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The Playoffs are Coming…

The NHL playoffs are one week away and boy am I excited. The Sharks are in a great position to be in – playoff berth clinched, fourth straight Pacific division title clinched, and home playoff ice guaranteed. What a turnaround they have had in the last half of the season to storm up into a top seed. Let’s take a look at some possible matchups for the first round of playoffs and who I would want them to play against and who I wouldn’t.

If the playoffs were to start today, the Sharks would be pitted up against the always scary, Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks have most of the core players from their cup winning team of 2007 and Cory Perry has really led the way offensively this year and is even leading the league in goals. Teemu Selanne, aka the Geriatric Finnish Flash, has showed absolutely no signs of slowing down in his old age and Lubomir Visnovsky leads all defenseman in scoring. The only possible weakness or question the team really has is the health of the Shark Killer, Jonas Hiller. He has been suffering from vertigo issues and exhaustion towards the latter half of the season so the team went after and signed Ray Emery – the goaltender who was on the Stanley Cup losing side against the Ducks in 2007 and the guy who is notorious for fighting both his own teammates and the other team. He has stepped up and been clutch for the Ducks in Hiller’s absence and his first loss in his first 7 games just happened to be against the Sharks last week. I am still scared of this team for a first round matchup, but their armor definitely has some holes.

Looking at the other teams on the table, I would definitely want the Sharks to play the Nashville Predators for the third time in their history. If we actually get to play them, I hope something like this will happen again, because man do I hate Tootoo. I don’t know what it is about Nashville though that makes me laugh – I feel like they are the little brother that is always trying to play along with the big boys but just can’t put it all together to win a first round series. In fact, they have never even played a game 7 in their history, have faced the Sharks and Red Wings twice and the Blackhawks once. There would also be some great satisfaction in further pissing off Nashville fans as they have surely got to hate us dearly by now, right? Not to mention all of the fun jokes that would go around about Mike Fisher’s popular wife – I wonder if she knows that there is no halftime at hockey games?

Moving on to the Blackhawks, there is a possibility of the Sharks matching up against them in the first round depending on how the last few games of the season play out. I feel they aren’t nearly as strong or as deep as they were last year and they don’t seem so scary now that Big Buff is gone and Niemi is on our side. I wouldn’t mind taking them on and having that be a confidence builder moving into the second round. They would still be a strong team and they would have a lot of momentum from their fanbase from the latest cup win, but I am still certain the Sharks would end up on top.

The poor Phoenix Coyotes are going to be on this list. And I say poor because they are the red-headed stepchild that no one wants to claim since they are still looking for a buyer of their team to anyone not named Jim Balsillie (creator of the crackberry, if you didn’t know). Their fanbase is disgustingly non-existent in Phoenix which is sad when they have a team that wins and is in playoff contention. One of the greatest traditions in hockey that followed them from Winnipeg during their move is the whiteout of every home playoff game. This looks awesome on TV and I would imagine so in person. The way that Phoenix plays though is playoff hockey – low scoring and very defensively tight games. It would make for a major snoozefest with the odds of the Coyotes moving on by boring both the fans and Sharks players to death. I don’t like it.

San Jose Sharks 1.16.10The last team that I could see the Sharks end up facing, and one that tickles my fancy, is the Los Angeles Kings. The Sharks and Kings have never played each other in the playoffs and I think it is about time we make history. The Kings are limping along into playoffs, as seen by the recent 6-1 drubbing the Sharks handed them this week. They lost Kopitar and Williams for the season, their top two scorers and they can’t seem to put together winning streaks right now. Their confidence is at an all time low and now would be the perfect time to strike. Not to mention the ever-present Beat LA chants that will be going on the entire series. The other great thing is how many Sharks fans show up at the Staples Center for games. It is almost comparable to the Red Wings fans at HP Pavilion whenever Detroit comes into town but less obnoxious. And boy would I LOVE to win a cup before the damn Queens do.

So there you go, a look of the teams that could be potential matchups and who I would like to see the Sharks play against. Let’s hear your feedback on who you think would make the best matchup for the first round of playoffs.

Fun Fact: The San Jose Sharks hold the record in the NHL for the most losses in a season with 71 in 84 games during the 1992-1993 season.

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