A view from the cheap seats

So last week I did a spot on the NHLs Eastern Conference and as promised, this week I will take a look at the conference where most of the recent Stanley Cup winners hail from.

As with last week, I will break down the division winners, recap all the player movement for each team and pick my top eight conference playoff teams.

Ill start with the Central Division because it is, of course, host to the defending champion Detroit Red Wings. Now it wasnt like this group needed to get any better but thats just what they did this summer.

Highly sought after forward Marion Hossa ignored several lucrative, long term offers and elected to sign a one year deal with the Wings. This certainly gives them the edge in their division and makes them the favourite to win it all again this year.

The Pacific Division is a really tough one to call with three elite teams like Anaheim, Dallas and San Jose in the mix. Having said that I will have to go with the Ducks there.

They only made one addition in the off-season, adding veteran Brendan Morrison, but with Selanne and Niedermayer in their lineup for a full season this year, I would have to think that theyll come out on top of that division.

The final division in that conference has a lot of sentimental value for me as it contains all three Canadian franchises. I think that all three of those teams, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, have a chance to make the playoffs this year but Im going to take the Flames to win the division. Im expecting Kiprusoff to have a bounce back season.

They lost Alex Tanguay but replaced him with a more potent scorer in Mike Cammalleri and Dion Phaneuf will again anchor a young, solid defensive group. OK, with the division winners taken care of its time to pick the other five playoff teams, always difficult in that potent Western Conference. As I stated earlier, I think the other two Canadian clubs could get in but Im only going to take the Oilers out of the two.

I just dont think the Canucks have enough offense, even with the addition of Kyle Wellwood (what a joke), to get the job done. The Oilers on the other hand have a good young team, who came up a little short last year, and the additions of Eric Cole and puck-moving blueliner Lubomir Visnovsky will help put them over the top this year.

Im also taking the Dallas Stars and the San Jose Sharks, of course. The Stars will have Brad Richards, who they acquired at last years trade deadline, in the lineup for a full season and they added super-pest Sean Avery over the summer while the Sharks upgraded their blueline with the additions of veteran Rob Blake and Dan Boyle.

Im also taking the Minnesota Wild and my final playoff team may be a bit of a long shot but Im picking Wayne Gretzkys Phoenix Coyotes to make the playoffs this year. The Wild made a couple of very good moves this summer by adding puck-moving defenseman Marek Zidlicky and forward Andrew Brunette while the Coyotes picked up one of the most prolific scoring forwards in the league.

I think Olli Jokinen will be just enough to help that impressive young team in Phoenix make the top eight this year. Having said that, I wouldnt be surprised if another talented young team, the Chicago Blackhawks, battled right to the wire this year. So that leaves the Canucks, Avalanche, Predators, Bluejackets, Blues and Kings on the outside looking in.

I will say that I do like the direction that St. Louis and Los Angeles are going, but I think they are both still a year and two away from breaking into the top eight of that tough conference.

Well all thats left now is to sit back and enjoy the hockey as we wait the almost seven months it will take to see if any or all of my predictions come true. Go Leafs.