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Colorado Avalanche vs. Los Angeles Kings

The heavy favourites all year in the West face their first challenger in their quest to return to glory, the Los Angeles Kings. After four straight years losing to the Oilers in the first round, the Kings finally get a new matchup. Unfortunately for them it’s the Presidents’ Trophy winning Avalanche.

Colorado has been the number one team in the league practically since the first game of the season, which just so happened to be a win over Los Angeles. Led by another outstanding year from Nathan MacKinnon who is well on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Despite winning the Cup in 2022, I am sure he would like to add a Conn Smythe to his trophy case.

Of course the recipient of that award in 2022 was Cale Makar, who continues to make the case that he’s the best defenseman in the league. A sixth consecutive point per game season, and his fourth time reaching the 20 goal mark. Eligible for an extension on July 1, he likely already has the negotiating power to ask for as much as he wants, but another deep playoff run wouldn’t hurt.

Last year the Avs were taken out by the Dallas Stars in seven games as they were still getting used to playing with each other, both goalies had been traded into town halfway through, and key top six forwards like Necas and Nelson were adjusting to their new team. Safe to say with Necas’ 100 point season, and Nelson’s 33 goals the two are comfortable. 

Their biggest midseason addition this season was a player who needed very little time getting used to things as he spent three years in Colorado, Nazem Kadri. This team has taken a full year to gel and another first round exit would be shocking.

The Kings hope they can put up a fight, if not for themselves at least for captain Anze Kopitar, who announced prior to the season that this would be his final year in the NHL. Los Angeles has the fewest wins of any team in the playoffs (35), but set an NHL record with 20 overtime/shootout losses, to the chagrin of people who hate the ‘loser point’.

Even though the Oilers always got the best of them, they always gave them a run for their money, and perhaps a new opponent is the change of scenery the team needs. This Kings team isn’t exactly the team of years past, because those teams didn’t have Artemi Panarin. Since the trade happened pre-Olympics and the Kings haven’t been very relevant this year, it goes very under the radar that they acquired one of the biggest names via trade this season. The Breadman has always been solid in the playoffs, with 61 points in 73 career games.

The players to watch in this series for Colorado are: Nathan MacKinnon, the Nova Scotian Superstar who is on a mission this season; Cale Makar, one of if not the most exciting blueliners in the entire league let alone playoffs; Martin Necas, coming off a 100 point season looking to show the world he isn’t just a product of his teammates; and Brent Burns, the most games played in the league without a Stanley Cup.

The players to watch in this series for Los Angeles are: Anze Kopitar, in what could be his last series he will leave it all out there; Artemi Panarin, the elite scoring the Kings were desperately needing (27P in 26GP with LA); Drew Doughty, who will take on some of the pressure from his longtime teammates last playoff run; and Adrian Kempe, an elite playoff performer who deserves to get past round one (15G and 29P in 24GP against the Oilers over the last four years). 

Prediction: Avalanche in 5

Vegas Golden Knights vs. Utah Mammoth

Finally, a matchup between two of the ‘newer’ teams in the NHL. We have yet to have been treated to a battle of the most recent expansion teams (Vegas and Seattle), so this will have to do.

After glimpses of a playoff team showed in Utah’s inaugural season, they were able to remain more consistent this year and find themselves in for the first time in franchise history. Powered by their captain Clayton Keller and his 88 point campaign, and contributions all throughout the lineup, such as Guenther’s 40 goal season, and Nick Schmaltz’s career best 74 points. This Mammoth team has a mix of everything, size, skill, and toughness, they live up to the name of their prehistoric mascot. Also that Zamboni is just unreal.

Vegas was excellent to begin the season, and it seemed like adding Mitch Marner in the offseason was going to catapult this team back to their usual contender status. But 82 games is a long time for things to stay consistent, and the Golden Knights had a rough stretch in the middle of the year to say the least. This led to firing Bruce Cassidy with only weeks left in the season and bringing in polarizing coach John Tortorella. To Torts’ credit, he was the injection of ‘no nonsense’ attitude they needed, going 7-0-1 underneath him to finish the year.

Goaltending is an interesting matchup in this series. On one hand you have Utah with a bonafide number one goalie who should play the entire series in Karel Vejmelka. The Czech goaltender was first in the NHL in games played (64) and second in wins (38). Vegas has three goalies with 10+ wins, but Akira Schmid leads the way with only 16, and if you ask most fans, they would say he’s the least likely starter in this series. It looks like Carter Hart will go in game one as he got the bulk of the starts down the stretch, although he hasn’t played a playoff game with fans in the stands in his career. Adin Hill will be waiting in the wings.

The players to watch in this series for Vegas are: Mitch Marner, who has historically played worse in the playoffs hoping to change the narrative; Mark Stone, the team captain who lives for the big moments and getting his team fired up; Rasmus Andersson, the trade acquisition who needs to step up as the team’s best right shot defenseman with no Pietrangelo this year; and Carter Hart, will he be able to shut down the outside noise and deliver?

The players to watch in this series for Utah are: Clayton Keller, has only sniffed the playoffs once in his career back in the bubble; Nate Schmidt, who was excellent for the Panthers this time last year; Dylan Guenther, a sniper who will look to score some big goals this series; and Logan Cooley, the 2022 third overall pick who had a good year but missed some time (43P in 54GP). 

Prediction: Mammoth in 6

Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild

This matchup has been essentially confirmed since January, as Dallas and Minnesota separated themselves from the rest of the Central Division, and sat below the Avalanche for most of the season.

Dallas has lost in the Western Conference Finals three years in a row, and are looking to finally break through and return to the Stanley Cup Finals. They face a gauntlet to get there, beginning with the Wild. A team who hasn’t won a playoff series since 2014.

Dallas had an interesting regular season, some hot stretches, some cold, but they were practically locked into this 2-3 matchup all year long with the gap between them and Colorado. At least I find that interesting, how a team is able to care as much as other teams with not a whole lot to play for for quite a while, I suppose the Wild made the 2 spot in the Central a bit of a race at the end of the year.

The usual familiar faces in D Town, Rantanen, Robertson, Heiskanen, Oettinger, some excellent players and depth for days. Every line is a threat to score, and every defensive pair has an identity; especially the third pair featuring Liam Bischel and Tyler Myers who measure up at 6’7” and 6’8” respectively. No more Pete DeBoer and his perfect record in Game 7s, instead Glen Gulutzan will look to get over the hump that he couldn’t.

This is the best rendition of the Minnesota Wild that we may have ever seen. The same top end talent as years past, like Kaprizov and Boldy. But now they have an elite number one defenseman in Quinn Hughes, who elevates this team from solid squad to a legit cup contender. Not to mention his partner Brock Faber who has grown into a great player in his own right, the pair will be logging heavy minutes this series for sure.

The talent and depth of these rosters is a matchup we could see in the Western Conference Final, but instead we’re getting treated to it in the first round. These two teams played in the first round in 2023, with Dallas winning in six, we’ll see if that has any effect on this version of Minnesota against the team that was formerly Minnesota.

The players to watch in this series for Dallas are: Mikko Rantanen, who showed in the playoffs last year his ability to completely take over games; Miro Heiskanen, he’s been great in his playoff career (65P in 93GP) and has to shut down a fierce Wild attack; Jamie Benn, with only so many chances left in his career to get it done; and Wyatt Johnston, a 45 goal scorer this season who is no longer an underrated piece to this offense but fully a relied upon star each night.

The players to watch in this series for Minnesota are: Quinn Hughes, is he the missing piece they needed to go on a deep run?; Kirill Kaprizov, a superstar tired of the first round exits; Vladimir Tarasenko, who can provide scoring outside the top six and playoff experience; and Matt Boldy, one of the league’s top ‘third best players’ on any team.

Prediction: Wild in 7

Edmonton Oilers vs. Anaheim Ducks

Is it 2017 again? The last time we saw these teams in the playoffs was a different time, it was McDavid’s second season in the league and the Ducks were at the tailend of the Getzlaf/Perry days. Now the script has flipped a little bit, and Edmonton is the team that’s been here before and the Ducks are the scrappy young team making their first playoff run with their core. 

What is there to be said about this Oilers team in the playoffs over the last few years. The best team to not win a Cup by a mile, with two consecutive appearances in the Final, and each of the last four seasons, the team to beat them was the eventual champion (Florida x2, Vegas, Colorado). They turn it up in the playoffs and are as dangerous as any in a seven game series.

Despite being without Leon Draisaitl for the last chunk of the season, Connor McDavid put on his cape and led this team to a respectable record to finish the year, and get home-ice advantage for at least one round. The captain is on fire heading into the postseason, after capturing his sixth career Art Ross Trophy, leading the league in points once again. Draisaitl is expected to return for game one.

Anaheim has been hovering around top three in the division all year long and even looked like they had a real shot at winning the division with about a month left. Unfortunately, they haven’t looked their best as of late and need to figure things out quickly if they want to keep up. 

A large reason for their drop-off in play is they were without Cutter Gauthier for a stretch, and he is the engine of the offense, scoring 41 goals in just his second full season in the league. The young phenom will surely be a thorn in the side of Oilers defensemen, who can give up some quality looks from time to time. Connor Ingram has taken over the crease and has been rather impressive as of late, but it wouldn’t be an Oilers playoff run without a goalie conversation.

More young pieces like Leo Carlsson, Beckett Sennecke and Mason McTavish make up the Ducks forward core, along with veterans such as Kreider and Granlund. A solid group without a doubt, although the bottom six leaves a lot to be desired.

On the point Jackson LaCombe leads the way and he is one of the more underrated defensemen in the league with 10 goals and 58 points this season. They have built up an experienced unit with Trouba, Gudas, and most recently John Carlson who was acquired at the deadline. With all that said, they don’t have an Evan Bouchard, who as polarizing as he may be, is an exceptional defenseman and he turns it up in the playoffs.

The players to watch in this series for Edmonton are: Leon Draisaitl, who is coming off of injury and it remains to be seen how healthy he is; Evan Bouchard, if he can hold his own in the defensive end then the Oilers are laughing; Connor Ingram, little to no playoff experience and being asked to do a lot; and Connor McDavid, you thought I wasn’t going to mention McDavid?

Prediction: Oilers in 6