never once during the course of this season could i picture these big-for-nothing fruits hoisting the Cup, not once!

thornton is the classic big and moody player but he is so damn good it doesnt matter. the thing i see is that they don't have a lot of team speed, which chicago has in spades, and they are not physical. they were better when they were had less star power up front and more teeth on the back end. mclaren, hannan, those guys were fierce. if they could construct a defense like that and add a little more wheels (even at the expense of some skill) they'd be better.

it would also improve nabokov's play. nabokov is a system goalie, if you make the steady and heady plays in front of him, then he wins, if you don't, then he is prone to sucking.

the kings are a pretty slow team, too, but they are a little tougher. i would like to see them matched up with the sharks in the second round, would not be a run and gun series but would be a very even matchup.