2023 Playoff Predictions

[BigTed3]

In my original predictions to start the year I had the Rangers, Leafs, Oilers, and Avs as my final 4 teams, and my current predictions are still right there. The only change I'm making in my final 4 is that I'll now take Edmonton to beat the Rangers for the Cup instead of the other way around. The Rags, in my view, are going to have to play a lot of games to get to the Cup finals and that may wear them down. So here's how I see the playoffs shaping out:

 

- Bos over Fla in 6

- Tor over TB in 6

- Car over NYI in 5

- NYR over NJ in 7

 

- Col over Sea in 5

- Dal over Min in 6

- Wpg over LV in 7

- Edm over LA in 6

***

- Tor over Bos in 7

- NYR over Car in 6

 

- Col over Dal in 7

- Edm over Wpg in 5

***

- NYR over Tor in 7

- Edm over Col in 6

***

- Edm over NYR in 7

[Regis22]

Toronto to the semi finals eh ? Geez this city is going to go nuts 

[BigTed3]

34 minutes ago, Regis22 said:

Toronto to the semi finals eh ? Geez this city is going to go nuts 

Yeah, but who are we cheering for to come out of our division? Boston? Florida, when that causes our draft pick to plummet from 17th to 29th-32nd? Or perennial winners and rival Tampa? No good choices there. Not saying I want Toronto, but their roster is better-built for the playoffs this year than it has been in a long time, so long as their goaltending stays healthy.

[Regis22]

I have no vested interest . If Toronto hoes deep it will give me something to watch ( I live here  so….  )

Otherwise I wouldn’t mind seeing mcdavid  light it up  

[BigTed3]

3 hours ago, Regis22 said:

I have no vested interest . If Toronto hoes deep it will give me something to watch ( I live here  so….  )

Otherwise I wouldn’t mind seeing mcdavid  light it up  

I have no vested interest either. If you ask me what order I'd like to see teams win the Cup, it'd probably be something like

1. Edm

2. Col

3. Car

4. Wpg

5. LA

6. NYI

7. NJ

8. Min

9. Sea

10. Dal

11. LV

12. NYR

13. TB

14. Tor

15. Bos

16. Fla

... but to be honest, there aren't a ton of feel-good stories out there and there isn't much that separates those teams for me outside of hoping one of our biggest rivals doesn't win. I'll root for McDavid and Draisaitl on skill and Kulak on being a former Hab, I'll root for Lehkonen and Eller in Colorado and for that being a fun team to watch, as is Carolina. I'll somewhat support Winnipeg for being Canadian, even though I despise Scheifele, and I'll cheer for Danault in LA. I'd enjoy the Isles as underdogs, and the same to some degree for Seattle, although it would be a bit of a farce if they go all the way. And I don't mind the young talent in NJ either and I like Tatar. But not sure how many games I'll actually tune in to and certainly not losing sleep if any team in particular gets knocked out.

[Regis22]

 

Edmonton - I'd like to see McDavid  smash playoff records but alas Im not too confident in their goaltending

Everyone else like you mention "  there aren't a ton of feel-good stories out there "

Colorado - I like Nate but you won last year 

Boston - don't like the announcer Jack Edwards ; Carolina and their storm surge  and I don't care for JK   ;  I could probably go through all the teams and there isn't anyone / anything that would have me pulling for a certain team

Toronto - I live here . So long as they are in , the city shows interest , there's a reason to watch .  Dad liked the Leafs and he would have liked watching them actually win a playoff series and this might be the year where they actually win a round and he's not going be here to see it  so that sucks 

I hope there's alot of  OT's and seven game series 

 

 

[campabee82]

12 hours ago, Regis22 said:

 

Edmonton - I'd like to see McDavid  smash playoff records but alas Im not too confident in their goaltending

Everyone else like you mention "  there aren't a ton of feel-good stories out there "

Colorado - I like Nate but you won last year 

Boston - don't like the announcer Jack Edwards ; Carolina and their storm surge  and I don't care for JK   ;  I could probably go through all the teams and there isn't anyone / anything that would have me pulling for a certain team

Toronto - I live here . So long as they are in , the city shows interest , there's a reason to watch .  Dad liked the Leafs and he would have liked watching them actually win a playoff series and this might be the year where they actually win a round and he's not going be here to see it  so that sucks 

I hope there's alot of  OT's and seven game series 

 

 

I feel the same way, I lost my dad 5 years ago now and he was a huge Leafs fan so I might pull for the Leafs just for that reason. My wife is an Av's fan too so.... LOL

[CaptWelly]

I have no dog in this race. Though I did get Carolina in the blind draw hockey pool I'm in. Personally, I absolutely don't want Edmonton to win though I believe they have a great chance. Ladeskov being out is a big hurt on Colorado. I do think the avs if they get Lehks, and Makar back healthy have a good shot also. I would rather see Colorado. I've always loved the upset's so if Winnepeg went on a run I wouldn't mind that. My sister's favorite team is Boston who I've always hated, but I do have respect for Bergeron and I could be okay with them winning because I think he'd then retire. (Can they win without Marchand being allowed to play somehow?) I'm hoping NJ can upset the Rangers. I like the Hughes brothers and sort of don't like a team that just loads up for a playoff run. With the fact they didn't have to earn much when players just keep going to them. I'd love to see LA upset Edmonton also!

There definitely should be some good match ups. 

[campabee82]

I forgot to add that I want to see Winnipeg out early, especially if there is a plan to trade PLD to Montreal, let's get him here early and extend him quickly. I like the idea of having PLD, Zuke, Dach as top 6 options with whoever we draft as a 3C or sent to Laval for development.

[CaptWelly]

2 hours ago, campabee82 said:

I forgot to add that I want to see Winnipeg out early, especially if there is a plan to trade PLD to Montreal, let's get him here early and extend him quickly. I like the idea of having PLD, Zuke, Dach as top 6 options with whoever we draft as a 3C or sent to Laval for development.

If we don't get a top 2 pick I agree that would be a nice top 3. It would make for good match ups good depth. All young enough to develop wingers and be moving forward sooner. 

[campabee82]

7 hours ago, CaptWelly said:

If we don't get a top 2 pick I agree that would be a nice top 3. It would make for good match ups good depth. All young enough to develop wingers and be moving forward sooner. 

Even if we pick top 2, adding Fantilli or Bedard to the mix just means Dach likely stays on the wing permanently and maybe PLD moves later. I wouldn't rule out a PLD trade just cause we win one of the lotteries.

[jennifer_rocket]

We all ready to cheer to Boston for knock Florida out?

[H_T_L]

17 minutes ago, jennifer_rocket said:

We all ready to cheer to Boston for knock Florida out?

Cheering for a team to lose is not the same as cheering for the other team to win.

[CaptWelly]

7 hours ago, campabee82 said:

Even if we pick top 2, adding Fantilli or Bedard to the mix just means Dach likely stays on the wing permanently and maybe PLD moves later. I wouldn't rule out a PLD trade just cause we win one of the lotteries.

It wouldn't mean Dach would have to stay on the wing. The team could easily roll 3 to 4 lines. The deeper your team is the stronger your team is. Edmonton doesn't use Drasatial always with Mc David , but having the ability to do so makes them much more dangerous. Just as RNH is a #3 center on their team but still gets #1 unit PP and jumps up to number 2 when they do put the others together. Look at the depth Boston has. The deeper your team is the better and much harder to defend against. 

[BigTed3]

6 hours ago, CaptWelly said:

It wouldn't mean Dach would have to stay on the wing. The team could easily roll 3 to 4 lines. The deeper your team is the stronger your team is. Edmonton doesn't use Drasatial always with Mc David , but having the ability to do so makes them much more dangerous. Just as RNH is a #3 center on their team but still gets #1 unit PP and jumps up to number 2 when they do put the others together. Look at the depth Boston has. The deeper your team is the better and much harder to defend against. 

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having depth if you can afford it. But also important to remember that

1. Suzuki and Caufield were not nearly as good without Dach next to them, so if we're playing Dach on a separate line, we also need to address who the 1RW is before we can aim to have a good 3C. No sense in having three good centers if none of the lines produce.

2. There are only a certain number of minutes of ice time to go around. If, for example, you have Suzuki, Dach and one of Bedard/Fantilli/PLD as your 3 centers, two of them are necessarily off the ice at any given time at ES. If you give your 1st line say 20 minutes of ice and your 2nd and 3rd line 16 minutes and your 4th line 8 minutes, then Dach and the 3C would be seeing the ice less than if they were on Suzuki's wing. There are creative ways of getting around this, but it comes back to the same premise as point 1, which is that the wingers need to be better to run 3 lines evenly. You can't be running Hoffman, Gallagher, Pitlick, and Armia in the top 9 and expect to maximize the value of your skilled pivots.

[campabee82]

22 minutes ago, BigTed3 said:

There's absolutely nothing wrong with having depth if you can afford it. But also important to remember that

1. Suzuki and Caufield were not nearly as good without Dach next to them, so if we're playing Dach on a separate line, we also need to address who the 1RW is before we can aim to have a good 3C. No sense in having three good centers if none of the lines produce.

2. There are only a certain number of minutes of ice time to go around. If, for example, you have Suzuki, Dach and one of Bedard/Fantilli/PLD as your 3 centers, two of them are necessarily off the ice at any given time at ES. If you give your 1st line say 20 minutes of ice and your 2nd and 3rd line 16 minutes and your 4th line 8 minutes, then Dach and the 3C would be seeing the ice less than if they were on Suzuki's wing. There are creative ways of getting around this, but it comes back to the same premise as point 1, which is that the wingers need to be better to run 3 lines evenly. You can't be running Hoffman, Gallagher, Pitlick, and Armia in the top 9 and expect to maximize the value of your skilled pivots.

1. Your right, I would like to keep Dach there if at all possible and it is possible if we got PLD and didn't win the lottery then we simply keep Dvo there for the time being. Ideally though you could find a winger capable of playing with those 2 in FA since we have a crap ton of cap.

2. Each line could play 17 minutes a night even strength and have the 4th line playing 9 minutes to even it all up. If we were to do that we have wingers capable of playing top 9 roles. Caufield, Slaf, RHP, Gallagher, Anderson and a spot filled by a rookie (Farrell or Roy most likely) providing we don't win the lottery. If we did win the lottery then you have even more options with Zuke, PLD/Dach, Bedard/Fantilli as your 3 centers and Caufield, PLD/Dach, Slaf, RHP, Anderson and Gallagher as your top 9 wingers and no room for rookies (Farrell and Roy would be sent to Laval/Jr.)

[BigTed3]

5 hours ago, campabee82 said:

1. Your right, I would like to keep Dach there if at all possible and it is possible if we got PLD and didn't win the lottery then we simply keep Dvo there for the time being. Ideally though you could find a winger capable of playing with those 2 in FA since we have a crap ton of cap.

2. Each line could play 17 minutes a night even strength and have the 4th line playing 9 minutes to even it all up. If we were to do that we have wingers capable of playing top 9 roles. Caufield, Slaf, RHP, Gallagher, Anderson and a spot filled by a rookie (Farrell or Roy most likely) providing we don't win the lottery. If we did win the lottery then you have even more options with Zuke, PLD/Dach, Bedard/Fantilli as your 3 centers and Caufield, PLD/Dach, Slaf, RHP, Anderson and Gallagher as your top 9 wingers and no room for rookies (Farrell and Roy would be sent to Laval/Jr.)

But then, do you really want to be paying Suzuki and Caufield 8M a year to play 17 minutes a night? If you sign guys to big money, they need to be able to play 20+ minutes a night. Otherwise, you're not getting your money's worth.

[Habsology2]

On 4/17/2023 at 8:42 AM, H_T_L said:

Cheering for a team to lose is not the same as cheering for the other team to win.

I like that distinction

[CaptWelly]

15 hours ago, BigTed3 said:

But then, do you really want to be paying Suzuki and Caufield 8M a year to play 17 minutes a night? If you sign guys to big money, they need to be able to play 20+ minutes a night. Otherwise, you're not getting your money's worth.

Far better than paying 12-15 Million and hoping one or two players can do it all because you couldn't afford to "build" a team. Also with PP and PK the players will get there minutes. I'm pretty sure McDavid , Draisital and RNH all get 20 + minutes a night or close. It gives a team a lot more flexibility and protection from when injuries happen, and we all know they will. Boston finally has a team where they didn't have to have one line carry all the load, they seemed to do pretty well. Even juist taking Kane out of the line up hurt the Oilers. What happens if McDavid or Draisital get hurt? 

[claremont]

23 hours ago, campabee82 said:

1. Your right, I would like to keep Dach there if at all possible and it is possible if we got PLD and didn't win the lottery then we simply keep Dvo there for the time being. Ideally though you could find a winger capable of playing with those 2 in FA since we have a crap ton of cap.

2. Each line could play 17 minutes a night even strength and have the 4th line playing 9 minutes to even it all up. If we were to do that we have wingers capable of playing top 9 roles. Caufield, Slaf, RHP, Gallagher, Anderson and a spot filled by a rookie (Farrell or Roy most likely) providing we don't win the lottery. If we did win the lottery then you have even more options with Zuke, PLD/Dach, Bedard/Fantilli as your 3 centers and Caufield, PLD/Dach, Slaf, RHP, Anderson and Gallagher as your top 9 wingers and no room for rookies (Farrell and Roy would be sent to Laval/Jr.)

I love the idea of Pierre-Luc Dubois possibly being here in 2024-25 more as a UFA. If Winnipeg goes out early, this year does PLD's market value go down (he didn't elevate the jets etc.), and it opens up the whole cost argument to acquire him this year including long term contract AAV. Is there risk of putting him into the "Drouin" situation where we put PLD into the appointed  throne now, over and above the leaders of Suzuki/Caufield etc. MB did that with Drouin and was a large failure. Would certainly not give up the first round picks for this year for PLD Give up the 1st round Calgary 2025 is probably not enough on its own. Give up Josh Anderson plus parts (Dvo / Evans / 3rd rounder - ok, but thats' a whole previosly covered debating topic. 

Suzuki  PLD/Dach , this years top 5 pick Will Smith / Oliver Moore (in lieu of Bedard / Fantilli), are not massive drop-offs with an Owen Beck would be IMO a good recipe for center ice success. Either way we need a strong 2C and not sure Dach is that longer term solution. Need to see more of Dach at centre in 2023-24. 

[Regis22]

I’m starting to wonder what the big fascination with PLD is . Sure he’s at hometown boy , 6’ 4 “ etc but nick Suzuki ended up with more points than him two yrs in a row playing on a crappy Montreal tesm 

[H_T_L]

5 minutes ago, Regis22 said:

I’m starting to wonder what the big fascination with PLD is . Sure he’s at hometown boy , 6’ 4 “ etc but nick Suzuki ended up with more points than him two yrs in a row playing on a crappy Montreal tesm 

With a ton of different linemates.

[CaptWelly]

1 hour ago, claremont said:

I love the idea of Pierre-Luc Dubois possibly being here in 2024-25 more as a UFA. If Winnipeg goes out early, this year does PLD's market value go down (he didn't elevate the jets etc.), and it opens up the whole cost argument to acquire him this year including long term contract AAV. Is there risk of putting him into the "Drouin" situation where we put PLD into the appointed  throne now, over and above the leaders of Suzuki/Caufield etc. MB did that with Drouin and was a large failure. Would certainly not give up the first round picks for this year for PLD Give up the 1st round Calgary 2025 is probably not enough on its own. Give up Josh Anderson plus parts (Dvo / Evans / 3rd rounder - ok, but thats' a whole previosly covered debating topic. 

Suzuki  PLD/Dach , this years top 5 pick Will Smith / Oliver Moore (in lieu of Bedard / Fantilli), are not massive drop-offs with an Owen Beck would be IMO a good recipe for center ice success. Either way we need a strong 2C and not sure Dach is that longer term solution. Need to see more of Dach at centre in 2023-24. 

A lot will depend on who and where we draft. We could draft the Russian kid. Sounds like all world talent. Hugo does like wingers at high picks and he's not in a rush to rebuild. In that case if we didn't go after a center (and beyond Fantilli and Beddard ) non are locks to be #1 NHL centers. It's possible that Beddard plays wing in the NHL he's not big. Then it might make sense. I do agree though we shouldn't be in a rush to sign him or overpay. I also wouldn't pay him beyond what Suzuki is getting. He wants to play here then he helps make it work and helps leave money on the table to build around the rest. Montreal is in a good position "if" he really wants to come here.