Top of the Table (West Preview)

Here's another look, but this time in the West, at the Top 8 teams vying for the money in the pool... as the Ducks and Red Wings have their series starting. Now, there is a lot more players lingering in the West, which shouldn't come as much of a surprise. With everyone generally knowing the West pretty well, it wasn't too difficult to see where the players were going to come from, but there is still enough difference between pool teams to make some moves... especially with that Detroit team.

	Dan Wallace	Rob Andersen	Mike Emery	Ben Greenley
ANA	Ryan Getzlaf	Teemu Selanne	Teemu Selanne	Rob Niedermayer
ANA	Scott Niedermayer	Ryan Getzlaf	Scott Niedermayer	Scott Niedermayer
ANA	Chris Pronger	Scott Niedermayer	Chris Pronger	Francois Beauchemin
DET	Henrik Zetterberg	Todd Bertuzzi	Robert Lang	Pavel Datsyuk
DET	Todd Bertuzzi	Nicklas Lidstrom	Kris Draper	Nicklas Lidstrom
DET				Dominik Hasek

Of the top four going into the Conference Finals, only Benson is holding onto Dominik Hasek... the only goaltender still remaining in the top four. The big difference makers in the top four should also be Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, who only appear once... Zetterberg, who could keep Dan at the top and Datsyuk (along with Hasek) gives a distinct advantage to Benson, if Detroit continues to roll. If Anaheim is to dominate this series, look for Mike to make a big push with Teemu Selanne and the big pair on defense, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. You cannot count out Ryan Getzlaf, however, he does have more points that Selanne going into this series... that could be why Dan is on top thus far.

	Brian Mineault	Aaron Andersen	Tim Locke	Don Deptford
ANA	Ryan Getzlaf	Teemu Selanne	Ryan Getzlaf	Teemu Selanne
ANA	Scott Niedermayer	Ryan Getzlaf	Rob Niedermayer	Scott Niedermayer
ANA		Scott Niedermayer	Francois Beauchemin	J-S Giguere
DET	Pavel Datsyuk	Todd Bertuzzi	Henrik Zetterberg	Robert Lang
DET	Nicklas Lidstrom	Nicklas Lidstrom	Nicklas Lidstrom	Nicklas Lidstrom
DET	Dominik Hasek	Dominik Hasek	Mathieu Schneider	Niklas Kronvall

From five to eight, there is a better following of Red Wings and Nicklas Lidstrom leads the selections, being on all four teams. Unfortunately for seven and eight, they have been hit by the injury bug... no Mathieu Schneider or Niklas Kronvall for what should be the whole series. A big series from Detroit does favour Brian and Aaron to jump into the top four, but Don has other ideas if Anaheim decides to win... 'cuz he has J-S Giguere.

This series is way too hard to predict, but between this series and the one in the East, all it takes is the right combination. But now you have the combinations what everyone is up against.

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