Well it's the best time of ,the year. The weather is getting warmer, baseball is starting up, the Masters start tomorrow, spring break is upon the kids, and semesters are coming to an end in a few weeks. Oh, and the most entertaining, heart pumping, stressful yet joyous form of sport will be played, the NHL playoffs. To me, any playoff game is a must watch, I simply love the NHL playoffs, there is nothing like it. The emotion, passion, optimism, and excitement is just awesome.

I will be making my following playoff predictions on here, and it would be cool if you guys did also. Obviously, there are a few spots and teams that have still not been decided yet, so we get a few "early playoff" games, but that's also part of the prediction.

Just a side note, I have the Rangers winning the tiebreaker against the Canucks for the Presidents' trophy with same amount of points, more ROW, and having beat them earlier in the season 4-0.

Eastern Conference Quarter finals

1. NY Rangers vs 8. Washington Capitals - Rangers win series 4-1

2. Boston Bruins vs 7. Ottawa Senators - Bruins win series 4-2

3. Florida Panthers vs 6. NJ Devils - Devils win series 4-2

4. Pittsburgh Penguins vs 5. Philadelphia Flyers - Penguins win series 4-3

Eastern Conference Semi finals

1. NY Rangers vs 6. NJ Devils - Rangers win series 4-2

2. Boston Bruins vs 4. Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins win series 4-3

Eastern Conference finals

1. NY Rangers vs 4. Pittsburgh Penguins - Rangers win series 4-3

Western Conference Quarter finals

1. Vancouver Canucks vs 8. Phoenix Coyotes - Canucks win series 4-2

2. St. Louis Blues vs 7. SJ Sharks - Blues win series 4-2

3. LA Kings vs 6. Chicago Blackhawks - Blackhawks win series 4-3

4. Detroit Red Wings vs 5. Nashville Predators - Red Wings win series 4-3

Western Conference Semi finals

1. Vancouver Canucks vs 6. Chicago Blackhawks - Canucks win series 4-2

2. St. Louis Blues vs 4. Detroit Red Wings - Red Wings win series 4-3

Western Conference finals

1. Vancouver Canucks vs 4. Detroit Red Wings - Canucks win series 4-2

Stanley Cup finals 1994 rematch

1. NY Rangers vs 1. Vancouver Canucks - Rangers win series 4-3

I really wasn't picking the Rangers to win the cup because I'm a Ranger fan, I was just making my picks and realized that the Rangers should have a damn good chance at getting to the finals and winning the Cup. I know they haven't made a deep playoff run in a while and most of the young players don't have that playoff run experience, but it isn't like they have none at all. Plus, I can see Tortorella and the veterans not letting up and understanding that they have a real legitimate chance at winning this thing. Tortorella will make sure they're prepared and all of our players have big game experience whether it's been in the playoffs before, playing for the USA olympic team/USA world juniors team, or even in college and at the junior level.

There were a lot of hard decisions, the ECF was a tough one, but defense wins championships and I think we have the better defensive team. The Penguins would be very tired and beat up from back to back 7 game series' against very physical teams and big rivals in the Flyers and Bruins. Still, it was very hard to pick the Rangers, as I think that series could go to either side.

The West was by far the harder one to choose. It was tough just even picking who was going to be the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th seed. LA and SJ could literally have an exact tiebreaker on all proportions (ROW, record against each other, goal differential) so I really don't know what they do after that. But LA has 1 more point and a +1 on goal differential so I'm playing with the chances that LA is more likely to get 3rd. And Detroit currently has 1 more point than the Preds, but the Preds have 2 more ROW so any tie and they get 4th, but I think they will lose one of their games and Detroit will get 4th by 1 point. A lot of the teams are very balanced and good, so pretty much every round was challenging to choose, but I just went with the teams who I thought were better in terms of their skill, leadership, experience, coaching, and health.

So if I'm correct, then we should all be crazily happy and beyond, we literally will get to start planning the parade, and we don't have to use sarcasm when saying that! But these are just predictions, and the thing about the NHL playoffs is that any team can beat any team no matter who they are or what the series is at. So go ahead and fill your predictions out, it's going to be a wild ride. I also added a little poll down there.

Lets go Rangers!!!!