NHL Midseason Playoff Predictions

The playoff races are starting to heat up and I am beginning to lean certain ways as to which teams will end up playing for the Stanley Cup in May and June.  You may be surprised by some of my picks, but you may agree.  Anyways here we go:

Eastern Conference

The Shoe-ins

Washington Capitals, New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres.
These teams would have to blow up and really drop to not end up in the post season.

The Last Four

Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, Florida Panthers.

Ottawa has come on strong in the last few games and really seperated themselves from the pack in terms of qualifying for the playoffs.  Similarly the Flyers have remembered how to win and I would be very surprised if this preseason “cup contender” fails to make the playoffs in such a weak conference.  This same mentality is used for the Bruins who have been dropping of late, but I expect them to find their game and get some W’s in the win column soon.  My surprise pick here may be the Florida Panthers.  I basically used process of elimination to come to this pick and the play of Tomas Vokoun definitely helped.

I don’t feel the Canadiens are a good enough team to make the playoffs this year.  The return of Markov definitely helped them, but their lack of offense and lack of solid star power should keep them out of the playoffs.  Camalleri, Plekanec and Markov have to really step up and lead this team if they have any chance in my eyes.  The Rangers are similar in that they have no scoring.  It seems like Gaborik is in on 75% of the teams goals and they need some secondary scoring to start winning games again.  The Islanders have a chance, but for a team that was predicted to come last in the league I am really surprised they are in the hunt and will be extremely surprised if they make it.

Western Conference

Shoe-Ins

Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks

There are only two shoe-ins in the West and these teams are dominant.  We’ll have to see how they fare in the playoffs.

Remaining Six

Vancouver Canucks, Colorado Avalanche, Phoenix Coyotes, Detroit Red Wings, LA Kings, Minnesota Wild.

The Canucks are a great team, it just took them a while to get going this year.  They will be a Stanley Cup contender.  The Avs and Coyotes have taken the league by surprise this year and I am hopeful that both teams can keep it together and put up enough wins to make the playoffs.  Anderson and Bryzgalov have been great and if they can each keep up their stellar play the playoffs should be in the picture.  The Wings are starting to turn their year around as they continue to get healthier.  If you told me at the beginning of the year the Red Wings wouldn’t make the playoffs I would have laughed at you, and I still think I would laugh.  They are just too good to not even make the postseason.  Finally, my last two slots go to the Kings and the Wild.  The Kings are a great young team and I believe that they can hold on to one of those playoff teams with a big W streak at some point before the 82 game mark.  The Wild are my favourite Western team so there may be some bias in this prediction, but I really like their team and I think they have the character to put up a strong end to the season and slip in.

You can check out the NHL futures odds at NHL Betting Tips to see if you can make some big cash off of your favourite teams.  The basketball season is also coming to a close so I’d suggest checking out the NBA odds for the playoffs or the NBA betting lines for each game to see who has the best chance to take down the NBA championships this season.