Tidd Talk

            As promised yesterday, Tidd Talk returns to break down the Eastern Conference playoff matchups. After what was a thrilling end to the season with the Blue Jackets just barely missing the playoffs after Montreal’s win against Carolina, the East this year looks to be wide open. I think we could see anybody go on a run, including Montreal and Ottawa. The only team I do not have any thought of going far is New Jersey, which I will touch up on today.

The Toronto Maple Leafs vs. The Ottawa Senators

            The first matchup in the East is the one I am most interested in. The Ottawa Senators are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2017, and the Toronto Maple Leafs see themselves set to face a very beatable opponent after only winning just 2 rounds in the last 20 years. With Mitch Marner possibly coming off the books this offseason, this could be the last chance for the Leafs with their current core. It is crazy how one of the best young cores of the modern era in the regular season may never get past the second round of the playoffs. It is due or die in Toronto this season, and once again, this team is built very similarly to how they have always been. The main core in Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Nylander, and Rielly has stayed the same, and the rest of the team is filled out with vets or young guys who every Leafs fan thinks will be the next guy up in Toronto. This team has always been weird regarding goalies, as they always seem to have random guys in the net. Who would have thought Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz would have dominated the Leafs’ net this year out of all people? Joseph Woll and the main core are the ticket to success for the Maple Leafs here, as there is no doubt that Woll is the goalie of the future and that a big piece of this core could potentially be out after this season. I feel like it is something I have been hammering in constantly, but goaltending is key to making it far, even when you have a stellar core like Toronto.

            This Ottawa Senators team will be tough to play against, as any team with a Tkachuk is. This team is not the most top-heavy when it comes to scoring as the Maple Leafs are. They have a surprising number of guys at the 40+ point mark as well, 4, almost 6, 20 goal scorers. They have some solid depth up front for a wildcard team and could give a team like Toronto a run for their money, especially with all the uncertainty and pressure for the Leafs. The goaltending has been outstanding, and the guy leading the way is former Vezina winner Linus Ullmark, who has some playoff experience with the Boston Bruins and could very well get hot for Ottawa here. My one complaint with this team is their defense. They have a solid top 3 in Thomas Chabot, Artem Zub, and Jake Sanderson, but passed that, I do not know how this defense will hold. Maybe a solid top 3 is all you need, but they will need to be stellar and get some serious help from Ullmark to make a run. The experience of this team and their defense could ultimately be their downfall, but then again, they are playing the Maple Leafs, who are notorious for being first-round exits.

            I think this will be a really fun series. Two passionate Canadian hockey cities head to head in the first round of the playoffs? Sign me up! I think this series will go 7 games. It will be a hard-fought battle, and it is only right for the Leafs to go the distance and re-spark a provincial rivalry with the Senators. This series will either be a goalie battle or a race to the finish, there is no in between unless we see goalie battles and barn burners every other game. Whoever gets the hotter hand will win this series in 7. I think it will be the Ottawa Senators getting it done here as Toronto just is not a team I can see winning anything this season.

Prediction: Senators in 7.

The Tampa Bay Lightning vs. The Florida Panthers

            Here we have the latest rendition of the Sunshine State Showdown. This will be the fourth time the two teams have met in the playoffs in the last 5 playoffs. The series is currently led by Tampa, which has won 2 of the previous 3 meetings between the two. This year feels a little different as these two are going in as second and third best teams in the Atlantic and are only separated by 4 points in the standings. Tampa has been getting some stellar play from Andrei Vasilevskiy, who is likely the second-best goalie in the playoffs this year, and they have the Art Ross and possible Hart winner in Nikita Kucherov. It is hard not to like Tampa almost every season, as they just always have guys who know what it’s like to reach the top of the mountain. A good portion of this team has won a cup before, and the guys who haven’t have all seen a lot of playoff action. Much like the Colorado and Dallas matchup in the West, however, this matchup unfortunately will see a Cup contender get knocked out in the first round. I think Tampa’s key to winning is not to collapse. It seems like when they lose, they get low on themselves, as for the longest time, winning was all they knew. Sticking together is key in the battle for either team.

            The defending Stanley Cup champions are faced with a challenge in the first round. Lucky for them, they have a solid roster to combat it. While they are on kind of a down year in terms of their top scorers, this team is still fresh off of two straight Cup finals, for the most part, and one Stanley Cup win. There is no doubt they are hungry to defend it, especially when they see the big, bad Lightning as their first victim. I believe this team has the pieces to make another run and will benefit from the likes of their pests, Brad Marchand, Sam Bennett, and Matthew Tkachuk. Nastiness is something you need some playoff time, and Florida definitely wins in that category in this matchup. Their only possible flaw is which playoff Bobrovsky they will get. His past 3 playoff runs have been quite consistent, but you never know with Bob, as he could play like the best goalie in the world one day and then be the reason you lose the next. As long as Stanley Cup champion Bob plays and not playoff Bob of old, then Florida will win this series.

            Nastiness and grit are ultimately what will get the job done in this matchup, in my opinion, and Florida has the upper hand here. I do not think Tampa has enough pests and will get annoyed very quickly by the nastiness of the Panthers. Goaltending will be a big part of this series as well, but I think it will ultimately be who wants it more and digs deeper, and I think Florida will want it more as they are looking to defend their cup, much like Tampa did in 2021 and 2022. Besides, who wouldn’t want to see Brady vs Matthew in the second round of the playoffs? I will say I think this will be another 7-game series, as these teams are quite close and will likely give us an instant classic.

Prediction: Panthers in 7

The Washington Capitals vs. The Montreal Canadiens

            Here is where my Blue Jackets would be had they made it. I am fully invested in this series as three of my favorite players of all time are involved. Josh Anderson is my favorite player of all time, so I will always root for him, but right behind him is the Great Eight, Alexander Ovechkin. Add Martin St. Louis into the mix, and it’s just Tidd’s Favorites.

Let’s take a look at the Capitals. Washington has had quite the eventful year with the Great Chase, and they have not looked the best to close out the season. They posted a 4-6 record in their last 10 games and had some pretty bad losses to teams they should have beaten, like the Blue Jackets, Islanders, Sabres, and Bruins. Granted, this team has been in the playoffs since March, but you never want to go into the playoffs with a spotty record like they have. It seems as if the season became more about the goal record and less about winning for the Capitals as it went on. I really like the makeup of this team. I think they did the retool perfectly, only missing the playoffs one time in 2023 in the last 10 years, and immediately becoming relevant again afterwards. This, in my opinion, is the deepest roster in the East and possibly the whole league. If they can get Logan Thompson back, this team may be unstoppable. My biggest concern for them is a record hangover. They cannot stay on the record for too long. They need to move on and look to their playoff goals, which they should be able to do, but we will see. Got to wonder if it would have been better for Ovi to break the record mid-season instead of towards the end.

            Les Habitants are a different story. This team is quite young, and it has been quite some time since their run in 2021, and they are missing some pretty key pieces since then. The addition of Ivan Demidov this late in the season looks to be an absolute lifesaver for the Habs. He has looked great for a team that almost squandered their playoff hopes entirely. I like the makeup of their lineup as well, going with their young future in Caufield, Suzuki, and Slafkovsky, on their top line, and then their vets in Gallagher, Dvorak, and Anderson on the second. Montreal has been a really fun team to watch all season, and I think a lot of that has to do with Head Coach Martin St. Louis. This guy is an absolute competitor in every sense of the word. I could see him being a future Jack Adams winner if he is not in the running for it this season already. He gets his guys fired up, and he can really be may just be the spark Montreal needs to compete in the first round. My biggest concern with this team is their youth. A lot of these guys do not have a lot of playoff experience, and as we know, experience can make a whole world of difference. I think the key for Montreal will be to strike fast and stay on the gas as well as get some saves from Montembeault. If they can do this, they could be a Cinderella as the playoffs go on.

            I do not think Washington lets this series get away from them. I think they will come out quick on Montreal, and the Habs will quickly begin to panic. The Habs can only sustain the pressure from the fans for so long, and this could be where they crack. I see this series either being a sweep for the Capitals or going the distance, and the Habs just falling short in game 7. The more likely outcome to me, however, is for the Caps to sweep. I am rooting for the Habs for the record, but I do not see them winning any in Washington.

Prediction: Capitals in 4 or 7.

The Carolina Hurricanes vs. The New Jersey Devils

            Here we get to what is, in my opinion, the most boring series of the playoffs (and I am saying that with LA vs Edmonton in the West). Jack Hughes is out for the Devils, and to me, that takes out a lot of the interest in the series. This roster just does not interest me, and the Devils have not had the most consistent playoff record recently, having only made it once in the last 6 years in 2023, where they lost in the Conference Semi-Finals. It is tough to go into a series without your superstar, especially against a team like Carolina, which has been a consistent playoff team for a while now. The Devils are just meh to me. Past Bratt, J. Hughes, and Hischier, this team is a snooze fest. With that being said I will keep this short and move on to the Hurricanes.

            The Hurricanes have had quite the interesting season, essentially turning Martin Necas into Logan Stankoven and futures. Not really ideal for a team that would like to be in win-now mode. With that being said, they have got some pretty solid play from their core as well as their younger guys like Seth Jarvis and Jackson Blake. The Hurricanes have been so good for so long, and I do not see any world where they do not make a run in the East as the East is really not the best this season. They also have a lot of guys who have made it out of the first round and even as far as the Conference Finals. I think Carolina is one of the teams that realistically have a chance to get out of the East. I like their defense core, and I like what they have up front. I also think their goalie tandem is one of the better ones in the East behind Washington and this could be all it takes to get them over the hump.

No more thoughts on this as I really could not care less about this series, as I think it will be a wash for Carolina and playoff Devils with no Jack Hughes is just sad, and I just want to move on with the rounds.

Prediction: Hurricanes in 5

Final Thoughts

            I see three teams that can make it out in the East. Carolina, Washington, and the Florida Panthers. Nobody else really screams contender to me. With that being said, I am just another scrub putting my thoughts out there, so you are more than welcome to disagree. I think this year’s playoffs will be really solid once we get out of the first-round matchups. I would love to see Colorado and Winnipeg as well as Ottawa and Florida. I think those could be some for the ages. Anyways, I will wrap it up here as the last two posts have been quite lengthy. I appreciate you joining me today for another edition of Tidd Talk. I will likely be back next week when the playoffs get going. I would like to get a feature out on the Columbus Blue Jackets season, but it is quite the busy time right now, so we will see.