by THE PUCK STOPS HERE, Special to FOXSports.com

Updated: March 20, 2008, 8:09 PM EST 39 comments

add this RSS blog email print

First place in the league is the Detroit Red Wings, who have had recent defensive injuries, but as players are coming back from injury and back into form, that may not be an issue in the playoffs.

At the All-Star break, I picked Detroit as the favorite, but I had many questions as well. Is Dominik Hasek going to be healthy in playoff time? Can Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk lead the team offensively in the playoffs?

The other team that stands out from the crowd is the defending Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. Now that Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne have returned, they've played very good hockey as well. It is very reasonable to consider them Stanley Cup favorites, particularly if Dominik Hasek doesn't get his game on track.

Of course, the Ducks questions marks surrounding them as well.

They have the fourth worst offense in the league — even if their defense is great, is that good enough? Have Selanne and Niedermayer worked off their rust from their extended summer vacations?

The best team in the NHL recently is the San Jose Sharks. They have won 11 of their last 12 and even their loss was a regulation tie. Do they have the depth to make a serious playoff run? Joe Thornton has never had a big playoff in his career — is this year different? If they can play as well as they have lately, they could win the Cup.

The most likely Cup winners at this point are all Western teams. This is probably not a big surprise because the Western Conference has a significantly better record in inter-conference play. Aside from Detroit, Anaheim and San Jose, there are West teams like Dallas, Calgary and Minnesota who, with a couple upsets, could find themselves in the finals.

What about the Eastern Conference? One thing we know is one of the two teams in the Stanley Cup finals will come from the Eastern Conference, but who will it be? Ottawa made it last year and may do it again, but they have struggled with lackluster goaltending. New Jersey leads the conference in points and has the goaltending of Martin Brodeur to fall back on, but has little else compared to previous years. Pittsburgh has a high caliber offense built around Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Marian Hossa, but not enough else to be a real favorite.

The best bet at this point is that the Western Conference produces the Stanley Cup winner. The best hope for the Eastern Conference is that the West beats itself up and the team that survives loses to a more rested East team.