Let’s start with who we expect to make it past the first round of the playoffs:
vancouver
detroit
the Angels
chicago
Washington
pittsburgh
Boston
Montreal
We wouldn’t be surprised if the Buffalo Sabers and St. Louis Blues made it past the first round, and we know there are always first-round upsets. But, this year, we think there will be enough of a gap between the top four and bottom four teams in each division that we expect the top teams to make it out of the first round relatively unscathed. With that said, we’ll stick with the above, which includes a couple of first-round upsets where we expect teams to finish in the regular season.
The Vancouver Canucks are on a mission and the Detroit Red Wings seem to be headed in the right direction, so we picked them to win the second round in the West. Chicago could make it to the second round just like the Kings. Heck, even Anaheim could pull it off, but no matter how things go, we expect Vancouver to have the top seed in the West playoffs, and we expect them to win in the first two rounds.
In the East, we pick the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins to get past the second round. The return of Sidney Crosby will make a big difference for the Penguins and, as with the Canucks, we believe the Capitals will be on a mission this year.
It’s awfully hard to repeat a Stanley Cup win nowadays, and the Boston Bruins just aren’t a team that breaks away from the other top 5 or 6 teams, which is why we see them going down in the playoffs, maybe in the first round, but more. that probably in the second round. Montreal could make it to the Final-Two in the East, which would be a really exciting series, but they would need to warm up a lot, something they might not be up to this year.
As for our Stanley Cup matchup, we’re tied with the Washington Capitals and Vancouver Canucks, two teams that have won conferences and played well in recent regular seasons, but haven’t taken the big prize. Fans of both teams expect them to be in the final, and anything short of a Stanley Cup from either team is going to be a disappointment to their respective fans.
Washington is a bit older and will soon start to drop in quality to return to the group, so we expect their players to have the most motivation and drive to win now. So, we’re predicting the Washington Capitals to win the Stanley Cup in 2012. But just to be clear where we think things are headed, we have no problem predicting the Vancouver Canucks to win it all in 2013!
