Big Trouble?

1) For most series we are only into the first 2 games, but already most of the teams that are behind can be classified as being' In Trouble!"

• Canuck-vs Blues: The Canucks have a stranglehold 3-0 lead after winning another close one last evening. We picked the Canucks a and Blues to have a tight series, which it has, but so far the 'Nucks have won all the close games. Its all but over now.


• Bruins- vs Canadiens: As most expected the B's dominated the Habs at their home barn. Looking dominant in their impressive 5-1 thrashing of Montreal Saturday. We ca see the Habs putting up a better fight in their home rink, but from the looks of things this series is over.


• Red wings vs Blue Jackets: In the battle of colours, looks like Red is going to beat Blue. The Wings looked to be back to their playoff dominating selves with an impressive white washing of Columbus Saturday to take a 2-0 lead. We're looking forward to Columbus's first home playoff game. They best keep their emotions in check else this could be a very short series.


• Rangers vs Capitals: An upset in the making. So far Henrik Lundqvist has been the difference here. Shutting down/out the Caps high powered offense. Taking the first two games in the Nation's Capital. The series shifts to Broadway tonight where the boys from DC best come out and show why they were the #2 seed, else this also will be a very short series.



• Ducks vs Sharks: Most, other than Fauxrumors, are surprised to see the Ducks come out with a 2-0 series lead after two at the Shark tank. Its not over by any measure, but the Sharks now are in a deep hole and now have to move south to try to even the series and prove to the hockey world that they are more than a regular season phenomenon. Obviously, we think they are. The only question is how long until these sharks are done.



• Black Hawks vs Flames: So far the young guys are winning the small battles over the vets and have a 2-0 lead going back to The saddledome. This series is NOT over, but the Flames had best turn up the heat else they might be heading to the links earlier than many predicted.

2) Not all the series are looking to be quick/short.

• Devils vs Hurricanes. So far this is probably the closest series with the OT winner by NJ last evening they now have a 2-1 lead, but anyone who has watched these games can see its still up for grabs.


• Penguins vs Flyers. We may have placed this series in the 'trouble' column if not for the impressive victory by the Flyers yesterday to cut the pens lead to 2-1. Still, the Flyers can not afford to lose their next game because we can not see them over coming a 3-1 series deficit.

3) As we wrote before the playoffs, many times a teams fortunes are determined by the 'matchup' they draw in especially these early series. The biggest illustration of this is the SJ-Anaheim series. We believe that the Sharks would/could have done better than they have so far if they had drawn Columbus or the Blues as their first round opponent. One of the times that winning the conference was not a good thing. We will continue to monitor all the series and report back our observations. As always, keep it here for all the latest!

2009 Playoff Predictions-West

1) Now for the difficult part. How to figure out this mess. There are several very good hockey teams here that won't win a round. Unfair, but that's the way the NHL works. Years ago it was the other way around; with the East much more powerful from top to bottom and the West seemingly only having 2-3 teams worth watching. Like our East predictions we will go through each series and come up with our picked eventual winner.

2) San Jose(1) vs- Anaheim(8) REGULAR SEASON SERIES (4-2 Sharks) The first 'Battle of California'! The Sharks couldn't have chosen a worse first round opponent. The Ducks have only gone 10-2-1 the past few weeks, including a 5-2 win at San Jose on April 4th. Much like the Pennsylvania battle, these teams do NOT like each other and it shows with epic battles that we at Fauxrumors is looking forward to! Keys: The Sharks have wilted annually in the heat of spring, can Todd McLellan bring a winning attitude to the Silicon Valley so they can finally shed that persona? Can Jonas Hiller be 'the guy' and outplay Nabokov? We like the Ducks combo of skill AND toughness(much like Philly) and can see a an upset in the making here, but it will be close/fun to watch!

Ducks in 7

3) Detroit (2) vs- Columbus (7) REGULAR SEASON SERIES (Tied 3-3) A TV friendly all Eastern time zone Western conference series. First off a mighty congrats to the Blue Jackets and their fans on their first entry into the Stanley Cup playoffs! That said, we feel the Wings dodged a bullet when the Ducks fell to 8th instead of the playoff novice Jackets. Keys: The biggest question/key will of course be goaltending. On the Wings side it has been inconsistent all year, but that was the case to some degree as well, and we see how that turned out. 200 feet away can Steve Mason(our Vezina/Calder winner) handle his first post season as well/coolly as he did his rookie campaign? The Redwings MAY be ripe for the upset, but we don't see the upstart Jackets as being up to the task to dethrone the defending champs in the first round.

RedWings in 5

4) Vancouver(3) vs- St. Louis(6) REGULAR SEASON SERIES (Tied 2-2) Like Columbus, few saw the Blues as challengers to a spot this season, especially after the numerous early season injuries. Here we have two of the hottest teams down the stretch. The Canucks have gone 23-7-2 since Feb 1. Impressive, huh? OK, how about 21-7-6, the record the Blues take into the final 6 weeks. We don't want to hear about the excuse of injuries again with the Blues advancing despite 461 man-games lost! Keys: can the 'other Mason', Chris, hold off the now potent Canucks attack and match Roberto Luongo save for save? Like Brodeur, Luongo missed time die to injury and is better rested ready? For that reason we see the boys from British Columbia advancing.

Canucks in 6

5) Chicago (4) vs- Calgary (5) REGULAR SEASON SERIES (Black Hawks 4-0) Probably the second most compelling Western series after the California battle. Hard not to root for the Hawks here. They have some very exciting young players and now have the Windy City excited for hockey for the first time in many years, and a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2002 A month ago we would have placed the Flames as a Cup contender, now not so much with their March slide that cost them the NW division. Is Ollie Jokkinen a cancer? He is about to play his first playoff game and since his acquisition the Flames have been sucky! Keys: Can the Flames get their defense healthy and get the old Kipper back in form? How will the kids(Towes/Kane, etc) do in their first playoff games? We think the Hawks will put up on hel of a fight, but in the end experience will win out and the Flames will win a very long/tough series.

Flames in 7

2009 Playoff Predictions- East

1) Welcome to the NHL's second(real) season. We would argue that there is NO better all around tournament in all of pro sports. Let the games begin! We will go through each series; dissect what the most important factors are, and come up with who will win in how many games. We hope to do even better than our regular season predictions. First we will do the unpredictable East. Followed by the power house West. Enjoy.

2) Canadiens (1) vs. Bruins(8): REGULAR SEASON SERIES (5-1 Bruins) Can't be the post season without these two original 6 squaring off?! They meet for a fourth time in past seven postseasons. In the past it doesn't seem to matter where either club is in the standings. The teams trade spots from last season, when Boston held the 8th spot. Despite the positioning we see this as a much closer series than many might predict. Keys: Can Carey Price play up to the expectations and trade save for save with Tim Thomas? Can the trio of Alex Kovalev with Saku Koivu and Alex Tanguay get it done? Will the Habs' best defensemen, Andre Markov play? With Savard, Kessel, Bergeron, etc the B's have the best balanced scoring in the East. In the end the Bruins should win this old Adams division battle, but not in a cake walk.

Bruins in 7

3) Capitals(2) vs. NY Rangers(7): REGULAR SEASON SERIES (3-1 Capitals). These are NOT the same Rangers that snoozed through the middle portion of the season. With the trade deadline additions, new coach and Sean Avery they are a much more dangerous team/difficult team to play against. Not to mention Henrik Lundqvist is one of the best in the business. Keys: This series pits the Rangers poor PP/offense and good goaltending vs the Caps top PP and average at best net minding. Can the Rangers more veteran team overcome the Caps youth/inexperience? Normally we'd say the best goalie will win, but here we believe in the end the Caps fire power will overwhelm the Ranger's defense, but there won't be any blowouts here and perhaps a couple OT games deciding the outcome of the series.

Capitals in 6

4)New Jersey (3) vs Carolina (6): REGULAR SEASON SERIES (3-1 Hurricanes). Probably the least compelling first round match-up. However should be quite a close, hard fought series. Up front both teams posses stud forwards and grizzled vets. Staal-vs Parise will be the focus of opposition defenses. Keys: The goaltending match up is interesting. We have maintained that in the past Brodeur's playing 70+ games was a detriment to his post season now that he's 35+. His injury forced him to 'rest' so will he be the key? On the other side Cam Ward is playing every bit as well as he did when he was the 2006 playoff MVP. Can he carry that into the playofffs? We feel this will be a multiple OT series. We'll put our faith/money on a rested Marty.

Devils in 7

5) Pittsburgh (4) vs- Philadelphia(5) REGULAR SEASON SERIES (4-2 Pens) The battle of Pennsylvania! Probably the series to watch and will be the most exciting from a fans perspective. Two very talented teams that don't like each other much. They faced off last season in the Eastern Conference Finals when the Pens won in 5, but that Flyers team was banged up pretty well, especially on the back line. Both teams can throw multiple dangerous scoring lines out there. Arguably the Flyers possess more 'grit', but will have to restrain some of that 'enthusiasm' (leagues most penalized team) if they want to advance. Keys: Which Francophone goalie will carry his team? Both Fleury and Biron played very well in last years post season, with M-A playing a tad better. Can Selke likely nominee Richards hold down Crosby/Malkin? In the end we believe this Flyers team is built for playoff wins, but none will come easy. Enjoy folks!Flyers in 6

The Reward For Sucking?

1) The NHL will conduct its Draft Lottery today, Tuesday, April 14th. The lottery will take place in-studio with NHL deputy-commissioner Bill Daly revealing the results live on-air. This will be the 2nd time the draft lottery has been aired live on television since the 'Crosby Draft' of 2005, and for only the third time in 13 years. The lottery will also be simulcast live on the TSN.ca, NHL Network, NHL.com.

2) The bottom 14 (non-playoff) teams in the NHL will be eligible for the lottery, where odds are weighted by least amount of regular season points. The winning lottery team can move up no more than four spots in the draft and no team can move back more than one.

3) Here's the breakdown:

• The five lowest-finishing teams that have a crack at the No. 1 pick: The 30th place team has a 25% chance of winning the drawing, followed by 18.8% for the 29th place team, 14.2% for 28th, 10.7% for 27th and 8.1% for 26th.


• The other nine non-play-off teams also have a diminishing chance of winning the lottery, but if they win they just move up four positions in the draft. For example, the 25th place team has a 6.2% chance of winning and would shift to the No. 2 spot in the draft. And, if a 25th to 17th place team wins the lottery, the first overall pick remains with the 30th place team. That's why, when all the math is done, finishing last provides a team with a 48.2% chance of picking first.

4) Here's are a few odd facts:

• In 13 draft lotteries since its inception in 1995, the team finishing 30th has been rewarded with the first pick just four times.


• The team finishing in third-last has been promoted to the first pick four times, even though the odds of that happening are just 14.2%.


• The second to worst finisher has NEVER won the draft lottery! Not only has the second-worst team never won the draft lottery in 12 attempts, but on four occasions it is has been pushed back one drafting spot when the third-worst team won the lottery. If we were betting folks we'd say that this will be the year the second suckiest team wins the lottery.
  

5) Of course we will renew our objection to the whole lottery process. Our position, though radical and controversial, would eliminate all possible doubt, and no longer reward failure/incompetence. That is do what was done in the 'Crosby sweepstakes' (2005 draft). Have ALL teams' draft order determined equally by a lottery. It would be a great/exciting show, like then, to have every team a chance at the 1st pick, and it eliminates once and for all any chance that teams would be disincentivized from playing their best/best players at all times!

6) It forces GM's/teams to improve by making good decisions, not by tanking a season or two to rebuild and getting good picks. It eliminates ANY notion that teams aren't playing their best each and every night. Also, and as importantly, it stops once and for all the idiotic notion of reward for failure. While we're a it stop the 'loser point' in games. You lose, you get zero points for your effort!

Our Awards Picks

1) With the LONG NHL regular season now in the books, we figured we'd throw our 2 cents into the Blogosphere on who SHOULD win the various awards in Vegas in June. We will list who we feel should win as well as who should be the 3 Finalists. (The official designation will be released by the NHL during the post season and the awards show is slated for Las Vegas on June 14th.












2) Hart: Alex Ovechkin. Runners up: Evgeny Malkin, Steve Mason. The voting will undoubtedly be a lot closer this time around, but in the end the same winner as last season should prevail yet again. Evgeny Malkin closed the gap significantly with his countryman with an amazing performance of his own, but the combo of winning the Richard, most game winning goals, and the other intangibles he adds to help his team win make #8 our Hart winner again.

3) Norris: Mike Green. Runners up Nicklas Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara. Not until you place his numbers into perspective does the amazing offensive season Mike Green had become apparent. Missing 12 games he still easily led all defensemen in scoring, had a great +/- and played big minutes. Finally deposing the reigning Norris winner Lidtsrom, who had yet another solid, near great season himself.

4) Vezina: Steve Mason. Runners up: Tim Thomas, Niklas Backstrom. Another tough call to make. In the end the rookie who plays behind a much less experienced defense/forward group in Columbus, helping them to their first ever playoff berth won out. However, it wouldn't be a shocker to see Thomas given the award as his numbers were extraordinary
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5) Selke:Pavel Datsyuk. Runners up: David Krejci, Mike Richards: One of the more difficult trophies to predict as the criteria is unclear/ambiguous. From past winners it has recently gone to the forward who COMBINES good defensive numbers (+/- and PK numbers) with good offensive numbers. With that in mind we see Datsyuk winning the award with the other two close runners up

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6) Calder:Steve Mason.Runners up: Pekka Rinne, Bobby Ryan Probably the easiest trophy to predict despite our proclamation 2 weeks ago that it could be a shared trophy. With us giving Mason the Vezina honors it would be impossible to not have him our Calder winner as well. Kudos to Rinne and Ryan who had great rookie campaigns in their own rights!

7) Masterton Trophy: (award given to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication) Brian Pothier. Runners up: Steve Sullivan, Richard Zednik. Another difficult award to handicap. Seems to lately go to the player who makes the best comeback. All 3 of our candidates fit that bill, and flip a coin who you think should win.

8) Adams: Ken Hitchcock. Runners up: Claude Julian, Brent Sutter, Todd McLellan. Have to give the award to the good Captain for getting this team into the post season for the first time. Until their last month swoon, we had Brent Sutter winning, now he might lose his job at any moment. ; ) Also good mention to Julian (another Lamarello casualty) and McClellan for guiding their talented teams to conference wins

9)Pearson: Alex Ovechkin (See Hart)

9) Art Ross: Evgeny Malkin. Congrats to the second best Russian, and best player on Pittsburgh for finishing first in the NHL's scoring race to earn his first Art Ross trophy, but an astounding 13 NHL scoring titles in the past 21 seasons for the Flightless birds,!

10) Lady Byng: What exactly is the purprose of this award? Traditionally to the best player who doesn't fight much, and also isn't going to win any of the other awards? Martin St Louis. Runners up: Patrick Marleau, Pavel Datsyuk

11) Rocket Richard: Alex Ovechkin. The Great-8 wins his second consectutive Richard trophy for most goals. Easily out pacing his nearest rivals (again) No other player in the league eclipsed the 50 goal plateau. Completing only his 4th season the Russian already has over 220 goals!

Week 26: Results

Happy Easter Everyone!


1) The NHL regular season schedule finishes up tonight, but for all intents and purposes our season ended last night with the last of our 26 weekly Saturday picks. For the day/night we went 7-6. Hardly impressive, but not too shabby. On the year we went a very solid 176-127 for a solid .580 winning %, or 49 games above .500! For picking 303 NHL games, mighty good! Even better with winning another Lock of the week yesterday we add to that impressive stat to 20-6, or winning 78% of those weekly picks!!

2) See all of ya here for picks next fall. In the mean time the NHL's second season opens Wednesday. Before then look for our Fauxrumors NHL awards picks tomorrow, and our playoff picks out Wednesday! As always, keep it here for al the latest!

(Final) Week 26 Predictions

1) Where has the time gone? Seems we just started the regular season yesterday? Right? Well, maybe not yesterday, but it has gone by in a Flash. Today/night of the NHL's final regular season Saturday there are 13 full games up for grabs. A chance to finish up strongly and bolster our impressive 169-121 record, or a chance to fall below our season winning % of .583

Carolina at New Jersey: Devils

Philadelphia at NY Islanders: Islanders

Chicago at Detroit: Red Wings

Vancouver at Colorado: Canucks

Boston at Buffalo: Bruins

San Jose at Los Angeles: Kings

Pittsburgh at Montreal: Penguins

Ottawa at Toronto: Maple Leafs

Washington at Florida: Capitals

Tampa Bay at Atlanta: Thrashers

Minnesota at Columbus: Blue Jackets

Anaheim at Phoenix: Ducks

Edmonton at Calgary: Flames (Lock of The Week)