Florida Panthers
I would have picked the Penguins and Capitals earlier in the year to make it in over these guys. However, this team earned their spot with an absolute heater to close out the season. They’re facing a tough task in Boston to start the playoffs, but they hope they’ll at least be competitive. They have no expectations this time, so they’ll play with house money. Those teams are always the most dangerous. We’ll see how it goes against the juggernaut of the league. Their newfound wunderkind in Alex Lyon will take them as far as he can.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Every single year seems to play out the same for these guys. They start slow, go on a tear in the middle of the season, there are questions in the end, and then they heat up at just the right time and ravage the eastern conference from April to June. It’s looking like more of the same this year. This year, their gross overpayment for a depth piece was for Tanner Jeannot, who has fit in well in the bottom six and has become pivotal to Tampa’s late-season success. Fortunately for the rest of us, their division is a bloodbath, so enjoy playing Boston if the Bolts embarrass Toronto again.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Everything comes down to this for the Leafs. The final audition to see if this group of players and staff can get this organization to the second round for the first time in the cap era. On paper, this team looks stacked. Their offense needs no introduction, and their defense has quietly evolved into one of the more stout units in the playoffs this year. They have excellent depth at every position, which is key for a deep run. However, most Leafs fans are not convinced by this. They know the traps. How often have the regular season Leafs juggernauts entered the postseason only to shrivel up and fold? There will be significant changes made if the Leafs wilt once again. Dubas, Keefe, and maybe even Shanahan will all likely be gone. With this logic, they will probably repeat history and lose to Tampa in a home game 7—sorry guys.
Boston Bruins
What isn’t there to say about this team? They’ve only been so good that they’ve practically shattered every team record in the league. Sixty-five wins, the president’s trophy winner by a country mile, quality talent and depth up and down the lineup, and a runaway Vezina favorite in net. On paper, this team should be a lock for the Cup this year. However, we’ve heard these praises for another team: the 2019 Tampa Bay Lightning. Remember what happened to them? I’ll spare you the details. Anything besides a Stanley Cup this year will be considered a dismal failure. Have you seen how mad Boston fans get when they lose at anything? Their local midget league team could lose in a pickup game, and they would start rioting in the streets. It will be a joy for 31 other fanbases to witness as the city collapses into a salt mine.
New York Islanders
The Islanders did better this year than I thought they would. Last year, it looked like their window was closing, and they were done. However, they have rebounded nicely, mainly due to the guy in the net. Sorokin can steal a game or two these playoffs, but I don’t know about them going up against Carolina. They’ll keep it competitive, but this might be a year where they fizzle out.
New York Rangers
Okay, blueshirts, I will ask you one last time, what on earth are you this year? Are you the team dazzling the league with youth, speed, and scoring? Or are they the team that falls apart in the 3rd and lays some massive eggs against opponents that aren’t all that good? They’ll have to decide soon, as they’re going up against one of the best teams in the league to start in New Jersey. If everyone on the team plays to their potential, this series is over in 5 games. If not, then Manhattan must prepare for multiple heart attacks coming up in these playoffs. I, for one, will probably partake in this tradition.
New Jersey Devils
The Devils are a legit cup contender for the first time in over a decade. Honestly, it’s about time, even if I wanted them to struggle again as a fan of a division rival. Too long has the talent on this team been wasted for them not to make noise this year. I’m not as worried about them as other people, primarily because I believe playoff experience is overrated. The Rangers proved that last year and the Habs the year before. What matters to a team is if they get hot at the right time, and Jersey is entering the playoffs looking like one of the best teams in the league, bar none. They even got their top scorer’s little brother on the team in Luke Hughes. This team either loses to the Rangers or goes on a deep run. There’s no option C here. I hope to god it’s the former of the two.
Carolina Hurricanes
The Canes are roughly in the same situation as Colorado was last year. They need to win and win now. Sure, you can excuse their sputtering coming into the playoffs due to the leagues upon leagues of injuries suffered by Raleigh, but the Hurricanes haven’t done themselves any favors. Their offense has wholly vanished without Pacioretty and Svechnikov, and their vaunted defense can only do so much to patch all the leaks on this sinking ship. They’re lucky they’re playing the Islanders and have home ice again. Once they make it to the second round, though, they’re looking to be yet another quick out.
Seattle Kraken
The league’s newest darling expansion team has taken the wild cards by storm and rushed into a playoff spot in one of the biggest surprises this season. For a team that was leading the Pacific at one point, you can say they’ve fallen off a little, but they’re still a dangerous opponent to mess with, especially with how they’ve performed in the clutch this year. This will probably be the learning experience year for them as they are running into the steamroller known as Colorado, but consider me intrigued. They’re playing with house money this season, and as I said about Florida, those teams can be scary. Or they’ll wilt and get fileted into calamari by Colorado and their star power.
Minnesota Wild
While they have a worse seed and a worse record than last year, Minnesota is arguably a more complete team this time around. They patched their holes at the deadline by adding quality depth like Oskar Sundqvist and MoJo. They found a diamond in the rough in a potential Vezina finalist in Phillip Gustavson. They’re an exciting team going into the playoffs, led by Dean Evason, one of the greatest coaches in history. When you challenge Rick Bowness to a fight in a meaningless game, you get all of my respect. Not that it means anything.
Dallas Stars
While they’ve tapered off from their nuclear start to the season, the Stars are still a formidable foe and should not be overlooked. While their core is aging, new talent is starting to emerge, with guys like Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz, and Miro Heiskanen leading the way for them. These guys are the pieces to a team that can score at will sometimes, and their defensive scheming is okay too. Notice how I haven’t even mentioned Jake Oettinger. Yeah, that guy’s pretty good. Unfortunately, with everything seeming to look up for them, their head coach is Peter DeBoer. This means they will probably choke at some point during these playoffs and cause the hockey world to laugh at them.
Colorado Avalanche
This team is loaded. Even without captain Gabriel Landeskog, they are still a threat and favorites to make it out of the West again. They have regained their form after a plodding start to the year and are facing a happy-go-lucky expansion team. They are probably going on another deep run this year. Unfortunately for them, far fewer people will want them to succeed this time.
Winnipeg Jets
This team’s offense is stacked. They boast one of the best first lines in the league and can score a million goals per game. So why have they fallen all the way down to the 8th seed? No defense. Their defense consists of Connor Hellyebuck bailing the team out and getting burned out as his hands try to do five different things simultaneously, trying to patch all the leaks. However, I must say this before I finish; you see that first-round opponent you have? Beat them, and no one will care if you get destroyed by Edmonton in the 2nd round.
Los Angeles Kings
On paper, this team should be competing for a Cup right now. They have grit, skill in their forward core, and defensive depth that can carry them on a deep run. However, their goaltending has been an issue all season. After exiling Jonathan Quick to Ohio at the deadline, they have rolled with a tandem of Korpisalo and Copley, both of whom are inconsistent. They’ll roll with Korpisalo for Game 1, which is the right move. Better to get respectfully destroyed by Edmonton instead of getting their earth salted.
Edmonton Oilers
Their forward core has always been stacked, but the issue with these guys has always been on the back end. Their goaltending, in particular, dogged them on their run last year and at the beginning of this year as well. On the defensive side, they made a big move in bringing in a member of that Smashville defense, Matias Ekholm. He and Bouchard can anchor a defensive core for quite a few years, and if Edmonton can get him re-signed, it’ll be huge. At goalie, they didn’t look to the outside but to the farm system. They’ve found a diamond in the rough in Stuart Skinner. Since the All-Star Break, he’s usurped Jack Campbell’s role and has been the central piece in a wagon the Oilers have been putting together the last few months. I pray these guys don’t win the Cup. Their arrogant fanbase wouldn’t be able to shut up about it.
Vegas Golden Knights
To the chagrin of every other NHL fanbase, the Knights are once again a competitive team. The most hated team in hockey made a few moves this offseason, and they’ve all paid off immensely. They brought in a new head coach and then revamped a roster devastated by cap hell and injuries. The results have shown this year. While they’ve been injured to hell and back this year, they seem to be getting healthy at the right time, conveniently activating Mark Stone off LTIR for Game 1 to avoid his cap hit counting against them. Unfortunately, this doesn’t include goaltending. Both members of their pre-deadline tandem in Thompson and Hill are injured and out for the first round. This leaves them with Jonathan Quick and Laurent Brosoitt, which isn’t a recipe for success. All you can hope is that Quick channels 2012 mode again and goes unconscious to lead them on a deep run. That might be even worse than Edmonton winning.
The playoffs are so evenly matched this year that it’s impossible to gauge anything. I will base my predictions on the fact that we haven’t had anything nice in the league this year. The two teams that will make it will also have the two worst fanbases in the playoffs. Boston versus Edmonton. The regular-season juggernaut against the hottest team in the league. No matter what happens, one arrogant fanbase would get bragging rights while the other spends three months complaining about the refs and dirty play. It would be a pretty good series, though.