Fink: With Fat Trimmed, The Playoffs Are Great!

The Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, to an extent, has reached the halfway point. Every series has played at least three games and the Eastern Conference matchups are getting ready for Game 5. This is a good time to have a retrospective on the playoffs and look at the bigger picture.

In this Monday morning column, we’ll look at the following things.

●      Since the NHL removed the awful teams, the playoffs have been great with plenty of entertaining games.

●      The Boston Bruins & Florida Panthers have provided a great rematch, one that has lived up to the hype.

●      The New York Rangers transactions helped put them in a prime position to win the Cup.

●      Lafreniere & other quick notes.

The cliche is that there’s nothing like playoff hockey and this season has been no exception. The thing is that this year’s playoffs have been different compared to previous ones and so far, it’s been for the best.

Second Round Matchups > First Round Matchups

Typically, the First Round is the best round in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, at least from a public eye perspective. 16 fanbases have a vested interest, the teams are healthiest, and every night has three or more games broadcasted back-to-back-to-back.  

This season, however, the First Round was a dud with only two of the eight matchups going seven games and five of them ending in five games or earlier. The matchups were awful because frankly a lot of teams backed their way into the playoffs. 

●      The Tampa Bay Lightning had a defense well below average, allowing 3.26 goals per game,

●      The New York Islanders stumbled into the third seed in the Eastern Conference but were below league average in both offense (2.99 goals per game) and defense (3.15 goals per game).

●      The Washington Capitals backdoored their way into the playoffs with a -37 goal differential. 

The three teams above were the final three to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and they all got smoked in the First Round. The Capitals particularly were swept and scored only seven goals in the four games. 

The good news is that now that the “fat” is trimmed, the playoffs are a must-watch. Even with some matchups becoming lopsided, every game is decided by one goal, one shift, or a play that could easily flip the result. 

The 2024 playoffs are a reminder that despite the urge to expand the playoffs, there’s no need. There are already too many teams that qualify for the playoffs and adding more would simply be a sign of greed (so expect the NHL to do it).

Bruins-Panthers: A Rematch & A Brewing Rivalry

Last year, the Bruins and Panthers met in a First Round for the ages. The series went the distance and Game 7 went into overtime, making it the 47th Game 7 to be decided by a sudden-death overtime goal (the best possible ending to a game and a series). 

The Panthers both knocked out the Presidents’ Trophy Bruins with a series victory and went on a run that was them reach the Stanley Cup Final afterward. 

This rematch is somehow living up to the hype. Only four games have been played yet there are plenty of memorable moments. From the big hits to the fights to Aleksander Barkov’s goal in Game 4, to the controversial goal in the same game that saw the Panthers sneak away with a 3-2 win. 

The only problem is that this series could end early. The Panthers have a 3-1 series lead and can close things out with a win on their home ice. Then again, this series is far from over. Just ask the Bruins, who had a 3-1 series lead a year ago, about how over it is.

The Rangers Build Around The Salary Cap

The New York Rangers entered the season with no cap space and minimal room to upgrade the roster. Yet, they won the Presidents’ Trophy and built the best team in hockey. How’d they do it? 

The first thing they did was sign veterans in free agency for bargain prices. In free agency, they signed Blake Wheeler, Erik Gustafsson, and Jonathan Quick, adding stability to the forward unit, the defense, and goaltending. The three players cost a total of $2.4 Million.

At the trade deadline, they took a similar approach. They acquired Alex Wennberg and Jack Roslovic, two depth forwards, and they only gave up a second-round pick in the 2025 draft and two conditional fourth-round picks. 

At a minimum cost, they added five players to a roster that already had a great core in place. Gustafsson and Roslovic are particularly helping out the Rangers in the playoffs as they’ve rounded out the roster and added a boost to the later lines and pairings. 

It’s moves like these that Cup contenders make and the Rangers did it. Now, they have a comfortable 3-1 series lead and are poised to compete for the Stanley Cup.

Quick Hits

●      Alexis Lafreniere has four goals and six assists in the playoffs with all four of those goals coming in the Second Round. It took a few years for the 2020 number one overall pick to develop into a star but the 22-year-old forward is having a breakout season and becoming a key scorer for the Rangers.

●      The Dallas Stars had eight skaters score 20 goals or more this season. The scoring distribution has spread to the playoffs as well with four skaters already finding the back of the net three times and eight already scoring twice. Seems to work as they have a 2-1 series lead.

●      Valeri Nichushkin has nine goals in the playoffs and only one assist. It’s one of the oddities stat-wise but says a lot about the Colorado Avalanche issues. They need their depth skaters to play with more versatility if they hope to beat the Stars, who lead the series 2-1.

●      In the First Round, 20 of the 44 games were decided by one goal. In the Second Round so far nine of the 12 games were decided by one goal. You don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out how close this round’s matchups are.