The Ice Sheet: A Snapshot of the Playoffs

So much for the preliminaries. The 2008-09 NHL regular season is now history -- and, as I've written before, not a moment too soon. Beginning Wednesday night at 7:00 PM ET in Washington and Pittsburgh, the only hockey that really matters will finally take center stage: the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

To get an idea of what life is really like for a hockey fan this time of year, think of it this way: imagine the Sweet 16 of March Madness were all best-of-seven. It's the very simple reason why folks like us are completely giddy from now until sometime in June.

If your significant other is a fan of the NHL, Monday and Tuesday might very well represent the only real chance you'll have to say hello -- or, given the state of the relationship, goodbye -- for the balance of the next two months. It's a chance you shouldn't miss.

With that, I'd like to share a few thoughts on each of the eight playoff series that make up the first round. Safe to say, at first glance, it looks like the most compelling tournament in many years.

Western Conference

No. 1 San Jose vs. No. 8 Anaheim: Sharks head coach Todd McLellan is a legitimate candidate for the Jack Adams Trophy, a piece of hardware that is being voted on right now. But his regular season performance will be all but meaningless if he can't get his team to the Finals. As for Anaheim, has there been a more potent eighth seed in recent playoff history? And did I mention that defenseman Francois Beauchemin, out for most of the season, has returned just in time for the playoffs, supplementing what might be the deepest and most talented defense corps in the league?

No. 2 Detroit vs. No. 7 Columbus: Will the Wings really be starting Chris Osgood in goal for this series after such a dismal performance in the regular season? It looks like they will. As for Columbus, I'm not as high on them as I was a few weeks ago after a weak finish to the regular season. Still, Blue Jackets rookie Steve Mason outplayed both Osgood and Ty Conklin over the course of the regular season, and a lineup led by Rick Nash has been supplemented by the sort of veterans who know how to play in the postseason. If Mason steals Games 1 or 2, watch out.

No. 3 Vancouver vs. No. 6 St. Louis: Just how good are the St. Louis Blues? Good enough to rise all the way to the sixth seed thanks to an invigorating late season push that has just about every serious observer of the league rooting for them at least a little bit. But are they good enough to stand up to a Vancouver lineup that's probably the best team Roberto Luongo has had playing in front of him in his entire career?

No. 4 Chicago vs. No. 5 Calgary: I wonder what surprises Calgary head coach Mike Keenan has for the youthful Chicago Blackhawks? Probably nothing that Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville hasn't seen before in his career. I feel like a very brutal seven game series is in the offing.

Eastern Conference

No. 1 Boston vs. No. 8 Montreal: Will this be Bob Gainey's last stand? After booting Guy Carbonneau out as head coach late in the regular season, Gainey was able to get enough out of his charges for them to barely hold on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Safe to say, this was not how the locals envisioned the franchise's centennial year turning out, just a year after finishing on top of the Eastern Conference. If the Habs make a quick exit -- a distinct possibility against a well-balanced Boston team -- don't be surprised if the financially-strapped Canadiens show Gainey the door too.

No. 2 Washington vs. No. 7 New York: I'm sorry, but I just can't be unbiased about the Washington Capitals. Here's a team that finished in fourth place in the league overall in the regular season, and for some reason I'm doing nothing but worrying about what could go wrong against a team the Caps took seven of a possible eight points from in the regular season. Did I forget to mention that the unheralded Brooks Laich was arguably as productive as New York's Chris Drury, and that he did it playing about three minutes less per game over the course of the regular season? Why am I still worried? Two words: Henrik Lundqvist. Ask me again how I'm feeling after the first period of Game 1.

No. 3 New Jersey vs. No. 6 Carolina: What the heck happened to this Devils team at the end of the season? After playing lights out for months without Martin Brodeur in the lineup, the Devils sputtered to a 4-5-1 finish that allowed Washington to pass them for the second seed in the East. As for Carolina, they dropped their last two after a torrid finish had already secured them a postseason berth, mostly on the back of goalie Cam Ward, and we know what he managed to do the last time he was in the playoffs. Shaping up to be the best series in the first round outside of ...

No. 4 Pittsburgh vs. No. 5 Philadelphia: ... the rematch of last season's Eastern Conference Finals. Thanks to a final weekend choke against the Rangers, the Flyers find themselves without home ice advantage, something which must be just killing Ed Snider. As for matchups, last season a combination of Kimmo Timonen and Mike Richards made life difficult for Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin, and I figure that those two will be ready to practice their craft against Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin with just as much gusto this Spring -- and this time they won't have to worry about Marian Hossa.

Every Monday morning The Ice Sheet will take a close look at everything that's happened in the NHL since Friday night at 5:00 PM -- or if need be, anything else the author wants to bleat about. To read them all, click here.