsquo;09, he&rsquo;s won just one series out of four, going 12-14 with a 3.11 GAA and .880 SP.GOALTENDING If Fleury fails, no one knows how Vokoun will do. Vokoun alternated between outstanding and awful. In January and March: 9-1-0, 1.55 GAA, .948 SP. In February and April: 2-3-0, 5.19 GAA, .827 SP.12Wins in one-goal games. The playoffs are about winning tight games and the Penguins were the best at this all season, with an overall record of 12-1-0 through mid-April.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06282/9828549-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="459" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body">SIDNEY CROSBY (CROSBY: CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-07244/9828542-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="684" height="540"></div>12-14Playoff record past 3 seasons29.5Average age11Players with Cup rings1,159Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-08211/9828535-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0040-05

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS 6-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01811/9828608-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="310" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03435/9828601-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="532" height="646"><figcaption class="caption-body">DAVID BACKES (BACKES: BRAD WATSON/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HOW THEY WIN The Blues boast a plethora of behemoth forwards who have scoring touch, like David Backes, the reborn Chris Stewart and Patrik Berglund. Their D-core is just as big. Alex Pietrangelo, Jay Bouwmeester, Barret Jackman and Roman Polak are built for the rigors of playoff hockey. Because St. Louis has so much size, it does a phenomenal job stopping pucks from reaching its net. Over the past three seasons, the Blues ranked second, first and second in shots against.HOW THEY LOSE Unless Vladimir Tarasenko wakes up, the Blues have nothing close to a point-per-game player. They arguably boast two second lines instead of a bona fide first line. That&rsquo;s a problem in the playoffs when goals are harder to come by.QUESTION MARK Tarasenko had five goals and 10 points in his first eight games, but three goals and seven points in his next 24. He must learn how to elude NHL checking and improve defensively to earn more ice time. If so, he&rsquo;ll re-emerge as St. Louis&rsquo; X-factor.GOALTENDING If Brian Elliott plays like he did in April, when he had three straight shutouts, the Blues are fine, even with Jaroslav Halak hurt. But that&rsquo;s a big if.1.05Elliott&rsquo;s goals-against average, accompanied by a .959 save percentage, since returning from an AHL conditioning stint. Before being sent down: 3.65 GAA and .851 SP.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02533/9828594-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="684" height="540"></div>4-5Playoff record past 3 seasons27.3Average age2Players with Cup rings514Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04378/9828587-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

15-1 ST. LOUIS BLUES

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-08199/9828660-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="310" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-06297/9828653-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="519" height="624"><figcaption class="caption-body">JOE THORNTON (THORNTON: DON SMITH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HOW THEY WIN Largely by details. The Sharks are the NHL&rsquo;s No. 2 faceoff team and block a ton of shots. They&rsquo;ve been excellent on the penalty kill and Antti Niemi has put up Vezina-worthy numbers in net. Through mid-April they had just one regulation loss at home.HOW THEY LOSE Scoring has been a battle for San Jose, which struggled so much it moved mobile defenseman Brent Burns to right wing to shake things up. The switch yielded nice results, but underscored the problems inherent with a top-heavy team.QUESTION MARK For years the Sharks have been the Big Team That Couldn&rsquo;t. After trading staples Douglas Murray and Ryane Clowe at the deadline with Raffi Torres and Scott Hannan arriving in separate deals, the Fins have a new look, but will it help them finally break through to the Stanley Cup?GOALTENDING Hidden on a good-but-not-great team in northern California, Niemi has been incredible, posting top-10 numbers in GAA and SP while playing more minutes than anyone in the league. He has a Cup from his days in Chicago and has lost just two playoff series versus six triumphs in his young career.17Points in 19 games as a forward for Brent Burns, whose size and fearlessness match his skill. The change helped the Sharks go 12-6-1 in that span, climbing the playoff ladder.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05341/9828646-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="684" height="541"></div>18-20Playoff record past 3 seasons28.5Average age5Players with Cup rings1,140Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-07254/9828639-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0041-08

20-1 SAN JOSE SHARKS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01861/9828712-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="321" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN By rolling four lines that contribute and being a difficult opponent on most nights. Through mid-April, the Maple Leafs were leading the league in hits, blocked shots and fights. The penalty kill that has been the bane of their existence the past couple years was top-three in the league and their goaltending has improved significantly.HOW THEY LOSE When they lose their composure and discipline in terms of taking penalties and straying from their system. They go through long stretches where they get behind in games and have difficulty managing the puck in their own end. Late in the season, the Leafs led the league in giveaways by an enormous margin. Many of those are from their defensemen.QUESTION MARK How will the Leafs respond in the playoffs when fighting is virtually non-existent? They led the league in major penalties and were second in PIM, but will they be that tough when Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren spend much of the game on the bench?GOALTENDING The Leafs were 27th in shots against. For the first time since Ed Belfour, they have goaltending good enough to push them into the playoffs.10Players on the Maple Leafs roster combining for their 206 games of playoff experience. Joffrey Lupul and James van Riemsdyk lead the way with 39 appearances each.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02561/9828705-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg" title="f0042-02" width="586" height="595"><figcaption class="caption-body">PHIL KESSEL (KESSEL: CLAUS ANDERSEN/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03442/9828698-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="684" height="540"></div>0-0Playoff record past 3 seasons26.8Average age0Players with Cup rings206Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04354/9828691-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0042-01

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 40-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05300/9828764-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="321" height="192"></div>HOW THEY WIN Even when the Sedins don&rsquo;t dominate, they still generate offense and are difficult to shut down for extended periods. What really puts the Canucks over the top is when they get that second wave of offense, whether it be from the returning Ryan Kesler, newcomer Derek Roy or the surprisingly productive Jannik Hansen, Mason Raymond or Chris Higgins.HOW THEY LOSE Vancouver&rsquo;s power play was among the league&rsquo;s top six each of the past three seasons. So to see it 25th (14.6 percent) and worst among locked-down playoff teams is a big reason why the Canucks didn&rsquo;t challenge for the Presidents&rsquo; Trophy.QUESTION MARK Vancouver&rsquo;s big four on the blueline eat a lot of minutes, but there&rsquo;s a drop off in effectiveness to the third pair. And each of Alexander Edler, Kevin Bieksa, Jason Garrison and Dan Hamhuis have had injury issues the past couple of seasons.GOALTENDING Despite playing just three games in a month, Roberto Luongo looked sharp in relief duty. That bodes well should ace starter Cory Schneider come up flat in consecutive games. As always, the leash will be short in the Vancouver crease.22Points by defensive defenseman Dan Hamhuis. If anyone predicted he would outscore Alexander Edler, Jason Garrison and Kevin Bieksa, the looks would&rsquo;ve been priceless.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-06265/9828757-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="526" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body">HENRIK SEDIN (SEDIN: JEFF VINNICK/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-07225/9828750-1-eng-US/f0042-072.jpg" title="f0042-07" width="684" height="541"></div>22-20Playoff record past 3 seasons28.9Average age0Players with Cup rings938Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-08173/9828743-1-eng-US/f0042-082.jpg" title="f0042-08" width="1274" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0042-05

VANCOUVER CANUCKS 10-1

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01839/9828816-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="310" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02585/9828809-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg" title="f0043-02" width="555" height="639"><figcaption class="caption-body">ALEX OVECHKIN (OVECHKIN: PATRICK MCDERMOTT/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HOW THEY WIN When Washington is allowed to breathe on offense, it wins. In their first 11 games, the Caps averaged 2.27 goals. Then their offense exploded and their average leapt to 3.21. It&rsquo;s no coincidence they became contenders again when their flashy attack started to work like it did three or four years ago.HOW THEY LOSE With such a free-flowing offense, the defense is sometimes lacking. The Caps allow among the most shots per game. Braden Holtby faced 30 or more shots 26 times in 31 starts. Putting that kind of demand on a young goalie is unhealthy during a post-season run.QUESTION MARK Every playoff team, including Washington, beat down the Southeast Division all season. But the Caps were below .500 against the rest of the East. Can they hang with the big boys?GOALTENDING Holtby more than held his own in the playoffs last spring after spending most of the year in the American League. This year, his GAA is high because he faces so many shots. These Caps take a much different approach to defense and net protection and Holtby has to adapt.18Goals by Alex Ovechkin in a 16-game stretch from March 17 to April 16, during which he overtook Tampa Bay&rsquo;s Steven Stamkos in the Rocket Richard derby.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03487/9828802-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="684" height="542"></div>14-16Playoff record past 3 seasons28.2Average age1Players with Cup rings731Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04372/9828795-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0043-01

12-1 WASHINGTON CAPITALS

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05324/9828868-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="310" height="192"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-06268/9828861-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="512" height="609"><figcaption class="caption-body">EVANDER KANE (KANE: RAVIS GOLBY/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>HOW THEY WIN The Jets have a capable goalie, a defense with all sorts of different skill sets and dynamic young forwards. Winnipeg was excellent at home last season and though the final record this year isn&rsquo;t as impressive, it improved dramatically late in the season.HOW THEY LOSE Though they possess intriguing skill, you never quite know what you&rsquo;ll get from the Jets one night to the next. Nearly every time they made up ground or came up with an impressive win, they&rsquo;d follow it up with a stinker.QUESTION MARK Do the Jets have enough experience to survive in the playoffs? Andrew Ladd is lauded for his leadership and, with Dustin Byfuglien, won a Cup with Chicago in 2010. But the reason this team struggles with consistency is because it&rsquo;s still developing. Only six Jets have playoff games to their names.GOALTENDING As good as Pavelec was most of last season, he became beatable down the stretch and hasn&rsquo;t recaptured his elite form. He embodies the Jets in that he&rsquo;ll often follow an excellent game with a bad one. Pavelec also didn&rsquo;t carry his team in enough games this campaign.52Winnipeg&rsquo;s aggregate special teams rank, the lowest among teams still in playoff contention. Its power play ranked 28th (13.3 percent) and its penalty kill was 24th (79.4 percent).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-07228/9828854-1-eng-US/f0043-072.jpg" title="f0043-07" width="684" height="541"></div>0-0Playoff record past 3 seasons27.0Average age2Players with Cup rings249Total games of playoff exp.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-08177/9828847-1-eng-US/f0043-082.jpg" title="f0043-08" width="1273" height="609"></div> &#9632;

f0043-05

125-1 WINNIPEG JETS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RORY BOYLEN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01739/9828969-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="599" height="575"><figcaption class="caption-body">ERIK GUDBRANSON (GUDBRANSON: PHIL ELLSWORTH/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>ERIK GUDBRANSON&rsquo;S ROOKIE SEASON was filled with highs. Not only did he break into the NHL a year after being drafted third overall, he averaged 14:11 a night for a Panthers team that reached the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.But part of developing as a pro is learning to handle tough times. Gudbranson saw his role increased this season and though he didn&rsquo;t struggle with sophomore sickness statistically, Year 2 wasn&rsquo;t as smooth for him or the team.The first hitch in his career came right at the start of the campaign, when the bruising blueliner had to miss seven games while recovering from a shoulder injury sustained while wakeboarding over the summer. &ldquo;It was difficult to watch, especially the way it happened,&rdquo; Gudbranson said. &ldquo;I felt like a fish out of water unfortunately. It was an accident and being honest with the team and being apologetic certainly helped.&rdquo;While Florida&rsquo;s future rests on youngsters Gudbranson, Dmitry Kulikov and Jonathan Huberdeau, GM Dale Tallon has done well to surround that nucleus with guiding-light veterans like Ed Jovanovski. Gudbranson has developed a close relationship with Jovanovski, whose leadership qualities have rubbed off on the 21-year-old.The Panthers took notice and rewarded Gudbranson with an &lsquo;A&rsquo; mid-March. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough not to smile when you see that,&rdquo; Gudbranson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an honor to wear that for this team. I&rsquo;ve been striving to have one of those on my jersey at some point, but for it to happen this year caught me off guard.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02479/9828962-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="684" height="542"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03364/9828955-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="305" height="466"><figcaption class="caption-body">(BRODIE: JERRY THOMAS/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Hard to believe T.J. Brodie was scratched to start the year. Since then, the speedy sophomore D-man has been on an upward trajectory that had him playing almost 24 minutes a game after the Jay Bouwmeester trade. Brodie plays with a high panic threshold and routinely ventures into the opposing zone to promote offense.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-04288/9828948-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="685" height="542"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-05239/9828941-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="305" height="467"></div>Whereas most other Southeast teams were outmatched against the Atlantic and Northeast Divisions, Eric Staal and his Hurricanes actually held a points percentage above .500 against both. However, Carolina had the worst record of any NHL team within its own weak division, which ultimately sunk their playoff hopes.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-06211/9828934-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="684" height="541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-07181/9828927-1-eng-US/f0044-072.jpg" title="f0044-07" width="305" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GIGUERE: MICHAEL MARTIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Lacking a force on &lsquo;D,&rsquo; Colorado loves the thought of landing top draft prospect Seth Jones, who lived in Denver when his dad Popeye played for the NBA Nuggets. Nine Avs blueliners combined for four goals all season. But when J-S Giguere chastised his teammates for sluggish play, Colorado reeled off points in four straight games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-08136/9828920-1-eng-US/f0044-082.jpg" title="f0044-08" width="684" height="542"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-09101/9828913-1-eng-US/f0044-092.jpg" title="f0044-09" width="305" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">(PAAJARVI: PERRY NELSON/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Magnus Paajarvi was a rare bright spot in an otherwise dreary season for the Oilers. The 22-year-old Swede got his career back on the rails, scoring at a 20-goal pace and playing with grit and energy on the third line. After a 15-goal rookie season, Paajarvi slumped to two goals in 41 games last year and wound up on the farm.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1089/9828906-1-eng-US/f0044-102.jpg" title="f0044-10" width="684" height="541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-1175/9828899-1-eng-US/f0044-112.jpg" title="f0044-11" width="305" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">(STAAL+CAMPBELL: GRAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Florida was battered by injuries and led the NHL in man-games lost. Just three players on last season&rsquo;s team were in the lineup for all 82 games and a mere five were closing in on 48 this year. Brian Campbell and Tomas Fleischmann have been the only two Panthers to suit up every game over the past two campaigns. &#9632;

f0044-01

THROUGH UPS AND DOWNS

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DAVID BOCLAIR</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01651/9829070-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg" title="f0045-01" width="599" height="586"><figcaption class="caption-body">ROMAN JOSI (JOSI: ANDY DEVLIN/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IT DIDN&rsquo;T TAKE LONG FOR SHEA WEBER to get a feel for when Roman Josi plans to jump up and lead the rush. &ldquo;Because it&rsquo;s every time,&rdquo; Weber said with a laugh. &ldquo;If he&rsquo;s got an opportunity to skate it, he&rsquo;s going to skate it. He skates very well and he sees the ice well, so he&rsquo;s very comfortable doing that whenever he needs to.&rdquo;Coming into the season, there were no doubts about the 22-year-old defenseman&rsquo;s ability to carry the puck. At issue was whether he could shoulder the burden of replacing Ryan Suter as Weber&rsquo;s defense partner.With a little more than a week to go in the regular season, that no longer was an issue. &ldquo;I would put them up with any pair in the National Hockey League right now, just as I would with Suter and Weber,&rdquo; coach Barry Trotz said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re emerging as one of the best pairs in the league.&rdquo;At 6-foot-1 and 192 pounds, Josi is comparable in size to Suter (6-foot-1, 198 pounds) but occupies more ice because of his ability and willingness to take the puck and go rather than stay back and move the puck with a long pass.He&rsquo;s second to Weber among the Predators in shots and his 12 assists in 44 games were as many as any of the team&rsquo;s forwards, excluding the traded Martin Erat. &ldquo;You have to choose your rushes wisely,&rdquo; Josi said. &ldquo;If there&rsquo;s a chance I try to jump up, but (Weber) jumps up in the play, too&hellip;The more experience you get, the better you know when to join the rush.&rdquo;And also when not to.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-02437/9829063-1-eng-US/f0045-022.jpg" title="f0045-02" width="684" height="541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-03371/9829056-1-eng-US/f0045-032.jpg" title="f0045-03" width="305" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">(GAUSTAD: USSELL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Not only did the Preds feel the sting of missing the playoffs for just the second time in nine seasons, many of them can&rsquo;t even enjoy the golf course. On April 11, Nashville announced season-ending surgeries for Paul Gaustad (shoulder), Colin Wilson (shoulder) and Gabriel Bourque (knee). All three will return for camp this fall.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-04316/9829049-1-eng-US/f0045-042.jpg" title="f0045-04" width="685" height="542"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-05273/9829042-1-eng-US/f0045-052.jpg" title="f0045-05" width="305" height="467"></div>The Devils offense was already anemic before superstar Ilya Kovalchuk was felled by a right shoulder injury. Since then, however, New Jersey had dropped to the bottom of the NHL in goals per game in the 10 contests (all losses) after he went down. It scored just 16 goals and was shut out three times in that span.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-06239/9829035-1-eng-US/f0045-062.jpg" title="f0045-06" width="684" height="541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-07209/9829028-1-eng-US/f0045-072.jpg" title="f0045-07" width="305" height="467"></div>It&rsquo;s a modern-day hockey truism that a team needs good special teams to win. Well, Claude Giroux and the Flyers made it a myth after having the top combined power play and penalty kill ranks in the league and still sitting outside the playoff picture. Philly was third on the PP (22.9 percent) and eighth on the PK (84.6 percent).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-08137/9829021-1-eng-US/f0045-082.jpg" title="f0045-08" width="684" height="541"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-09101/9829014-1-eng-US/f0045-092.jpg" title="f0045-09" width="305" height="467"><figcaption class="caption-body">(EKMAN-LARSSON: PERRY NELSON/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>The Coyotes were one of the best 5-on-5 scoring teams the past three seasons. A fall to middle of the pack contributed to the team&rsquo;s demise. On the upside, Oliver Ekman-Larsson began to exhibit the qualities of a legitimate top-pair defenseman. The third-year puck-mover averaged more than 25 minutes of ice time to lead the team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1084/9829007-1-eng-US/f0045-102.jpg" title="f0045-10" width="684" height="542"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-1169/9829000-1-eng-US/f0045-112.jpg" title="f0045-11" width="305" height="459"><figcaption class="caption-body">(KOVALCHUK+GIROUX+STAMKOS: RAIG ABEL/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>Tampa Bay is the first team since the 1968-69 Chicago Blackhawks to miss the playoffs while ranking in the top three in goals. Led by one of the NHL&rsquo;s most prolific shooters in Steven Stamkos, the Lightning were outscored only by Stanley Cup favorites Pittsburgh and Chicago, and topped the league in third period markers. &#9632;

f0045-01

RUSHING TO BRILLIANCE

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01655/9829115-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="297" height="325"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02431/9829108-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="1573" height="1031"><figcaption class="caption-body">YOU&rsquo;VE EARNED IT, KIDYale goalie Jeff Malcolm enjoys his moment with the trophy after a shutout in the NCAA final. (JUSTIN K. ALLER/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div>IN JACK LONDON&rsquo;S FAMOUS novel White Fang, the titular wolf has an impressive run fighting other animals until a bulldog grabs hold of his neck and slowly brings him down. The Quinnipiac Bobcats went undefeated for 21 straight games at one point this season and beat Yale three times overall, but when it came to the Frozen Four final, it was the Bulldogs who dragged down the Bobcats, emerging with a 4-0 victory over their ECAC rival. &ldquo;They hadn&rsquo;t seen our &lsquo;A&rsquo; game,&rdquo; said Yale coach Keith Allain. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think they knew what we had become as a hockey team and I thought we could surprise them a little bit with that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-03296/9829101-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="296" height="170"></div>Yale played excellent headsup hockey in the final, neutralizing a powerful Quinnipiac attack and making the most of opportunities. &ldquo;This program has a lot of great history, but coach Allain has changed the atmosphere and the whole view of this program,&rdquo; said left winger Kenny Agostino, whose rights were dealt to Calgary in the Jarome Iginla deal. &ldquo;He had our goal and we all bought in.&rdquo;So the Ivy program triumphed in a battle of two schools located fewer than 10 miles apart in Connecticut. While it was the first men&rsquo;s hockey title in history for Yale (which played in the first college game ever against Johns Hopkins in 1896), it&rsquo;s not surprising to see a New England team take the big trophy.In fact, despite the traditional excellence of the Midwest, teams from the Northeast have now won five of the past six NCAA titles. &ldquo;I think we went 6-1-1 against the WCHA in my career,&rdquo; said Yale captain Andrew Miller.For Midwest schools, the past five years have been tough and competition from up north has not helped. The University of Miami &ndash; one of just two CCHA teams to make the 16-team field Frozen Four along with Notre Dame &ndash; proudly boasted two members of Team USA&rsquo;s gold medal squad from the 2013 world juniors in Riley Barber and Sean Kuraly. Fellow WJC teammates Pat Sieloff, Connor Murphy, Tyler Biggs and Ryan Hartman also could have been on this year&rsquo;s RedHawks roster, but jumped to the Ontario League instead.At Michigan, the Wolverines struggled early due to goaltending and came within one win of qualifying for the tournament. Coach Red Berenson cycled through two undrafted freshmen and a junior with six total games experience in his first two seasons. Michigan&rsquo;s tandem could have been the past two goalies to guide USA to WJC gold: Dallas first-rounder Jack Campbell (11th overall in 2010) and Anaheim second-rounder John Gibson (39th in &rsquo;11). But Campbell went to Windsor in 2010-11 and Gibson joined Kitchener a year later.This has been less of a problem in the Northeast, particularly because the Quebec League is at a distinct recruiting disadvantage: Not only do the majority of its teams play in cities where English is the second language, but the culture of New England hockey is such a strong draw for local kids that many &lsquo;Q&rsquo; teams don&rsquo;t even bother drafting their rights.Recently, it&rsquo;s been Boston College and Boston University doing the damage, but now programs such as Yale and Quinnipiac are proving they can recruit from all over despite the tougher admission standards at Yale and, for Quinnipiac, the fact the school is not a household name. &ldquo;We haven&rsquo;t let the disrespect we&rsquo;ve gotten in the past from the media get to us,&rdquo; said Bobcats goalie Eric Hartzell, who was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award. &ldquo;At this point, we have that respect.&rdquo;And the Midwest has a challenge if it&rsquo;s going to get back on top. &#9632;

f0046-01

ALL HAIL YALE AT FROZEN FOUR

<div class="byline">BY RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01588/9829146-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">BUILT LIKE A BRUINBoston draftee Rob O&rsquo;Gara is 6-foot-4 blueliner who prides himself on stay-at-home play. (DAVE SILVERMAN)</figcaption></div>SLOWING DOWN THE TOP ranked Quinnipiac Bobcats was a tall task, but Yale had been there before. En route to the team&rsquo;s first national championship, the Bulldogs surrendered just five goals in three tournament games against very dangerous squads from Minnesota, North Dakota and UMass-Lowell.In the final, they rode excellent goaltending from Jeff Malcolm and fine shutdown play from the team&rsquo;s top defensive pairing of Colorado prospect Gus Young (184th overall in 2009) and Bruins pick Rob O&rsquo;Gara (151st in &rsquo;11), a 6-foot-4, 205-pound freshman who played big, important minutes for the squad. &ldquo;Playing with Robbie, he did not have a season like a freshman would,&rdquo; Young said. &ldquo;He made an immediate impact. He&rsquo;s really easy to play with and as the year went on we started talking a lot more, giving each other outs. It&rsquo;s been awesome to play with him.&rdquo;Yale&rsquo;s biggest task was slowing down Quinnipiac&rsquo;s top offensive weapons, including speedy Tampa Bay pick Matthew Peca (201st in &rsquo;11) and the red-hot Jordan Samuels-Thomas, a Winnipeg prospect (203rd in &rsquo;09). &ldquo;We just wanted to keep them to the outside,&rdquo; O&rsquo;Gara said. &ldquo;A good gap was so important down the middle and we kept them off the board. It worked.&rdquo;Born on Long Island, O&rsquo;Gara was a standout at the Milton Academy prep school in Massachusetts, just south of Boston. So it was pretty exciting for the physical blueliner to watch the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 2011, then hear the team call his name at the draft a few weeks later.Attending Yale was the next step in his development after Milton. &ldquo;Since I was born my mom&rsquo;s pushed the academics, so it really had the perfect mix,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I visited strictly as a student a few years ago and I loved it. So to have the hockey opportunity it was really a nobrainer.&rdquo;O&rsquo;Gara is still working on his shot, leaning on Yale assistant Red Gendron for guidance, and admits the leap from prep school to the NCAA was tough. &ldquo;I like to stay solid in my positioning,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m working on my offensive game, just trying to get pucks to the net. I&rsquo;m working on the finer points of the game and that will come around, but really I pride myself as a stay-at-home defenseman.&rdquo;Given that, it&rsquo;s not surprising O&rsquo;Gara was the first one to grab Malcolm in his crease once the final buzzer sounded against Quinnipiac. &ldquo;The game plan has been the same all year, defense leading to offense,&rdquo; Malcolm said. &ldquo;They did a heck of a job in front of me with boxing out, getting sticks in the lane, letting me see the first shot and clearing out guys in front of me.&rdquo;And to think, the Bulldogs could have O&rsquo;Gara running the top pairing for another three years. &#9632;

f0047-01

FRESHMAN IN TITLE ONLY

<div class="byline">&#x2013; DEREK BERRY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02385/9829177-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="446" height="620"><figcaption class="caption-body">(TOM NELSON)</figcaption></div>DREW LEBLANC, a senior center from St. Cloud State, captured the 2013 Hobey Baker Award. It is given to the collegiate player who displays outstanding skills in all phases of the game and shows strength of character on and off the ice, including sportsmanship and academics. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a tremendous honor, especially for what Hobey Baker did for college athletics and his country and what he represents,&rdquo; said LeBlanc, who finished the season with 13 goals and 50 points.LeBlanc, from Hermantown, Minn., missed most of last season after severely breaking his leg during a game. &ldquo;I knew when it happened that I broke it,&rdquo; Leblanc said. &ldquo;I tried to get up, but my leg was lying on the ice. It wasn&rsquo;t good. But as it turned out, it was a blessing in disguise. To come back this year and play alongside those guys and have a tremendous ride, it was incredible.&rdquo;The two-year captain helped the Huskies to their first Frozen Four and is the first player in school history to receive the Hobey. He signed his first pro deal with the Chicago Blackhawks the same day he received the award. &#9632;

f0047-02

HOBEY & HAWK

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-02340/9829246-1-eng-US/f0049-022.jpg" title="f0049-02" width="230" height="404"><figcaption class="caption-body">(RIBEIRO: JOEL AUERBACH/GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption></div><h2>MIKE RIBEIRO</h2>French-Canadian center is perpetually on the trading block, often criticized for acting<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-03266/9829239-1-eng-US/f0049-032.jpg" title="f0049-03" width="231" height="404"><figcaption class="caption-body">(ANTHONY: RICK DIAMOND/GETTY IMAGES FOR LATINO INAUGURAL 2013)</figcaption></div><h2>MARC ANTHONY</h2>Puerto-Rican American singer married Jenny From The Block, also dabbles in actingSubmitted by: Dusten AsmussenEmail your suggestions to <a href="mailto:sab@thehockeynews.com">sab@thehockeynews.com</a>WHO AM I: JOHAN HEDBERG &#9632;

f0049-02

Separated AT BIRTH

<div class="byline">By Larry Humber</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-04247/9829277-1-eng-US/f0049-042.jpg" title="f0049-04" width="913" height="913"></div><h2>ACROSS</h2>1 Ryan Smyth was dubbed &lsquo;___ Canada&rsquo;4 Few goalies wore them in the 1960s7 Boston goalie Tuukka ___8 He and brother Marty played on a line with father Gordie in Houston10 One of hockey&rsquo;s Original Six teams12 Battle with sticks13 A 1967 expansion team14 &lsquo;Chucky&rsquo; is a rookie with the Habs, was drafted third overall in 201218 Danny ___ was the English voice of hockey in Montreal19 Pavel ___ is &lsquo;The Russian Rocket&rsquo;20 Instrument once heard at hockey arenas21 The 2012 Cup winners play at ___ Center<h2>DOWN</h2>1 Ricochet2 Put off until a later date3 Harry ___ coached in the WHA and NHL before becoming a broadcaster4 Longtime Senator sent to Nashville in 20115 Garth ___ is GM on Long Island6 Scott ___ was twice runner-up to Ray Bourque for the Norris Trophy9 The &lsquo;F&rsquo; in IIHF11 Rick Vaive was a &lsquo;___ ___&rsquo; with Birmingham12 Nick ___, pictured, is with Columbus15 Word often used to describe Jean Beliveau16 Bobby Orr&rsquo;s ___ proved his undoing17 PunchANSWERS AVAILABLE IN THE NEXT ISSUE AND AT <a href="http://THN.com/XWORD">THN.com/XWORD</a>LAST WEEK&rsquo;S CROSSWORD SOLUTION ACROSS 1. OWNERS, 4. HELPER, 9. TONELLI, 10. ITALY, 11. WASTE, 12. GRADUAL, 13. APPS, 15. NASH, 18. BEARCAT, 21. WATER, 23. RAISE, 24. PROBERT, 25. EGGING, 26. SKATES DOWN 1. OTTAWA, 2. NONIS, 3. ROLLERS, 5. ERIKA, 6. PEANUTS, 7. ROYALS, 8. KING, 14. PLAYING, 15. NEW YORK, 16. EBERLE, 17. BRUTES, 19. CLEAN, 20. TIPS, 22. TRENT &#9632;

f0049-04

CROSSWORD

<div class="byline">&#x2013; MATT LARKIN</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-05196/9829308-1-eng-US/f0049-052.jpg" title="f0049-05" width="844" height="758"><figcaption class="caption-body">(MASK: DAVEART.COM)</figcaption></div>ANTTI NIEMI | SAN JOSE SHARKSMasks don&rsquo;t come more nationalistic than Antti Niemi&rsquo;s. The design pays tribute to heroes of the Finnish Winter War (1939-40), most notably Gustaf Mannerheim, who became Finland&rsquo;s president. It also boasts a map and Winter War Campaign medal. &#9632;

f0049-05

Behind THE MASK

<div class="byline">&#x2013; RYAN KENNEDY</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0049-06117/9829339-1-eng-US/f0049-062.jpg" title="f0049-06" width="614" height="641"><figcaption class="caption-body">(JERSEY: SPORTSPIX)</figcaption></div>The NCAA&rsquo;s Frozen Four brought some of the lesser-known schools into the spotlight, with Quinnipiac and its swiping Bobcat logo getting all the way to the championship game before falling to the Yale Bulldogs.The Bentley Falcons struggled on the ice this season, but the Atlantic Hockey conference squad looked great in a dark-on-dark sweater that wins points for originality and intimidation.The design is simple and the stripes are pretty standard, but it&rsquo;s hard not to love this stealth look. &#9632;

f0049-06

JerseyHOUND

<div class="byline">WITH KEN CAMPBELL</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02322/9829370-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg" title="f0050-02" width="873" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body">MIKE GREEN (JONATHAN KOZUB/NHLI VIA GETTY IMAGES)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01430/9829377-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="194" height="219"></div>IMUST ADMIT I&rsquo;M A LITTLE LIKE GEORGE W. Bush when it comes to that, &ldquo;Fool me once&hellip;&rdquo; mantra. Is it shame on you or shame on me if you fool me once? What about the second time? Seems to me anyone who gets fooled should feel shame regardless of the frequency. In any event, I prefer to channel my inner Bush, and The Who, by instead saying, &ldquo;We won&rsquo;t get fooled again.&rdquo;Except in this case. I promised myself I would never do this again. The Washington Capitals had teased and teased and failed to deliver in crucial situations too many times that I said I would never pick them to win the Stanley Cup again. I would instead wait until they actually showed me they could do it, then I&rsquo;d be more than happy to wear the requisite hair shirt of shame for doubting them. I was willing to live with that.But here we go again. Like a cheating partner who convinces you this time will be different, the Capitals are drawing me back again. So feel free to play the percentages and use well-researched data to back up your choice of the Chicago Blackhawks or Pittsburgh Penguins. I&rsquo;m going to go with my gut and pick the Washington Capitals to win the Stanley Cup. There, I said it.Does picking the Capitals to win a championship this season defy all logic? Hell, yeah. But the one thing I learned from last season is that you don&rsquo;t have to be the best team in the NHL to win the Stanley Cup. You have to be the best team in the NHL for a finite period of time and combine that with good health, good luck and timely scoring. If we were ruled by logic, we wouldn&rsquo;t bother playing the games.Yes, the Capitals launched themselves into first place in the SouthLeast Division in mid-April by regularly feasting on some very bad teams. With two weeks left in the season, they had failed to prove they could beat anyone outside that sorry division with any semblance of consistency. Yes, they were white-hot in the second half, but there is absolutely no historical correlation between how well or poorly a team plays down the stretch and its ability to win a Cup.So why in the face of such convincing evidence to the contrary would I pick the Capitals to win the Stanley Cup? Because none of this stuff matters anymore. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has the league of his dreams now where anyone, and I mean anyone, is capable of winning a championship. Until last year, it had been proved time and again teams that squeak into the playoffs might be capable of winning a round or two, but always have reality catch up with them. Didn&rsquo;t happen last year. In fact, the Los Angeles Kings made it into the playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, then won the Stanley Cup with the kind of ease the Montreal Canadiens did in the late 1970s. (And please, don&rsquo;t give me this malarkey about the Kings not being an eighth-place team. You are what your record indicates you are. Period.)And what some see as an Achilles heel others can regard as an advantage. Who&rsquo;s to say the Capitals won&rsquo;t actually benefit from playing a bunch of patsies over the course of the season? After all, it allowed them to overcome one of the worst starts in franchise history to (likely) win their division. It allowed the Capitals to find their game under their third coach in a year and create an identity. And while teams in other divisions have to treat every contest as though its Game 7 of the final in this shortened season, the Capitals have the luxury of breezing through their games. And really, is it the Capitals fault the Tampa Bay Lightning went from pre-season contender to a one-dimensional team with no ability to defend or that the Florida Panthers went back to being the Florida Panthers after making the playoffs last season? The Capitals enter the playoffs with a ton of confidence and know they won&rsquo;t have to run the gauntlet of truly strong teams, probably until the Eastern Conference final. It&rsquo;s funny, too, how so many people have picked the Vancouver Canucks to go far in the playoffs, conveniently forgetting that they play in a pretty lousy division, too.<blockquote class="pullQuote">WHO&rsquo;S TO SAY THE CAPITALS WON&rsquo;T BENEFIT FROM PLAYING A BUNCH OF PATSIES ALL SEASON?</blockquote>Most of all, I&rsquo;m picking the Capitals to win the Cup because I want to see them do well. I&rsquo;ve spent time with them and I really like them. I think Alex Ovechkin, playing the right wing, and Nicklas Backstrom have the ability and chemistry to be to Washington what their coach, Adam Oates, and Brett Hull were to the St. Louis Blues. I think that when he&rsquo;s healthy and committed, Mike Green can be a dominant offensive defenseman. I think they have the requisite amount of character in guys such as Troy Brouwer and Joel Ward.So why not, I say. Why not the Capitals? I don&rsquo;t have a clue who&rsquo;s supposed to feel shame beyond the second &ldquo;fool me&rdquo; scenario, but I do know this much: if the Washington Capitals don&rsquo;t win it this year, I&rsquo;m out.CAN&rsquo;T GET ENOUGH CAMPBELL? CLICK ON <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">THEHOCKEYNEWS.COM</a> FOR KEN&rsquo;S EXCLUSIVE COLUMN &#9632;

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May 20, 2013

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS 150-1

ICE FLYERS FLY HIGH

75-1 NEW YORK ISLANDERS

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