This year's NHL playoffs have been one for the ages and the best part is we are only half way through, kind of like how you feel at the one hour mark of the A-team movie. Round 1 had a record, 49 games played, thanks to 4 series' or half of the first round coming down to a deciding 7th game. 19 of the first 59 games in this year's playoffs went to sudden death OT and there were nine straight days of playoff OT hockey making for some 3 snooze alarm mornings and downright giddiness from NHL network analysts Larry Murphy and Kevin Weekes.
Round 2 was equally compelling with the stunning sweeps of Eastern conference favorites Washington and Philly. The Caps retain the title as the NHL's most perennially disappointing team as they look for ways to void the outrageous contracts of Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom, on a positive note at least Bruce Boudreau will always have his embarrassing clips from 24/7 to remind him that he was once a NHL head coach. The goaltending issues in Philly continue to pile up (11 playoff games, 9 games with at least one goaltender switch) like litter on Broad Street as 36 year old Chris Pronger undergoes back surgery with 9 years left on his deal (got to love a hard cap) and GM Paul Holmgren continues to ask "what if" in regard to what if we would have traded Jeff Carter to Boston for Tim Thomas when the Bruins called us with that deal last year.
In the West the San Jose/Detroit series can lay claim to the title of the most evenly matched series ever and even the upstart Preds made the Stanley Cup favorite Canucks sweat and forced them into one more cross country flight for a game 6 in Nashville. If not for a Game 6 empty net goal by Detroit every game in that series would have been decided by one goal with three games needing OT. After two straight years of evenly matched conference semi series' the Detroit/San Jose matchup is as eagerly anticipated as a new "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" season.
With the NHL's on ice product as high as gas prices it is a great time for NHL commish Gary Bettman to make some "off-ice" changes that are much needed and would continue the progress this postseason has made. First up is to allow the Atlanta Thrashers ownership group to sell the team to the True North Group who wants to move the team to Winnipeg. It might have sounded like a great idea to move teams to big cities in the US Sunbelt 15 years ago, but the experiment has failed and the Thrashers are a prime example. Atlanta is a football (NFL and college) city that doesn't even sell out Braves and Hawks playoffs games let alone mediocre regular season hockey. When the question is moving hockey teams to Canada the answer is always yes like when the question is "Should we make another Terminator movie? or Do you want another piece of ice cream cake?"
Bettman needs to forget about not wanting to relocate teams due to his legacy and local business interests and do what is in the best interest of the game, which by the way is the definition of a commish's job. It is in the best interest of the game and the specific franchise to be playing in a supportive market (fan/financial) and no country is more supportive of any game than Canada is of hockey. Can you imagine how big Dustin Byfuglien and Zack Bogosian would be in a hockey market and how much the Thrashers would benefit from a home rink advantage with actual hockey fans? The financial constraints that forced Canadian teams to leave markets 15 years ago are no longer in existence and will not be in the future making this the time to move the Thrashers to Winnipeg and the Coyotes to Toronto. While we are at it how about moving the Panthers to Surrey British Columbia, which would make for a nice 5 team conference consisting of all Western Canadian teams. Winnipeg and Surrey have both expressed interest in teams along with Hamilton, Quebec, and Toronto (second team) and if they have the financial capital to take on teams the NHL should be running to accommodate them and fleeing dead US hockey markets. Why not let hockey fans in hockey cities have NHL teams instead of force feeding the game to markets that have no interest? Games played in loud passionate home buildings benefit everyone, even fans watching on TV 2,000 miles away.
The other major off the ice issue that needs addressed immediately is the incoherent discipline punishment that is handed out by Colin Campbell. Campbell continuing to have a job in the NHL would be like BP sticking with Tony Hayward or the Caps sticking with Boudreau. Not only were emails discovered that verified Campbell dispensed discipline based on his personal feelings to the offender and the victim of on ice illegal hits, but Campbell's Richard Nixon like arrogance to these revelations and refusal to admit he was wrong and apologize was disheartening as a hockey fan and scary as a human being. Campbell's son Gregory also happens to play for the Bruins and though Campbell doesn't dispense discipline in instances involving Boston his underlings do and this is as much of a conflict of interest as him making the call. You can't tell me or anyone else with a pulse that Chara not getting suspended for his assault on Max Pacioretty or Ferrence and Lucic not get suspended in the playoffs for their headshots was not a result of Campbell's underlings making these determinations. The second major issue is that Campbell's discipline has absolutely no consistency. Hits that would have received suspensions in the regular season (Ferrence, Richards, Luicic) are brushed off in the postseason and identical hits vary from 1 to 5 games during the season for the same offender.
The NHL needs a new face dispensing discipline and the consequences need to be laid out in public so everyone, most importantly the players and coaches know the consequences of illegal hits. As a start, how about hits to the head being 2 games regardless of intent and double suspensions in the future based on the offenders history. Make Matt Cooke's "Macho Man" flying elbow ten games as a barometer and Chara's interference/assault a 5 game barometer. The fact of the matter is everyone from players and coaches to the average fan at home should know when they see a cheap shot that it will cost a player an average of so many games. Once this is determined and laid out and consistent the discipline process will run smoothly and will most likely decrease the number of suspensions. Two simple much needed changes that would benefit the game of hockey and if Bettman thinks they are too difficult to implement how about a new commish?
Boston Bruins (-140) vs. Tampa Lightning (+120): A matchups of contrasts as the original six Bruins whose franchise is as old as Jimmy Carter take on the Lightning whose franchise is as old as Miley Cyrus. The Bruins are big and physical and haven't won the Cup since '72, while the Ning are small, quick, and skilled and won a Cup in '04. I think the Bruins will miss Patrice Bergeron badly as he is out at least the first two games of the series with the dreaded concussion, and though Thomas has been as good as it gets in net I wonder if that can continue against a skilled Ning top 6 and power play especially when Denis Seidenberg is playing 1st D pairing minutes. As for Tampa, goalie Dwayne Roloson looks to be as young of a 41 as Shaq is an old 41 and as long as Ryan Malone continues to kick in goals at a Pele type pace they should score. Tampa also has this year's Claude Lemieux/Max Talbot in Sean Bergenheim who scored 14 goals during the season and has 7 so far in the postseason. Tampa has only 4 wins in 35 played games in Boston, but they also have never had head coach Guy Boucher and his 1-3-1 before this year. I like Tampa to go the Cup finals and add the Bruins to their playoff pelt that already contains the Pens and Caps.
Vancouver Canucks (-130) vs. San Jose Sharks (+115): All chalk in the Western conference finals as the two best teams made it through a gauntlet to reach the conference finals. The Sharks should give hope to every Caps fan as they have recovered from previous playoff setbacks to make it to consecutive Western conference finals, but again this year they face the best team in hockey without home ice. The Sharks have a lot of size up front in Thornton, Marleau, Clowe, and Couture and will need the confidence inspiring play of Antti Niemi to continue vs. Vancouver. The Sharks defense is vulnerable vs. speed and to a solid forecheck and I expect Kesler to continue on his Conn Smythe pace, but he will need help from the Sedin sisters and a defense capable in the transition game. Both teams are far from strong mentally, so that matchup has to be comforting to the favorites and I think Luongo will be just good enough to win a game 7 at home and advance to a cross North American Cup final.
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