The NHL postseason bracket is about. Now comes the chaos.
The Stanley Cup playoffs start Saturday (April 18), bringing with them a wide-open discipline filled with flawed contenders, shaky goaltending and a handful of groups that could be higher than anybody anticipated.
Listed below are the 5 largest storylines heading into the primary spherical.
1. Preseason favorites with one thing to show
The common season was marked by uncharacteristic struggles for groups that many anticipated to see make deep runs. That is significantly true within the Pacific Division, the place typical stalwarts Vegas and Edmonton labored through the regular season.
Both had goaltending issues. The Knights won the Pacific Division despite winning fewer than half their games for the first time in franchise history. Edmonton broke a four-year streak of 100-point campaigns with just 93 points and 41 wins.
A first-round win for both teams — the Oilers over the Ducks, the Knights over Utah — would mean a date with each other in the second round for a spot in the Western Conference final.
2. Where have all the goalies gone?
Goaltending issues are rampant.
Vegas’ opening-night starter, Adin Hill, finished an injury-riddled campaign 93rd among 98 goalies in MoneyPuck’s Goals Saved Above Expected metric. Ottawa’s Linus Ullmark, who performed higher after coming back from a midseason sabbatical, completed 91st in that metric. Not less than three groups will begin goalies on this postseason who completed damaging in that metric. That quantity may rise.
There are questions on who the starter is for Los Angeles, Minnesota and Pittsburgh. Montreal, Carolina, Edmonton and Colorado are likely to start untested playoff netminders. In Buffalo, the goaltending has been good, but it’s also been closer to a committee approach, lacking a clear-cut favorite.
Only Boston, Tampa, Philadelphia, Dallas and Utah have total clarity in net. Of those five, Philadelphia’s Dan Vladar and Utah’s Karel Vejmelka are untested in the postseason. Dallas arguably has better goaltending from backup Casey DeSmith than starter Jake Oettinger.
3. Do the long shots stand a chance?
There are six teams that are +3000 or worse in FanDuel’s odds to win the Stanley Cup. This consists of Pittsburgh (+3000), Utah (+3000), Philadelphia (+3500), Boston (+4000), Anaheim (+4500) and Los Angeles (+6000).
The Penguins have the most favorable path because they play Philadelphia in the first round. Plus, there’s a chance they’d miss Carolina (+600) altogether in the second round because the Canes have an uncharacteristically difficult first-round matchup against Ottawa (+1400).
One other level for the lengthy photographs: Utah, Philadelphia and Boston may have goaltending benefits towards most opponents.
4. The upstarts who aren’t upstarts
The Penguins are a part of a gaggle of groups that do not match neatly into the upstart class. Pittsburgh walks in with no less than three future Corridor of Famers (facilities Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang), a potent offense and one of many best first-round matchups.
In the meantime, the start of a sea change within the NHL has resulted within the arrival of three long-time rebuilders to the postseason: Buffalo, Montreal and Ottawa. The latter two made the playoffs final season, however have been dispatched shortly within the first spherical by superior opponents. All would possibly qualify as upstarts in some years, however these groups current extra as favorites this spring.
5. The playoff format’s victims
The NHL’s weird playoff format resulted in some unsurprisingly weird matchups.
Carolina, high seed within the Jap Convention, is rewarded with the fifth-best workforce within the convention (Ottawa) by report, slightly than the eighth (Philadelphia). The third- (Tampa) and fourth-best groups (Montreal) within the Jap Convention by report will meet within the opening spherical. Out west, the second-best workforce within the convention by report (Dallas) will face the third-best workforce within the convention by report (Minnesota) within the opening spherical.
No. 4 Ottawa vs. No. 1 Carolina opens the playoffs Saturday at 3 p.m. ET.
