A few assorted thoughts on how the Eastern Conference is looking in this post-Columbus Day world we live in.
- If the playoffs started today, not only would the Flyers be the top seed in the Eastern Conference, they’d also be the President’s Trophy winners. And you’d better believe Mike Richards is going to touch that thing.
- Only three Eastern teams would be making the playoffs in back-to-back years, which I am going to assume would be a record.
- The once-lowly Southeast division would be putting an impressive four teams into the post-season, narrowly beating their previous best showing of, er, two.
- The first round meeting between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens would be the first time the two teams would have met in the playoffs since ESPN began some thirty-plus years ago. ESPN wouldn’t care, but CBC, TSN, and about half the hockey blogosphere would explode.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins early exit from the playoff picture would leave the new CONSOL Energy Center available to host that WNBA franchise that Western Pennsylvanians have always yearned for.
- And last but not least, Ilya Kovalchuk’s career playoff win total would hold steady at…one.
(I apologize for the admitted stupidity of this post. That’s why I set it to publish at 3:30 AM, in the hopes that no one would ever see it…)
