Another June, another finals
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by user Barkingclam
As spring slowly turns to summer, the NHL wraps up its season, starting tonight, with the NHL Finals.
Excuse me if I yawn.
This year’s playoffs have been perhaps the least interesting in some time. I, for one, have barely watched any games in the last month, and the last series that was really exciting was the Detroit/Calgary series.
Not even a great performance by Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne in overtime against Detroit has been enough to make these playoffs memorable – and now we have an Ottawa/Anaheim finals, maybe a worst case scenario for the NHL.
Why is that? Even in Canada, Ottawa is barely a draw, with its games usually relegated to the B slot for Hockey Night. This year the NHL is not included in the ten highest rated shows in Canada.
Maybe the Ducks will get LA, one of the largest TV markets in the US, behind them, although I doubt it.
However, this is still the Finals, which hopefully means that the two best teams are playing and that we should see some great hockey.
Personally, I’m taking the Ducks to win this series in six games.
Offensively they match up pretty well to the Sens, as players like Andy McDonald, Ryan Getzlaf and (of course) Selanne have been pretty hot as of late. Their defensive pairing of Pronger and Niedermayer is prone to being overworked, yes, but with the newly-stable Giguere in net, the Ducks look like the right team in the right place.
