Well, this blog is as dead as the habs 2012 season. But there’s one thing I still like to post every year: my silly playoffs beard-o-meter.

As usual, the concept is pretty simple:

“The further you go into the playoffs, the longer the beards get.”

Yep, exactly like last year. Anyway, here is the 2012 beard-o-meter:

The Pens! Yes, crazy uh? That wouldn’t be a huge surprise, seeing their lineup, but yeah.I tried to pick a few upsets, but I couldn’t really see a real cinderella like Tampa last season.

In the East, I picked the Panthers over the Devils, mostly because I didn’t see a lot of people giving them a chance and because the devils have really sucked in the playoffs over the last few years. No other real surprise in the first round. but I think the Sens actually have a good chance against NY.

In the West, I decided to be a little bolder and I picked the coyotes over the Hawks and the Preds over the Wings. Those would not be huge upsets, but still. I hope the Blues can get as far as I predicted here, but unfortunately, I don’t think they can get much further. Hopefully they prove me wrong.

And in the SCF, I just can’t see the Canucks beating the Pens, so there you go!

Now let the habs-less playoffs start! Let’s go Blues!

*opens the door*

Anyone here? Eww, it smells like no one opened the windows in about 3 months here.

Ahem. Yeah. Lets be honest, this blog is as good as dead. I have less time to do silly photoshops, and honestly, I discovered I liked tweeting just as much as blogging. Sure it’s nice to take the time to craft a nice little post, and to develop your thoughts in more than just 140 characters, but I like that twitter still allows me to vent after a loss, rejoice after a win (which was my main goal when I started this blog), be snarky or whatever, and if my tweet is well written, it’ll get a response right away. AND above all, it’s just as efficient (or even more actually) to procrastinate!

But anyway, I decided not to officially close this place, and I think I’ll just come back here from time to time, if I want to.

Like now. Because as you know, the playoffs are just around the corner! Crazy, I know. And so I feel like I HAVE to respect the tradition of posting my predictions under the form of the now time-tested beard-o-meter. It’s the third edition of the beard-o-meter, and the concept is still just as ridiculously simple as three years ago:

“The further you go into the playoffs, the longer the beards get.”

Yeah, I told you it was simple. Anyway, here are my official predictions for the 2011 nhl playoffs!

Yup. I picked the Red Wings. So you can take it to the bank: they have no chance. I successfully jinxed the Sharks two years in a row, and this time, it’s the Red Wings’ turn.

I picked the Preds as my “random team that decides to mess everyone’s predictions and reach the Conference finals” in the West. I  could see Tampa doing the same in the East. Mostly because they have Coach with them, so really, they have to win at least two rounds.

I had to pick Montreal over Boston. And I really wanted to pick Buffalo over Philly, but that meant too many upsets in the first round, so I went with the Flyers. I think the Caps are much better suited for the playoffs than last year. And I don’t think Vancouver will win it all. That’s the President’s trophy curse. So there you go!

For the record, here are my picks for last season. Yeah, that turned out great. :)

Here’s the return of the beard-o-meter, my exclusive playoffs prediction chart. The deeper teams go into the playoffs, the better their beards look like. Quite simple, really.

Yes, I made the same mistake as last year, I picked the Sharks to win it all.

I picked the Coyotes as my main playoffs trouble maker this season. This is not really original, because everyone seems to be in love with them, but there’s definitely something feeling good about that team. I have them beating Detroit and then upsetting the Hawks. Sorry Cristobal… :(

I picked New Jersey to do some noise in the East. If they go through the first round without too much damage, I really think they can be dangerous.

I think the Caps would beat Pittsburgh in the 2nd round if they have to meet there, which is a real possibility.

And a last word about the Habs. I see them causing some trouble to the Caps, but probably not enough to end their season right away. I sure hope I’m wrong, though!

Yeah I know I’m late, everybody posted their playoffs predictions yesterday.

I missed the boat. So rather than writing a huge analysis about who will succeed in the post season this year, and because a quick picture is worth a thousand words, my devoted Soft European Research Team built a quick playoffs success scale, using the only true indicator of a long playoffs run: the playoffs beard.

So there it is. Teams are ranked according to the quality of the playoffs beards they’re likely to grow, which should give you a good idea of the lenght of their future playoff run.

So there you go. The Sharks are my cup favorite this season, and the canes and canucks are my dark horses.

Let the fun begin!