First of all, last night was pretty painful. Hossa's injury was scary. Luckily it is only for a week. And, the team needed to be punched in the face. Stuff had been rolling along too well.
jimotis, It is true that the West is deeper than the East. I mean, let us face facts: The Southeast Division is terrible. If you cannot get the top seed in the East, you want the 6th seed.
I totally agree that the East is more open during the Regular Season. Playoff hockey is playoff hockey. The keys in playoff hockey are always offensive depth and the hottest goaltender. If you have 3 lines rolling and a solid goaltender, then you shall do well in playoffs. If you aren't showing depth offensively, but have the hottest goaltender, you will lose to the first team that has a hot goaltender and offensive depth (See: Dallas vs. Buffalo Stanley Cup Finals a few years ago. Buffalo had Hasek, Peca, and Miroslav Satan. Dallas had an army of offensive threats).
Let us look at last years Stanley Cup playoffs. In the Eastern Conference playoffs, Ottawa's role players were actually productive. Trust me, I'd know. I watched the Pittsburgh - Ottawa series, and some parts of the other playoff series. All the hype was over their first line, but they also got scoring from: Meszaros, Kelly, Preissing, Neil, Comrie, McAmmond, Volchenkov, Vermette. I was literally screaming at the TV, cause they had so much more depth.
Let us look at the goals scored for Ottawa in the finals in the games they lost: Fisher, Redden, Alfredsson (3), Heatley. Now, in the game they won 5-3, they had 5 different players score goals. They showed some depth in the game they won.
Now, look at Anaheim. They got production out of Getzlaf, Selanne, Perry, McDonald, Palhsson, Moen, Niedermayer, and then the defensemen. They had more depth on offense. They had a relentless offensive assault on 3 lines. And Giguere had a .922 save percentage.
Offensive depth and hottest goaltender. Always important. That is why the Penguins made the trade for Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis.
I mean, in reality, the Penguins upgraded two offensive positions. It is now possible for them to roll 3 solid lines. With Crosby, Malkin, Hossa, Staal, Malone, Sykora, Dupuis, and Kennedy, that is 8 offensive players that can score if on the right line combination. Factor in Sargent Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, and Kris Letang on defense, and there is all of a sudden almost certainly going to be 4 offensive threats on the ice at a time. Not only that, those forwards (Especially Malone, Hossa, Staal despite his rough 2nd year, and Crosby) are solid in their own zone. The Penguins went from two lines and a power play, to three lines and two power play units. That is critical.
Finally, it should be noted that the goaltending situation only requires a hot goaltender in the playoffs. If Fleury turns it on, and becomes the main guy, then so be it. If Conklin keeps up his pace (Aside from last night), and stays the main guy, then so be it. The reality is that you just need a goaltender doing something hot to win in the playoffs. See: Ken Wregget, Ron Tugnutt, Johan Hedberg.
My expectation for the Pens this year isn't the Finals. That is unfair. I know they are aiming for it, but I wouldn't be angry if they didn't make it. I'd be fine with making it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Even winning only one playoff series wouldn't kill me. I'd pretty much die if they didn't make it past the 1st round.
