Saturday Night Forwards - Week 8

This is the first week of comparing forwards. A couple of guys have made some really big jumps, Sidney Crosby hasn't cracked the top forwards rankings yet. However the top line of the Oilers have gone nuts and forced their way into the rankings. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle combined for 23 points this past week, although most of them came from the monster game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Saturday Night Forwards - Week 7

Here's the first edition of Saturday Night Forwards. Here's the top 75 forwards.

1.   Thomas Vanek
2.   Phil Kessel
3.   James Neal
4.   Steven Stamkos
5.   Claude Giroux
6.   Marian Gaborik
7.   Tyler Seguin
8.   Daniel Sedin
9.   Joe Pavelski
10. Marian Hossa
11. Kris Versteeg
12. Joffrey Lupul
13. Patrick Kane
14. Jason Pominville
15. Jamie Benn
16. Patrick Sharp
17. Ryan Smyth
18. John Tavares
19. Anze Kopitar
20. Corey Perry
21. Teemu Selanne
22. Johan Franzen
23. Brad Marchand
24. Jonathan Toews
25. Max Pacioretty
26. Vincent Lecavalier
27. Nicklas Backstrom
28. Ryan Callahan
29. Loui Eriksson
30. Alex Ovechkin
31. Henrik Sedin
32. Ryane Clowe
33. Tomas Fleischmann
34. Tomas Plekanec
35. Patrick Marleau
36. Jaromir Jagr
37. Jeff Skinner
38. Jason Spezza
39. Milan Lucic
40. Milan Michalek
41. Patrik Elias
42. Evander Kane
43. Stephen Weiss
44. Craig Smith
45. Scott Hartnell
46. Radim Vrbata
47. David Clarkson
48. Milan Hejduk
49. James van Riemsdyk
50. Joe Thornton
51. Logan Couture
52. Patrice Bergeron
53. Alexander Steen
54. Ray Whitney
55. Evgeni Malkin
56. Mike Richards
57. Jordan Staal
58. Shane Doan
59. Martin St. Louis
60. Brandon Dubinsky
61. Zach Parise
62. Dustin Brown
63. Vaclav Prospal
64. Danny Briere
65. Simon Gagne
66. David Backes
67. Derek Roy
68. Patric Hornqvist
69. Brad Richards
70. Olli Jokinen
71. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
72. Dany Heatley
73. Rick Nash
74. Matt Duchene
75. Justin Williams

More to come next week, expect to see better players move in next week

Looking ahead to Sunday's Games

All of these are game 6's and it's quite possible that we may be down to 11 teams in the Chase for Lord Stanley's Cup by the end of the night, but I doubt it. Today's going to be a great day in hockey

#2 Philadelphia Flyers vs #7 Buffalo Sabres
The Flyers are now down Jeff Carter and on their third goalie in Michael Leighton. The Sabres have come out in all their wins and scored early to win. Without Jeff Carter, the Flyers' leading goal scorer, they will have to rely on Danny Briere and Claude Giroux. The Flyers could win this if they crash the crease and create havoc in front of the net for Miller, but we don't know how Leighton will perform, nor do we know how the Flyers will respond after losing Game 5 in overtime. This is probably Buffalo's best chance to take this series. Jason Pominville will be out today, but their offense goes through Vanek.
Buffalo wins 3-2

#4 Anaheim Ducks vs #5 Nashville Predators
Game 6, this is Nashville's chance to finally win a series, and I believe that it will happen today. There's no suspensions and the Predators played well without Erat. Jarkko Ruutu will be back so we don't know how the Predators will respond to him. One this is certain though, Pekka Rinne will have two chances to shut down the Ducks high flying offense of Perry, Getzlaf, Selanne, Koivu, and Ryan. Either he does it tonight, or in Game 7. The Ducks have to figure out how to stop Mike Fisher, because he is the key cog for the Predators offense.
Nashville wins 5-3

#1 Vancouver Canucks vs #8 Chicago Blackhawks
This is going to be a crazy game, and by far the best of the night. Luongo has been getting lit up the past two games and you can be certain that him and his team are not very happy about it. The Blackhawks' offense has erupted these past two games as well as their defensive prowess. The Canucks need to figure something out. I have a feeling that tonight they will try different strategies throughout the night and whatever works is what they'll use in Game 7.
Chicago wins 4-1