**** Official 2024-25 NHL Thread ****

[Bearcat]

Blues/Jets followed by Avalanche/Stars on Saturday night to kickoff the playoffs...

[Otter]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

Blues/Jets followed by Avalanche/Stars on Saturday night to kickoff the playoffs...

Golden Knights vs Caps

[Otter]

And just for side bet...


Devils vs Stars

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Otter

Golden Knights vs Caps

I haven't watched the Knights much, but I know in the past couple seasons they finally have some scoring... not that it seemed to matter much when they were going deep into the playoffs with three 3rd lines and a 4th.

The Caps are tough... I somehow managed to watch quite a few of their games and it seemed like every game they'd have some 2-4 goal spurt in a matter of like 5 minutes. Everything seems to be working for them this season and I don't think anyone expected it.

[UChieffyBugger]

Originally Posted by Bearcat

I haven't watched the Knights much, but I know in the past couple seasons they finally have some scoring... not that it seemed to matter much when they were going deep into the playoffs with three 3rd lines and a 4th.

The Caps are tough... I somehow managed to watch quite a few of their games and it seemed like every game they'd have some 2-4 goal spurt in a matter of like 5 minutes. Everything seems to be working for them this season and I don't think anyone expected it.

It's been a pretty solid season for us tbh. Dorofeyev was always a much hailed prospect and had a breakout regular season last year. This season he's been incredible scoring 35 goals. Eichel has been a great two way guy getting tons of points and Hertl had been excellent. Our four centers are the best group in the NHL imo. Eichel, Hertl, Karly and Roy. They have everything.

Other guys like Kolesar and Howden have been a big surprise with their offensive numbers too. All in all we've been on a great run since the league started again, we're finally fully healthy and the boys are ready to go. Looking forward to this playoffs. Last year we had injuries and gave up a 2-0 lead to Dallas. Can't help but wonder what would have happened if we'd won game 3 after it went to overtime. Oh well. We're in a much better place now and hopefully that shows in this first series against the Wild.

This conference is gonna be interesting. We had some troubles with the Kings although many times we played them shorthanded. We beat up the Jets mostly bar one game. Avs we did OK against too and we had some back and forths with the Oilers and Dallas. The Blues could be a wildcard tbh. I'm not sure there's a clear favourite to win the cup right now. The first round should paint a better picture I guess.

[Bearcat]

Originally Posted by UChieffyBugger

It's been a pretty solid season for us tbh. Dorofeyev was always a much hailed prospect and had a breakout regular season last year. This season he's been incredible scoring 35 goals. Eichel has been a great two way guy getting tons of points and Hertl had been excellent. Our four centers are the best group in the NHL imo. Eichel, Hertl, Karly and Roy. They have everything.

Other guys like Kolesar and Howden have been a big surprise with their offensive numbers too. All in all we've been on a great run since the league started again, we're finally fully healthy and the boys are ready to go. Looking forward to this playoffs. Last year we had injuries and gave up a 2-0 lead to Dallas. Can't help but wonder what would have happened if we'd won game 3 after it went to overtime. Oh well. We're in a much better place now and hopefully that shows in this first series against the Wild.

This conference is gonna be interesting. We had some troubles with the Kings although many times we played them shorthanded. We beat up the Jets mostly bar one game. Avs we did OK against too and we had some back and forths with the Oilers and Dallas. The Blues could be a wildcard tbh. I'm not sure there's a clear favourite to win the cup right now. The first round should paint a better picture I guess.

I actually get blacked out from Knights games now that the Yotes are in Utah (****in' NHL ), but their game against the Avalanche was nationally televised a few weeks ago... hard to tell from just one random game, but they seemed pretty evenly matched, both teams had the ice tilted in their favor at times. The Knights had that short handed goal that seemed to get the Avalanche in a funk for a while before they pulled out of it.

And yeah, I think you could make a case for the Caps, Panthers (assuming Tkachuk is healthy), or Lightning in the East while every other team is in that 'gotta prove it first' category.... and in the West there's the Knights, Stars, Avalanche, Oilers.

Granted, seeded 1-8, the Avalanche and Panthers are actually the 5th seeds.