tds Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 It seems that after tonight, when you look at the current shakeup of the Western Conference standings, we are going to matched up in the first round with one of the four Pacific Division teams in the playoff race. Let's first talk Canucks. We now now that the team officially will not finish below second place in the West, and to take top spot we will have to finish with more points than St. Louis (they have tiebreaker on us). Both us and the Blues have five games remaining with the schedules as follows: CANUCKS: vs. DAL, vs. CGY, vs. ANA, @ CGY, vs. EDM BLUES: @ CHI, vs. CBJ, vs. DET, vs. PHX, @ DAL (seems like Vancouver has the easier schedule, no?) In this scenario of course we will either be playing the 7th seed or the 8th seed guaranteed. As it stands now: TEAM (GP) PTS 3. Dallas (77) 89 6. Chicago (77) 93 7. Los Angeles (77) 88 8. San Jose (77) 88 ---------- 9. Phoenix (77) 87 10. Colorado (79) 86 11. Calgary (78) 85 So, assuming we will finish 1st or 2nd, its fairly easy to rule out Chicago (6th). I don't see any of these teams below them catching them in the final five games. Also, it seems both Colorado and Calgary have just run out of games - not far back but with four teams ahead of them both having one or two games in hand, they just don't have the time to slip in. With that said, I think we can safely assume our first round opponent will be either Dallas, LA, San Jose or Phoenix. It clearly just depends which team will snake in with the division title and who will be the two teams in 7th and 8th. Who does everyone want to see in the first round? Stars, Kings, Sharks or Coyotes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schneider.Man604 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 these r the teams i wanna see us against in the first round in order 1)Coyotes 2)stars 3)sharks 4) kings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tds Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 these r the teams i wanna see us against in the first round in order 1)Coyotes 2)stars 3)sharks 4) kings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canucksin Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Coyotes and Stars scare me with some of the weird wins they were able to pull off against the Canucks this season, although a 7 game series usually does showcase the better team. Considering how we usually manhandle the Sharks, and the fact the Kings can barely score, I'd take either of them. That being said, it's the playoffs, you show up for whoever you are playing against and no team is easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucks.brad Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 1. Sharks 2. Coyotes 3. Stars 4. Kings LA, Dallas, Phoenix scare the crap out of me. More specifically LA. They have WAY too much skill and potential to be where they are. Almost remind me of Chicago last year. Sutter will want a physical style of play (see our 3-2 loss), and I honestly do not think we can handle that in round 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustNazzy Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 k, well at the risk of sounding stupid... I don't want the nucks' to play an NHL owned team. They can only benefit financially the farther it goes. You thought the officiating was bad last year? Imagine playing the Coyotes... just my opinion though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronadian Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 k, well at the risk of sounding stupid... I don't want the nucks' to play an NHL owned team. They can only benefit financially the farther it goes. You thought the officiating was bad last year? Imagine playing the Coyotes... just my opinion though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nux4lyfe Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Anyone of those teams can bring it! , I don't care, We're better than all of them and still haven't played our best hockey.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownUndaCanuck Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 The Canucks are now IMO the toughest team in the conference by a long shot and lately they're gearing up for the playoffs by playing low-scoring, tough hockey. The only team that can beat us at this style of game is perhaps Boston, St.Louis and Los Angeles. Sure we won 1-0 over them recently, but these guys have been playing these low scoring games all season long and for some reason they play well against us. If we have Daniel Sedin, I'd be happy to play them and open things up, but without our top scorer I don't want to even try and get into a track-heat with any team - we are simply not deep and offensively talented enough on our bottom-6 without Hodgson to try this. Phoenix seems like they would be a breeze, they have the worst +/- of all the teams. Dallas has some deadly stars up front who would burn us and are just getting hot (especially Ryder of late), so we can't out score them, we'd have to play them physically and grind them down. San Jose is not getting great goaltending and their offensive stars are drying up but they're a very big team and a big reason Boston beat us last season is because the Sharks wore us down physically. I don't want us to be tired after the 1st round and injured. Los Angeles as I said have almost no offence so if we open it up against them it should be an easy series, but the problem with low 1-0 scoring games is that either team can win on any given night so the series could go down to the wire. Again, the Kings have some big bodies who would bruise us badly. So basically, Phoenix is the weakest, smallest team of the 4, then Dallas, then the Kings and finally the Sharks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honky Cat Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Tough matchup right off of the bat for the Canucks(I think it's going to be the Sharks)...not as bad as Red Wings-Preds matchup...It was the Sharks series against the Canucks that left us physically buggered for the SC finals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uber_pwnzor Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Not so much stupid as it is..well conspiracy theory crap . There is nothing going on that is going to make Phoenix "win the cup" IF. and I mean IF they won it, it is due to play on the ice not the fact the NHL owns them. Comments like this continue to paint a poor picture of the Canucks fan base Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kchengc Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 The Canucks are now IMO the toughest team in the conference by a long shot and lately they're gearing up for the playoffs by playing low-scoring, tough hockey. The only team that can beat us at this style of game is perhaps Boston, St.Louis and Los Angeles. Sure we won 1-0 over them recently, but these guys have been playing these low scoring games all season long and for some reason they play well against us. If we have Daniel Sedin, I'd be happy to play them and open things up, but without our top scorer I don't want to even try and get into a track-heat with any team - we are simply not deep and offensively talented enough on our bottom-6 without Hodgson to try this. Phoenix seems like they would be a breeze, they have the worst +/- of all the teams. Dallas has some deadly stars up front who would burn us and are just getting hot (especially Ryder of late), so we can't out score them, we'd have to play them physically and grind them down. San Jose is not getting great goaltending and their offensive stars are drying up but they're a very big team and a big reason Boston beat us last season is because the Sharks wore us down physically. I don't want us to be tired after the 1st round and injured. Los Angeles as I said have almost no offence so if we open it up against them it should be an easy series, but the problem with low 1-0 scoring games is that either team can win on any given night so the series could go down to the wire. Again, the Kings have some big bodies who would bruise us badly. So basically, Phoenix is the weakest, smallest team of the 4, then Dallas, then the Kings and finally the Sharks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gauntlet Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 The Kings. I think it would make for the most exciting series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RUPERTKBD Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I want the Sharks. I think people forget the value of an easy travel schedule when it comes to playoffs. I love to see Vancouver stay in their own time zone for the first round, and San Jose has the weakest goaltending of the current playoff teams. I also think they are better equipped to handle the Sharks' physical game than they were last year. Besides, if you're going to play a hard hitting team in the playoffs, the first round is the best time to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire_Spiky Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I'd like to face the Yotes simply because they are the worst of the four options. Dallas would be my last choice to play. They have been playing well of late and could cause problems come playoffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erkayloomeh Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 i want to play the team that is the least physical. Phoenix? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Money Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I'm not worried about anybody in the Pacific Division, so bring 'em on. The Central Division, on the other hand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar baby watermelon Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I'd want Dallas or Phoenix, but don't underestimate the Stars, they are underrated. Ribeiro has some wicked puck vision and has a perfect sniper in Ryder. Their weak spot - Kari lehtonen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shift-4 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I'm not worried about anybody in the Pacific Division, so bring 'em on. The Central Division, on the other hand... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustNazzy Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Not so much stupid as it is..well conspiracy theory crap . There is nothing going on that is going to make Phoenix "win the cup" IF. and I mean IF they won it, it is due to play on the ice not the fact the NHL owns them. Comments like this continue to paint a poor picture of the Canucks fan base Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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