Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
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The NHL has reached midseason with only one thing for sure -- it should be a great stretch run.
There's still plenty of hockey to be played and the scramble is on in both conferences for playoff spots. The league's parity has almost all teams reaching the halfway point feeling like they have a real shot at the postseason.
As for the league's elite, here are my rankings of the top five Stanley Cup contenders in each conference.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. OTTAWA
There is a lot to like about this team. Start with Ottawa's blue line, which is the best in the conference. Add in an attack led by the line of Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, and Dany Heatley, which provides top-end, marquee scoring. And don't minimize depth or playoff experience. Ottawa is deep and has been to the mountain but not yet to the top of it -- making the Stanley Cup finals last season before losing to Anaheim.
Here's the caveat: goaltending. Who is Ottawa's No. 1 goalie? Is it Ray Emery or Martin Gerber? No team goes deep in the playoffs without very solid goaltending. If it's Gerber, he's won only one playoff game in his career. If it's Emery there are concerns not only over his work ethic in coming back from wrist surgery, but also over the immaturity he's shown this season with issues of punctuality and not making nice with his teammates (he recently fought Brian McGrattan in practice).
2. PITTSBURGH
The Penguins are just starting to gain traction. They are following kind of the same path as last season when they showed improvement defensively over the second half of the schedule. With the kind of firepower and game-breaking abilities the Penguins possess, it's hard not to see them as a solid threat to get out of the Eastern Conference, especially because they learned last season it's not enough just to get to the playoffs.
The big question surrounding Pittsburgh is its defense, but the Penguins are far more stable defensively than they were at this stage last season. Another key is goaltending. Ty Conklin, called up from the minors when Marc-Andre Fleury went down, is playing like he's a candidate for the No. 1 job. It will be interesting to see what happens to Conklin once Fleury gets back.
3. NEW JERSEY
It seems that every season when they are expected to tail off, the Devils find a way to remain among the elite teams in the conference. New Jersey has young energy, but it also has key veteran players who have won Stanley Cups like John Madden and Patrik Elias. And it all starts with Martin Brodeur, who as far as money goalies go, is still at the top of his game.
New coach Brent Sutter really put his stamp on this team when he took the captainship away from Elias and gave it to Jamie Langenbrunner, who has proven to be a great captain. He's not afraid to speak up, shows tremendous passion, and he will outcompete just about anybody on the ice on every shift. He provides superb leadership. The two words that best describe the Devils' organization since Lou Lamoriello took over are structure and discipline -- on and off the ice. New Jersey just gets it done.
4. NEW YORK RANGERS
The Rangers have struggled and at times all the pieces to the puzzle don't seem to fit together, but they have too many good things going for them to not have a shot at a deep postseason run. Maybe what's most to like about New York is it has stars and leaders who have won Stanley Cups with different organizations -- Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Brendan Shanahan, and Jaromir Jagr.
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Despite frequently getting criticized, the Rangers' defense is better than many estimate. And it's a defense that has a terrific goalie playing behind it. Henrik Lundqvist excels under pressure. It's not unusual for him to make spectacular saves look routine, and he gets it done at crunch time. Despite its ups and downs so far, this is a team no opponent will want to face in the postseason.
5. PHILADELPHIA
The Flyers are a young team, especially up front, but Philadelphia's young players have taken a giant step forward this season, especially Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Daniel Briere has not played with as much confidence as he would like perhaps because of high self expectations after signing a big contract. A deep playoff run is predicated on Simon Gagne getting and staying healthy. Gagne suffered his second concussion of the season in early November.
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The Flyers' forwards are really hard to contend with while on the blue line the team doesn't have a No. 1 defenseman, but it does boast a slew of No. 2 defensemen. Philadelphia will be in good shape to deal at the trade deadline because it has 10 NHL defensemen in its organization. In goal, Antero Niittymaki has his confidence back and there's also Martin Biron so the Flyers are in great shape in the nets.
WESTERN CONFERENCE
1. ANAHEIM
The Ducks were my pick to win the Stanley Cup before the season started, but they haven't fired on all cylinders for very long over the first three-plus months of the schedule. The expected return of Teemu Selanne before the end of January will help as has the presence and play of Scott Niedermayer, who shunned retirement and hit the ice in mid December. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry are a year older and a year better, and the addition of Mathieu Schneider has made their blue line deeper and better than it was when they won the Stanley Cup last season. No team in the league can match the Ducks on the blue line.
Jean-Sebastien Giguere is as poised as they come in the nets. He also plays a textbook butterfly style and with his size can cover most of the net. Giguere is as good a playoff goalie as there is in the game. Will the Ducks have Samuel Pahlsson healthy in the second half of the season? He's missed time with an inflamed abdomen. Pahlsson's line was the leading scoring line in the Stanley Cup finals and it was as responsible for the Ducks taking home the championship as any of the team's other lines.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Check out highlights from the Rangers 3-2 win over the Capitals.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
