Here's the thing. The Pacific Division is, traditionally, a nailbiter. By that, I mean that no one knows who holds the division lead until the last game of the season.
Now, if you look at just the points, the Stars have a fairly solid lead, with 87 points, while the Ducks trail at 81, and the Sharks just one point behind them. However, the Stars have had a rough, rough schedule this season thus far. They've had tons of long, hard road trips that included some tough back-to-backs. All in all, they've played a hard 69 games (which, by the way, is more than any other team in the league at this moment). The Ducks have played 67 games, and the Sharks 65. This may make it seem like it will be easy for those teams to catch up. While it is true that it's entirely possible that they could win all of their games (although the Sharks would be all of one point ahead, if they won all of their games in hand and the Stars lost all of their games until they got caught up), I feel some serious confidence on behalf of my Stars.
Why?
Well, I'm glad you asked. You may know that the Stars inherited one Bradley Richards, from the Tampa Bay Lightning, on trade deadline day (we also got some dude named Clay Aiken...I mean, Johan Holmqvist). When the trade was first announced, I screamed, cried, and threw a fit, calling for Brett Hull's head on a stick and planning to picket in front of the Stars' practice facility. I gave myself a few hours before I actually acted on any of those impulses, and I'm glad I did, because even thinking about it, it appeared more and more like a good idea. And then he played in his first game. Five assists. Five. Assists. He won't play like that every night, obviously (he certainly didn't on Saturday night), but if he can produce even half that in the playoffs? He's worth that $7.8 million price tag.
That's not saying I won't miss Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Halpern, and Mike Smith (my favorite goalie who looked like a love child of Derian Hatcher and a Chia Pet), because I will. Y'all, I'm being forced to watch Tampa Bay Lightning games for them. That Lecavalier guy is pretty rad, I hear.
Monday, March 03, 2008
Pacific Division Lead
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4 comments:
Cat: My profoundest condolences on the loss of Juicy Jussi. How is Caitlin dealing with it?
We were all quite upset at the loss of Juicy Jussi. Things have gotten a little better, but I still find myself mourning occasionally. I suspect Caitlin and Jen are in the same boat.
I fear you're right about the Stars winning the division, however, the Sharks sparked my little heart to show that they can play like the team they are on paper last night against the Habs, so we could have that nail-biter after all :) Should be a nice little race.
I understand missing Jussi to an extent, but didn't you ever think that he just wasn't that good? I danced around UNT when that trade went through.
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