Every single team is competitive and it really is a coin flip:
- Caps: topping the regular season with an experienced team that was not supposed to be on top
- Canadiens: core of the cinderella team is still there and they have some of the best talent in the league
- Canes: best defensive team with a margin and multi year playoff core still ready for the deep run
- Devils: one of the fastest teams that has the playoff experience versus some of the absolute top teams like 2023 Canes
- Leafs: they have failed enough times to not let few losses disturb them.. few wins could get the momentum going
- Sens: the real black horse team, with black horse benefits
- Tampa: experience
- Florida: experience
- Oilers: experienced team that now knows how to peak at the right time
- Kings: experience and top tier defensive talent
- Wild: ALL the momentum will come after couple of wins. they get the top pieces back at the right time and know the number of several top teams like VGK and Oilers
- VGK: experience
- Avalonche: experience and possible momentum swing from Landeskog can help with the cup favorite pressure
- Stars: experience and depth. couple injuries don't take much away when you have insane depth
- Blues: black horse team with serious experience
- Jets: best goalie and team did not show any weakness during the season. lot of pressure, but also experience to deal with it
Should be the best 1st round in NHL history. Hoping that no team has a 0-4 meltdown.
