That spring smell in the air means NHL playoff hockey. It's the time of the year where we can expect to see some of the best and ugliest play on the ice as players, couches, and fans fueled by their drug of choice pure such as adrenaline and/or beer. This is when we cringe, groan, and cheer. Screaming about dirty hits, missed calls, late calls, garbage goals, and missed goals. But for now we wait in baited anticipation.

These are just some thoughts of the first round match ups. Just quick notes and overviews.

Eastern Conference: They get to enjoy their short trips and no changing of time zones until the Stanley Cup Finals. Nuff said here except for the bad blood between a few teams.

1. New York Rangers vs. 8. Ottawa Senators:

Here's where I wish I had the free time and an NHL package to watch all the games I can. Other fan insight would be useful here. On the surface Ottawa took the regular season series 3 to 1. Could this be an upset series? That's always possible as the Ranger's have been up and down the past few weeks. As has Ottawa. I expect some hard fought games and a long series. Rangers in 7.

2. Boston Bruins vs. 7. Washington Capitals:

Again the lower seed has taken the regular season series 3 to 1. Washington is pretty hit or miss with their play all season. If Boston gets into playoff mode this may be a short series. Bruins in 6.

3. Florida Panthers vs. 6. New Jersey Devils:

Series tied 2 to 2. This is when the current system of the NHL ranking system gets turned on its head. A team in a weaker division that barely squeaks into the playoffs is ranked higher than a team playing in a much tougher division. Devils in 5.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins vs. 5. Philadelphia Flyers:

This the one is to be watched for pure entertainment value. These teams hate each other. Should one team carry a game I see bad blood hitting the ice in buckets. The Flyers have punched the Pens ticket this year taking the series 4 to 2; however, they're both going to be trading punches to each others faces. Hard fights for pucks. Dirty hits. Antics behind the plays and whistles. Flyers in 7.

Western Conference: They all need to be hitting the bikes to build endurance for the long travel and series that could stretch to 7 games easy. The West had the disadvantage for years of travel miles that often exceeds the entire 8 seeded teams from the East come the Stanley Cup Finals. Let's get started.

1. Vancouver Canucks vs. 8. Los Angeles Kings:

I don't see Quick stealing an entire series unless Luongo blows all four tires and has a complete meltdown. Regular series was tied 2 to 2. This one could be over just as quick as it starts unless Quick gets hots to steal a game or two. While the Canucks play in the weakest division they are still a force to be reckon with good scoring and goal tending. Canucks in 5.

2. St. Louis Blues vs. 7. San Jose Sharks:

I admit these two deserve one another as one was built with the blue prints of the Red Wings to stop the Red Wings and the other plays low scoring crushing defense and two hot goalies. One question. How long can the Sharks snow shower the Blues' goalie before shit gets ugly? Low scoring games favor the Blues. I expect a few as St. Louis to swept the regular season series 4 to 0. Blues in 4.

3. Phoenix Coyotes vs. 6. Chicago Blackhawks:

Another example of teams playing in right division to gain a playoff spot over a team playing in one of the toughest divisions though in this case the Coyotes took the regular season series. Tough one to call here. Chicago has better scoring while Phoenix has better goal tending. Whoever gets hot can win this series. Phoenix in 6.

4. Nashville Predators vs. 5. Detroit Red Wings:

Injuries hurting the Red Wings in the standings with opponents smelling blood in the water have knocked the once league leading team to a fifth spot in the playoff run. That said these teams are damn near identical in the stats category. Nashville will be looking to breakout of the first round against a team they think is on the wane. Both starting goaltenders are completely capable of stealing games on their own. If a sniper takes out the idiot with the damn train whistle I'll be happy. Predators in 6. Prove me wrong, Detroit. Please, prove me wrong.

Disclaimer: These are just gut feelings. As for Detroit I loved to see the Euro Triple Threat on a line together for the series. Dats, Nyquist, and Zetterberg. Line 1 and PP1. Please lets call up Smith for a defensive pairing and let Big Rig continue his current play which has been good defense and hard hits. Mule get fucking hungry. Sit Cleary until he's healthy. please get pucks on net, skate like monsters on the ice, and cycle that puck deep instead of making too many damn passes.

First off the entire NHL is not going to be 100% with any decision over any proposed NHL realignment. From the simple shuffle such as moving Columbus or Detroit East to the 8 and 7 Divisions or even the adopting the NFL and MLB layouts there are going to be voices of decent. How loud depends on how many teams it will effect. There are also other considerations along with revenue sharing and the obvious disadvantage Western teams face in cost of time and money concerning travel. While the East seems content with current conditions many in the West want to a balance to the travel issues.

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I'll be honest. I wanted to see Vancouver go far in the playoffs though my opinion might have been blurry by the fact they played against the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks at the time. But once they were in the Stanley Cup Finals my support quickly shifted to the Boston Bruins. Canada quickly took them up as their team in a us vs them attitude that reminded me of the Olympics rather than this is Vancouver's team. I didn't have the same fervor as our neighbors did across the Great Lakes it was a simple shift preference.

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So I throw my speculative hat into the ring. Brain Rafalski retires due to excessive injuries? Yup, it's spreading like wild fire and already driving dialogue in oppose team fan blogs. Most notably from those within the Central Division. Some are becoming bold enough to suggest this signals the end of the Detroit Red Wings dominance within the Central Division. More pragmatic heads quickly dismiss such fantasies as this turn of events may leave Detroit in an even stronger position.

Of course this news along with the question of Nicklas Lidstrom really does throw everyone for a loop on cap space and possible replacements. Should both Lidstrom (God forbid) and Rafalski retire that means over $12 million dollars for Ken Holland to play with to secure as many as 3 quality defensemen and still maybe have money left over to secure other players such as Patrick Eaves and Drew Miller. Certain GMs around the NHL are now going to be looking over their free agency wish lists and may even have to redouble their efforts to secure their rosters from Red Wing predation. Slow march to July 1st, HA!

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With the end of the Red Wings season comes the warmer times of summer. Each of us will seek a distraction to take our minds off the fact that the hockey season is over for the Red Wings. We all had our moments screaming in triumph and tribulation at our TVs, computers, and radios. The Red Wings did not go out with a whimper and played as champions do till the very end.

They played an excellent opponent that took them to the brink. The Wings pushed back to our overwhelming joy. Only for the Wings to fall so far from the Detroit River's shore. With the final sound of the horn we all come down to Earth. Hurt yet with pride that the Red Wings prove winners never say die. Now we turn to the activities of Summer trying to put hockey out of our minds.

Some will hang on just to watch the WCF, ECF and finally the SCF to see who will raise the cup. Though the Lightning are in the East I'll root for them for at least there's one Red Wing is left and we still call him Captain. The Bruins are coming off their redemption series against the Flyers with their eyes on the prize. The Canucks are rested waiting for the Sharks both with ghosts of their own to shake off. I'll watch but it won't be the same and only prolongs the inevitable. Waiting those 4 long months without hockey. I could make a crack about rehab but that would be in poor taste.

The rest of the summer will be spent musing and debating who will wear the Winged Wheel next fall. Who should go. Who should stay. And who may end up with a pair of cement galoshes. Sigh. But I don't want to entertain those thoughts. Now is the time to embrace the coming summer. Without hockey. To go fishing without freezing my butt off listening to a radio broadcast. Just kidding. I've never  been ice fishing a day in my life.

So here's to you Detroit and all their fans across the land. Enjoy the summer and get a tan. Root for the Tigers from the grandstands with a hotdog in one hand and a beer or pop in the other. For it will be gone before we know it. Then echoes of the ice rinks will grab us once again. The subtle tap that will eventually grow into a roar. Lets GO Red Wings!

When we went down 3-0, my heart sank with the millions of Wings fans across the country. To play so hard and lose on a redirection off a stick can kill any momentum. The experts who picked the Sharks to win felt confident as did anyone else that this would not go beyond 5 games.

So the Wings win game 4, OK the Wings made an effort.

The Wings play a lackluster game 5 but thanks to a Herculean effort by Jimmy Howard and Pavel Datsyuk the Red Wings stole a game that should have been over in the 3rd with San Jose making plans to fly North into Vancouver.

Game 6. Niemi has proven me wrong. He can play an outstanding game and it looked as though the Sharks would win with a shutout and steal one of their own. Then the Red Wings exploded on the ice in the 3rd period and would not go down without a fight. The empty netter was icing on the cake.

Now the Red Wings and the Sharks are looking for that game 7 victory. Who will fly home and who go on to face a well rested Vancouver Canucks team. Could it be the winner of this series be too beat up to take the Stanley Cup? Or will the winner of this series prove that the West is the toughest Conference to play in and against.

The Sharks seem to be desperate to show that they are tougher than the Red Wings and the better skills team. The scrum in front of Howard was more of a test of wills than San Jose trying to tie up a game. Of course as I write this the San Jose History says Never say Never commercial plays.Then again the Sharks have won from behind and are still one of the most dangerous teams in hockey. They play with skill and determination. To say they're done would be a mistake. A horrible mistake.

The Detroit Red Wings are on the verge of proving all the naysayers and haters wrong that they are too old, too slow, and being out out worked by a larger, faster, better team. These allegations are like clock work every season no matter who they play. Yet Detroit relies on its role players as much as its stars. Goal Tenders will face the brunt of all ills facing Detroit despite playing on their heads. The Red Wings are an unorthodox team with late draft picks and giving aging players a second chance at glory. With a puck possession game that moves pucks all over the place that can break down and frustrate a team as well as any trap defense.

Come game 7 win or lose this has been the best series of the Western conference perhaps this year's playoffs. Hockey at its best. Any who says otherwise is a fool. Now is the question is who steps up to win. This is Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus! To the San Jose fans you have a great team there with some up and coming stars. Whoever wins this series it's been a wild ride. See you in game 7.

LETS GO RED WINGS!

(Editor's Note: Bumped from FanPosts because I was literally going to hit "new story" and write pretty much the same thing. I did add a poll to this one too.)

The Nucks are on the verge of being eliminated by the Blackhawks whom have been on the verge of elimination for three games straight. Not surprising there is one player who stands to have the blame levied on him by everyone in this league and Luongo doesn't want his name along with all the Nucks to be apart of what will be the coupe de gras of three straight playoff season coupe de graces at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks.

This hot Blackhawks team has once again proven to be the pain in the ass to what everyone including their sister knew what was a sure win series and start of the march towards the prize that everyone expected to be finally rightfully claimed by the Vancouver Canucks. Playoff hockey being playoff hockey nothing is guaranteed except blood, sweat and tears until you raise the Cup over your head which for some seems like an impossible dream.

Should the Vancouver Canucks fail in its home arena and the San Jose Sharks finish off the LA Kings then the Red Wings can look forward to a series with the Nashville Predators whom had finished their brutal series with the Anaheim Ducks just yesterday. In some ways I look forward to a series with Nashville as it means we stay in our time zone with Chicago and San Jose making the long flights across the United States. Should Vancouver avoid history it will be all teams in the West making long flights.

In the West none of the teams are going to be easy one bad bounce, one hot goalie, or an injury can easily tip the scales for victory or defeat. Hopefully the referees will meet some semblance of sanity and call good games maintaining order while allowing the play to flow because everyone is running out of tin foil.

Still nothing is set in stone, the Canucks could come out roaring with Luongo shacking off his playoff funk to become an impenetrable wall to finally end the stigma that they the Canucks are not chokers. LA could become the next great underdog story of the playoffs with two wins over the Sharks.

This is playoff hockey at its best everyone is on edge. There's no clear favorite to win, no wildcard, nothing that a casual glance could reveal. Regardless of all the conspiracy theories if you want to raise Lord Stanley's Cup you have to earn it from when the puck first drops in October to the final goal and final second of the 4th game victory in the Final Series.

Well, our time honored tradition is receiving its annual heat from the league. Sure everyone else thinks it's a stupid tradition but who wants to be like everyone else. Got this story from RedWingsGuy.com via Facebook who in turn links in to this Deadspin article. Yeah, the time honored tradition (and ultimate F*** You if performed in opposing ice arenas after the Wings fan most likely had to endure the constant chorus of "Detroit sucks" and possible death threats but I digress) finds itself back in the sights supposedly from the very top of the NHL.  It's no secrete that Wings fans often pullout their tinfoil hats (in the shape of Stanley Cups) every time Cambell or Bettman's name is mentioned in some controversy or just plain capital D dash dash dash word move towards the Wings and their fans. Yes, there's laws on Detroit City books about throwing foreign objects on playing fields. Yes, there's an official NHL policy and rules concerning foreign objects being thrown on to the ice. I far as I am concern the Hockey Gods approve our ritual sacrifice.

If you're like me, you hate waiting through 4 showings of the same Knicks/Celtics dramatic end to a typical back and forth game only to make it interesting in the last 2 minutes with Spike Lee talking some premature smack only to find out the Knicks' player shot after the buzzer. After all that, 4 times mind you, with ESPN plastered on all the walls of the bar to get the  one highlight real of the Penguins/Rangers game. 1 for the 11 games that aired that night with sprinkled in highlights in the ESPN Top 10 which Lidstrom's hat trick making the list at about #7, I think.

It made me start thinking. Isn't there other cable outlets that could sneak a hockey game into the marathon line ups that pander men mostly between the ages of 13 and 38? I mean seriously, Spike could use a couple Hockey Games plugged right between 1000 Ways to Die and Manswers. Or TruTV could place some hockey air time between cops chasing down dumb criminals and stupid teenagers breaking bones on skate boards or missing that ledge while free running. If NHL can get a deal with OLN why not some of these channels claiming to pander to men?

Why go through the trouble? It's just wishful thinking on my part for the NHL to get more exposure to a national audience. The Cold War between ESPN and the NHL makes for boring viewing at the sports bar for me as a hockey fan. Then again where I currently live where most people don't care for hockey. Somewhere in Southern Ohio. 

End of Rant.

It's no secret that I'm no fan of the shootout to decide a hockey game. Fact I think it should be 1 point instead 2 for such a win and no points for the losing side. But time for a game of what if. Come up with a crazy idea to replace the shootout as a means to finish a hockey. Go nuts and have fun. Pictures and video would be helpful and entertaining.

Unfortunately, no staring contests between head coaches due to the fact that Babcock's Death Stare is banned under a UN Convention Concerning Super Human Powers. It's right up there with the Chuck Norris roundhouse kick and the Neutron Bomb. My choice is a cult classic: "Trail by Stone" from the Dark Crystal.

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It's just the strategic thinker in me that sees San Jose looking at screwing with Chicago's cap space while landing players they feel will bring them closer to a Stanley Cup as its been noted in this yahoo sports article: "The Sharks made it tougher for the Blackhawks to keep Niemi when they signed Chicago restricted free agent Niklas Hjalmarsson (notes) to a $14 million, four-year offer sheet in July. The Blackhawks matched the offer for the defenseman but that left them with less money available for Niemi."

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Just one more notch to the post of players leaving the Chicago Blackhawks. Seen here. They instead sign Marty Turco which should have many true Hawks fans a little nervous since the Detroit Red Wings have had his number for years. Well this is no surprise to many outside of Chicago as this can truly be called the Chicago Stanley and/or Bust formula to building championship teams. Are the Hawks out of the playoff hunt for next season? No. It's up to the 14 other teams to knock them out of a playoff berth. They'll just have a better time of doing it this coming season.