the sharks just clinched

[redwingfan19 293]

I'd rather play the good teams first to get them out of the way. Besides the Wings Match up well against San Jose and Dallas. We could very well end up playing the Wild too, another team I think the Wings can beat. The team that scares me the most is Calgary or Vancouver. We cannot for some reason seem to beat westren Canadian teams. I am praying that we win the division, and Av's beat out Calgary for final spot, I would love a DET VS COL First Round matchup.

[Viperar 16]

I think an ANA vs SJ first round would be absolutely nuts

[Covenant 0]

I dont know why, but Calgary scares me in the playoffs more than San Jose, and even more than Anaheim.

I think the Sharks are hands down the class of the West.. besides us of course

Anyway we look at it boys/girls, no opponent will be easy.. but with the intensity ratcheting up lately, I'm really looking forward to the Preds game, and Dallas!

[GoWings1905 2,694]

Judging solely by match-ups, the Wings would be much better off facing anyone but San Jose in the first round. Dallas and Minnesota would be the most ideal, but it will work itself out. Hopefully, the Wings finish the regular season strong, get/keep everyone healthy and then play into June. I think this team can beat anyone when they play well, so I am not going to worry who they draw in the first round. To be the best, you have to beat the best.

[Quadnational 3]

Keeping in mind that Anaheim and Vancouver could still be passed by other teams in their divisions...

I think the best -> worst first round match-up possibilities for the Wings would be:

1. Minnesota

2. Dallas

3. Calgary

4. Anaheim

5. Vancouver

6. San Jose

The first three teams I think we match up very well to this year, we've always had good luck against the Wild and the Stars. Calgary isn't the same team it was a couple of years ago (though they still have good goaltending), and they only won the other night with the help of numerous power plays (at home, even).

Anaheim is scary on paper, but the Wings beat them both times at home this year (although they were missing Pronger the first time). Home ice advantage would play in here. As for Vancouver, they always play the Wings very hard (we never seem to win on the road against them) and I think a series against them would also neutralize our man Bert. I think he'd feel too weird playing against his former team. Luongo is a factor there too.

The least desired team for the Wings to meet in the first round would be the Sharks, in my opinion. They've owned us all season long and seem to just be bigger, stronger and faster than the Wings. Forget regular season records, it's all about match-up in the post-season, and San Jose seems to have the Wings' number.

My 2 cents!

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

I think an ANA vs SJ first round would be absolutely nuts

That's what I want to see! Get one of them the hell outta the post season!

[Flip-check 6]

Looks good to me!

I just am a little greedy and want 1st to show were top dogs, and give us some more presteige with winning the President's Trophy.

It's definitely shown the league who's the best in past years.

On a serious note I think Dallas could be a good first round battle for us. When it comes to the big teams in the West... I'm not sure whether facing them early rather than later would be the better option, simply because: will they pick up their momentum -after- a round or two, or will they have it from the get-go?

One thing's for sure, I definitely HOPE the Wings have theirs from the beginning. I want '06-'07 to stand out in fan memory!

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Regardless, when 5 points seperate the 2-7 seeds, and there are still roughly 6 games left per team, the possibilities are endless. Win your own games and let the positions fall into place.

With how close it is, theres no sense in trying to figure out who the Wings first round opponent is. Hell, there's still a chance we won't even have home-ice advantage. I won't worry about it until game 81 for the Wings. That's when we'll have a "somewhat" better idea of what the matchups could be.

Edited March 28, 2007 by Never Forget Mac #25

[Kp-Wings 3]

We'll have to play at least one west coast team, there's not going to be any way to avoid it. Unless we end up with Nashville, Minnesota, and Dallas in each respected round, then we'll be heading west.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I am not worried about who the opponent is going to be in the first round.

The Western Conference race is as wide open as it has been for a while from seed #1 to seed #8, and we all know that the lower seeds ruled last postseason, so preferring Team A over Team B just doesn't make much sense to me right now, given how good all eight teams will probably be to start the playoffs off.

[Swimming with the Sharks 0]

Hrm. The next two days are going to drive me insane:

If we beat the Preds, the Central is still up for grabs. If we lose, the Central will certainly not be clinched, but the Wings will be more firmly locked into fourth place (especially knowing how hard a time we have playing against the Columbuses of the world ). In that case, losing to Dallas would blow, but beating Dallas and letting them fall behind San Jose would blow, too.

Edited March 29, 2007 by Swimming with the Sharks

[Feldmarschall 9]

The same logic used for the Edmonton series last year can be applied to the San Jose series this year. Sure, they kicked our asses a couple of times this season, games during which we played terrible, undisciplined hockey and slacked on the PK. We've made some nice deadline moves a la Edmonton of last year, and who knows how a matchup would work out for us? Playoffs are a different type of hockey. Maybe all that youth will crumble, or maybe they'll come alive and sweep us. No way to know, all the playoff-bound teams from the West are excellent.

Bottom line is, they're just as scared of the Red Wings as the Red Wings are of them. And that's probably not very much. Everyone wants the win, and everyone is willing to go through any opponent to get there.