Who surprised you from your opponent's team in round 1?

[99ovr]

I'll start with who surprised me from the Leafs as a Sens fan.

Impressed:

Matthew Knies - Didn't know how skilled, strong and fast this kid was. Very flashy but does it in a smart way, I can see him being a perennial 80 point player and even flirt with 100 points some seasons if he continues to play with Matthews and Marner/Nylander. I'm not joking.

Max Domi: Underrated skill and play-driving while also being a pain in the ass to play against. He actually has some really good ideas when making plays but can't always execute them as he doesn't have elite skill.

Disappointed:

Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo - Both were complete non-factors IMO in the series and turned the puck over a ton.

 

[heretik27]

+Binnington, honorable mention to Cam Fowler he's had a good series.
-Ryan Suter, guy is so far beyond cooked.

 

[BB79]

I'll start with who surprised me from the Leafs as a Sens fan.

Impressed:

Matthew Knies - Didn't know how skilled, strong and fast this kid was. Very flashy but does it in a smart way, I can see him being a perennial 80 point player and even flirt with 100 points some seasons if he continues to play with Matthews and Marner/Nylander. I'm not joking.

Max Domi: Underrated skill and play-driving while also being a pain in the ass to play against. He actually has some really good ideas when making plays but can't always execute them as he doesn't have elite skill.

Disappointed:

Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo - Both were complete non-factors IMO in the series and turned the puck over a ton.

As a Bruins fan I hear you on Knies. He was tough to play against in last year's playoffs, and took a step forward this season

And there's a reason I was saying get rid of Carlo all season this year

 

[pth2]

Chychrun in Washington wowed me. To my mind he's a #1D.

 

[Shanahanigans]

Positive: Byfield is gonna be a superstar. You can see his size, speed and skill coming together. Scariest king in the offensive zone after Kempe, and is impossible to handle down low.

Negative: Time comes for everyone, and Doughty is no different. He’s nowhere near a top pair level, and was badly outmatched trying to stop Mcdrai. There is no reason he should be playing 28 minutes against Mcdrai every night. LA needs to cut back his minutes next year.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Svech possibly shedding the playoff choker label for Carolina with his big series v NJ

Not really much negative, Carolina just owns us as a team from first to last guy. Maybe if I had one negative, maybe not playing Nikishin for Burns?

 

[Kcb12345]

I really never thought I'd see Makar have a genuinely bad playoff series

He could not score, and it wasn't like he was unlucky he was straight up missing the net most of the time. Shocking to watch really. Got to the point where I didn't fear him shooting which is very odd to say

Didnt leave impressed with Necas or Nelson either. Really thought Nelson's goal scoring ability would show up at some point but he was never a threat

I thought Landeskog looked good for a guy who hadn't played in 3 years

 

[flyingkiwi]

Walker and I'm not even mad.

 

[AvroArrow]

Jake Sanderson - Legitimate 1D and still room to grow, he defends well, reads plays well and good offensively

Zub - A solid defender, he was probably the most annoying Senators player of the series. Protects the net front well and plays physical

Stutzle - He stepped up big time and was the most dangerous Senators player all series long, tons of chances offensively, skates great. Only flaw was he didn't do well on faceoffs, but he's young

Disappointed

Batherson - I think he legitimately cost Ottawa the series. Took tons of dumb penalties, played horrible defensively and a lot of turnovers. He probably cost the Sens 2 games.