Who Can Beat Boston?

The last time an NHL team entered the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a record-setting regular season, the Lightning got swept by Columbus in the first round in 2019.  The last time Presidents' Trophy winner to even made the Conference Finals was the 2015 Rangers.  And the last to make the Final was a decade ago, when the Blackhawks lifted the Cup.  In fact, six of the last seven Presidents' Trophy winners, including the Bruins twice, have lost in the second round.

You know that Boston is well aware of that history.  The Bruins are also well aware of the fact that their ridiculous regular season guarantees them nothing (other than home ice advantage for as long as they're still alive).  However, they're also clearly the team to beat and as big a favorite to win the Stanley Cup as there's been in recent memory.

So who's the Bruins' biggest competition?  Well, there's obviously the Lightning, who've been to the Stanley Cup Final three years in a row.  And Toronto has put together the pieces to make a deep playoff run.  That is, of course, assuming the Leafs actually win a playoff series for the first time in nearly 20 years!  Don't count out a Ranger team that made the Eastern Conference Final last year, either.

Out West, Vegas is the No. 1 seed, but the Knights face plenty of competition themselves.  Colorado, of course, is the defending champions.  And Edmonton has the offensive firepower that would make any opponent nervous.  It also wouldn't be entirely surprising to see one of the lower-seeded Western Conference teams make a run.  Maybe even the playoff debutants from Seattle.

Bruins-Panthers: Boston doesn't need to look any further than its first-round opponent to know how difficult things have been for Presidents' Trophy winners.  The Panthers got swept by the Lighting in the second round last season.  This year, they get the pleasure of facing a Boston team that has few, if any flaws.  They split four games in the regular season, but the Panthers taking four out of seven in a playoff series seems like a much larger task.  Boston in five.

Maple Leafs-Lightning: Who we kidding?  We know exactly how this series is gonna go.  It'll be the same as what happened when these two met last year.  And every other year.  The Leafs have lost the decisive game of their first-round series five consecutive times.  That includes four Game 7's and Game 5 against Columbus in the 2020 bubble.  The last three of those have been on home ice.  So why would I predict anything other than Toronto losing Game 7 at home until it actually happens?  (Although, I do think that once the Leafs actually do get out of the first round, they'll go all the way to the Final.)  Tampa Bay in seven.

Hurricanes-Islanders: I can guarantee one thing about the Hurricanes-Islanders series.  Sebastian Aho will make it to the second round!  If I had to pick a Sebastian Aho, though, it'd be Carolina's.  Do I think the Hurricanes are a Stanley Cup contender?  Absolutely not!  But they didn't win the Metro Division by accident, and they've got a ton of talent on that team.  The Islanders will definitely give them a series, though.  This is a much better matchup for them than the Bruins would've been.  They'll make the Hurricanes work for it, and I wouldn't be completely surprised if the Islanders take the series.  Carolina in six.

Devils-Rangers: A few years ago, the Rangers went into a rebuild that resulted in the team they have today.  A squad that reached the Eastern Conference Final last season and has been built for another playoff run in 2023.  Their cross-river rivals, the Devils, will definitely have something to say about that, though.  The Devils did their own Rangers-style rebuild and it has paid dividends, resulting in their first playoff berth since 2018 and just their second since they beat the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Final (ahh...the old playoff system!) in 2012.  New Jersey has home ice.  But the Rangers have Igor Shesterkin.  That's the difference.  Rangers in six.

Avalanche-Kraken: Colorado begins its title defense against the Kraken, who made the playoffs for the first time in just their second season.  Although, Seattle has plenty of players with playoff experience, including a few Cup winners (one of whom is Andre Burakovsky, who was a member of the Avalanche last season).  They have a very tough task ahead of them, however.  I was very impressed with the way Colorado rallied to win the division, and they definitely look like they can make a return trip to the Final.  I can see Seattle taking a game or two, but not four.  Colorado in six.

Stars-Wild: Had the Avalanche lost their final game in Nashville, they'd be playing Minnesota and Dallas would be playing the Kraken.  For Colorado, I don't think it matters much.  They would've been the heavy favorite against either team.  Dallas would've felt much more comfortable against Seattle, though.  Because Minnesota is a very tough matchup for them.  The Wild have the advantage in a lot of areas, so I can definitely see this series going either way.  Game 7 would be in Dallas, though.  That's why I'm taking the Stars to advance.  Dallas in seven.

Golden Knights-Jets: Winnipeg really needs Connor Hellebuyck to get hot to have a chance.  And even then, the Jets still might not have enough.  Vegas is that much better than them.  The Golden Knights have extra motivation after missing the playoffs for the first time last season, too.  Believe it or not this will be the first playoff series of Jack Eichel's career.  It won't be the last.  The Knights might lose a game, but they ain't losing four.  Not to Winnipeg at least.  Vegas in four.

Oilers-Kings: This is the other rematch of a 2022 first-round series.  The Oilers won Games 6 & 7 last year en route to the Western Conference Final.  I don't see this year's series being much different.  Last season, it was Edmonton's superior talent that proved to be the difference.  The Oilers still have the superior talent.  McDavid and Draisaitl will be the best players on the ice, and they'll be the reason Edmonton beats LA again.  Edmonton in six. 

Tampa Bay vs. Boston in the second round would be a very compelling series.  The team that's dominated the Eastern Conference for the last three playoff seasons vs. the team that dominated the entire league this season.  Rangers-Hurricanes would be a rematch of 2022, a series that was won by the Rangers.  I see them doing it again, while the Bruins break that Presidents' Trophy second round jinx and guarantee that somebody else represents the Eastern Conference in the Final for the first time since Boston's 2019 squad (although, Montreal did make the Final out of the "North" Division during the temporary realignment in 2021).

In the West, the series I really want to see is Vegas vs. Edmonton in the second round.  They're so similar and they both have so many offensive weapons that it'll really come down to the goaltending, and the winner will be the favorite in the Western Conference Final.  Colorado vs. Dallas, meanwhile, is a bit of a mismatch.  I know the Avalanche finished only a point ahead of the Stars in the regular season.  And I know Dallas still has a bunch of guys from the 2020 Stanley Cup Final team.  I just think the Avalanche are so much better, though.

While I'd love to say the Rangers would hold their own against Boston in the Eastern Conference Final, I know what they'd be up against.  Linus Ullmark will probably win the Vezina, and he'll come up big to send the Bruins to the Final.  My Western Conference Final is a rematch of last year between Colorado and Edmonton.  The Avalanche swept the Oilers last season, but the series was much closer than that.  And this year, I can easily see the tables shifting as Edmonton, after those lean years that resulted in the high draft picks that are the core of the team, gets the chance to bring the Stanley Cup home to Canada for the first time in 30 years.

That's right.  My Stanley Cup Final is a throwback to the late 80s/early 90s.  Edmonton completely dominated two Stanley Cup Finals against Boston in 1988 and 1990, going a combined 8-1 in the two series.  Those were the last two Cups of the Oilers' dynasty.  The Bruins look to start a dynasty of their own and cap off their outstanding regular season with the first of what they hope will be many Cups, as Canada has to wait another year for the next Canadian Stanley Cup champion.