Playoff Potpourri

It’s a good thing the NHL set up their playoff format in such a way that once one team beats another team four times, the other team is unable to compete again in the tournament. If it were somehow possible for the Canucks and the Stars to play each other in rounds two, three and four things would be quite boring in playoff pools.

The two teams have combined for 11 goals in their last five games, and 12 goals in their last 19 periods.

Fortunately, one of these teams will move on and face a new team that stresses defensive acumen a tad less than these two sleeping pills. Otherwise, you may see Daniel and Henrik Sedin lead the playoffs in scoring with 11 points…

Speaking of the Sedins, neither they nor captain Markus Naslund have a point in five games. The Sedins have not gone that long without a point in over a year…

Alexei Yashin had 28 points in 22 games. He then hurt his knee, missed some time, and had 22 points in his next 36 games. It now turns out that in the playoffs he played with a broken hand. If he can be healthy for next year, a bounce back would not surprise me. Think about it – Ted Nolan had him going and it was only the fact that he played through an injury (twice) that his production plummeted. Your competitors will be letting him go for practically nothing, and in one-year drafts he will slip to the later rounds. At that price, he is worth the pick up…

In a somewhat surprising development, Buffalo’s Dainius Zubrus is logging more ice time than the likes of Derek Roy, Tomas Vanek, Maxim Afinogenov, Jochen Hecht and Tim Connolly. Because Roy and Hecht play a more complete game and Connolly is just getting his feet back underneath him, you may see Lindy Ruff slowly roll back Zubrus’ ice time. His point-per-game pace will certainly not continue…

Ryan Getzlaf is leading all Anaheim forwards in ice time, logging over 20 minutes a game. What a great sign for his production next season. I would expect a breakout…

Chris Kunitz is third in ice time for the Ducks forwards. He is still looking for his first point in these playoffs…