For the next couple days, right up until the puck drops for Game 1 of the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, everyone will weigh in with their opinion of what will happen.

As we know, opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one, and they all stink.

That being said, here are a few of my own.

Everyone in the city of Chicago is completely confident that the Blackhawks, having dispatched the San Jose Sharks in four straight games, will treat the Philadelphia Flyers even more harshly.

Well, if you don't want ice water thrown on your Blackhawks' Boner, you might want to stop reading here.

Still with me? Good.

OK, first of all - I've predicted the Hawks will win the Stanley Cup. CT has predicted the Blackhawks will win the Stanley Cup. In fact, I'm pretty confident everyone with a Blackhawks website has predicted the Blackhawks will win the Stanley Cup.

In fact, most people in Chicago think the Flyers have no chance at all of beating the Blackhawks 4 out of 7 games.

Fact is they have a chance of beating the Blackhawks 4 out of 7 games, if only because they're playing the Blackhawks in a best-of-7 series.

The Flyers, by all rights, should have never beaten the New Jersey Devils. They also defied the odds by beating the Boston Bruins after trailing 3 games to 0, thereby rendering Chico Resch irrelevant. If only some football team can do the same with Mercury Morris.

Now, I know, the Hawks are on a massive roll right now. They've won 8 of their last 10 games. Know what? The Flyers have won 7 of 8. They're pretty hot too.

Now, has the level of competition been the same? No. The Hawks followed the perfect pregression for a 2 seed, playing 7. then 3, then 1. The Flyers went from winning a shootout on the last game of the season, when the Rangers inexplicably left Marian Gaborik on the bench, to beating the 2 seed. They then had a relatively easy run, taking out the 6 seed then the 8 seed. This would have been tantamount to the Hawks having maybe Vancouver in the first round, then getting Los Angeles then Colorado.

The Flyers present challenges, as do the Hawks. The Flyers will have a lot more beef on the blue line than the Hawks have seen in the playoffs. However, the Flyers haven't seen a defensive corps anything like what the Hawks are sending out. In fact, you can make a pretty good case that nobody in the NHL has 2 pairs the caliber of the Hawks' top 4, especially since Brian Campbell is looking more like a solid investment.

The Flyers defense will also have their hands full trying to contain the Hawks' forwards. Let's talk about that. So far in the postseason, the Flyers have seen a grand total of 8 players (4 on NJ, 1 on Boston and 3 on Montreal) with 20 or more goals. This series alone, they will see 6. And the Blackhawks' leading goal scorer in the playoffs, Dustin Byfuglien, isn't among them. And Marian Hossa, who is a source of concern - albeit unfounded (the man has 11 points in 16 games, for Chrissakes) - among some Hawks fans, is among them.

You can make the argument the Flyers got the perfect matchups throughout the playoffs, getting teams that lacked a big scoring punch, thereby allowing their goaltending to get its bearing. The Hawks have seen three goalies better than Michael Leighton - Pekka Rinne, Roberto Luongo and Evgeni Nabokov. They all got sent packing.

But let's not lose sight here. The Flyers made it to the Stanley Cup Finals. Whether they did it through luck or skill is irrelevant. They're here. Also, don't forget when the season started, they were favored by some (most notably The Hockey News) to be right where they are, and to take the damn Cup back to the land of Gamble & Huff.

You look at the Flyers, and you can see Mike Richards - a young Captain leading the team in scoring, and basically willing the team to victory - sound familiar? They also started the season with a high-profile goaltender prone to mental meltdowns, and are here now with someone else between the pipes.

They've got a talented team. They might win a game or two. Hell, they're here, there's a chance they can win all four.

I'm guessing they won't. I'm guessing the Hawks' ability to roll 3 scoring lines, plus Dave Bolland's amazing emergence as a shutdown forward, plus the Hawks' speed advantage (far greater than the one they exploited against San Jose) will take care of that. But, if they catch lightning in a bottle and steal Game 1 (or more likely Game 3 in Philadelphia), I'm telling you now - chill the fuck out.

The Blackhawks are a Championship team. They've already guaranteed 2 banners being hoisted on Opening Night.

There's no reason to believe there won't be a third.

But this is a team that has shown determination and heart. Underestimate them at your own peril.