The most wonderful time of the year is here, the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The quest for the most prized trophy in sports kicks off today in what has the potential to be some of the best hockey we’ve seen in quite some time. For the first time in league history, all eight teams that qualified for playoffs in the East finished the regular season with over 100 points. In addition to the good matchups in the East, there are some really exciting ones in the West so without further ado, let’s get into some Playoff Previews!
Calgary Flames vs. Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars were among the final teams to clinch a playoff spot as they managed to squeeze Vegas out of a wildcard position, making this the first time in Golden Knights history they won’t see the postseason. Dallas had a very up and down year and for a while, it wasn’t looking like they would even make the playoffs. Nevertheless, Rick Bowness and his group stayed the course and in the end, it paid off. The reward for their efforts? Having to take on the Calgary Flames in the first round. Calgary is right behind Colorado in the discussion for best team out of the Western Conference this season, finishing first in the Pacific Division with a record of 50-21-11. Whereas Dallas took hold of the first wildcard spot, finishing with a record of 46-30-6. The teams have met thrice throughout the regular season, The Flames going 2-0-1 against the Stars.
The Flames had two players finish with over 100 points in Matthew Tkatchuk and Johnny Gaudreau, who had a career year just in time to begin new contract negotiations. That will be far from his mind as he leads his team to what they are hoping to be a successful postseason run. Calgary has gotten superb goaltending from Jacob Markstrom, a man they will certainly count on if they want to go far, especially if they run into Edmonton or Colorado down the line. On top of being a team with a lot of skill, Calgary is a team that has a little bit of everything. They’re a team you’re not going to want to have to go a full series with as they will wear you down right from game one. This team works hard, has a lot of guys who play a hard game and can get scoring up and down their lineup. The addition of Tyler Toffoli really set the tone for what this team hopes to accomplish in the postseason
While Calgary is by far the favorite, you can’t rule Dallas out too much. People forget, they’re only two years out from making the Stanley Cup final and they didn’t go down without a fight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They still have a lot of those pieces from that team and while they aren’t getting any younger, a pair of young studs in Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz have made up for it as they are behind Joe Pavelski for the team’s point leaders with 79 and 72 point seasons respectively. Dallas has a really good balance of skilled veterans, specialists like Joe Pavelski, young talent and a solid goalie duo in Jake Oettinger and Braden Holtby. They may not run as deep as Calgary does but they still have some very interesting names who could show up and surprise some people as unsung heroes. Guys like Luke Glendening, Michael Raffl and Vlad Namestnikov are all “been here before” types of players who could come up at key moments in a playoff series.
While the Stars have a lot to consider, I do have this series as the only sweep in my predictions as I see the Calgary Flames taking care of business in four games. Calgary just outmatches them in every aspect, has a far deeper team and one of, if not the best goalie in the Western Conference.
Colorado Avalanche vs. Nashville Predators
You have to think this is kind of the make or break year for the Colorado Avalanche as they continue to be one of the favorites for the Stanley Cup yet always seem to fall out of the playoff race earlier than anyone expected. They will undoubtedly have their work cut out for them as the Nashville Predators are no easy out with a Vezina calibur goaltender, a Norris Trophy Candidate defenseman and one of the best seasons in recent history from Matt Duchene. Duchene will likely come into the playoffs with a little extra fire in his game as he’ll be going up against the team he started his career with. On top of that, the regular season series between the two was pretty split with both teams winning a game plus two other meetings that went to overtime or a shoutout.
To be honest, I always like Nashville. They’re consistently a very solid team defensively and additionally always seem to find ways to be productive on the other end of the ice. They have a kind of mismatched group of homegrown talent, guys who have been with them through previous playoff rounds and younger guys who will be getting their first taste of the postseason. Filip Forsberg will really be a guy to keep an eye on throughout the series. He’s obviously one of their top players but is also on the last year of his contract and regardless of what the future holds, you have to think he’s going to leave it all on the ice in this series. If Nashville wants to compete with Colorado, they’re going to have to score goals and Forsberg is one of the best natural goal scorers in the league. On top of Forsberg, I really like Tanner Jeannot and Yakov Trenin for Nashville. As I mentioned with Dallas, playoffs are the time for unsung heroes and these are two guys that have the potential to be that for Nashville.
For Colorado, it’s pretty much their series to lose. Their window for winning isn’t opening any wider and the salary cap is only going to work against them in the coming years. If they want to do it, now is their best shot. We talk about how teams always seem to win after they are supposed to and Colorado has spent the last couple of seasons being the team that was supposed to do it. Washington won after they were “supposed to”, Tampa won after they were “supposed to”, …twice. Is Colorado next? It doesn’t get much more threatening than Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Raantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. Not to mention Nazem Kadri who is one point behind MacKinnon for third on the team in points. From top to bottom, Colorado is stacked. They have two capable goaltenders in Darcy Kumeper and Pavel Francouz, have a great core and a surplus of veterans that are just about as hungry for a cup as it gets.
It would be quite the upset for Nashville to knock Colorado out, especially in the first round which is why I have to go with Colorado here. It won’t be a sweep as Nashville is a solid team but it’s hard to see an outcome where Colorado doesn’t take care of business here. Six games is my prediction.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings
Being a Rangers fan, it’s pretty obvious I want LA out of the playoffs as soon as possible but you have to think unless you're a Kings fan, you’re going to be rooting for Edmonton just so we can get a battle of Alberta in the second round. Again, Edmonton is the clear favorite in this series but given their previous playoff struggles you can’t consider them a lock quite yet. As much as I hate to say this, the Kings are kind of similar to the Rangers in the sense that they are nearing the end of an expedited rebuild with this being their first postseason appearance in a couple of years. The Kings have lost three out of four games to the Oilers during the regular season but as we all know, it’s a different story come game one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Los Angeles is a solid team with a great mix of experience and young talent. They still have the guys that brought them to two Stanley Cup’s in the early 2010s (Yes, I’m still bitter about the second one…) They have guys like Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafallo who are really breaking out as star players for this team, as is former Toronto Maple Leaf depth piece Trevor Moore who has 48 points on the year. They have new additions like Viktor Arvidsson and Phillip Danault contributing to a good chunk of their offense. The biggest question is how will their defense hold up without Drew Doughty who won’t play due to injury and who will hold down the fort in net? Do they give Cal Peterson a look or do they go with the veteran who’s been there before and gotten more of the starts this season in Jonathan Quick?
For Edmonton, all you really need to talk about is Conor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl but they are going to need the rest of their team to step up if they’re going to get anywhere. The one thing Edmonton does have going for them believe it or not is Mike Smith. The same team that was shopping for a goalie at the trade deadline has seemed to solve that need internally as Mike Smith has been playing some of his best hockey as of late, despite pushing 40. If he can keep up on that, Edmonton has the potential to go further than they have in the past but you have to wonder just how long Smith can keep it turned on for. The Oilers aren’t really that deep of a team. To put it in context, Zach Hyman is third in the team in points at 54. If you double his point total, you still don’t have enough to reach McDavid and Draisatl who have 110 and 123 respectively. It’s pretty much a two man show in Edmonton which is another reason not to have 100% confidence in what they can do in the postseason but at the same time, do you really want to bet against those two guys? They did make the controversial decision of adding Evander Kane who has averaged almost a point a game since joining the team around the halfway mark of the season.
With that in mind, I have Edmonton taking the series in six games. The Kings are going to put up a fight but they don’t have the starpower to compete with McDavid and Draisatl. I very much can see Smith having at least one off night where LA puts up a bunch of goals as well as another night of an Alex Iafallo overtime winner but aside from that, expect the Oilers to take care of business.
St. Louis Blues vs. Minnesota Wild
This has the potential to be one of, if not the best series of the Western Conference. Despite the fact that the Wild were unable to beat the Blues in any of their three meetings this year, these are two really good hockey teams that make for quite the matchup. There’s a bit of a rivalry there, the teams have crossed paths in the playoffs before so on top of there being lots of good hockey, don’t be surprised to see a lot of intensity and emotion in these matchups, especially early on.
The Blues have nine players with more than twenty goals on the season which is quite an impressive stat. Out of those nine, Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich and Jordan Kyrou have been especially impressive, all with more than 75 points on the year. On top of all the success this team has had this season, they’re only a couple seasons out from winning the Cup and still have most of those pieces. The biggest challenge for the Blues going into playoffs this year will be keeping the puck out of their net and decisions regarding who will be the one responsible for doing so. Jordan Binnington has become a bit of a one hit wonder and has split time pretty evenly with Villie Husso throughout the season. While Villie Husso has the better save percentage, you have to think Craig Berube will give the one who led him to a Stanley Cup the nod come game one. Binnington will likely be on a short leash but
On the Wild’s end, they’ll be well prepared for all the Blues goal scorers as they went and acquired last year's Vezina Trophy winner at the trade deadline in Marc-Andre Fleury. In addition to Flower, they have Cam Tablot right behind him as well as a solid group of defensemen to hold up against the Blues offense. On the flip side, they shouldn’t have much of a problem scoring goals either as the duo of Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello has led them offensively all season long. In addition to their top players, Minnesota has had lots of pleasant surprises with guys like Ryan Hartman, Marcus Foligno, and Frederick Gaudreau all putting up 40+ points this season, Hartman with 65. They also have Matt Boldy who has recently begun to show the league what he’s capable of, putting up 39 points in 47 games with the Wild in the back half of the season. The Wild also picked up Tyson Jost and Nathan Deslauries at the trade deadline further solidifying their forward depth. Those are both guys who have the potential to make big impacts in a playoff run worth keeping your eyes on during round one.
It’s safe to assume many people are going to have conflicting feelings about how this series will go as this will really be a close call. That being said, I have this as the only series in my predictions going to game seven and I’m going with the Minnesota Wild. While St. Louis undoubtedly has the better track record in the regular season, I think Minnesota has guys with a lot of potential to break out in the postseason and they’ll find a way to come out on top of this one.
Carolina Hurricanes vs. Boston Bruins
The Bruins drew the short stick as they will be faced with the Carolina Hurricanes in round one of the playoffs. The two teams have played each other thrice throughout the regular season and in that time, Boston has only scored one goal on the Canes, as they have lost by a collective score of 16-1. The one advantage Boston will have going into the playoffs is Carolina will be without their starting goaltender in Freddie Anderson through most, if not all of the first round. In addition to that, Antti Raanta has also gotten banged up recently and has quite an extensive history of being injury prone.
With that in mind, Rod Brind ‘Amour may have to rely on Pyotr Kochetkov to start the postseason. Kochetkov has won all three of the games he played toward the end of regular season with a .902 save percentage so perhaps that may not be as great a concern as one might think. When you consider how stacked Carolina is both offensively and defensively it’s hard to really worry about who they have in net. With Sebastian Aho, Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov leading the way, it’s hard not to feel confident in your group regardless of who is in net. In addition to their stars, Carolina has gotten contributions from primetime guys like Vincent Trocheck and Nino Neiderreiter as well as young studs like Martin Necas and rookie Seth Jarvis. They have plenty of veterans, mostly former Rangers players in addition to their captain in Jordan Staal. They’re a tight team defensively led by one of the league's best stay at home guys in Jaccob Slavin. There’s a reason they’ve been so dominant all season long.
On the Bruins end, they will have some tough decisions to make in their own net as Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have pretty much split time right down the middle this season. Head Coach Bruce Cassidy has already made it known that he’d be open to play both of them but expect Ullmark to get the start in Game 1 as he’s looked pretty good as of late. As for the rest of the squad, this could be one of the Bruins last hoorah’s as they are beginning to shift from one core to the other. Captain Patrice Bergeron is in the final year of his contract and has opted not to talk about the future until this season is over causing plenty of speculation. On top of that, they have had their fair share of injuries to deal with, especially with their star players toward the end of the season. The Bruins will have to count on their top guys staying healthy if they want to hold their ground against Carolina. The one thing I’ve noticed from watching both of these teams play in the regular season is that Carolina has a very aggressive style on the penalty kill which can cause chaos against Boston’s power play who also attack pretty aggressively. The Bruins will have to proceed with caution with special teams as I can very much see Carolina’s penalty killers getting shorthanded opportunities in the form of odd man rushes and breakaways.
All things considered and my disdain toward the Boston Bruins aside, I have Carolina winning in six on my bracket. Carolina has been a power house in the east all season, one that Boston could not compete with. However as I mentioned earlier, playoffs are a whole different story and the Bruins are certainly a “been here before” team which is why I wouldn’t say it’ll be an easy series for Carolina. Nevertheless, I wouldn’t expect Carolina to be a first round exit.
Florida Panthers vs. Washington Capitals
Speaking of drawing the short end of the stick, the Capitals will have the pleasure of facing the President Trophy Winners in round one, the Florida Panthers. Florida may be one of the most complete teams in these playoffs with a strong core, young talent, seasoned vets, grit, goal scorers, depth pieces, goaltending, you name it. They have played Washington three times this season, coincidentally all in the month of November, going 1-1-1 in the process. Lots has changed for both teams since Christmas so there will certainly be a bit of a feeling out process in game one. Florida is obviously the favorite as is any team that wins the President’s Trophy but you can’t necessarily count on them having an easy time with Washington.
Washington’s window for winning is without a doubt more closed than open at this point but as long as Ovechkin, Backstrom and Carlson are still on the team, they’re going to be a team to watch out for. There are a fair amount of questions and concerns with this Caps team going into round one, one of which revolving around their franchise player who didn’t play much towards the end of the regular season. While it was injury related, you can pretty much expect Ovie to be ready for game one for the reason alone that he is Alexander Ovechkin. The next question will be regarding the Capitals goaltending situation as similar to a couple other teams in these playoffs, haven’t really had a clear set starter all season. Kind of like the situation in St. Louis, Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov have pretty much split starts right down the middle and neither have many flattering stats. If I’m Peter Laviollette, I’m going with whichever of the two have had the better numbers against Florida and hoping for the best.
On Florida’s end, it’s their series to lose and are right up there in the conversation for cup favorites. Jonathan Huberdeau has had a year worthy of being in the Hart Trophy Conversation, Aleksander Barkov is Aleksander Barov, you got Sam Reinhart averaging more than a point a game, Anthony Duclair, Sam Bennett, the acquisition of Claude Giroux, the list goes on and on. You’re hard pressed to find anyone in the league currently who is more hungry for and deserving of a Stanley Cup than Joe Thornton is. That will absolutely be a storyline as long as the Panthers are still in the race. Again, goaltending will be one of the bigger questions for this group. Do you go with Sergei Bobrovsky who has been here before, struggled and has consistency issues or do you go with the young star who made his debut in the playoffs last year in Spencer Knight? It’s a tough call and very interesting to see so many teams in the playoffs where goaltending is more of a question than an answer.
Overall, I have a feeling this series is going to be the one that pretty much shuts the window on the Washington Capitals. The Blueshirts Breakaway guys had Adam Stringham of Japers Rink Radio on their show a couple weeks ago who brought up a really interesting point suggesting the Capitals are more concerned with Ovechkin reaching the goal scoring record than they are winning another cup. That’s not to say the Capitals aren’t going to go down without a fight, this team has won before and knows what it takes to get there, I just don’t see them finding a way to get past the Florida Panthers. Panthers in five.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
The Leafs have to be somewhat relieved they won’t be facing the Bruins in round one for the sole fact of history and all the storylines that would come with it. Although, having to take on the reigning back to back Stanley Cup Champs isn’t that great of an alternative. The defending champs bested the Leafs in two of four meetings during the regular season, collecting five of eight possible points in the process. This will absolutely be a series to keep an eye on.. Will the Leafs finally win a playoff round or will the Lightning flip the switch and continue to prove they’re the best and remind us all whose trophy it is.
Toronto has had a season to be proud of, led by their star player in Auston Matthews who became the first player since Steven Stamkos in 2012 to put up 60 goals in a season. In addition to one of their players taking home the Rocket Richard Trophy with a Hart Trophy Calibur season, they also have a potential Calder Trophy candidate in Michael Bunting. Bunting has been quite the surprise for the Leafs, putting up 63 points in 79 games for his first NHL season, still qualifying for the Calder Trophy at the age of 26. Toronto is also led by the rest of their “core four” in William Nylander, Mitch Marner and John Tavares who will be a key factor in the playoffs after getting injured in round one last season which inevitably lead to yet another first round exit for the Leafs. Staying healthy will absolutely be critical for this Leafs team as they are going to need everyone at 100% to take on one of the league's best teams. Looking at the whole picture, I really like Toronto’s chances. They have a pretty complete team, they’re strong offensively and when healthy, have a really good group of defensemen. Jason Spezza is another guy that deserves to get his name on the Stanley Cup as much as anybody and is running out of time to do so.
On Tampa’s end, it’s hard not to feel confident. There isn’t much at stake for them as they’re coming off back to back Stanley Cup championships. They’re about as complete a team as you’re going to get and despite having to let guys like Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow go have found ways to fill in those holes by the likes of Nick Paul and Brandon Hagel. Guys who have been a part of both of those championships are still here and on top of it all, Steven Stamkos is so back as he leads the team with 106 points on the season. Andrei Vasilevski is still one of the best goalies in the league, the team is sound defensively and has numerous threats offensively, they're going to be tough to go up against. However, while it is difficult knocking out the defending back to back champs, it’s even tougher to three-peat. We haven’t seen a team win more than two cups in a row since the Islanders won four in a row in the early 80s. There’s no question this group will be hungry to accomplish the feat but the biggest question regarding them will be whether or not they have it in them to do it.
This is going to be a good series and while Toronto has had quite the history of struggling in the postseason, you have to think that with the team they have it won’t go down like it has before. I don’t see this being a short series one way or the other however I do think it’s Toronto’s time to turn things around. With that being said, I have Toronto in six on my bracket. I feel it’s going to be 2-2 going into game 5, Toronto will win that one in overtime and will somehow manage to pull off the series win in game 6.
New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Being the Rangers fanatic I am, who writes about every one of their games, I’m not going to go too much into a preview on this series, as I will have the full preview for tomorrow’s pregame piece and will continue writing about each game. All bias aside, this will probably be one of the more exciting series in the Eastern Conference as tensions between the two teams certainly picked up toward the end of the season. The teams have gone up against each other in playoffs many times over the years making for quite the divisional rivalry. The Rangers have beat them in three of their four meetings this season, all of which coming in the final months of the season. I talked about windows closing and last hoorah’s with the Avalanche, Capitals and Bruins but the Penguins may be the team going all in the most while they can. As long as Crosby, Malkin and Letang are still here, Pittsburgh continues to buy at the deadline as they want at least one more title with that group. The Penguins will be without Tristan Jarry who has had a strong year for them to start the postseason so they will definitely have to make up for that in other areas. Similar to Washington, it’s tough to bet against them as long as Crosby, Malkin and Letang are there but the Rangers have had Pittsburgh’s number since that first meeting between the two of them in February. Rangers in five or six.
Chris Feldman
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