And it continues

Here are my picks for round two. I did okay in round one, went 5-3 (stupid west).

Boston vs Philadelphia: Philly lost Gagne, Lapierre, Carter and and that should do it. That is a lot of lost fire power and Boston will get Savard back for round two. Boston in five.

Pittsburgh vs Montreal: Halak played amazing in round one so can he do it again? I think the Pens are getting their game together again after a lackluster regular season. Crosby the golden child takes this team to the conference final again. Pens in six.

San Jose vs Detroit: I think San Jose chokes again. Thornton is Mr. Invisible again and they just don't have it. Detroit had a tough close first round and didn't play great until game seven. I think Detroit will take San Jose. Wings in seven.

Chicago vs Vancouver: rematch from last year, Hawks took out the Canucks last year so can they do it again? Once again, this depends on which Luongo shows up. Who shows up? I will go Hawks in seven but this is an iffy call.

Let's get ready to rumble!

Here are my quick predictions for this year's 2009-2010 NHL playoffs. The first round has started and these will be my picks.

Pittsburgh vs Ottawa - Pens in seven but Ottawa has a good chance to upset the defending champions. Pens has not looked sharp lately and their goalie has been a pile!

New Jersey vs Philadelphia - Devils in five. Philly has underachieved all year and they will continue to do so. Major issues in goal too.

Washington vs Montreal - Caps in six. Halak will have to channel Roy to even have a chance in this series. He has to steal a couple games outright and hope the defense helps him keep the Caps out of the game. I do not think this happens.

Boston vs Buffalo - Sabres in five. Boston couldn't score goals to save their lives this year and with Miller having a good year, they will continue to struggle to light it up. Boston has no chance in this series and this is the guarantee bet of first round.

San Jose vs Colorado - Sharks in five. While the Avs have game, they are too young and inexperienced to put up much of a fight against the juggernaut that is San Jose and there will be no early round exit for them.

Chicago vs Nashville - Hawks in five. Preds do not have enough of anything to really put up much of a fight in this series. Hawks will dominate even with their young and inexperienced team. They will not be going home early in these playoffs.

Detroit vs Phoenix - Wings in six. Detroit has been on fire since the Olympic break and will continue to dominate in the first round. Yotes have surprised everyone this year but there will be no upset. They may win a couple games because of their MVP Bryzgalov, but won't pull it out.

LA vs Vancouver - toughest series to call simply because we do not know which Luongo shows up. He was great in leading Canada to Olympic gold but since the break, he has been straight up horrible. Luongo has yet to lead his team to any playoff success so the pressure is on him. I'll go out on a limb and say he finds his game just enough to help his team. Canucks in seven.

Stanley Cup - Hawks. Why? I have no idea but if their goaltending holds up, this is the team to beat. SJ should choke again, Pens struggled down the stretch and Caps won't get to the next step yet because goal is an issue along with secondary scoring.

Oilers go for first!!

The NHL draft lottery takes place tonight at 6 pm (Mtn) and all Oiler fans will be tuned in! The Oilers have a 25% chance of winning the lottery and a 48.2% chance of retaining the first overall position. Lottery odds for all the teams are here. The 30th place team has retained the first overall pick 3 times in the past 4 years.

After a horrible year and finishing 12 points from the 29th team, the Oilers are hoping for a lottery win. If any team deserves a lottery win, it really is this team. They had 530 man games lost to injury (I can't find a list of all team's injury count but this is very very high) and after the loss of our goalie early on, the two backups could not keep the team afloat.

Anyways, there are two very good players in this draft and they're rankings by scouts have flipped between first and second all year. TSN put up their ranking chart and has Hall sitting in first, but Sequin is listed first by Central Scouting.

I'm off to Hudson's for the Oilers draft lottery party and let's hope the Oilers finally win something this year. In any case, the Oilers will draft higher than ever before.

Also, here are my thoughts on Souray and his temper tantrum the other day. I still do not like the public thrashing he does of the Oilers, but if management did pressure him to return from injury early, clean house. But the responsibility should remain with the player....if you're not ready to return, do not. A gun was not held to your head.

GOILERS!!