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As you have all probably been noticing, many bloggers and journalists have been picking their favorites to win each playoff series.
Last year, many people were choosing the Wings to upset the Ducks. This year, the upset factor has been less “potent”, so to speak, and not as many people are Winglievers.
To get a grasp of the magnitude of people picking against the Wings, here is a list of some of those who all of a sudden are Bruins fans:
| Person/Newpaper | Prediction |
| Sporting News Hockey Staff | Bruins In 5 |
| Travis Hughes – SBNation | Bruins In 6 |
| Scott Cullen – TSN | Bruins In 6 |
| Greg Wyshynski – Puck Daddy | Bruins |
| Ken Campbell – THN | Bruins |
| Barry Melrose – NHL.com | Bruins |
| CBS Hockey Staff | Bruins In 5,6,7 |
| ESPN Hockey Staff | Bruins In Something |
| Joesph & Tyler – WIIM | Bruins In 7 |
I could go on and on, but you get the point. People are not favoring the Wings.
Outside of some of our own members choosing to jump on the bandwagon, these picks are not too notable. I mean, did anyone expect ESPN to pick anything other than the top-ranked seed? I am a Wings homer, I’ll admit that, but the Bruins are on paper the better team.
But, honestly, when has anyone ever won on paper?
As with anything, there are always those select people who are willing to step outside of the box and make the radical move.
The following people are hockey’s version of Gandhi, Katniss Everdeen, and John Lennon. They were willing to take the chance. To imagine a world where the Red Wings reign supreme. A world which I would like quite a bit.
| Person/Newspaper | Prediction |
| Andrew Birkshire – HEOTP | Wings In 7 |
| Luc Robitaille/Chris Chelios (Kind of) | Wings |
| Allan Muir – SI | Wings |
| Bruce Ciskie – SBNation | Wings In 7 |
| Sensible Wings Writers | Wings |
A couple of interesting notes from the above people’s picks:
- First of all, no one is picking the Wings to beat the Bruins. I spent about two hours sifting through various predictions, and these were the only credible sources who actually picked the Wings to beat Boston.
- Allan Muir has the Wings advancing to the ECF before losing to the Penguins. That would be a very interesting matching. At that point it would be safe to assume that Zetterberg would be back in the lineup. How can you go wrong with a Zetterberg vs. Crosby matchup?
This last prediction is worthy of its own recognition:
Helene St. James, Detroit Free PressEast Winner: DetroitWest Winner: Los AngelesStanley Cup Winner: DetroitFirst-round Upset: Red Wings Over BruinsPlayoff MVP: Pavel Datsyuk
Honestly, find me a better beat writer/journalist/human being than Helene. She was the only non-Wings blogger that I saw who picked the Wings to go the distance. What makes this stand out even more is that Ansar Khan, Brendan Savange, and Ted Kulfan all picked the Wings to lose in the first round.
With all of this in mind, what are your thoughts? Can the Wings pull off the improbable?
