Greetings Oiler fans! These posts are few and far between these days but I thought it would be prudent to throw one up ahead of the start of the playoffs. I just want to comment on the first round matchups briefly and then we’ll see where we go from there once the games get rolling.
Eastern Conference
Bruins vs. Panthers
- I remember back when the Red Wings were racking up Presidents Trophies in the 90s but couldn’t get out of the first round. In fact, I could be wrong, but didn’t the Oilers knock them out of the playoffs the year they set the record that Boston just broke?
- The last time these two met in the post-season was back in ’96 and the Panthers nearly won a championship on that run before falling to the Avalanche.
- There’s no pressure on Florida and they’re coming into this series with only two losses in the last three weeks or so. I’m thinking they could give the Bruins a real scare here because they’re hungry and the Bs are sitting fat atop the NHL’s throne.
- I don’t like the Panthers’ defense that much if I’m being honest. Aaron Ekblad isn’t working with a lot but when Carolina beat Edmonton in ’06 they didn’t have a lot either. FLA’s forwards will be able to cause a helluva lot more trouble with the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett (not sure what his health status is though), Ryan Lomberg, Givani Smith, and Patric Hornqvist taking their turns on Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.
- I’m going to take Boston here because it’s the logical decision but should the Panthers take out the Bruins, I will be the least shocked person watching.
Maple Leafs vs. Lightning
- I’m taking Tampa all the way here. They’re banged up, old, and see like they could be ready to pass the torch on but I think it’s a mistake to take all of that and give the series to Toronto.
- The Maple Leafs did a decent job at the deadline addressing their bottom six but did very little to add any game changers to their back-end. McCabe and Schenn will help out in the gutters and Gustafsson, in theory, should be handy in moving the puck up to Marker and Matthews faster, but adding those dmen didn’t move the needle for me.
- Ryan O’Reilly may or may not be a huge difference-maker. He’s had a horrid season and is now coming off of IR, so I’m wondering if he’s going to need some time to get in a rhythm or will he be impactful right off the bat? The Leafs will really need him to be elite defensively against Tampa or I feel like it’s going to be a short series.
- I mean, how badly is Vasilevskiy going to have to play for everyone to forget that Toronto’s goaltending is a massive weak link? Does Keefe even know who he’s going to lean on yet? Kucherov, Stamkos, and Point have to be licking their chops right now.
- This isn’t going to be a long series. I feel like the Lightning are going to mop the ice with this group of Maple Leafs. They’re simply too deep (still) and too experienced.
Carolina vs. Long Island
- I’m cheering for the Canes for no other reason that Jesse Puljujarvi plays for them. I’ve been watching them since the trade and from what I can glean, they’re built for the post-season and what I mean by that is they are a very hard-working team that excels in the muck and grind.
- On the other hand though, Carolina without Svechnikov are a little bit toothless in the goal-scoring department. Seb Aho is about their only true offensive threat, maybe Marty Necas is the other but he’s been cold lately, and the rest of the scoring is done by committee.
- Although, Rod Brind’Amour’s defensemen score quite a bit. I think their blueline might’ve been the highest scoring in the league with Brent Burns, Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei leading the way plus they added Shane Gostisbehere.
- The Islanders take the goaltending battle though. If Ilya Sorokin and hold the fort, the Isles could very well win this series and make it look like it was nothing.
- They’ve got Barzal coming back, Bo Horvat, Anders Lee, and Brock Nelson can fill the net too PLUS those boys are big and battle-tested. Then you toss in JG Pageau, Pierre Engvall, and uber vet Josh Bailey…
- I think Adam Pelech, Noah Dobson, Ryan Pulock, and Scott Mayfield are a fantastic top-four on defense too! Big boys who play the game that is tailor-made for the playoffs. In addition to those four, Alexander Romanov will be a legit threat to the health of every Canes’ forward coming down his wing.
- I’m going to go out on a limb here and take the Islanders. Carolina’s hard work might not be able to outscore the Islanders skill and power.
Devils vs. Rangers
- Hands down, this will be the most exciting match-up of the first round. The youth of NJ lead by the Hughes brothers going up against one of the most complete teams in the league that features the likes of Patrick Kane, Vladdy Tarasenko, and Artemi Panarin…
- New Jersey is such a fun team to watch but I don’t think they’ll be able to do enough to move on to the next round. I just think that NY’s depth is absolutely ridiculous at every turn. If the three future HOFs don’t do enough for you, they’ve got Zibanajed, Chytil, and Kreider after that. Then comes Kakko, Lafreniere, and Trocheck… Brutal.
- NJ has Hischier, Hughes, and Meier to counter that. Then John Marino, Dougie Hamilton, and Damon Severson to carry their D. Unless Vitek Vanecek turns into the next coming of Dominek Hasek, this series is done in five games, max, with New York moving on.
Western Conference
Jets vs. Golden Knights
- Winnipeg has been eating shit down the hind end of this year’s schedule and I’m shocked they didn’t find a way to let Calgary or Nashville pass them in the standings. They’re a team that is in absolute disarray and I’ve got no faith in them to get past Vegas.
- However, every now and then a goaltender emerges and carries a team right through to the Cup final and the Jets have a netminder who could very well do that.
- If Connor Hellebuyck can summon his inner JS Giguere, maybe that would inspire the Nik Ehlers, Blake Wheelers, Nino Niederreiters, Mark Scheifeles, Kyle Connors, or PL Dubois to pick up their games.
- Probably not though, Rick Bowness’ defense is Josh Morrisey and that’s it. The rest is filler.
- Now, the big question will be, how will Jack Eichel look as he makes his post-season debut?
- Another question in my mind is regarding Vegas’ net. Will it be Jonathan Quick they rely on or will Logan Thompson, Adin Hill, or Laurent Brossoit guide this team into the second round?
- I will say this, the Golden Knights’ defense is big, physical, and a little bit dirty. It will be tough sledding cycling in their zone night-in, night-out.
- Lastly on this match-up, with Nashville out, the home arenas in Vegas and Winnipeg will offer the best in-game environments I believe. The way that each fanbase gets involved has been really impressive in recent years.
- It’s Vegas for me here.
Seattle vs. Colorado
- I think that the Avs shouldn’t have too much difficulty taking out the Kraken but at the same time they’re dealing with injuries and this isn’t the same team that erased the Oilers in the Western Conference final last season.
- Seattle has injury concerns of their own going into this series but they’re a hard-working group that could, with a lot of luck, take out Colorado. I mean, it’d take quite a swing in momentum but the Kraken have solid depth down the lineup. It’s not Rangers-like but it wouldn’t be unheard of for a team with no true superstar to band together to defeat an overconfident team.
- It’ll be fun to see former Oilers Jordan Eberle and Adam Larsson back at it in the playoffs.
- So, can Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen bury Seattle on their own if Cale Makar struggles to get to 100%? Maybe. The Kraken’s goaltending isn’t exactly something you write home about.
- I’m probably not going to follow this series much. It seems like it could be one of the more boring ones. For fun I’ll take the Kraken here though.
LA vs. Edmonton
- TWICE in the last 23 years has the league’s top scoring team gone on to win the Stanley Cup. The Pens in 2016 and the Lightning in 2020 (I believe). Do what you will with that information.
- What is up with Kevin Fiala? He can’t seem to get in the lineup for the Kings and he’d be a gamebreaker for LA. Quite the stroke of luck for the Oilers I say.
- A lot of people are going to think Edmonton can keep up this scoring tsunami but in my gut I’m feeling skeptical. I don’t know if the Kings will be able to slow the Oilers down but somebody will be doing it.
- I think that the impact of Ken Holland’s trade deadline additions will be very apparent in this first round. For Jay Woodcroft to be able to rely on two no.1 dmen is going to make a humongous impact and Nick Bjugstad will give LA fits.
- The goaltending is a wash. Korpisalo and Skinner are on even footing in my mind.
- Edmonton’s got the better defense despite Drew Doughty being on the Kings.
- The Oilers have the deeper forward group too. Hyman, RNH, Kane, Yamamoto, I think Dylan Holloway is going to draw in too. It really seems like Kopitar, Danault, Arvidsson, and Fiala (if he plays) will be in tough to outscore Edmonton.
- I don’t know how much TOI Klim Kostin is going to get but I can’t see LA trying to beat Edmonton via submission attempt this year. The Oilers have too many big angry bodies to counter them.
- I fully expect this Oilers team to make it to the Conference Final again but at the same time, there will be some trials and tribulations getting there IF they get there. I could see an injury and/or a suspension happening that will throw serious doubt into their championship goal.
- My pick is Edmonton.
Minnesota vs. Dallas
- If I were to pick a wildcard team to win the Stanley Cup this year, I’d pick Minnesota. They play big boy playoff hockey and they’ve got the skill to thrill.
- Dallas has a great core of veterans in Benn, Seguin, and Pavelski to lead them through. Miro Heiskanen is world class, and Jake Oettinger is one of the league’s better goalies.
- Is all that enough to rival Matt Boldy, M.A. Fleury, Kiril Kaprizov, Jonas Brodin, John Klingberg, and Mats Zuccarello?
- Ryan Reaves won’t play a lot but he’ll make himself a factor at some point. Ryan Hartman is one of the league’s most annoying forwards but he’s also a scoring threat on top of that. Then they’ve got Marcus Foligno rounding out that group of power forwards. He’s simply built for this kind of hockey, isn’t he?
- How do you think the Wild will handle Jason Robertson though? The NHL’s newest superstar has the ability to turn a series on its head.
- See, Dallas has these sneaky players that a lot of folks forget. Max Domi, Evgenii Dadanov, Wyatt Johnston…
- I probably will leave this series alone too, but it has the potential to be a real firecracker if things get heated. I’ll say Minny takes this one.
