Quote:
Originally Posted by AR_Six
There are two things very wrong with this sentence.
First, one of these things is not like the others. The Ducks are actually pretty bad - they're this year's version of last year's Minnesota Wild, lite. As in not as bad as the Wild last year but by no means should they be in 2nd in the conference. The underlying numbers reveal their performance is unsustainable and the reality is probably closer to what the record has been the last 10 games or so. If the Ducks play the Blues in round 1 I'm picking St. Louis. Same goes if they play San Jose.
Also, the Hawks are not physical. They're 3rd from the bottom of the league in hits. They win because they've gotten good goaltending and more importantly they always have the puck. The Kings actually do have a fair bit of physicality to them (though considerably less sans Mitchell and Greene), but the reason they're so good is much the same - the puck is barely ever in their end of the rink.
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The Hawks bottom 6 forward group is very physical, and they have very good speed and close quickly, I would argue that the Hawks play a very good physical game that makes room for their top 6.
I don't know what you're getting on about the Ducks, they are second in the conference, 9 points up on anyone else and that's with their stumble over the last 10 games, but they have probably one of the best mixes of physical toughness and scoring and its wrapped around their top 6, They have the second best goals differential in the conference and they are solid and tough at all ends of the ice. If I was to name a contending team they would be a condtending team and not a dark horse.
To me right now
Contenders - Ducks, Hawks, Kings
Black Horse - Blues
Pretenders - Sharks, Detroit, Vancouver, Minny
Not a chance even if they get in Edmonton, Columbus