Stanley Cup First Round Predictions

What time is it? IT'S CUP TIME!

The Stanley Cup Playoffs have arrived! We started this journey way back in October with thirty two teams all eyeing the biggest prize in hockey. After an eighty two game regular season, here we sit with sixteen teams left standing. There's a lot of big storylines going into this years playoffs.

Can Colorado build off its Presidents Trophy win? Can Edmonton get back to the finals for the 3rd year in a row? Can Utah have a magic run in only it's second year in existence? Can Tampa keep the Eastern Conference title in the state of Florida? Buffalo ends its long playoff drought, how well can they build off it? Will there be a Canadian team to end the country Cup drought?

We will find out in the coming weeks. Right now its the first round, and here's how we see it going down.

Carolina Hurricanes vs Ottawa Senators

Pick: Hhrricanes in 5!

I'm taking Carolina in five here, but it may end up going deeper than that. Ottawa has been coming into this year's playoffs hot, winning six of their final ten games. And with how well Lnus Ullmark has played, he might be able to steal a couple of games. But, at the same time, the Hurricanes come in as the best team in the East. With all their playoff experience, Carolina should be able to take this series.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Philadelphia Flyers

Pick: Penguins in 7!

Nobody really expected either of these two teams to make the playoffs this year but here we are. Flyers have a good team, I can't take that away from them. But at the same time they backed in, in a sense. Pittsburgh has been playing good hockey down the stretch. And that playoff experience takes hold in a big way.

Buffalo Sabres vs Boston Bruins

Pick: Sabres in 6!

Boston has been good this year, but lets be realistic here. There's magic in the air in Buffalo. First playoff appearance since 2011, first division title since 2010. It's been a long time coming. And they have been one of the hottest teams the last month or so of the season.

Tampa Bay Lightning vs Montreal Canadiens

Pick: Lightning in 6!

This is going to be a physical series. What going to be the difference in this series is the experience. Montreal has been good but Tampa has been in the playoffs for nine straight years. They know what they doing and they have managed to keep changing out the parts when needed to help keep the train moving along. Montreal has proven this year that they can be a thorn in Tampa's side but Tampa is going to use that as motivation.

Colorado Avalanche vs Los Angeles Kings

Pick: Avalanche in 4!

Look maybe the Kings can surprise somebody. They may be able to steal a game. If everything were to break right. Colorado is the deepest most balanced team in the league and they got better as the year moved along. This should be the easiest series to pick.

Dallas Stars vs Minnesota Wild

Pick: Stars in 7!

This may go six in the short but most likely will go the full distance. Its going to be the most evenly matched series of the entire first round. At the end of the day, the Stars top end talent is deeper and has more variety than what you get in Minnesota. Lets not get it twisted, adding Quin Hughes in the mix by the Olympic break was massive and took the Wild up a notch. But Dallas is just a little bit deeper. And that gives them the edge.

Edmonton Oilers vs Anaheim Ducks

Pick: Oilers in 5!

Maybe giving the Ducks a game in this series is light. Last time the Ducks were in the playoffs was nine years ago and they got swept. The youth movement in Anaheim has arrived and is clicking at full strength. But they are going up against the two time defending Western Conference Champions. Oh and they still have the best player in the world. I'm still a little concerned about their questions between the pipes, but that won't be a factor in the first round.

Vegas Golden Knights vs Utah Mammoth

Pick: Golden Knights in 6!

Utah has to get the credit they deserve. Second year in existence and they already a playoff team. They can steal a couple of games but the Golden Knights experience and talent level will take center stage here

Star Hangs Up Pads

Professional athletes know when its time to call it a career. After playing a sport for a long time, you know when its time to put the gear away and hang the jersey up for the final time. At the age of 40, NHL goalie Jonathan Quick has realized that now is that right time. Quick has called it a career. After 19 years in the National Hockey League, Quick has decided that this was the right time to bring the curtain down on an outstanding career.

Quick was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings with the 72nd overall pick in the 2005 entry draft. The Kings called him up in December of 2007 and he never looked back. He made the jump to the NHL for good during the 2008-09 season. He stayed in Los Angeles until he was traded to Vegas during the 2022-23 season where he finished that year out. He then went on to sign with the New York Rangers and spent the final three years of his career there before hanging the pads up. During that 19 year career, he played 829 games going 410-307-90 with 65 career shutouts, a .910 save percentage and a 2.15 goals against average. He won two Stanley Cups while in Los Angeles and another one while in Vegas, winning a Conn Smythe trophy (playoff MVP) in 2012. He played in three NHL all star games, was named to the NHL Second All Star team in 2012 and twice won the Jennings Trophy (which is awarded to the team with the fewest goals against in the league) in 2014 and 2018.

Quick’s 410 wins and 65 shutouts are the all time record for American born goalies. His 829 games played are the 2nd most by an American, behind John Vanbiesbrouck’s 882. His goals against average is 4th and his save percentage is 10th amongst American goalies.

Quick was and is a great representation for American hockey in the best league in the world. He was one of the most agile goalies in the history of the sport and, for my money, was one of the biggest reasons the Kings had the level of success they did while he was playing out in LA. He wasn’t as flashy, at least not as far as numbers go, as some of the other goalies of his time. Guys like Carey Price, Roberto Luongo, Marc-Andre Fleury may have put up the better numbers. What Quick had in his favor was his consistency. Up until his final year here in New York, He had only had two other seasons in which he finished the year with a losing record.

Now for the big question, are the numbers and everything else good enough to get Quick into the Hockey Hall of Fame. I’d say yes, depending on the year. He had good enough numbers to get him into the Hall, it just depends on who else is on the ballot in the given year. There’s only one goalie right now, maybe two, that deserve to get in ahead of Quick when his time for induction comes around. Still he’s had a good enough career that he deserves enshrinement.

Congratulations on a heck of a career Quick, and enjoy retirement!

Problem In Queens

If you're a fan of the New York Mets, now might be a good time to start showing some level of concern. Following last nights 4-0 shutout loss to the Dodgers in Los Angeles, the Mets have been shut out for the 2nd day in a row and currently sit at a 7-10 record in this early season. But that’s where we are starting to see some signs and reason for showing concern with this ball club.

This Mets team is one of flux and frustration. It was a team last year who had one of the biggest collapse in not only baseball history, but sports history. By late July last year, they were 18 games above .500 and well secure in a playoff spot. By the last weekend in September, they had fallen out of the playoffs, finishing just four games above .500. Reason for the fault and falling from grace a season ago was bad pitching the second half of the year. Due to this, there were a lot of offseason moves that were made to try and improve the pitching staff, and retool the batting order.

Well, at least at the start of the season, the pitching staff has looked decent. Now we aren’t saying that this pitching staff has set the world on fire at the beginning of this season. At the same time, they do look like they have, at least at the time of this writing, that they have settled in and could be a solid staff as the year goes along. Sure, David Peterson is getting lit up in his first four starts, having an ERA at 6.41. Kodai Senga is also struggling to start the year, with an ERA over 7. The other starters, mostly Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes, have pitched very well. The pitching staff has shown some signs of not doing very well, but for the most part, the staff has been solid. What really worries me is the offense with this team. Through the first 17 games, the team is hitting .230, which is 17th in baseball, they’ve scored 62 runs which is 25th in baseball, and their 13 home runs is tied for 22nd. Of their everyday regulars, not including Juan Soto who’s out hurt as of this writing, two guys are hitting about .275. That being Francisco Alvarez and Luis Robert Jr who are both hitting over .300. Nobody else is hitting above .250, which is getting frustrating.

Yes, we know its still early in the season. We are only three weeks, almost, into the year, so there’s still a lot of baseball left. But there is a problem that’s starting to grow more and more. Currently, they’re riding a six game losing streak, one in which they’ve been outscored 29-9. It’s like they might have left their bats in San Francisco. Nothing seems to be going right. A lot of the issues fall right now on the offense going AWOL. And the team needs to get it figured out quickly. Again, sure there’s still a lot of baseball left to be played. But if the team doesn’t start finding its game and fast, they could bury themselves too deep into a hole to dig out for a playoff run late in the year. No, you can’t clinch a playoff spot in April. At the same time you could also play yourself right out of contention early on as well.

There is still reason to hold out optimism for this baseball team as we near the heart of April. But the way things have gone the last week in New York, things aren’t looking all that good and its starting to cause quite a bit of worry.

Big Changes On Long Island

You know things are getting bad for the New York Islanders when they have to make a change this late in the season. At one point the Islanders were riding high and looked like they’d be sitting comfortably to make the playoffs. Now, they have hit the skids. A four game losing streak and losing seven of the last ten games has caused a major change. Patrick Roy was relieved of his duties as the team head coach, being replaced by longtime NHL coach Peter DeBoer.

There’s a lot to unpack with all of this. This isn’t the first time that a coaching change has been made this late in the season for a team that could be bound for the playoffs. The Vegas Golden Knights already did that this year, replacing Bruce Cassidy with John Tortorella. Vegas is sitting in 3rd in the Pacific Division at the time of the move and this writing. It happened in 2000 with the New Jersey Devils when they fired Robbie Ftorek with nine games remaining, replacing him with Larry Robinson. The Devils went on to win the Cup that year, and that’s a very different situation and team than what both the Islanders and Vegas have right now.

Now then, as for the Islanders with Roy out and DeBoer coming in. Roy came in mid season in 2024, replacing Lane Lambert as the Isles head coach. He lasted on Long Island parts of three seasons. When he took over in 2024 he helped guide the Islanders into the playoffs, where they got bounced by Carolina in the first round. Then last year, in a full season, the Islanders finished at .500, with a 35-35-12 record and missed the playoffs. This year, at the time of his firing, he was 42-31-5 and in 4th in the Metropolitan Division and outside of the playoffs at the time of this writing. He finished his tenure with the Islanders having a record of 97-78-22 in 197 games coached.

Now the big question, why make the move this late? The eye test tells you everything you need to know. Sure, injuries have taken their tole this late in the year. Kyle Palmari and Alex Ramonav being out for most of the year has played a factor. And we can add in some of the questionable moves by new GM Mathieu Darche late in the year as a factor as well. Let’s be realistic Brayden Schenn and Ondrej Palat haven’t really been living up to expectations up from and Carson Soucy hasn’t been as good on the back end, but that’s another argument for another time. The last couple of games, the entire Islanders team has looked lost and played uninspired hockey. They are playing flat, missing assignments in their defensive end and getting no real offensive pressure at the other end of the ice. It’s tough to watch. Now sure, you can’t replace the players, that’s not possible. But Roy seemed to lose the team in that no matter what he did, he wasn’t able to get them motivated to play better and actually show up on the ice.

Maybe management is hoping for something better with Peter DeBoer taking over. This is the 6th coaching job DeBoer has had in the NHL, having coached with the Panthers, Devils, Sharks, Golden Knights and Stars. He’s only missed the playoffs 5 times during his coaching career. But this is coming into a different situation. He’s taking over a team that has four games left, and at time of this writing is sitting a point out of not only the final wild card spot in the East, but 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division. Getting second in the division is a lot harder to be able to catch. But 3rd in the division and the final wild card spot are still a possibility. A lot still has to fall right for the Islanders to even have a chance at playing hockey come playoffs. First things first, they basically have to either win out or get points in every one of their final four games. Last four games are all at home to end the season, hosting Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Carolina. They also need help from the Flyers and even a team they play in the Senators losing down the stretch.

There’s a lot of factors in play as to whether or not the Islanders get in. Maybe this coaching change will help get them over the hump. Or maybe its too little too late.