Pens should go all out for 1st in East

Round 1

Scenario: Pens come in 1st in the East
Whomever is going to be the 8th seed will be horribly weak, whether it is Washington, Buffalo, or Winnepeg. Too many glaring weakness for them to be considered a sleeper for a potential upset over the top seed.

Scenario: Pens come in 4th in the East
4 vs 5 will be a tough battle. It will be the Rangers, Devils, Penguins, or Flyers against one another. Any way you look at it, not an easy task.

Round 2

Scenario: Pens come in 1st in the East, beat 1st round opponent
Most likely opponents may include whomever upsets the SE champ (Wash/Florida/Winnepeg). Right now that looks like it would be Ottowa.  ( HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...already talkin upsets of SE. terrible division)

Scenario: Pens come in 4th in the East, beast 1st round opponent
Most likely opponent, Boston. Won the cup last year, big tough playoff team with solid goaltending.

Round 3
Pens vs NYR/BOS/NJD/PHI

Summary:
If the Pens secure 1st in the East, rounds 1 and 2 will be against substantially weaker opponents with no inter-divisional rivals until round 3 after those rivals would have to endure 2 punishing rounds against each other.

If the Pens stay in 4th, they'll get tossed into the grinder from the outset and have to survive 3 tough rounds to make it to the finals.