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Capitals, Wild are championship picks in NHL coach’s poll

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Getty Images

TSN released its annual midseason coach’s poll featuring “responses from 25 of the league’s 30 head coaches.”

(Our guess: John Tortorella, Darryl Sutter, Doug Weight, Randy Carlyle and Lindy Ruff were the stragglers. But that’s just a wild, completely grounded in logic, guess.)

What did the coaches reveal? Well, that Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins is the best player of the season, and Brent Burns is the best defenseman of the season, and Auston Matthews is the best rookie of the season. Duh.

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But what was interesting were their team picks.

In the Eastern Conference, the Washington Capitals (15) and Pittsburgh Penguins (8) were the only teams picked to win the conference championship.

In the Western Conference, the Minnesota Wild (11) were the clear favorite to win the conference championship over the Chicago Blackhawks (4), San Jose Sharks (4), Anaheim Ducks (3) and Nashville Predators (1), who literally just got back into the divisional playoff seeds.

For the Stanley Cup, it’s Washington (10) then Pittsburgh (8), followed by Minnesota (3) and Chicago (2).

A couple of thoughts:

1 – That the majority of NHL coaches thinking the Minnesota Wild are going to play for, and win, a championship shows an interesting divide in the confidence they have in Bruce Boudreau to win a Game 7 and that of the rest of the hockey world.

2 – Not a single bit of love for the Montreal Canadiens as a team, although Shea Weber was second to Burns and Carey Price was third among goalies over Braden Holtby, which is an interesting set of alternative facts.

3 – Nicklas Backstrom got a player of the year nomination, which was nice of Barry Trotz and/or Bruce Boudreau.

4 – John Tortorella was named as coach of the year on 15 of the 25 ballots, with Bruce Boudreau second (6).

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Please note that Tortorella also has the leading goalie for the Vezina among coaches in Sergei Bobrovsky (14, double the support for Devan Dubnyk), because apparently coaches approach this just like Jack Adams voters.

Please note that Mike Sullivan and Barry Trotz didn’t get a nomination, because apparently coaches approach this just like Jack Adams voters.

Please note Mike Babcock didn’t get a nomination, because apparently coaches approach this just like Jack Adams voters.

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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