Playoff Picture Thread (And Misc NHL talk)

[Sevanston]

Bernier and Williams really felt apart during that shooutout loss.

[HawksFan74]

At this point LA may be the #3 seed no matter what. Go for broke and get 4th. Might as well get home ice for the 1st round.

[Cullksinikers]

How I think it ends up:

1. VAN
2. STL
3. PHX
4. NSH
5. DET
6. CHI
7. LA
8. SJ

VAN > SJ
STL > LA
CHI > PHX
NSH > DET

Yes, that's right. Hawks/Canucks for the fourth year in a row!

[RFIP]

Sunday Morning Standings...looks to me that the Hawks have clinched a seed NO LOWER THAN 6th with the amount of ROW's they have!

Western Conference
WESTERN GP W L OTL PTS ROW SOW SOL HOME ROAD GF GA DIFF L10 STRK
1 y - Vancouver 79 49 21 9 107 42 7 7 25-10-4 24-11-5 239 191 +48 7-2-1 Won 6
2 y - St. Louis 79 48 21 10 106 44 4 9 30-5-4 18-16-6 204 156 +48 4-3-3 Lost 2
3 Los Angeles 79 39 27 13 91 33 6 8 21-14-4 18-13-9 185 170 +15 7-2-1 Lost 1
4 x - Nashville 79 45 26 8 98 41 4 5 24-10-5 21-16-3 227 208 +19 4-5-1 Lost 1
5 x - Detroit 78 46 27 5 97 39 7 2 30-6-2 16-21-3 240 195 +45 2-6-2 Lost 2
6 x - Chicago 79 44 26 9 97 38 6 5 27-8-5 17-18-4 240 229 +11 7-1-2 Won 2
7 Phoenix 79 39 27 13 91 33 6 10 21-13-6 18-14-7 206 202 +4 5-2-3 Won 2
8 San Jose 79 40 29 10 90 32 8 5 25-12-3 15-17-7 214 201 +13 6-4-0 Won 1

Dallas 79 42 32 5 89 35 7 4 22-14-3 20-18-2 207 212 -5 4-6-0 Lost 2
Colorado 80 41 33 6 88 32 9 2 22-15-2 19-18-4 205 209 -4 5-3-2 Won 1
Calgary 80 35 29 16 86 32 3 9 21-12-6 14-17-10 194 222 -28 2-4-4 Lost 3

[Bubba88]

now get that #4 seed

[HawksFan74]

Ending of the Philly/Pitt game was awesome. Probably will be the best 1st round series.

[No Fun Shogun]

Just really hoping we avoid L.A. in the first round. I'd rather face Nashville then them.

[BronYrAur]

Originally Posted by No Fun Shogun

Just really hoping we avoid L.A. in the first round. I'd rather face Nashville then them.

Huh? Nashville is a better team.

[madgoat33]

Yea, why would you want to avoid LA? If there's one team that can make crawford look great, it'd be them

[ndgt10]

Easy to tell that Detroit is tanking on purpose.

[Sarava]

Detroit wins in the shootout...they are now in 4th place, 2 points ahead of Chicago and 1 point ahead of Nashville. All 3 teams have 3 games left, and Nashville wins the tiebreakers with either team if it comes to that.

[Ujjy]

We need to win all of the final games, do whatever it takes to not face LA.

[Chris Hansen]

There's only one team I want the Hawks to avoid and it's definitely not LA...

[Sarava]

Detroit has a rough last 3 games with the Blues, Devils and Hawks. If I was a betting man I would guess they will end up 6th and the Hawks will end up 5th and go to Nashville to start the playoffs.

[Sarava]

Correct me if I'm wrong - but I believe the Hawks now can win the tiebreaker over Detroit if they hold court until the final game. Detroit has one more R/OT win, and if the Hawks win the finale on Sunday (in regulation or overtime) that would be even. I'm assuming the 2nd tiebreaker is head to head...which the Hawks would win. That would mean if the Hawks win their last 3 games in regulation they are guaranteed at least the 5th seed?

[ndgt10]

Hopefully the Hawks can rise to 5th and overtake Detroit.

[Cullksinikers]

I don't want to play Nashville at all. However, if we were the fourth seed, it would be a hell of a lot better.

[No Fun Shogun]

Originally Posted by BronYrAur

Huh? Nashville is a better team.

Maybe, but we've had far more trouble versus L.A. so far this year.

[BronYrAur]

Originally Posted by No Fun Shogun

Maybe, but we've had far more trouble versus L.A. so far this year.

1-3 LA

1-4 and a tie against Nashville

Don't really see how that's much different. Rather play LA.

[Chris Hansen]

Originally Posted by BronYrAur

1-3 LA

1-4 and a tie against Nashville

Don't really see how that's much different. Rather play LA.

Yep. LA is just a weaker team in every facet.

The most preferable opponent is clearly neither of them, but between the two the better matchup for the Hawks is pretty obviously the Kings.

[ralph0226]

Originally Posted by madgoat33

Yea, why would you want to avoid LA? If there's one team that can make crawford look great, it'd be them

But Quick can make LA look great against the Hawks.

[ralph0226]

Let's hope for the best, that is the Hawks surviving the 1st round. They don't have the D or the goaltending to make a deep run.

[Bubba88]

I want the highest seed possible. I don't care who we'll face. Only problem with the Kings would be the late starting time

[nds90]

i'd be happy if the hawks play anyone except for nashville. la would be tough, but i think the hawks can beat them in a playoff series. detroit would also be tough, but again, the hawks can beat them. plus it would be a sick series and i wanna see the hawks put the wings in their place. but you can never underestimate the winged wheel

[Blue Liner]

Originally Posted by Bubba88

I want the highest seed possible. I don't care who we'll face. Only problem with the Kings would be the late starting time

This is more or less my take. If you're good enough to win, you're good enough to win, period. I know there are "preferences" who you may or may not want to see first, but at the end of the day if you're that good, you're that good. Or not.

It's also worth noting that what happens in the regular season doesn't necessarily translate to a seven game playoff series. I remember a Hawks team winning a season series against Detroit three years ago and then more or less getting outclassed by that same team in five games in the Conference Finals.

I'm not doing cartwheels over having to face Nashville in the first round if that's how it plays out, but it is what it is. Maybe for karma's sake I say bring it. I remember how it played out last time the Hawks had that as a first round match up.