from Bob McKenzie of TSN,
What follows are five probing end-of-season questions asked of 20 NHL head coaches – 10 in the Eastern Conference and 10 in the Western Conference. And, in all seriousness, thank you to the 20 gentlemen - and that they are - for taking a few moments out of their gut-wrenching, soul-sucking, ulcer-inducing weekends of NHL activity to participate in the DSBNWATOI/WEOS NHL Coaches’ Poll. There’s a special place for all of you in Hockey Heaven, where no one ever gets fired, every day is a Stanley Cup parade and no one ever asks you do a coaches’ poll.
So here we go:
Who goes into the playoffs as odds-on favorite to win the Stanley Cup and which are the two teams to beat in your conference (forgetting about divisional and/or wild card formatting).
Survey says: The New York Rangers enter the playoffs as the morning-line favorite, with 11 of 20 coaches tabbing them as the team to beat. The Rangers were the only Eastern Conference team to get a vote as Cup favorite; Anaheim and Los Angeles (the defending champion Kings aren’t even guaranteed a playoff spot) got three votes apiece, St. Louis had two and Chicago one.
As for the conference teams to beat – again, keeping in mind there was no allowance made for the divisional playoff format - Eastern coaches surveyed were unanimous on the Rangers, 10 for 10. Tampa was the clear second choice, just ahead of Washington. Montreal and the Islanders got a little but not a lot of love.
In the West, the coaches viewed it as a three-headed monster with Anaheim, St. Louis and Chicago in, more or less, a dead heat for support as the two teams to beat. Nashville and Minnesota got mentioned, but just that.
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