It is foolish to try to assess the relative strength of the team within a well-sealed season, which is probably why the boss sent the assignment to me. No time like the present, even with the playoff starting four days before the regular season ends. Epidemic Playoff II.
So it’s going to be like four original six-era playoffs, especially self-contained through two rounds after playing only division-only regular season schedules, the way it was from 1942-43 to 1966- Till 67 was done.
Close your eyes and you can almost imagine Connor McDevid and Auston Matthews playing the roles of Gordy Howe and Rocket Richard (not stylishly, of course), although Sydney Crosby may prefer to have a word with them Who may have ignored Jean Bellevue back in the day.
Of course, there is no conference this season, so the four divisional winners emerging from the first two rounds will be re-seeded based on points in the semi-finals. That should become the standard. After the first round, re-seed should return to the norm.
The re-seed for the final four (lower case, no trademark infringement here) must be adopted to permanently produce the final and the cup final featuring the best two teams. If players refuse to touch their conference championship trophies with a sense of superstition, why on earth are they also given prizes?
But it is quite a shock. This season, where the first-place teams to establish divisional superiority through 56 games will have to do it again in the best-seven. By the way, through the quarter-century of the original six playoffs, when the first and third-seed and second- and fourth-place clubs matched irrationally in the opening round, the top two teams reached the finals 16 times.
wheat
Vegas Marc-Andre Fleury was. He added Robin Lehner. He had Gerard Gallant behind the bench. He fired him for adding Pete DeBoer. He had a collection of forwards who could play both ways. He traded for Mark Stone. He had a strong defensive duct. He signed Alex Pietrangelo. It is always next for the Golden Knights, and only one next for the franchise, the fastest expansion for the Cup to defeat the club’s Flyers’ record, with Philly winning it seven years into its existence.
Colorado Through the Regulations winning the Presidents Trophy tie-breaker over Vegas, even with a low overall win, the award was less worthwhile than the first round to avoid the Wild and the Blues were pictured. Avalanche has an abundance of firepower without sacrificing anything at the defensive end. They will depend on Philippe Grubauer, who has a good 13–7 career playoff in the net.
Carolina Two years after winning the playoff round, nine years have come, four years after breaking the playoff drought. Would this result be what Rangers fans would consider a successful rebuild? Do you believe in Petr Merzek, and do you care that Candy Keynes was hit twice by his first-round enemy Nashville in the final two games of the season?
Toronto No playoff round has been won since 2004 — how is it to rebuild, Rangerstown? —And there would be no excuse for the Maple Leafs to fail to advance to Montreal in their first post-season showdown since 1979. The team has a lot of firepower, but is the Freddy Anderson-Jack Campbell scoring pair capable of producing eight wins, leaving 16?
If the Rangers had the worst experience under the bubble last August, Pittsburgh Right behind was the Penguins being evicted by Kerry Price and the Canadiens in the Qualities. But Crosby is on another ride of his own for a team that is close to full health – and much more than the sum of its parts.
So if Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov and Viktor Hedman are at full strength, it changes everything Tampa Bay, Is not it? Even as we wait to find out whether the Lightning-Panthers will have the first-round juice from historians such as the Rangers and Islanders and the Habs and Nordic.
For most of the second half, Bostan Was just a step or two ahead of the Rangers, and now here the Bruins seem as formidable as ever as a transformational move with the sudden takeover of Taylor Hall deadline?
Straw
Simeon Varlamov is an elite goalkeeper and Barry Trotz should never be underestimated, but The island At the end of this season, just like they did last year, before the stagnation gave the team a reprieve. The absence of Anders Lee cannot be overstated. And also: In a 15-game period from April 3 to May 4, the Islanders won a total of three games in regulation, going 4–7–2. They were all against the Rangers.
NBC is stepping out of the NHL’s business, so how delicious it will be for the network to perform Edmonton And Mike Trout, make that McDavid as long as the entertainment goes on?
Florida At the pinnacle, Joel Quenneville – like Trotz on the island – is a transformational coach, why Alexander Barkov wants to leave in another year, and Pudi Tats actually has more than a chance of a puncture in the opening round against the Lightning.
Minnesota, A club long stranded in the midst of a lack of personality, has taken a step forward with a culture change made by the dynamic Kirill Kaprizov and GM Billy Guerin, but now is not the time. Washington There is a whole team, but the matchup against the Bruins is not optimal, and is it even remotely possible that pending unrestricted free agent Alex Ovechkin is playing his final game as a cap?
Nashville Did its job, extending GM David Poile’s playoff making streak, with a difference of how many years, instead of a reload that is definitely to come. St. Louis The Rangers care to wait, then there seems to be a muscle memory team. Head coach Paul Maurice Winnipeg May be available if the team is out early. And is there enough apprehension to enable Carey Price by the Maple Leafs? Montreal What will happen to clear a seismic first round disturbance?
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