A Whole Lot of Buying Going On?

Here's how the West Standings for playoff contenders stack up at the moment.....

Team Gp. W-L-OT Points-L10
5)Vancouver 62 32-22-8 72 8-2-0
6)Columbus 63 31-26-6 68 6-3-1
7)Edmonton 62 31-26-5 67 5-3-2
8)Anaheim 64 31-28-5 67 5-5-0
9)Nashville 63 31-28-4 66 6-3-1
10)Minnesota 61 30-26-5 65 4-4-2
11)Dallas 62 29-26-7 65 3-7-0
12)St. Louis 62 28-26-8 64 6-2-2
13)Los Angeles 62 26-27-9 61 2-6-2

Out of that group, most of the teams are either used to getting into the postseason (Anaheim, Dallas, Nashville, Minnesota, and to a lesser extent Vancouver) or have missed for a number of years and have restless fan bases (Columbus, Edmonton, St. Louis, and LA).

One would have to assume that more than 1/2 of those teams would be looking to be buyers in some capacity, in particular Vancouver, Columbus, Dallas, and LA. Anaheim, Edmonton, Nashville, St. Louis, and Minnesota are the teams that could go either way (although Nashville and St.Louis could use a raise in revenue). All 9 teams are within striking distance and a few players could put them over the top or other teams could make moves that still keeps them on the outs.

With so many buyers there will undoubtedly be at least a few Western Conference GM's giving up too much to look to face San Jose, Detroit, Calgary, or Chicago in the 1st round. I just hope that it will be the 8 other teams and maybe, just maybe we can cash in on the biggest shopping spree this recession has seen.