Thinking that the Pens are gonna beat the Hurricanes in 5 is ****ing insane

Not looking forward to that Preds vs Nucks series…
On the bright side, at least one of my favourite teams are going to the 2nd round!

There is a higher Carolina sweeps Pittsburgh than Pittsburgh winning the series

I really hope L.A beats EDM in the first round assuming that VGK doesn't pass L.A. L. A deserves it and it would be interesting to see what happens in the off season for EDM.

Every year there is a big upset. I'm not going to count out playoff Crosby. Carolinas depth scoring and goaltending worries me. They seem like they have the highest chance to be fraud checked out of all the top 5 teams in the leauge

I'd have to agree I think LA would do it this year i don't think Edmontos roster outside of their forward core is good enough. If LA's 1-3-1 can shut down McDavid Edmonton doesn’t have a chance. I also think Vegas - Dallas would be a much better series than Dallas - LA.

This is kind of why I want Vegas in round 1 instead LA. It's really really hard to beat a team in 2 playoff series in a row but damn near impossible to do it 3 times. I think if we match up against Vegas we win though

Agreed. I think that would be a funner series

Carolina's depth scoring is a + not a - on the team... Our fourth line has 35,27, and 19 points respectively which is very respectable for a four-line. Our goaltending has been the second-best since mid-December at .917. The highest chances of being frauds would be the Bruins considering their lack of center-depth

People say this every year but somehow nobody ever seems to shut McDavid down. Especially LA: over the past 2 postseasons Edmonton has played 13 games against LA, McDavid has 24 points(!) in those games.

And even if they could shut McDavid down, there's still Draisaitl, who has scored 12 goals and 20 points in the 13 games v LA.

Evander Kane has 10 goals in 13 games v LA.

It's just not as simple as it sounds.

Canes 4th line just has a high shooting % won't be kept up in the playoffs. Anderson isn't good in the playoffs and khachanov doesn't have enough playoff experience. You could pick any random date for any time and they would have a decent numbers. That's what selective numbers are. Completely disagree about Boston they still have an abouslety elite player in Pastanark who the canes don't have anyone even close in comparison. Plus Boston has an absolutely elite tandem in net

Winnipeg was able to shut him down pretty well. Vegas limited his points to Extent. LA is also the best have ever been. Edmonton has stayed the same could Argue worse with their vets like Ekholn getting older. Dristial isn't able to win a series by himself and Kane is an absolute plug

The only one on the fourth line with a super high shooting percentage is Noesen at 13% and the other two are around 8
Andersen posted a .927, .936, and .922 in his last three playoffs respectively
Except for the middle of December isn't a random time... It was the end of a disastrous road trip and a players-only meeting but sure let's just look at 2024 (.919 which is 2nd during that span)
The Hurricanes do have an elite player in Sebastian Aho... 35 goals and 15th in points and this isn't an isolated year considering he's 11th in goals since the 18-19 season
The Hurricanes tandem has been better in 2024 than Ullmark and Swayman.

Vancouver v Nashville is gunna be an all time series; Elite goaltending, activating dmen and some fun skill forwards on both sides
Only other series I'll be watching every game of.

McDavid led that series in individual scoring chances and chances created. The Jets didn't shut him down, Hellebuyck did. And even then he scored 4 points in 4 games, so the term "shut down" isn't all that accurate.


McDavid had 10 points in 6 games vs Vegas. That's 1.67 p/gp. Not even close to being "limited".


Factually incorrect. They aren't even as good as they were last year. Their top players are aging out.


Ekholm is having his best season ever next to Evan Bouchard. He's top-10 in 5v5 scoring among defensemen and 2nd in the league for +/-. AMD you're ignoring LA's aging core. Clearly biased.


If he isn't, then nobody is. He literally set records for playoff scoring two years ago and was well on his way this year until he got axe chopped.


Interesting perspective. The guy is a lock to score 20-30 goals every year, brings size speed and truculence, and elevates his game in the playoffs.