Quoting: Lyle_Bubas
colorado hasn't got further than the second round since 2001 lmfao.
This stacked team hasn't gotten to the conference final despite being cup favourites every year. Yeah they were injured, but the leafs also lost Kadri two years in a row, Muzzin (their best defender) etc.
The leafs are just as likely to go deep as colorado lol, they have equal star power, better goaltending, better defense (relative to previous years, not better defense than colorado)
I just don't know why there's such a huge gap between Toronto and Colorado when really their results are not that dissimilar
I don’t doubt Toronto is a good team but Toronto is not a cup favourite. Colorado was literally better than Dallas this past year. They lost due to goaltending (their own goaltending and AK playing unreal for Dallas). Colorado upgraded their : offence, they upgraded their defence, and they have makar who is expected to continue his development into becoming a star. Colorado also has the second best (and a case for being better than McDavid, a CASE, not saying he is that’s a subjective argument when it comes down so close) player Mackinnon. Colorado also has room to upgrade their goaltending situation which I think they do, especially if byram steps into the NHL this year.
Cup favourites imo are:
Vegas, Tampa (still well see what they look like), Colorado, St. Louis, Philly, Dallas. (No order)
Then we got a grouping of (imo) (no order) :
Wash, Boston, Carolina
Than:
Toronto
Montreal
Isles
Vancouver
Calgary
Columbus
I don’t see Toronto coming out the east compared to Philly, Wash, Tampa. I could see them beating Boston, Carolina. But they gotta go through any of (in order of strength): Tampa, Washington/ Philly/ Boston/ Carolina, then Montreal, Isles and Columbus. It’s just a brick wall - it would be incredible to see them take those guys down (3 teams obv) but I doubt it
I see Colorado being able to beat:
Dallas
Vancouver
Calgary
I see St. Louis x Vegas x Colorado coming down to TDL moves and play. The west is weak (all Cali teams are useless, Arizona went from hero to zero, Calgary just isn’t doing it for me IMO, Vancouver has potential to upset but still aren’t there yet IMO (soon), EDM doesn’t have a good enough team, Jets got potential, Chicago is done - so is minny - so is Nash imo.
The chances of Colorado out of the west is much higher then Toronto out of the east.