Dizzy little circles

Assuming that the playoff matchups look exactly the same today as they do Monday, the first round in the West is going to be crazy. Just look at the standings right now. With the exception of my Flames (sigh), every single team that's made the playoffs has at least 100 points. So, really, all bets are off.

That, and usually I wait till after the first round to make educated guesses about the rest of the playoffs. Which are often quite, quite wrong.

I will note that every single matchup will involve an obscene amount of travel:
Detroit-Calgary(??? Please please please)
Anaheim-Minnesota
Vancouver-Dallas
Nashville-San Jose

Every single one of these series involves a difference of at lesat two time zones. Even should Colorado make the playoffs in place of Calgary (like HELL that's gonna happen!), that doesn't actually change the timezones involved, although I suspect it does shorten the actual amount of travel time involved.

I'm worried if this sort of travel keeps up all playoffs long. If some nicer matchups arise in subsequent rounds which do involve mere puddle-jumps (Detroit-Nashville? Again, HELLno... or Calgary-Vancouver), perhaps whichever team that comes out of the West will have a chance - otherwise, all we can do is stare enviously at say, Ottawa, Buffalo or Pittsburgh.

I'm not going to talk about the Eastern Conference - I may live in Toronto but I'm so completely oblivious right now. Talk to me after we're done tonight's game, and maybe I can make something up.