The 2017 National Hockey League playoffs start on April 12th where sixteen teams fight to battle for the Stanley Cup. Last year the Chicago Blackhawks took home the cup for the third time in seven years but who will take it home to their city this year?
The Washington Capitals have won the presidents trophy for the second year in a row. Last year the Capitals got eliminated in the second round to the Pittsburgh Penguins. This year they may have an even better team than last year with the addition to Shattenkirk at the trade deadline. They are the favourite to win the cup even though people have doubted them for their past experience in the playoffs. They will be facing Toronto in the first round who have a team full of rookies hoping to upset the capitals.
The penguins will be going up against the Columbus Blue Jackets who were on a seventeen game win streak during the middle of the season. The penguins will have to play without their star defenseman Kris Letang who is out with season ending neck injury.
The Canadians are facing the Rangers where Montreal has home ice advantage and the winner will play the winner of Ottawa and Boston in the second round.
The defending champs, Blackhawks are playing Nashville in the first round as they won their division and who ever wins that will play the winner of MInnesota and St. Louis which may be the most anticipated first round matchup.
Anaheim who won the Pacific division will play Calgary with a hope to get past the first round after being eliminated in the first round last year. The winner of this matchup will play the winner of Edmonton and San Jose. The Oilers return to the playoffs for the first time in a decade thanks to their captain McDavid and hope to defeat the sharks who went to the Stanley Cup finals last year.
The Kings who have won two cups of the last seven did not make the playoffs even after a great season from Jeff Carter, Bishop and Quick. The Red wings also did not make the playoffs which ends their 24th straight playoff appearance streak. Tampa Bay did not make the playoffs by a couple points as they missed Stamkos for most of the season which did not help.
After a year where no Canadian hockey teams made the playoffs. This year there will be five out of the seven Canadian teams in the playoffs. All except the Canucks and Jets. One of these five teams hope to bring the cup to Canada for the first time since 1993 when the canadians brought it home.
Who will take the cup home this year? Let us know in the comments below!
Sources:
"Stanley Cup Playoffs | Hockey Bracket." NHL.com. N.p., n.d. Web.
"List of Stanley Cup Champions." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Apr. 2017. Web.
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