Week 27 of NHL 2005-6

The Playoffs kick off April 18 and it seems the East is pretty much wrapped up. Only seed eight is being battled over, I really don’t think Toronto or Atlanta have a shot with seed seven. With the West, only Vancouver is struggling to stay alive and land the eighth seed. 
 
Philly cinched up their spot last week but they’ve been so sloppy that they may even lose their fifth position to New Jersey. Admittedly, they’d have better odds taking on the NY Rangers in the playoffs over the Sabres but I’m with Tim from the local paper, this is a one-round wonder team. One thing he brought to my attention that I hadn’t given much thought, Philly is as poor as the Rangers when it comes to offense; he feels they’re a one-line team too. I don’t completely agree but sadly the stats do back his claim of the Gagne-Forsberg-Knuble line being it. Next season, we’re going to see more out of Carter, Umberger and Richards. When everything is wrapped on April 18th, we’ll see who is right. Thankfully I only wasted $10 on the Flyers taking the Cup. I think the oddmakers at the Venetian need to think a little harder giving Philly 9-2 (best bet) odds while they appeared to be on target with Detroit at 9-1. 
 
In other news, Luc Robitaille announced his retirement. He has been a fixture of the LA Kings throughout his career even though he went to Detroit to win a Cup. He is the highest scoring Left Wing in NHL history. Luc will be missed. I am only saddened that he’s leaving the Kings at the end of the horrendous season; they went from being the division leader of the Pacific in the beginning to being completely out of the playoffs with Phoenix. Dallas, San Jose and Anaheim pulled through in the second half of the season. 
 
Speaking of Phoenix, I was wrong in my prediction that the Great One could at least get the ‘Yotes to the first round of the playoffs. I do hope he will give it another try next season despite having only a one-season contract. Failure builds character. Look at Scotty Bowman. He led the St. Louis Blues to the Stanley Cup in their first season (because of how the NHL was structured then) only to lose (again, the NHL was rigged in favor the older teams for a couple seasons after the ’67 expansion). Now Scotty is one of the winningest coaches in NHL history. I don’t think the whole Tocchet scandal mattered either. Phoenix doesn’t have all the pieces in place. Having Brett Hull was a short-lived publicity stunt. CuJo in goal is iffy, but he may finally get it together in the playoffs next time. There’s talent with Doan and Comrie. There’s experience with Ricci. We’ll see how they do in the off-season with trades, the draft and if there’s anything to cannibalize with their AHL last-place division team in San Antonio. 
 
Philly’s AHL franchise also landed in last place in their division while Pittsburgh’s is completely the opposite. Thanks to injuries on the Flyers, the Phantoms were picked apart so that probably hurt. I don’t think it will matter with the Penguins of either league. Pittsburgh needs more work in the off-season while fending off the rumors of them moving to Hartford, CT. I’m still egging on Portland for the alliteration.