Thornton-Samsonov and NHL playoffs observations

Playoffs make for interesting, but ultimately pointless, relations between actors of a series. The Edmonton vs San Jose series: Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov, both former Boston players traded during the regular season, whose former team didn't make the playoffs, are now facing each other in the second round. A few years ago, it was the Anaheim-New Jersey Stanley Cup finals, which saw the Niedermayer brothers going head-on (they are now aligning themselves with Anaheim - and both their current team and NJ are still alive). I also hope that Colorado and NJ get elminated quickly, so that the eventual winner of this year's Stanley Cup will be at least either a Canadian team or a team that has never won it before; and neither of those, besides Ottawa, would even have made it into most lists of Cup contenders at the beginning of the year, let alone on list of playoffs-qualifying teams.