Your TDL Preference/General TDL Talk

[Brian39]

I admit they would be tough, but we have had Dallas’ number this year.

Avs seemed to be hobbled with injuries, have depth issues, and did nothing of significance.

I don’t pay enough attention to Vegas, but I got the impression they have taken a step down.

Anything can (and will) happen in a series, but it seems like pound for pound the Blues are step ahead on paper.

At even odds, I put my money on the Blues against all 3 teams if I had to put money down. But if my options were to bet a substantial amount of money on the Blues or don't bet at all, I would keep my money in my pocket against all 3 of those teams.

3 of our 4 games vs Dallas have been 1 goal games (excluding empty nets) and double OT game 7 last year is about as close as you can get. I wouldn't expect anything less than a 6 game series vs Dallas and Bishop is capable of winning any series by himself. It is a series to have some nerves about.

Colorado absolutely throttled the Blues during the first game at the Pepsi Center and the next game was pretty convincing too. This "depth issues" narrative with Colorado is a relic of last season and isn't accurate this season. They have 6 forwards at the 30 point mark at the moment (we have 5). They had ten 20 point forwards coming into today and just added another in Namestikov. We have 9. Their depth is outscoring ours and we are a deep team. We have other strengths that are meanigful in the playoffs, but this idea that they don't have depth is not accurate. They are 5th in the NHL in both goals for and goals against, which has resulted in the 3rd highest goal differential in the league. They have had a string of injuries recently, but all but Grubauer have timelines that put them back before the playoffs. They have banked too many points to miss the playoffs, so the recent injuries don't impact a series outlook. They are a team capable of coming out of the West this year.

Vegas is 9-3-2 since firing Gallant, sit 1st place in the Pacific and are just 6 points back of the Blues (with 1 more game played). They concern me the least of these 3 teams, but they are a team that can do some damage. The addition of Lehner means that Fleury should get an extra couple games off and enter the playoffs rested.

Edit: this is not to say I wish the Blues had done something today. I'm happy with our roster heading into the playoffs and I would view as as the favorite against any team in the West. But we aren't backing into the Final even if we play our A game all playoffs. The Central is going to be a dogfight for the last 6 weeks of the regular season and into the playoffs.

 

[MissouriMook]

I see Colorado as a team we could potentially grind down in a 7 game series, much like we did with San Jose in last year’s playoffs. They don’t have a lot of guys who are big -and- play big.

 

[Brian39]

I see Colorado as a team we could potentially grind down in a 7 game series, much like we did with San Jose in last year’s playoffs. They don’t have a lot of guys who are big -and- play big.

That will for sure be the strategy, which is why I think winning the Central is important. They are a significantly faster team than the Sharks last year and it is easier to grind down a team in round 3 than in round 1. Our "grinding down" of SJ was absolutely aided by Martin Jones sporting a .869 in the series as well. If we are relying on grinding down the Avs over a long series, our strategy is a hell of a lot more likely to be successful if they just went through a battle against the Stars than if we are trying to do it in round 1.

The Central has the best 3 teams in the Conference and 2 of them will have to play each other. You massively improve your path to the Final by opening up against a Wild Card team instead of being in that C2 vs C3 matchup.

 

[RR10]

Depends on who the wild card team is. Nashville is as tough as Stars/Avs.