Been pretty interesting so far. I can't remember a year when so many home teams dropped their first game. Most of the games have been very tight, one goal standoffs, which I think help the sport at this stage of the game. If you're not that into hockey you probably won't watch a 5-0 pounding, but you might stay tuned to a close game, especially if there's OT potential. I'm hoping that the Olympics created a small groundswell of interest for the sport in the U.S.; Maybe an entertaining playoff year can garner more fans for the sport. Anywho...
My preseason pick was Chicago and Washington in the finals, with Washington winning it. Thing is, Varlomov didn't pan out the way I thought he would this year. He did put together a nice string of performances before he got hurt. He was hampered by that injury for awhile (which had me livid because when a player is listed as day to day you can't put them in your IR slots in my fantasy league, which I won
) and never really bounced back after that. He played poorly down the stretch and Theodore played well. I just have a very hard time believing that Theodore will maintain this performance throughout the playoffs. I still like Chicago in the west, but I think the east is wide open for any of the top 4 seeds.
Well, enjoy the playoffs! Go Devils!
