2018 NHL Playoff Picks

This is one of my favorite articles I write all year. It generally only caters to bracket challenges which I just so happen to enjoy. Personally there is a great bracket challenge on NHL.com I will be running off the very simple notion from that. Pick a winning team, pick the number of games.

Round 1:

Western Conference:

Nashville Predators vs. Colorado Avalanche. How ironic that Nashville now finds itself on the complete opposite side of last year. Will Colorado do to Nashville what Nashville did to Chicago last year? Probably not. Nashville the better offense, better defense and is running a well-oiled machine right now. You’ll see later, I think Nashville advances, but not much further. I like Colorado to dominate if Nashville can’t stay out of the box as Colorado has a superior power play and Nashville led the league in PIM this year. Refs sometimes eat their whistles more in the playoffs allowing for rougher play, keep a keen eye on that. Nashville in 5

Winnipeg Jets vs. Minnesota Wild. I am VERY bullish on Winnipeg going into these playoffs (as you will see). Statistically they are superior to Minnesota in every way, star power offense, goaltending, special teams, shots for, faceoffs etc…Connor Hellebuyck is on fire, on offense they have Patrick Laine, Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers, Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor all with 50+ points and 4 of them with 25+ goals. Winnipeg in 4.

Las Vegas Golden Knights vs. Los Angeles Kings. Is it bold to say the #1 team is going to beat the Wild Card? It is when the #1 team is an expansion team with limited playoff experience outside of it’s goalie and the wild card team is a recent 2 time winning Stanley Cup team who always turns it up come playoff time. Maybe I’m buying into the hype and the Vegas Flu but I really think William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and more specifically the high flying aggressive forechecking playstyle of Vegas to translate beautifully in the playoffs. They have been playing playoff style hockey all season. Vegas in 6.

Anaheim Ducks vs. San Jose Sharks. The Ducks are an odd team this year, in typical Anaheim fashion they scored few goals (18^th most in NHL) and were a brick wall on defense (allowed the 3^rd fewest) but they are streaky and mercurial, I can’t get a feel on how they will do stepping into the playoffs. San Jose transitioned to a much more defensive oriented team this year, I think San Jose is the better team but Anaheim is coming in with an 8-1-1 record over their last 10, I’m riding the hot streak. Anaheim in 6.

Eastern Conference:

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New Jersey Devils. Tampa Bay is the better team, I’m not 100% sold on Andrei Vasilevskiy to carry the Tampa team but he is a more than solid backend for them. I think lack of offense is the downfall of New Jersey. Tampa Bay in 4.

Boston Bruins vs. Toronto Maple Leafs. Boston feels like they are in a clunky place and they don’t appear to be playing their best late (especially vs. earlier in March). The Maple Leafs have been the sleeping giant waiting to pounce in the playoffs. They have a goalie who can stop a ton of shots, young talent with a year of playoff knowledge and experience under their belt and a coach who knows how to succeed in the playoffs (.560 playoff win percentage) See what he did after his first playoff year in Detroit, it’s very similar. Toronto in 6.

Washington Capitals vs. Columbus Blue Jackets. This entire series is dependent on the two time Vezina winning Sergei Bobrovsky. He doesn’t have a good track record come playoff time. Regular season – 2.45 GAA and .920 Sv %; Playoffs – 3.63 GAA and .887 Sv%. Blue Jackets are getting hot at the right time and if Bob holds on then they could knock off the playoff cold that Washington attacks every year. Two teams who historically struggle in the playoffs make for a great round 1 matchup. Columbus in 7!

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers. Pittsburgh is en route to a potential 3^rd Stanley Cup in as many years. Philadelphia is a team who knows better than any other how to matchup against them. I have my popcorn and I can’t wait to see these series playout. Philadelphia will steal a few (likely in PPG Paint Arena) behind Claude Giroux and up and coming Travis Konecny but Pittsburgh’s star power will be too much. Pittsburgh in 7.

2nd Round:

Western Conference:

Nashville Predators vs. Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg’s star power is coming into it’s own and this is their year to make a deep run. If they can pepper Pekka Rinne enough and get a few through then they can outplay Nashville. Nashville finds itself against another good power play team and I think this one capitalizes (23.4% power play).

Vegas Golden Knights vs. Anaheim Ducks. I think this could be a very fun matchup. Gritty, quick and high flying Vegas goes up against shut it down, work the puck and protect the net Anaheim. Something has to give here. Vegas succumbs to Anaheims trap as the Ducks advance to the Conference Finals. Vegas wakes up from the hypnotic effect and wonders (much like it’s opponents all year) what just happened. Ducks in 6.

Eastern Conference:

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Toronto Maple Leafs. High flying offense…meet high flying offense. Surprisingly Toronto has the edge on defense, special teams and faceoffs. Ultimately, to me it’s coaching that makes the difference as I trust in Mike Babock over Jon Cooper (who is smart, don’t get me wrong). I would have preferred to see this epic matchup occur in the Conference Finals but it doesn’t always play out that way. Toronto in 6.

Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Pittsburgh Penguins. This is the moment that playing 3 full seasons plus two full playoffs takes it’s toll. It would not surprise me to see Pittsburgh make it to another Stanley Cup Finals (I had them out in the 2^nd round last year too) but as Eddie Olczyk said there is a luck component involved in any Stanley Cup run and I think it ends here in this 2^nd round matchup. John Tortorella does a jig on the bench as he makes his first Conference Finals in 6 years, it goes viral. Columbus in 7.

Stanley Cup Semi-Finals

Western Conference:

Winnipeg Jets vs. Anaheim Ducks. Big offense runs against big trap defense. NORMALLY big defense wins, as we all know defense wins championships. Unfortunately the Jets did not get that memo as Kyle Connor goes off for 8 goals in the series and Winnipeg advances meaning in consecutive seasons we see San Jose Sharks, Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets all see their first Stanley Cup final in franchise history. Winnipeg in 4.

Eastern Conference:

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Columbus Blue Jackets. This is where Frederik Andersen really steps up on net against Artemi Panarin and Pierre-Luc Dubois as Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Nazem Kadri pepper Bobrovsky fighting off Zach Werenski and Seth Jones on defense. Young power is abound in this Eastern Conference final as NHL cashes in on some very lofty viewer ratings. Toronto in 6.

Stanley Cup Finals:

Winnipeg Jets vs. Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto comes into the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since 1967. In this matchup Winnipeg has more goals for (3.33 vs. 3.29) fewer goals against (2.63 vs. 2.80), better PK (81.8% vs. 81.4%) and more faceoffs won (52.4% vs. 51.8%) while Toronto has just their electric power play (25% vs. 23.4%) going in their favor. It’s the Stanley Cup finals, throw all of those stats out the window. I think Frederik Andersen gets hot in the playoffs and it materializes into a brilliant cup finals. You know how Baseball has seen it’s heyday of long records breaking with the Chicago Cubs winning and Houston Astros getting their first championship? Well it’s guaranteed here to break some nonexistent or long record. Toronto breaks their 49 year drought and wins the Stanley Cup.