quick thoughts on each
Ottawa I think has too much depth for Montreal, Carey Price has had an incredible season but outside of that the team in front of him has been poor
Pacioretty and his 37 goals are going to miss at least game 1, and when you take him away the Canadiens lose their top scorer when they are already the lowest scoring team in the playoffs. The Sens biggest weakness is their depth on D, which is not something the Canadiens should be able to take huge advantage of
Ottawa had a great record against the Habs this year, their quick breakout really causes the Habs problems, outshot them by 40 over 3 games
Islanders/Caps I went back and forth on, its going to basically come down to the Isles being able to stay out of the box, I think they can
the biggest advantage of this that makes me side with the Isles here is they lead the league in shots per 60, with a ton of talent up front, and shaky goaltending ill take the team putting up more chances (Halak had a great run with Montreal a few years ago so he has some experience)
Isles showed last year they werent too small for the playoffs when they took it ti Pittsburgh, and adding Leddy and Boychuk in D, two guys with cup wins the last 3 years, gives them enough experience in the room
Tampa I just think is a huge mismatch
highest scoring team in the league, arguably the deepest top 6 in the league (Chicago maybe matches with a healthy Kane), 5 forwards over 63 points
Red Wings goaltending has been a mess lately with Babcock saying he had no clue who would start on the weekend
Really dont trust the Red Wings defense either, they can throw Kronwall out against the Stamkos line or the triplets and he should hold his own, but the other one is going to be a huge mismatch
in general the Lightning have a ton of speed too
I like the Rangers a lot here but I do think the Penguins have the two best players in the series, which is always going to be a threat, and arguably have their deepest top 6 since the cup year
No Letang really hurts, but really only 5 on 5, Ehrhoff is back and he can QB the powerplay
But in the end the Rangers should have too much depth, two shutdown pairings (along with a great puck moving pair), AV has always loved to line match too, and he's arguably the best in the league at it
Blackhawks I think are when healthy the cup favorite, I like Nashville game 1 because even with Kane back I think it takes him awhile to get acclimated
Nashville has 8 wins in their last 25 games and have really fallen off, they really just lack the depth up front to compete with Chicago
Rinne is definitely a huge advantage over Crawford, and Nashville has an incredible D led by Weber and Josi
Flames are just too young I think here and wont be able to match up with the Sedins who have gotten stronger as the year has gone on, both ending up in the top 15 in league scoring
Flames defense without Giordano really lacks depth, Brodie is very underrated, but Wideman and Engellend playing big minutes can and has all season led to them giving up a ton of shots
the one advantage the Flames have is speed, which the Canucks have struggled with this season, if they can limit the chances Gaudreau and Monahan get off the rush they can really stifle them
Lack has been a revelation since Millers injury which gives the Canucks a big advantage in net
St.Louis I think has the deepest all around team in the league, they dont have the top tier talent the Hawks have outside Tarasenko
they have 2 strong units on d anchored by Petro or Shattenkirk, their top 9 up front can all play physical and score
they haven't been able to get over the hump yet, so their is the psychological factor at play, which stopped me from a series bet
Wild have been on a great run due to Dubnyk, whom I dont exactly trust, but the bigger issue is after Suter I dont like anyone on their D as more than a bottom pairing guy
Playing Suter 30 minutes a night is going to cause him to wear down too, I imagine Backes and Oshie take runs at him every chance they get
just think the Blues are too big and physical and wear down Minnesota over 6 or 7
Jets/Ducks should be a war, two of the biggest teams in the league, two very physical teams and I think the Jets are prime for an upset here
They are a better possession team, allow less goals, and are arguably deeper
the ducks are definitely top heavy though, probably the best forwards in the series but after that they lack a lot of depth
I also think the Ducks trades at the deadline hurt, they went for a bit more skill and have sort of lost their identity
big issues in goal too
