NHL News and Notes - Wiggy's Blog

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Wiggy's Blog

NHL News and Notes Stuck

Posted on April 30, 2013 at 03:27 PM.

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The Stanley Cup playoffs get going tonight, with Minnesota vs. Chicago, Los Angeles vs. St. Lous, and Detroit vs. Anaheim. It'll be an all-west night of action, and I think LA and St. Louis might end up being the most compelling game tonight.

Officially, these are my picks for the playoffs:

- Chicago defeats Minnesota in 6 games
- Anaheim defeats Detroit in 7 games
- Vancouver defeats San Jose in 5 games
- Los Angeles defeats St. Louis in 5 games

- Pittsburgh defeats New York Islanders in 6 games
- Ottawa defeats Montreal in 6 games
- Washington defeats New York Rangers in 6 games
- Boston defeats Toronto in 5 games

NHL 14 Cover Vote

Head on over to EA's site to vote for a cover athlete for NHL 14. The field is currently at 32, but things are going to be split down to 16 shortly. The are plenty of guys in the voting who don't have much of a shot (James van Riemsdyk, Dennis Wideman, Ryan Callahan), but there seems to be a good range of players represented.

Simulated Playoffs

EA has done their official playoff prediction, and surprisingly, the New York Rangers are the Stanley Cup champions. The fact that they beat Washington and Montreal is believable, but getting through PIttsburgh and, ultimately, Chicago doesn't seem likely with the 2013 Rangers, but we'll see.

Additionally, The Score in Canada has done a simulation of the 2013 playoffs using NHL 13. I don't think Montreal will be going as far as they say, but the eventual winner of Pittsburgh seems statistically accurate.

Two Retirements

Brian Rolston (now 40 years old) retired officially today, even though he was no longer an active player in 2012-2013. He ended up playing 17 seasons in the NHL, racking up 342 goals and 419 assists over 1,256 games. Even though he was known for his time on Boston and New Jersey, it's funny that his best years were with Minnesota, where he scored over 30 goals three years in a row and got 79 points in one of those seasons. His size allowed him to play with some edge, and he was a three-time Olympian. As a first-round draft pick, he won a Stanley Cup in his first year with New Jersey.

Jochen Hecht also retired this week, signalling an end to a 14-year career for the 35-year-old Buffalo Sabres center. The German-born Hecht was a second-round draft pick for St. Louis back in the 1995 entry draft, but he eventually became a Sabre for the rest of his career. He totalled 186 goals and 277 assists in 833 games, and he was a three-time Olympian.