Back on April 14, my Tuesday Top Five consisted of potential playoff sleepers. So far, there is one big winner (Washington goalie Simeon Varlamov) to go with a couple solid picks.
Jussi Jokinen, sadly, was not among them.
Here's the original list (and comments) with updated stats (and comments):
The Carolina Hurricanes’ return to Boston for a playoff series has provoked many reminiscences of their days as the Hartford Whalers, when they went 0-2 against the Bruins in the postseason.
Funny enough, five players from the final team in Hartford (in the 1996-97 season) are still playing professionally, and another handful retired after last season, including Geoff Sanderson and Glen Wesley — Tuesday's Top Five.
Predicting and assessing the NFL Draft is an impossible crapshoot, as much as Mel Kiper Jr. and his imitators would have you believe it’s an exact science.
Still, there are certain players who went to certain teams last weekend who look like they’ll not only fit in, but contribute right away.
Here is one man’s list of those players, keeping in mind that this Tuesday Top Five carries with it no guarantee of future performance.
The New Jersey Devils are still in town for tonight’s Game 4 at the RBC Center, but having those Devils in town prompted some musing about other small-d devils from New Jersey.
The most famous Jersey Devil is the mythical creature from the pine barrens that gave the team its name. But here are five other New Jersey devils that actually exist, Tuesday’s Top Five:
IF it is the Flyers who the Hurricanes end up playing in the first round, here's your startling stat for the day.
After all the trades between these two teams — 12 between 1994-2006, the period when Jim Rutherford and Bobby Clarke overlapped as general managers of their respective clubs, involving 33 players and draft picks — only four players on either roster have played for both teams.
Who, you ask?
Now that the Hurricanes are in the playoffs, with Saturday's win over Pittsburgh, it's time to start taking a look at potential playoff matchups with three games to go.
According to sportsclubstats.com, here are Carolina's most likely opponents going into Monday night's games, with a 4-5 matchup with Philadelphia (home ice uncertain) looking like a good bet — Tuesday's Top Five:
With the construction of Ford Field, Detroit joins an exclusive club that has hosted both a Super Bowl (in 2006) and a Final Four (this weekend).
There are (roughly) eight other cities capable of doing both, and while Detroit has a surprisingly entertaining downtown, it lacks a little in climate and ambience compared to its peers. But if Detroit isn’t at the top, who is?
It’s touch-and-go whether the Carolina Hurricanes make the playoffs, but they went into Monday night’s game against the Florida Panthers looking pretty good. Still, their playoff position is not assured.
With Monday’s visit to the Panthers the last meeting between the teams, here are the biggest games for the Canes down the stretch — Tuesday’s Top Five.
Of the eight first-round upsets in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, four were in the Tampa subregional. No pair of pods looks to have the same topsy-turvy potential this year, nor does there appear to be a Davidson floating out there, but you never know.
With the tournament opening Thursday in Greensboro when Butler takes on Louisiana State, here are five of the most likely potential first-round upsets — Tuesday’s Top Five.
The regular-season ACC champion has won the past three ACC Tournaments but didn’t win in the four years before that. In other words, anything could happen this week in Atlanta, from a third straight North Carolina title to a winner that emerges from Thursday’s opening round.
No matter what happens, any one of these five factors could end up being the wild card that wrecks the bracket this week — or not. These potential keys to the tournament are Tuesday’s Top Five.
