Easiest path so far?

[Midnight Judges]

I also think CBJ may be overrated in this thread. They have a deep team but no game breakers.

...with the exception of maybe Panarin.

 

[Paul4587]

The Pacific division is the worst in hockey. Vegas had it the easiest. Tampa’s first round opponent was easy but the Bruins were a quality team who would have beaten the Leafs in 5 if not for goaltending.

 

[Paul4587]

Hard to say, either Vegas or Tampa. I can't say much about Tampa's path since it's the East which I nearly haven't followed at all this season but I do know that I would have LOVED both Anaheim and San Jose as series opponents for the Jets compared to Minnesota and Nashville.

In order

1. Vegas- San Jose and Anaheim both were offensively challenged. Vegas is good, but at no point did they seem to be challenged.
2. Tampa- NJ had heart, but also only one line. Boston was a great regular season team, but they were battered by the time the Tampa series rolled around and their offense really didn't show up beyond their top 6.
3. Washington- Columbus was a tough out, and they play a style of game that would give most teams this playoffs difficulty. In the end their deficiencies were too much though. Pitt was the defending back-to-back Champions, any time you play them you have to consider them a threat.
4. Winniped- Minnesota was a standard opponent but I think Nashville vs. WPG was the WCF.

Tampa Bay or Vegas.

Devils were really weak. Bruins are a tricky team, but were definitely beaten up and had some flaws that could be exploited. Honestly, the Caps look fairly similar.

Anaheim and San Jose, IMO, are two teams who the league has passed by. They are just too slow. Vegas easily expoited that. They face a very different challenge now in the Jets though.

People really don’t pay any attention to the West Coast at all do they...? Might want to check nhl.coms playoff brackets to see who Vegas played in the first round. Hint it wasn’t Anaheim

 

[tony d]

Went with Tampa.

 

[olli]

Probably Tampa. Vegas's series have been closer than their win/games played ratio would indicate.

 

[DEVILS130]

People really don’t pay any attention to the West Coast at all do they...? Might want to check nhl.coms playoff brackets to see who Vegas played in the first round. Hint it wasn’t Anaheim

Not just HF...I remember the official NHL twitter page made this same mix up

 

[Roasted Nuts]

People really don’t pay any attention to the West Coast at all do they...? Might want to check nhl.coms playoff brackets to see who Vegas played in the first round. Hint it wasn’t Anaheim

Wow, I've gotta admit I missed that glaring mistake. Like if someone on the West Coast were to say that Tampa played Columbus instead of NJ in the first round. Did people witness Bob's save on Kucherov??

 

[Calicaps]

Tampa. Vegas a close second. New Jersey wasn't really even a paper tiger, maybe a paper house cat. Too inexperienced and not nearly enough depth. Boston was beat up but I had the sense all season that they were too much a one-line team to go far. That one line was terrific, but still... Tampa is a deep, veteran team so those two opponents didn't pose much of a challenge.

 

[RussianGuyovich]

Tampa benefits from having The easiest path all the way to the cup finals as well.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

Hard to say, either Vegas or Tampa. I can't say much about Tampa's path since it's the East which I nearly haven't followed at all this season but I do know that I would have LOVED both Anaheim and San Jose as series opponents for the Jets compared to Minnesota and Nashville.

Anaheim is probably the tougher draw than Minnesota, but the difference between San Jose and Nashville more than evens that out; I agree that Vegas got a pretty easy path. Minnesota was by far the easiest team in the playoffs. Honestly, it reflects poorly on the Jets that the Wild even won one game.

Going into these playoffs, there were only 5 teams that were really considered contenders: Boston, Tampa, Winnipeg, Nashville, and Pittsburgh, but Pittsburgh was really only considered a contender because they had won the last two; anybody who watched them knew they weren’t a real contender.

Winnipeg and Tampa had to play against Nashville and Boston, so they’re pretty much totally out of the running. Tampa was able to slaughter Boston like they did because Tampa is easily the NHL’s best team; don’t confuse that with Boston being a weak opponent.

Vegas got a depleted San Jose team without Joe Thornton and a terrible Kings team that shouldn’t have made the playoffs.

Washington got a weak Blue Jackets team and while Pittsburgh wasn’t actually that good of a team, the fact that they had defeated Washington and won the Stanley Cup in the last two seasons, and just added Brassard and Letang, tells me they were at least somewhat of a daunting task. Personally, I would much rather play the Sharks without Joe Thornton than the Penguins.

Therefore, I think Vegas had the easiest path.

 

[Future GOAT]

Tampa or Washington.

Probably Tampa.

 

[Neuf]

Tampa
Vegas

Washington
Winnipeg

 

[Pandaman11]

Vegas because they played the Kings.

 

[AKL]

Voted Winnipeg on Accident, but mean the Knights. A bye the first round and a not very great Sharks team second round.

 

[Peggy]

didn't realize Boston was worse than San Jose and the kings
it's like the regular season meant absolutely nothing to some of these posters

Boston would beat the kings and the sharks too

 

[Loseipeg]

2017 penguins by far

 

[puckIuck]

In order

1. Vegas- San Jose and Anaheim both were offensively challenged. Vegas is good, but at no point did they seem to be challenged.
2. Tampa- NJ had heart, but also only one line. Boston was a great regular season team, but they were battered by the time the Tampa series rolled around and their offense really didn't show up beyond their top 6.
3. Washington- Columbus was a tough out, and they play a style of game that would give most teams this playoffs difficulty. In the end their deficiencies were too much though. Pitt was the defending back-to-back Champions, any time you play them you have to consider them a threat.
4. Winniped- Minnesota was a standard opponent but I think Nashville vs. WPG was the WCF.

boston wasn't battered and certainly not by a soft leafs team. they simply ran into a deep speedy group that can play excellent team defence.

 

[Porkleaker]

Gotta go with Vegas, Pacific teams are living in the past and are a complete mess, not to discredit them in any way, they've played amazing all season and played better than most anticipated.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Would it not be Tampa since they've blown out their opponent in every win?

 

[snowkiddin]

Voted Lightning to see the votes but I think them and Vegas are neck and neck.

 

[Skrudland2Lomakin]

San Jose was offensively challenged? Vegas gave up a 2 goal lead to the Sharks twice in two different games. In fact, they almost gave up a 4 goal lead to the Sharks.

I really wouldn't say that the Sharks were offensively challenged.

So your argument that San Jose is a good offensive team is that your team choked away leads, interesting.


Well statistically they don't even come close to the other 7 teams in the second round. Actually, interestingly enough they only had one guy crack the top ten in any of the main offensive stats for the playoffs (Hertl currently is tied for 7th with 6 goals).

 

[McDonald19]

Vegas easily. The Pacific Division was terrible this season.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

I think Vegas, but only because I thought the Kings looked awful, and by far the worst team that made the playoffs.

 

[Ugene Magic]

This is tough, and if I had to choose??? Vegas. But they also were a top team from beginning to end.

I don't know if there really was a easy path for anyone. Vegas just shows how dominant they have been all season. That's due to their relentless nature.

 

[Alwalys]

So your argument that San Jose is a good offensive team is that your team choked away leads, interesting.

Well statistically they don't even come close to the other 7 teams in the second round. Actually, interestingly enough they only had one guy crack the top ten in any of the main offensive stats for the playoffs (Hertl currently is tied for 7th with 6 goals).

Partly because they didn't play that many games due to the sweep. The sharks are actually T-7th in scoring rate so far in the playoffs, and actually are above vegas.

The Kings have given up the 2nd fewest goals/game so far and the Sharks the 4th. Vegas is 1st.

Sharks have generated the 2nd most shots/game and Vegas 5th.