NHL Playoffs Start on Wednesday, A Few Teams Surprised Us All and Made it in the Big Show. But Who Will Finish as the Stanley Cup Champion? Follow This Prediction Series to Find Out!
BREAKDOWN OF THE TEAMS SEASON:
What else can be said about the Oilers? They had a tremendous season all around, Cam Talbot was brilliant all year round as well as Connor McDavid. From the very first puck drop, the Edmonton had expectations of play in the NHL playoffs, and they finally made it in since 2005-06. During the off-season, Edmonton went and made some significant moves to help something that has been hurting them for years, and that was defense. They went out and signed Kris Russell who is a tremendous two-way defenseman and then traded star Taylor Hall to New Jersey for Adam Larsson who isn’t too bad of a defenseman himself. That deal was something the Oilers could afford as well because they have tons of talent up front. And while many believed Jordan Eberle was the one on his way out, it turns out that he had himself a solid year as well. Another big surprise has to be a number of rookies that stepped up this season for Edmonton and how they were absolutely solid. After the reaching the Cup Final last season San Jose was another team with expectations of NHL Playoff play. They too made some great deals in the off-season and during. They signed Mikkel Boedker who is a very solid player then went and acquired Jannik Hansen from Vancouver to help round out the front of the ice and add additional scoring. Other than that the rest of the team was basically left alone as they kept their core intact. Martin Jones had himself another solid year proving once again he is a starting goaltender. But the biggest surprise from San Jose has to be the play of Brent Burns who for a defenseman, was one shy of a thirty goal season as he put up 76 points.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Edmonton finished fifth on the power play at 22.9 percent which isn’t too surprising when you look at the firepower on this team. Connor McDavid has the skill to win games on his own we’ve seen this all season. But when you put together a power play where he’s one of the quarterbacks playing the blueline with Milan Lucic, Leon Draisiatl, and Mark Letestu on it, they are going to score a solid amount of goals, and they did. But when a team is purely offensive, the defense sometimes tends to struggle, and it did this year with Edmonton finishing 17th in the league on the penalty kill at 80.7 percent. Now with defensive and two-way defensemen like Kris Russell, Mark Fayne, Adam Larsson, Andrej Sekera, and Matt Benning you may think their PK would be solid. But up front is who dishes the puck out of the zone for the most part and when you got guys on the PK like Zack Kassian who can barely shoot at all on the unit with offensive players Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Patrick Maroon, and Benoit Pouliot, it’s not going to be a success. And this is something the Oilers are going to need to tighten up on during the playoffs to give them any sort of hope.
For a team who had a defenseman put up 29 goals, and offensive threats like Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, and Logan Couture, you may be surprised to know the Sharks finished 25th in the league on the power play at 16.7 percent. That’s a number that’s going to need a significant increase, but with Edmonton’s PK, San Jose is gonna get a solid chance to build it up. Their PK was much better though at 80.7 percent which is good for 18th in the league. Which honestly is also a bit surprising since they have three solid puck moving defenseman in Brent Burns, Paul Martin, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. But like Edmonton, the guys up front just couldn’t get the puck out of the zone when it mattered. So this series is going to rely heavy on special teams, with Edmonton’s power play better than the Sharks penalty killing and vice versa, whoever gets the most penalties is sure to lose the series.
EDGE: Edmonton
OFFENSE:
Both of these teams are completely stacked up front. San Jose has Marleau, Thornton, Couture, Pavelski, Boedker, Tomas Hertl, Hansen, Joonas Donskoi, Joel Ward, Micheal Haley, Chris Tierney, and Kevin Labanc. Edmonton isn’t too far behind with Maroon, McDavid who can win a game on his own, Draisaitl, Milan Lucic, Nugent-Hopkins, Eberle, Pouliot, David Desharnais, Drake Caggiula, and Iiro Pakarinen. So while both teams look fairly even up front, Edmonton was able to score 247 goals this season while San Jose only managed 221.
EDGE: Edmonton
DEFENSE:
San Jose has a much better d-core then Edmonton, plus if you think about it, they’re technically sporting 13 forwards when you got someone like Brent Burns back there. But along with him, the Sharks have Paul Martin who can move the puck with the best of them, Vlasic, Dylan DeMelo, Brendan Dillon, and David Schlemko. Edmonton, on the other hand, has a great mix of offensive, defensive, and two-way defenseman with Oscar Klefbom, Kris Russell, Adam Larsson, Andrej Sekera, Darnell Nurse, Matt Benning, and Mark Fayne. Now while it’s good to have a defenseman that covers all three components of their respective jobs, it’s also very key to have your defensive core intact that took you to a Stanley Cup Final the season before.
EDGE: San Jose
GOALTENDING:
Probably the closest entity of this entire season has to be the goaltending. Martin Jones and Cam Talbot are basically one in the same. They can win games on their own and are clutch when need be. But with Jones sporting more playoff experience than Talbot, he has to get the nod. Now when it comes to backups you got rookie Laurent Brossoit for Edmonton who has never even touched NHL playoff ice, well not yet anyways. And Aaron Dell who is also a rookie, so who wins the backup goaltending debate? I’m gonna call it a draw. As for the starting goalie decision, well you’ll see who has the Edge below.
EDGE: San Jose
Next: Canucks Fire Coach Willie Desjardins
SERIES OUTCOME:
This series is going to be electric, not just for the fact of how close every game is going to be, but for the fact that Edmonton hasn’t had a playoff series since 2005-06. Which means that arena is going to be nuts every single game. The main factor of this series will come down to special teams, both teams have great scoring and solid defense as well as a solid starting goaltender. But with one team having a better PK than the other and a better power play than the other, it’s going to come down to who can take fewer penalties. Expect nothing less than a thriller in the Western Conference matchup.
FINAL SERIES RECORD: San Jose wins 4 games to 2.