Be careful what you wish for

With the Sharks finish their series with Detroit many Sharks fans are left wondering who to prefer the Sharks face in the next round. It seems the majority of fans have been hoping for two things. The first is that the series lasts as long as possible, going to 7 games and a hundred OT periods. The second being that Vancouver eventually comes out on top.

The reasoning for the first theory is pretty sound. At this time of year every team is playing with injuries and the longer the series goes, the longer the sharks have to rest some of their wounds as well as the more likely it is for what ever team the Sharks eventually face to sustain more injuries. Just look to Sami Salo last night. OUCH! Just looking at some quotes from the Sharks meeting today you could see the same sentiment echoed.

As for wanting Vancouver for the next round, I believe is an interesting proposition. When you look at both Vancouver and Chicago both have been up and down in these playoffs. Both showing moments of greatness and others of rather poor performance. While the argument can easily be made that the Sharks can match up better against Vancouver the biggest thing to consider is that in the end it's just conjecture. Which brings me to the biggest point of this post. As fans we love to sit and hypothesize about how team A will match against team B, or what if this happened or what if that happened but in the end none of us truly know. Even if you looked at every stat available there are so many variables that literally anything is possible. It may be cliche but there is a reason they the games aren't played on paper. And if you don't believe it all you have to do is look to the Eastern Conference. Have you seen what Montreal has done lately?

While I am of the opinion it would be preferable for the Sharks to match up against Vancouver, I think it is rather careless to think the Sharks would be able to handle Vancouver easily. Don't be fooled by injuries and what the stats on paper tell you. Realize that every team that is still playing at this time of the year is dangerous, so be careful what you wish for...