By JIMMY D / NHL season reviewed, playoff picks made | Jimmy's archive

OK, so the Wild didn’t win the West.

That was Jimmy’s bold call back on the first weekend in October. But Minnesota blazed to a 104-point season and a playoff berth in the tough West.

Jimmy’s East call was bang on, as the Sabres cruised to the conference title.
He also bucked then-conventional wisdom that the Flyers, Leafs and Islanders would be non-playoff teams (only the Isles with a last gasp on Sunday got in).

So now that Jimmy’s regular-season prognostications have been confirmed as legitimate, what does he have up his fantasy sleeve for the NHL playoffs?

The Sabres led wire-to-wire in the East, faltering only during a run of injuries which the team ably weathered. They have speed to burn, a no-name assortment of skilled blueliners (much like the Hurricanes of last year) and have Ryan Miller mopping up any messes.

Sabres over Islanders in 5
Buffalo was cheering for the Leafs or Habs, because neither team has any defencemen or goalies. This will be a tougher fight for the speedy Sabres, who just got Tim Connolly back, but they will barely break a sweat.

Devils over Lightning in 6
If Tampa Bay had a goalie worth a pinch of, er, salt, then they would be a nice upset candidate as the seven seed. With the Devs pulling their late-season-can-the-coach routine again, they should be a candidate for the playoff choke. But Marty Brodeur more than offsets the firepower Marty St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier bring.

Rangers over Thrashers in 4
Jimmy hates the Rangers, he really does. And the Rangers really aren’t that good. But this is the first time around for Atlanta and despite their flamboyant scorers, they are vulnerable to losing skids and Henrik Lundqvist can steal a game or two for the boys in blue.

Penguins over Senators in 6
Trendy pick or stupid Jimmy stunt? A pair of 105-point teams meet in the first round, with the battle-hardened Senators (hardened from many choking losses) facing the greenhorn Penguins.

The Pens are mightier than their two marquee names (Crosby and Malkin) and have a decent mix of veteran guile (Recchi and Roberts) to sprinkle in. If the Sens had a rock in net, they would win. But Marc-Andre Fleury can play Ray Emery to a stalemate.

The West features four potential first-round beauties. Unlike last season when all the top four teams were upset, expect them all to prevail – with some difficulty – in 2007.

Red Wings over Flames in 6
Two weeks ago, Jimmy was ready to pick No. 8 Calgary, but after a sputtering finish when they failed to euthanize a determined Avalanche team, Jimmy is not so sure.

The only saving grace for Flames faithful is that the team lost five of six in mid-March, then reeled off six straight wins to take charge again. When the pressure faded, so did their play.

Ducks over Wild in 7
Anaheim has the league’s top two defencemen in Niedermayer and Pronger and scoring from three lines. They face a Wild team that is capable of the upset here, but which lacks the blueline and goaltending consistency to do it over seven games. Minnesota puts a scare into the Ducks.

Canucks over Stars in 7
Vancouver has the best player in this series. When the best player in a series is a red-hot goaltender hungry for his first taste of playoff action, Jimmy predicts good things for that team. Roberto Luongo has been dynamite, the Canucks can play a stifling style and have enough scoring to handle Dallas. The Stars have the experience, but they will be frustrated all series by Luongo.

Predators over Sharks in 5
Nashville has the better goalie (Tomas Vokoun vs. Evgeni Nabokov) and the best player (if Peter Forsberg is healthy). They are also getting healthy just in time to face a talented, but young and untested Sharks team. This could be a beauty for speed and close games, but Jimmy sees the Preds taking a bite out of the Sharks.

Hoop dreams end turns nightmarish

After winning 13 of 14 weeks head-to-head, Jimmy’s Jackals picked the worst time to get the injury bug. With Dirk Nowitzki, Brandon Roy, Rasheed Wallace and four others all missing time last week, the Jackals were upset in the NBA league semi-final.

Just like the end of football season, when Jimmy’s receivers all went cold on the same weekend.

Boys of frosty summer

Last week, we conceded that the computer auto-selected Jimmy’s main baseball roster after he messed up the draft time. Well, the computer-generated Jackals are in second place after the first week, with Miguel Cabrera leading the way with a hot start.

Hmm, just remembered that we forgot to edit our roster for this week. Jimmy really isn’t taking this baseball seriously enough.

Stay busy, stay lucky and have fun pegging NHL playoff winners.

Jimmy D