Don’t count on it… I don’t see any Eastern team matching up with Colorado, Detroit, Dallas or Vancouver. My heart is with Van, but Colorado is revving up pretty good. The East’s only hope is that the Western Final teams beat up on each other soooo much that by the time the winner gets to the Cup, it will take them more that 5 games to dispose of the Eastern “champs”.
The Devils were also outmatched in the 2000 playoffs and everyone was all hyped on how dominant the West was. That’s all I’ll say.
Vancouver doesn’t have the goaltending to stack up against the powers in the West, or even some of the better teams in the East. Cloutier just isn’t a Cup calibre netminder. The only team that’s won a Cup in recent years without a rock in net is Detroit, in 1998 with Osgood, and they had a much stronger team. And that’s coming from a Canuck fan. Unless Naslund & Bertuzzi get red hot, I’d be surprised if Vancouver gets past the second round.
The Leafs will only go as far as Belfour takes them. In a wide open conference, that could mean a trip to the Finals or it could mean being swept in the first round. He hasn’t been as sharp lately as he was earlier in the season, which is concerning.
Speaking of the Leafs, I’m not sold on Toronto’s deals at the deadline being all that great. The Leafs already had chemistry issues, and now they’ve added four new players, including known headcase Owen Nolan. And Phil Housley isn’t exactly known as a character type player, which is one reason he was dealt in the first place (the incident with Fleury in Columbus).
At least Nolan will give them an extra thug should Tucker & Domi & Corson get hurt and/or suspended once again.
WRT the OP, I don’t know how significant the addition of Amonte is to the Flyers. He’s not the 40 goal scorer he was a few years ago. Hitchcock’s system in Philly isn’t really conducive to big offensive stats, so I’m not sure it’s that big a deal. Getting John LeClair back healthy would mean more IMO.
My choice is Colorado, with Dallas and New Jersey as other backup picks. As a Red Wing fan, I’d love to see them do it again, but I’m not a big believer in Curtis Joseph. Once upon a time he was in the same range as Roy and Brodeur, but he hasn’t been at that level for a couple years now, and I’m not sure the Wings are good enough to cover. Then again, I said the same thing about Mike Vernon in 1997 and Osgood in 1998, and look what happened.