Sad to see the Hurricanes go

The Stanley Cup playoffs begin Wednesday without the defending champion.

How sad. The Carolina Hurricanes won’t have a chance to repeat. Actually, they did have the opportunity — just didn’t get the job done to qualify. They were eliminated from playoff contention on April 3. A 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning was the nail in the coffin.

The Eastern Conference takes the top eight teams. The Hurricanes finished 11th.

It’s difficult to be too critical of my boys. After all, they have been to their sport’s championship twice in the last six years and won the title once.

In all seriousness, this scenario was foreseeable. The Hurricanes were a shell of last year’s team.

Things began to unravel in the offseason — a severely shortened one, I might add, due to the 2006 playoff run. Losing third-line center Matt Cullen and sturdy defenseman Aaron Ward to the New York Rangers, who are in the playoffs, hurt.

Not as much as the countless injuries, though. One after another they piled up. Cory Stillman sat out until December and defenseman Frantisek Kaberle, who scored the game-winner in the Cup-clinching victory over the Edmonton Oilers, didn’t return to the lineup until February. There were many other bumps and bruises.

All told, the Hurricanes may have had the nucleus of last year’s team healthy for two shifts. OK, that's a stretch. Maybe a handful of games.

But those are all excuses. The talent was still there to, at the very least, make the playoffs. Instead, Carolina faces the humbling realization that it’s only the third Stanley Cup winner in the expansion era that failed to reach the playoffs the following year. The 1970 Montreal Canadiens and the 1995 New Jersey Devils suffered similar fates.

Ouch.

Oh well. I will still be watching the postseason action these next two months, even though my beloved Hurricanes aren’t in the mix. How can you not? Playoff hockey is the best, especially when the games go to overtime and you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for the hero to emerge. I’ll take an overtime playoff goal over an NCAA Tournament buzzer-beater any day of the week. (This coming from a guy who was raised on basketball.)

In the Hurricanes’ absence (tear), here are my predictions for the playoffs:

Eastern Conference champion: Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres lost in Game 7 of the conference finals to Carolina last season, and they’re even better this year. They won the Presidents’ Trophy, which is awarded annually to the team with the best record in the league. Honestly, I would prefer to see the Pittsburgh Penguins reach the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since it won back-to-back Cups in 1991 and 1992. The Penguins’ young star, Sidney Crosby, is everything the 19-year-old was cracked up to be when he came into the league at the age of 18. He is the NHL’s scoring leader, and having his skill on the biggest stage would do nothing but boost the league’s television ratings. That would help silence the hockey haters of the world.

Western Conference champion: Anaheim Ducks. They’re minus the “Mighty” in nickname only, not in talent. Besides, the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings are a tad overrated. With the exception of Nashville, their division is weak so it’s hard to gauge if they’re really that good. They beat up on the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets and St. Louis Blues repeatedly this season.

Stanley Cup winner: Sabres in 7, even though Anaheim may have the better goaltender. Buffalo tied an NHL record with 10 straight victories to begin the season. Look for the Sabres to finish as strong as they started.