Various first week NHL playoff thoughts

29/04/2024 15:36

The Caps are out but the playoffs are dragging on too long

Random Monday morning musings about the sport on ice..

The 2024 NHL playoffs had their first elimination last night — and in what should be the surprise of absolutely no one — it was the Washington Capitals going out. The Capitals making the playoffs this year was a sham in the first place and a tremendous stain on teams like the Devils and Penguins for having even worse seasons.

Anyways, thoughts alternate between a satisfaction that the Caps won as many playoff games as the Pens this year, to wondering if it would have really been any better for Pittsburgh to make it at all? (Add in the NY Islanders at 1-3 and starring down the barrel of elimination likely sooner than later as well). Probably was just as well and saved us all a bunch of time for the Pens to not make the playoff this year. Sucks for Sidney Crosby to not get to play in the venue where he works so hard all year to make it to, but other than that, it wouldn't have been for much reward.

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Looking at the first elimination, it's April 29th today and 15 teams are still alive. Most series have played four games but the DAL/VGK matchup has only played three times. The NHL needs to get on with it already. It's nearly May and there's so much more hockey to go.

Count us in on the Pierre Lebrun suggested timeline to start the regular season in late September, cancel the All Star Game, start playoffs by April 1st and award the Stanley Cup before the calendar hits June.

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But since that won't be happening, the next best thing is some drama. Did you see up in Vancouver that Casey DeSmith pulled a Casey DeSmith in 2022 and got injured as the backup while in the playoffs (and sadly for him, while playing pretty well both times around). History repeats there, but opened the door for a great story.

23-year old third string Arturs Silovs, he of just four NHL games and a former sixth round pick, got the start and win for Vancouver yesterday following a thrilling comeback by the Canucks to score twice in the closing minutes of the third period to force overtime and score there as well.

The Canucks move to being up 3-1 in the series, which is very remarkable after Thatcher Demko's Game 1 injury. Then again, I suppose it's worth pointing out the Penguins were up 3-1 on NYR back in 2022 as well, so nothing is over quite yet (but Nashville blowing a two-goal lead at home so late feels like more than just a missed opportunity and more of a possible ending point of the season).

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And you can't talk drama without looking towards Toronto. It's round one of the playoffs, which means it's right on time for the annual wheels falling off the bus for the Maple Leafs. Star players are hollerin' at each other on the bench, when they're not coming in or out of the lineup for mysterious reasons. Auston Matthews might not play tomorrow night.

Toronto is such a mess, who knows what comes next. Will Brendan Shanahan be out? Coach Sheldon Keefe? Will they look to trade Mitch Marner? No matter what they do, the right mix can't seem to be found and this era hasn't taken off as they were counting on. Winning this time of year is hard anywhere, but always proves to be impossible in Toronto.

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The Penguins made a moderate bit of news by announcing that they would part ways with a head coach and his top assistant after a disappointing season....Only it's the AHL coach.

On one hand, it's nothing new or unexpected that Kyle Dubas and his right hand man Jason Spezza are going to look to put a more personal stamp on the organization by adjusting the coaching at the AHL level.

Unfortunately for J.D. Forrest, he left the door wide open for such a move when the team bowed out of the playoffs to a lower seed.

I'm sure it won't go unnoticed that Dubas gave a quick hook to a coaching staff and wonder why that has not applied to the NHL level, given the results of recent seasons, but the unique likeability of Mike Sullivan by ownership, management and players alike have him in a spot of staying power that almost no hockey coach has had.

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It might be Washington and NYI weighing down the East with a couple of unexciting series, but so far the West has been so much better this playoff in terms of action. There's the goalie drama and insane comeback for Vancouver mentioned above, Alexandar Georgiev is doing a Jekyll/Hyde impression to give no advance warning on if he will be a competent goalie or a complete disaster for Colorado —though his better graces have been showing up lately, making the Avalanche look extremely dangerous. Dallas/Vegas has been some of the most exciting on-ice action (and has another potential Wild Card team tripping up a division winner brewing) and the high-powered Edmonton Oilers just beat LA at their own defensive game in a 1-0 win last night.

Could this finally be the time for Connor McDavid and Edmonton to get over the hump? A next round matchup against Vancouver is on the horizon, and if Demko isn't back by then it is difficult to see the Vancouver goalie situation surviving that Oiler offense. The odds still look long to make it through the gauntlet out West, but for once things could be starting to stack up McDavid's way in the post-season.