Little to Play For

Remember the final day of last year's baseball season with the Red Sox and Tampa involved in a wild couple of games to decide playoff berths?

Yeah, well, the NHL's getting none of that this spring.

Everything's decided with two days left of regular season competition. Okay, not everything. We still don't know who is playing who in the first round next week, although we do know the 16 clubs that will be playing for Lord Stanley's mug and the 14 that will be supplying players for the world championships in Finland.

All that was settled Thursday night, with Buffalo suffering a tragic fate and Dallas being eliminated with a loss to Nashville. We do know we'll have the Predators and Red Wings lock horns in the first round, while Pittsburgh will play Philly in a delicious series that is already ugly before a puck is dropped.

The other six series matchups will be decided over the next 48 hours. 

At the other end of the spectrum, we also don't yet know the final order for Tuesday's draft lottery. All 14 non-playoff teams are in the lottery, but since no team can move up more than four positions, only the lowest five finishers can get the No. 1 pick. The dumbest part of the NHL lottery is that a team can win it, but not get the first pick. Dopey.

The Leafs, Wild and Ducks all won on Thursday, which for Toronto fans fearful that a late-season push will knock them out of a top draft pick, means nothing has changed and the 26th overall Leafs would still go in to the lottery with the fifth best chance of getting the first pick if the lottery was held today.

The Leafs can still get to No. 4 depending on how they do against Montreal and the Islanders fare in their final match in Columbus. If the Leafs beat the Habs in regulation, OT or a shootout, they also could yet move to No. 8, depending on how other games go.

Other playoff-bound clubs will be resting stars on Saturday. Should the injury-decimated Leafs give Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf the night off in Montreal? Don't bet on that happening.

Regardless, rest easy, Leaf fans, and don't pull out any more hair than you already have. In a draft year that includes as much uncertainty as any in recent memory, with a aosme key prospects - Alexander Galchenyuk, Morgan Rielly and Slater Koekkoek, among others - injured for much of the season, the final order will matter less than the ability of individual organizations to peer through the muck and identify the best youngsters. More than most drafts, this will be one for scouts to shine. The potential for getting it completely right or completely wrong is just as strong at No. 1 as at No. 10.

But that's hardly a "race" to keep you glued to your TV, is it? Pretty thin gruel overall for the final two days of the NHL regular season.

 

Comments

[Tris Jackson]

What ever they do...please don't rest Kessel and PHaneuf as they always bring a better chance of losing. It helps too if Grabovski stays injured for now...go, lottery go!

[ws35]

I guess the battle for the Presidents Trophy isn't good enough?

[Tommy]

"...the final order will matter less than the ability of individual organizations to peer through the muck and identify the best youngsters.". Ah, so what you're saying is that the Leafs are already dead.

[80s Leafs]

Speaking of "pretty thin gruel," a gripe of mine about the schedule making the last number of years is that the Leafs&Habs play the opening night of the season and the closing night. For that first game of the year, teams still haven't got their set rosters aligned just yet and so the game is more a feeling-out process and the action is often not that great. And the last game of the season, at least for the Leafs the past 7 years, has seen them eliminated from playoff contention already so this Original 6 "battle" is really only for brief one-night, last-chance bragging rights for their respective fans before the LONG summer. I'd rather see these two Leafs-Habs matchups stuck somewhere in the middle of the schedule, perhaps a home-and-home, when they would be more meaningful.

[John Carss]

Everybody playing Thursday & Saturday (and nothing on Sunday) was a cool idea even if it didn't work out to be all that dramatic.

[latefordinner]

Tris J hit the nail on the head. While all the hockey writers on staff at the Star have been flogging the dead horse Leafs, a real story has been going unreported. The 'Nucks, with their brittle strengths, are as much a part of it as ever. The emerging powerhouses in St Louis and New York. A Boston team that looks like it could well repeat as champions. That's an interesting 4-way race right there.

[Mike]

Don't rest Phaneuf if you want to lose...he gives you the best chance of failure. Surely a call up wouldn't be caught out of position as much, or be walked around like he was standing still as easily. Heavens no, keep the guy in there and play him another 26 minutes to the detriment of the team like the first 81 games.

[A13276]

What's that noise in the background? It's all the Burke haters. Their effort and ability for in-depth analysis is limited to looking at the sports scores in the morning. And their hate on for Burke is now so irrational it is to laugh. When Don Cherry climbed on board it brought it to the level of BUFFOONERY! The Leafs are in great hands and the structural moves Burke has made in the organization over the past 3 years have put the franchise on pillars resting on bedrock instead of mud. Like a good farmer, Burke has tilled the soil for a recurring crop of success and the seeds of that are now showing in the AHL and junior. For the first time since they sold off their young prospects and farm system for some easy millions during the first NHL expansion in 1967, the Leafs have a legitimate farm system again. This is significant not because the Marlies have a shot at the championship this year but because of its structural nature. When you want a water utility to service the community on a sustainable basis you have to wait until the tank fills before turning on the tap; just be prepared to take abuse while that is happening because people want their water NOW! But we're now in a position to start turning on that tap. Another thing, Burke's free agent signings are always thrown on the table with delight by the Burke haters as evidence he doesn't know what he's doing. Well I could say a lot more on this but this should be enough: if Burke doesn't sign Beauchemin then we don't have Jake Gardiner or Joffrey Lupul. Nuff said. So Burke haters blow it out your as*. We've got a draft and free agency to get ready for!

[Sandy]

"I guess the battle for the Presidents Trophy isn't good enough?"

.

The battle for The President's Trophy. Hilarious. I'm shedding genuine tears. Thanks for making my day. Lemme guess... Vancouver fan, right?