Toronto is a bit of an enigma to me.
On the one hand, they have owned my Bolts this year, have had a strong season, definitely feels like they are better suited for playoff hockey than they have in previous seasons.
On the other hand, their underlying numbers/advanced stats have been unimpressive and it is hard to reconcile one with the other.
Their power play is plenty good but their penalty killing is a little below league average, which is not what you want to see, although they do not take a ton of penalties.
Their goaltending has been quite good, but I wonder if their tandem introduces hard questions for the coaching staff if one guy gets off to a shaky start.
Then you add in the history and the pressure. I dunno, something tells me this is the year they get over the hump and win more than 5 games. But then again, both Tampa and Florida look really nasty this year.
I would say that one of those three teams is going to the Cup, but hard to tell who. Carolina doesn't strike me as a much better team than the ones that have gotten bumped early. I could see a conference final appearance but not a ton more. I think Montreal might even give them a tough time. New Jersey is good but they just won't be able to fill in for Hughes for all that long. Washington just screams "regression candidate." They take a ton of penalties and don't really have a ton of experience up and down the lineup aside from a couple of holdovers from their last big run.
In the West, I think Winnipeg has all the right pieces but it comes down to execution. If Dallas gets its stars back (ha) early enough, I think they are poised to take the West. Colorado is great, too, but I wonder about the goaltending and the depth players. Edmonton seems to have taken a step back, and while I will never cast doubt on McDavid's ability to take over a series, he just hasn't shown that level of worldbeater dominance this year. Couple that with the four nations and he looks--dare I say--tired. The Ekholm loss is huge. I just don't know that they can overcome that with so many horses in the West. Kings are a sleeper team too. They play the right way. If they can get some offense I think they can make a run.
My prediction: Whoever comes out of the Atlantic vs. Dallas or WPG
