By the end of April, 22 of the 30 NHL teams will have been eliminated from the SC. By the last call-up date, only about 4 teams will be left in the SC Playoffs.
Realistic outlook is though:
eliminated
Colorado (2 Russians injured, I don't see Grigorenko as a NT asset at this point)
Arizona (not much sense talking about Burmistrov)
Vancouver (I don't see Znarok invite Tryamkin while numerous people here do)
Buffalo (Oh joy! Kulikov might get an invite... Hopefully not)
on he brink of elimination
Philadelphia (I can only hope Znarok is not THAT stupid to not invite Provorov)
Islanders (Kulemin? Actually there is no need at this point.)
might make it to the playoffs/as good as in it
Tampa (unfavorable position 3 points behind Ottawa. favorable schedule with games against Boston and Toronto in hand. I can see them make it. Kucherov is the guy I want to watch in Cologne. We don't necessarily need Vasilevsky, but he is defnitely a lock if available. We are not desperate enough for Namestnikov)
Toronto (shaky candidate with all the rookies. might march to the playoffs with confidence or lose every single game. Zaytsev is an obvious lock. Soshnikov, Marchenko I would leave out. Znarok might think otherwise. And about Kalinin he might think otherwise too. I don't want him on the team.)
Also I see Toronto and Tampa lose in the first even if they make it. Too inconsistent. Tampa rides Kucherov, that might not be enough. Totronto too inexperienced as I said earlier.
clinched, but are candidates for a first round exit
St.Louis (They beat Nashville in a fashion tonight, but Minesota might be a different animal in the playoffs. I obviously don't like what I see in STL. Goaltending is still suspect, gave away Shattenkirk, offence lives and dies with Tarasenko. Tarasenko to the rescue!)
Montreal and NYR (likely to face each other in the first. chances are even. NYR is a better team. Unless Price steals the series I can see MTL lose this one. Buchnevich(sigh! Thanks, AV! Znarok will probably not invite him) or the Radulov(questionable after his squabbles with Znarok revealed in the recent interview) Yemelin. No Markov I guess and it's a good thing. He is really too old for this stuff and has some family issues to attend. Nesterov I don't see on the NT now)
playoff warriors who face each other in the first so we do get our reward anyway
Pens vs. Columbus seems all but set.(Malkin or Bobrovsky. We need Malkin more. Will be the best series of the first round anyway. Bob might finally get his revenge on the Pens.)
And last but not least the "choker" Caps. I don't see them lose in the first, but who knows...
Chicago might fail as soon as in the second...
Looking past the first round doesn't seem very reasonable.
Which gives realistically:
Provorov, hopefully not Kulikov, Kucherov, Vasylevskiy, Zaytsev + Malkin or Bob
less likely
Tarasenko, (oh! I totally forgot Barbashev, but I doubt he's shown enough to get noticed yet), Yemelin, Radulov(please!) or Buchnevich(please!)
Bob and Vasylevskiy wold be overkill and sad for the young duo of Sorokin and Shestyorkin, both of whom deserve a spot.
If we get Malkin the center depth is solid for once.(Malkin, Shipachev, Prokhorkin, Tkachyov, Datsyuk with Shalunov and/or Kalinin as strong candidates for the 4th line spot)
Kucherov, Tarasenko, Radulov would be the best RW in the tournament I guess. Most realistic scenario is maybe only Kucherov. The LW would be from, the KHL completely it seems. Good news for Zaripov. He can play LW.
And Provorov - Zaytsev
Kulikov
