Who bombs in the first round?

[Norwegianoiler]

Half of the teams each round.

All too many fans seem to evaluate only on that binary principle anyway. You win, everything is fantastic no matter what; but you lose and everything about the franchise is garbage.

 

[canuckslover10]

Canucks.

How do I dislike a post?

 

[ijuka]

Dallas Stars

 

[Grigowski]

Avs

I fear.....too

Dallas-Vegas series will have a really good team losing no matter what

Could also be Edmonton-Vegas.... One contender will be out in Round, thats for sure.

 

[HolyGhost]

they've lost 3 out of their last 4.....

they are not lurkers by any streatch of the immagination. They have won their last two. What they are doing it making sure their top 9 are firing on all cylinders. Right now they are evenly spreading out time for the top 9, They are preparing for the playoffs to make sure they can roll with all lines firing

I fear.....too



Could also be Edmonton-Vegas.... One contender will be out in Round, thats for sure.

I got the oilers going out in the first round of they play vegas. I think the oilers will have the depth and experience to take out the Kings in 6

 

[Connor McConnor]

Boston might get swept against the Bolts

 

[ZEBROA]

People saying the Leafs “can’t bomb” because they are the lower seeded team are missing the forest for the trees..

relative to the expectations of the team going into the season, and in the context of the past playoff struggles of their core players, and with the excitement around Matthews’ record setting season.. a first round exit would have to be considered a massive disappointment

You cant bomb if you are the underdog team. Matthews dont make us having a better goalie , defence or depth. The fans will still be massivly disapointed. But we can in no way expect to win. If we win that is still despite the odds. That has not always been the case before.

I understand other fans want us to bomb, but sorry, if we loose we will only loose to a beforehand better team and meet the expectations IMO.

 

[SPV]

I think Tampa, Nashville, and Vegas are going to be tough first round draws, I wouldn’t be surprised to see any of them win, so I’m not sure if that counts as a bomb. It also means my Bruins could be a one and done again this year. But we were supposed to be in a bridge year and not very good, so my expectations are certainly lower than last season anyway.

 

[archangel2]

Vegas is clearly running their games to make sure they are ready for the playoffs. They are making sure their top 4 are all ready to play 20+ a night and are rotating guys from the 3rd to 4th lines to make sure they also can step up when needed as well. Oiler are running with their top 6 and pushing just Ekholm and Bouchard TOI. Vegas had made the playoffs and now are making sure the players are all able to play lots of minutes. Last 5 games of the season for all teams, I ignore the wins and losses and look at the numbers like TOI and who is playing when. Vegas is a very dangerous team and that is before their Captain comes back for game 1

 

[BB79]

Half of the teams each round.

All to many fans seem to evaluate only on that binary principle anyway. You win, everything is fantastic no matter what; but you lose and everything about the franchise is garbage.

Welcome to HFBoards! It's a wild roller coaster ride

 

[rypper]

The leafs (and other teams) absolutely can be considered to bomb in the first round even if they are an underdog.

The overall expectations for the team year to year doesn't change when you're a playoff team.

If they're knocked out in the first round people/fans aren't going to be like "ho-hum it just wasn't our year" they're going to point to the last 5+ years and lump it all together.

 

[BS45]

I think if the Rangers lose in OT/SO they get the tiebreaker because they have more regulation wins.

Nope- Carolina has more RW than the Rangers right now. If they win and the Rangers don't to cause a tie they would win the tiebreaker. Rangers have tie breaker on Boston for the East and Dallas for the Presidents trophy!

 

[Fatass]

Kings will get swept by the Oilers.

 

[bobholly39]

Winnipeg. Badly too.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Nashville stonewalling Vancouver would not be surprising

Vancouver has won 4 straight vs. Nashville.

 

[Norwegianoiler]

Kings will get swept by the Oilers.

Only if Adrian Kempe is out, that guy is a menace.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Vancouver has won 4 straight vs. Nashville.

True but playoff hockey is different and nobody has seen this Canucks core in the playoffs yet.

 

[Silky Johnson]

I've been hearing about hope from you guys for a long time, the Summer of Pierre, all the trash talk this summer about Tkachuk > Marner, Stutzle > Matthews etc etc but it's been the same result.

And bragging about playoff runs that didn't result in a cup is pretty meaningless to me, especially when we're getting close to a decade now since you guys were even last there, and not really a lot of hope that you'll be there in the near future either.

Good try though!

We are about 1 or 2 years behind in our rebuild. You are about 56 years since seeing a final with very few high points in the meanwhile. If you think that there has been alot of meaningless trash talk by Sens fans over the last couple years, compare that to the 5 decades of meaningless trash talk by leafs fans....

At least I can say I've seen my team be relevant in my lifetime... I

 

[n7]

If the Oilers end up against VGK, i suspect the outcome will go Bettman's team's way again.

In the East, i could see TBL possibly ousting BOS, or TOR beating FLA, but none of these scenarios strikes me as a huge upset.

Aside from the basement battle in the East for 8th, i think most matchups could be argued to go either way.

 

[Breakers]

I could see vancouver

Haven’t been there in awhile and get blitzed

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

They are literally the underdog this year

"the players don't care about the regular season, only playoffs. They're an elite team and MAtthews is the goat."

"we didn't do well in the regular season so we are the underdogs in the playoffs and when we lose in round one its not a choke"

-Leaf Fans

 

[1specter]

We are about 1 or 2 years behind in our rebuild. You are about 56 years since seeing a final with very few high points in the meanwhile. If you think that there has been alot of meaningless trash talk by Sens fans over the last couple years, compare that to the 5 decades of meaningless trash talk by leafs fans....

At least I can say I've seen my team be relevant in my lifetime... I

You're really chirping with no cups or success? Man you Sens fans are a deluded insecure bunch. You haven't sniffed playoffs since 2017 and your franchise has been a complete tire fire while you keep huffing copium about the future. Even rivals who have actually won something in recent times like Boston and Tampa don't go out of their way to start chirping us like you clowns do.

At least I know my team will still be around in ten years though and not have to worry about bankruptcy

 

[CupofOil]

Mentioning the Leafs is stupid when their first round opponents are either Florida or Boston who are higher in the standings and would be favoured.

I'm gonna say Nucks or Jets, and I can definitely see Tampa punking Boston again.

The Jets are likely to be underdogs against the Avs based on pedigree alone so if the Leafs don't qualify for potential bombing neither do the Jets.

The reality is that, outside of whoever plays the Islanders and WC2 winner in the east, every series is going to be closely matched, on paper so there won't be many upsets to be had.

 

[Voight]

Oilers, Bruins

 

[Mez]

What's the deal with Pietrangelo?

He is working on his overhand tomahawk chop technique for playoff time.