Stanley Cup Playoffs, Round 1

I wasn't planning on doing a full Stanley Cup Playoff bracket this season.  Instead, I was just gonna do it round-by-round and hopefully spare myself some of the inevitable unpredictability.  Then my brother-in-law texted me asking to join his NHL Bracket Challenge league, so there went that plan!  So, I guess I'll have to make a call and stick with it.

Before I get to that, though, I've gotta say, the NHL's season-ending schedule was beyond stupid!  The season ended on Thursday, but some teams were done on Monday!  As a result, the Rangers will have almost a week off before the start of the playoffs, while six of the eight Western Conference playoff teams will have two days!

It makes absolutely no sense that each team's final games were spread out so much!  I'm fairly certain that they extended the season until Thursday because of TV (Thursday is ESPN's NHL night), but, if you want to satisfy your TV partners, why not end the season with eight Eastern Conference games on Wednesday and eight Western Conference games on Thursday (or vice versa)?  That makes more sense than having some teams who are done while others still have a back-to-back to end the season.  Or having Nashville sit there with 99 points waiting to find out who they're playing (at least they knew they were already in the playoffs).

The race for the final spot in the East was great.  It came down to Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh fighting for one spot.  The Flyers played the Capitals and the Red Wings were in Montreal on Tuesday night, while Pittsburgh was waiting to play the Islanders on Wednesday.  It all got settled on Tuesday, but imagine if the Capitals or Red Wings could do nothing but watch the Penguins to play on Wednesday, hoping they'd lose, knowing that would determine their playoff fate.  (That is what happened in the West, where it was almost like the final day of the group stage at a World Cup, with the Kings and Golden Knights flipping positions with seemingly every goal scored in either game.)

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's time to move on to the unpredictability that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  Just think about last year, when the Panthers only got in because Pittsburgh lost to Chicago at the end of the regular season, then took out a record-setting, President's Trophy-winning Bruins team en route to a surprise Stanley Cup Final apperance.  And the 2022-23 Bruins became the latest in a long line of President's Trophy winners knocked out in either the first or second round of the playoffs.  That's why I was so adamant in my desire to see the Rangers not win the President's Trophy!  Can they break the curse?

This season, meanwhile, Florida is a legitimate Cup contender.  So are the Rangers.  So are the Bruins.  And the Hurricanes.  That's just in the East!  Out West, you've got the Stars, Canucks, Avalanche, Jets and Oilers.  That's over half the field I can realistically see lifting the Cup two months from now.  But I can also see each of them losing in the first round (either Colorado or Winning definitely will).  Which is part of what makes playoff hockey so great!

Even though this is the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the early-round upsets have become expected, I do think that form will at least somewhat hold.  There are a few matchups between evenly-matched teams, but there are others where the higher-seeded team is very clearly better.  While we've seen that make absolutely no difference at times in the past, we've also seen superior teams start their Stanley Cup runs with dominant first-round showings.

Panthers vs. Lightning: As much as I didn't want the Rangers to win the President's Trophy, I did want them to win the Metropolitan Division.  Why?  Because I had absolutely no interest in facing Tampa Bay!  I doubt that's something the Panthers were looking forward to, either, but here we go.  The two Florida teams have won the last four Prince of Wales Trophies between them, so they're obviously both battle-tested.  And they'll make each other grind it out.  Ultimately, though, I think we see the same result as when these two met in the second round two years ago.  Lightning in six.

Bruins vs. Maple Leafs: Boston and Toronto both have a chip on their shoulder.  The Bruins, of course, suffered that first-round loss at the hands of the Panthers last season.  The Leafs, meanwhile, actually advanced to the second round for the first time in forever, only to become Florida's next victims.  They finally got that monkey off their backs, but you know they come in still thinking they've got a lot to prove.  Which they do.  So do the Bruins.  This'll be a great series, and it'll likely end the same way every Toronto series prior to last season did.  Bruins in seven.

Rangers vs. Capitals: Washington somehow emerged from that crazy, jumbled race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.  I'm still not entirely sure how.  The Capitals are, by far, the weakest of the 16 playoff teams.  Although, as we've seen, that means absolutely nothing.  That doesn't mean the Rangers should or will take them lightly, however.  I can see the Capitals taking a game or two off them, but definitely not four.  Rangers in five.

Hurricanes vs. Islanders: For the second straight season, Carolina meets the Islanders in the first round.  Last year, the Hurricanes won in six, with two of those victories coming in overtime.  This year, I can see it going either way.  Carolina is the better team, but the Islanders are on quite a roll entering the playoffs.  Either way, Sebastian Aho makes it to the second round.  Hurricanes in six.

Stars vs. Golden Knights: We've got a rematch of the 2023 Western Conference Final in the first round of this year's playoffs, as Dallas takes on the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights.  Vegas dropped from third in the Pacific to the second wild card by losing its last game, which gave it the far more difficult matchup against Dallas.  There's something about the Knights that just doesn't give off the same feeling as last season's championship team, but only a fool would count them out.  Regardless, I do think Dallas wins the series.  Stars in six.

Jets vs. Avalanche: After that three-team race in the Central, it was Winnipeg who ended up with home ice in the first-round series between legit Cup contenders.  That mattered far more for the Jets than it would've for the Avalanche.  While it would've been nice for Colorado, they can win without it.  I'm not sure the Jets could.  Frankly, I'm not even sure the Jets can even though they do.  Whoever does win this series, though, has every reason to believe it's just the start of something big.  Avalanche in seven.

Canucks vs. Predators: In January, I went to a Rangers-Canucks game at Madison Square Garden.  Until that game, I had no idea how good Vancouver actually was!  The Canucks are arguably the deepest, most well-balanced team in the NHL, and they absolutely deserve to be considered one of the Cup favorites.  First, they need to get by Nashville, which shouldn't be much of a challenge.  Canucks in four.

Oilers vs. Kings: Edmonton and LA meet in the Pacific 2-3 series for the third consecutive time.  So, needless to say, they're familiar with each other.  Especially at this time of year.  I'm still waiting for that Oilers playoff breakthrough that's been coming, but we still haven't seen yet.  (They did make the Western Conference Final in 2022, but were swept by Colorado.)  Edmonton has won its playoff matchup with the Kings in each of the last two seasons.  Make it three.  Oilers in six.

So, there you go.  Those are my first-round picks.  But, as I said, I filled out a full bracket going all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.  And I keep going back to that Rangers-Canucks game I saw in January.  They looked like the two best teams in the NHL then, and they're still the two best teams in the league now.  Thirty years after they met in that memorable 1994 Stanley Cup Final, they square off again.  And the result will be the same as 1994.  President's Trophy jinx?  What President's Trophy jinx?!  The Rangers get past the Canucks for the Cup once again.