Number Four: What do you need to win in the NHL playoffs?

A good goalie? An agitator? A proven scorer? Veterans with experience? All of the above? What about a steady defencemen? A gritty attitude? Divers like Crosby? A team that doesn't take penalties? A great powerplay? The answer to all of these is YES! I will take an example of each from playoff teams. When I think of a good goalie, I think of a consistent goalie. In my mind, the most consistent NHL goalie is Marty Turco of the Dallas Stars. He only lets in about one or two goals a game and he makes key saves when he has to. There is no use having a good goalie if he is not consistently good. An agitator that I think jumps to everyone's mind in the NHL is Sean Avery of the Rangers. Not only is he a solid offensive and defensive player, he is also great at annoying the other team and drawing penalties. A proven scorer is crucial to winning offensive shootouts. Guys like Danny Briere of the Flyers, who has 7 goals to lead the playoffs, are reliable scorers who give their team a chance to win every game. Veterans who know what it takes to win are great for helping the team know what to do and teaching the younger players. A guy like Joe Sakic of the Avalanche is a great example, as he has won the cup twice and he knows what it takes to win. Steady defencemen who rarely make mistakes are also important to have. Brian Campbell of the San Jose Sharks is a good defender, and he can also score. A gritty, physical attitude like the one the Flyers have is important for intimidating opponents and forcing big turnovers that can result in goals. A good special teams is important, and it can dictate the winner of a series. you have to score on powerplays and kill penalties if you want to win the cup. Lastly, people who can draw penalties, such as Sidney Crosby of the Penguins, are vital to a team because you can't score a powerplay goal if you don't get any powerplays in the first place.

Number Three: Poor Ole Baseball

When the hockey season starts, there are no playoffs being played in another sport. When the football season starts, no playoffs are being played. The same is also true for basketball. So why is it that when the baseball season starts, they have to contend with the NHL and NBA playoffs cutting into their time? Sure, some fans come out to see baseball, but most of them are seeing exciting basketball or hockey action in a packed house. It is rare to see a packed house in baseball anymore, especially during the first month or so, and that is because playoff action is more exciting and has more team impact than the regular season. Why would people want to see players give a 50% effort on the diamond instead of elbows flying in an intense playoff match up? The answer is they don't, and baseball has to do something about it. They could shorten the preseason and start the season sooner, giving people a chance to see the opening couple of weeks of hardball instead of ditching baseball for a more exciting match up. Whatever they do though, they should probably do it quick, because if baseball loses fans and people don't go to the games, they will lose some serious dough.

Number Two: Playoff Structure

I officially hate playoff structures in sports. Teams that win their divisions are given too much of an advantage over their opponents. A great example of this is the Washington Capitals finished 3rd in the East at the end of the season because they won the division. This means that they will get home advantage at least in the first round and will play weaker teams in their quest for the cup. The Capitals won the division, but they only had the 8th highest point total in the East. Instead of coming third, I think they should have gotten 8th because they were not better than any team that is in the 8th to 4th spots in the playoffs. This happens in lots of sports, like in football, when two teams are tied for a playoff spot, the tie is won by the team with the best division record. No tiebreaker game or point differentials, just the best division record. Don't get me wrong, I think that a team should be rewarded for winning their division, but not this much.

Number One: Canucks

Hello everybody. This is the first ever post on my soon-to-be-world-famous McSports blog. I guess I should tell you all, first of all, that I will always state my opinion, but I will never blog in a bias way. So I will not torch the Titans just because they eliminated my Browns from playoff contention, and I will try not to gloat when my longtime favourite New Orleans Hornets win the NBA championship. One thing I will gloat about today though is the fact that, for the second time in three years, the Canucks will not qualify for the NHL playoffs. The problem for them is depth, in the forward position especially. There have been too many below-average players that started for the Canucks farm team, Manitoba, at the start of the season that are now starting lots of games for the big team. Even without injuries, this team still lacks scoring punch, and although Luongo frequently bails out his teams weak offence, the Canucks can't expect him to steal every game. Also, the Canucks played badly against divisional teams such as Minnesota and Colorado, something no team can afford to do if they expect to excel in this NHL. Now with the likely loss of Naslund and Linden looming, this team will have even more trouble scoring. Only two players on the team eclipsed 20 goals this year, and one of them was Naslund. The Canucks year, in my opinion, should have been 2007/08, and I believe they might be starting a lengthy rebuilding period that Roberto won't want to be a part of. Well, that is all I have to say for my first post, feel free to write comments or replies.
McSports