March for the Cup is where you will vote on hypothetical playoff matchups in a bracket style setup mimicking the NCAA basketball tournaments. Here is the setup.
I’m going to seed all 31 teams based on the current overall standings with one play in game because of the odd number of teams. You will have a chance to vote on who you think should win the matchup. I’ll give some brief overviews and you’ll use those and your own intuition to make your selections. The results will be hidden until the next blog when the results are revealed. We will go round by round until we have a winner. Who knows? Maybe our selection will be the only winner this season.
This is all hypothetical. However you want to analyze things, go for it. If you want to assume every team has full health, go for it. Anything goes in the Coronavirus era of hypothetical playoff hockey.
We are now into the second round of March to the Cup. Today we will focus on the second round matchups in the Jaromir Jagr Division to widdle down to the final four teams on this side of the bracket. Here are the matchups. Vote for who you believe is the best candidate to move on.
(1) Boston Bruins vs (17) Calgary Flames
Up first we have the battle of Jarome Iginla. The Bruins legend still lives locally and coaches his sons’ hockey teams. Boston has been a powerhouse again this year led by the amazing David Pastrnak. Calgary has had an underwhelming year. I wish last year’s Calgary team could play this Bruins team without Mike Smith in net. Alas, the matchup is the 2019-20 Flames against a fully healthy 2019-20 Bruins team. The Bruins are the #1 seed for a reason.
The Vegas Golden Knights lead the league in xGF% at 56.07. They are so good they fired their good coach and didn’t miss a beat. The only thing slowing down the Golden Knights this year was Marc-Andre Fleury. Their goaltending was horrid for a lion’s share of the season. So Vegas did what a team in a win now window should do and that is fix the issue. They did by acquiring Robin Lehner.
Edmonton is a true wild card because of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Those two are amazing. They can win games on their own. I don’t think they have much behind them though and a fully healthy Golden Knights roster is a buzz saw. The seeds are close, but I don’t think the roster construction is.
Oilers (5th in West, 2nd in PAC, .585 pts%)
Look how far the game's best player, a superstar, and average-ish goaltending can take you.
Will JT Miller get his revenge for being traded from a power house Lightning team? Truth be told Miller is a big reason why the Canucks aren’t still a complete joke. He has 72 points in 69 games this year which includes 27 goals. He is basically a 30 goal scorer and has double the goals he fewer games this year than he did last year. Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser are a great duo. Tyler Toffoli has six goals in ten games with the Canucks. They have some good pieces. However, we are still talking about the Tampa Bay Lightning. They didn’t start the year looking like themselves, but they are back to being a top team in the league. Vancouver has their hands full here.
(5) Washington Capitals vs (12) Toronto Maple Leafs
Every year there is always a rightful amount of buzz about the potential of the Capitals and Penguins meeting in round 2, but this would be a great second round matchup in real life. No shortage of star power on the ice in this one. What makes this one even more fun is Frederik Andersen, who has been a very good NHL goalie, has not been a very good NHL goalie this year. Neither has Braden Holtby. The Capitals have Ilya Samsonov and the Leafs have Jack Campbell. I think the Capitals have the edge in goal due to Andersen’s off year and Samsonov being a better back up. I think the Capitals have maybe the slightest edge on defense although if the Leafs have Reilly and Muzzin healthy they are right there. I do think the Leafs have a minor edge at forward when completely healthy, but let’s be honest the Capitals are one of few teams with similar firepower up front to the Leafs. This is a wonderful matchup and it would be pretty entertaining to see for real.
(5) Washington Capitals vs (12) Toronto Maple Leafs
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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