Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet that likes to eat its queso raw.

Speaking of que sera, sera, it’s true what they say in the song. Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see, and that’s especially true when one is attempting to provide hockey content in the middle of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The action moves fast and furious. A little too fast and furious for a week-by-week call-and-response column to keep up, if we’re being honest, but we’ll do our level best.

Here’s the conundrum. This column gets written out early in the week, published mid-week, and then sits there for the next week collecting comments and dust. Who’s to say that what’s relevant this Thursday will still be relevant next Thursday?

By then, most of Round One could be over already.

It’s not an impossible problem. All we’re really saying is to prepare for some awkward and vague wording in these, and to be ready to answer our questions in new and creative ways when the events of the playoffs change the circumstances surrounding them.

Which leads us to today’s question.

We’d estimate that, by the time you’re reading this, the Canucks and Predators are still in an active Round One series. You’ve probably watched two games, maybe three. Who’s to say how many more there will be?

But surely, you’ve already noticed at least one Canuck delivering a little bit more in the postseason than perhaps they did in the regular season. Two or three games isn’t the greatest length of time through which to measure a step-up, but all games are of dire importance this time of year, so anything we have noticed is probably worth shouting out.

Whether it’s a player who has caught your eye by stepping up their performance in the early going, or just one who is showing signs of a step-up to come, we want to hear about it today.

This week, we’re asking you:

Let it be known in the comment section.

 

You predicted below!

Canucks will match up well and contain the Preds top line. Josi and the rest of the Preds’ D-corp will be tough on the Canucks’ dump-in and forecheck. Low-scoring games. The physicality of the Preds’ bottom-six forwards will be neutralized by the Canucks’ bottom-four D-men.

Special teams will make or break the Canucks.

Demko will outperform Saros. Canucks in 6.

Nashville in 6 games.

Vancouver splits series at home, and Demko aggravates injury in Game #2, then loses next two games in Nashville.

The Canucks win at home for Game #5, then are eliminated by Nashville in Game #6 with DeSmith in net.

Not worried about Nashville. Some teams are an Achilles’ heel for the Canucks, the Predators aren’t one of them. I predict Miller pulls a Kesler and dominated the series. Canucks win in five, and Demko is unreal. *** Knock on wood.

First home series is crucial. If the Canucks sweep, the series is done in 5. If they split, it’s going 7.

Canucks in 5, because Nashville is a one-line team, and Canucks have four lines which play a 200-foot game and a big defence with good puck-movers.

Canucks sweep 4-0.

I’ll be very precise.

Canucks win in 6 after losing Game 1 by showing up looking unprepared and disorganized. Then they squeak out a win in Game 2, lose Game 3 in Nashville, and go on to clean things up and win the rest.

As is the case with most playoffs series, the team which sustains fewer injuries (especially to key players) will likely win the series. Absent important Canuck injuries, I am going to say the Canucks in 7. I think this series will be tougher than most predict. This isn’t the team the Canucks handled earlier in the season. The team is much better than the sum of its parts.

Predictions are meaningless unless you have money on the prediction or there are repercussions when your predictions are wrong. Game, scouts and management make real predictions. We make pretend predictions. That we forget about when we are wrong, but let everyone know, when we are right.

Canucks in 5 or 7, but I am guessing five close games. They match up very well against Nashville; the best matchup they could have hoped for.

As a Canucks fan, I’m both hopeful and pessimistic. I think they should win a long series, probably in 6. But between bad bounces, poor officiating, and injuries, they will probably lose in 6.

My pessimistic / expectation-management levels are on high. Too much past disappointment for me to be too optimistic.

Anyway, on a more rational note, I am concerned that the Canucks’ systems are vulnerable to exploitation by the opposition. The latter part of this season showed that other teams knew what the Canucks were going to do as or before they did it.

My one biggest frustration with the Vigneault-coached teams was that they would get leads in series, then the other team would adjust and come back to either win or make it a lot closer than it should have been. Yes, we have a completely different coaching staff, front office, and roster, but I fear the same vulnerability due to Tocchet’s rigidity.

Canucks to lose in 6, after being ahead in the series 🙁

I say they take it in 5 or 6..

But don’t have faith they can beat out any other team after that.

That might change if Pettersson would actually shoot the puck, and was paired with someone other then Mikheyev.

Don’t want to end the column on a down note, so the author will come in with an official WDYTT prediction:

Vancouver Canucks defeat Nashville Predators in five games.

(And that’s a prediction made post­-Demko injury!)

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