Nightmare Matchups for Projected 2025 NHL Playoff Teams
There are multiple variables that go into winning a championship in professional sports that go well beyond just having the most talented rosters.
Sure, talent is a big part of it. Maybe the biggest part. But that alone does not guarantee or produce a championship. That is especially true in hockey, where the playoffs are a grueling, two-month grind following a grueling 82-game regular season.
You need talent.
You need your talent to be healthy at the right time of year and play some of its best hockey.
You need some puck luck in big moments.
You also need to get the right matchups.
That latter point is what our focus is today, as we look at some potential nightmare matchups for some of the NHL’s likely playoff teams.
No matter how good your roster is, and no matter how well you might be playing going into the playoffs, every team always seems to have that one opponent that they can't get through, or is simply a bad matchup for their style of play.
So let’s talk about some of them.
Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche: Each Other
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The Stars and Avalanche look like they are on track to play in the first round of the Central Division bracket, and it will be insanely compelling viewing for hockey fans outside of both cities.
They are two of the best teams in the NHL. They are both perfectly capable of winning the Stanley Cup this season. There will be star power all over the ice. It will also have the added storyline of Stars forward Mikko Rantanen going against Colorado in a best-of-seven series after he was traded away before the trade deadline.
From a pure hockey standpoint, it is going to rule.
The nightmare for each team, however, comes from the fact that a bona fide Stanley Cup contender is going to get eliminated in the first round, while Dallas is facing the possibility of having to play Colorado without a 100 percent Miro Heiskanen (and potentially without Heiskanen at all).
This is a diabolical first-round matchup is the type of series that should be reserved for the Western Conference Final, or at least the second round.
One of these teams going out in the first round is almost unfair.
But that is the format the NHL wants, and there does not seem to be any change to it on the horizon.
Which Ever Team Has to Play the Florida Panthers
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As of Wednesday, the top-three teams in the Atlantic Division – Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning – are separated by just two points in the standings, while all three teams have played in exactly 71 games.
It will be a wild scramble down the stretch for the top spot, with all three teams having a nearly equal chance to get it.
The team that gets it will likely play the Ottawa Senators (the first wild-card team) in the first round.
The two teams that do not will play against each other in the 2 vs. 3 matchup in the Atlantic Division. That will be a tough matchup either way for either team, but it will be especially tough for Toronto or Tampa Bay if they have to play the Panthers.
Not only are the Panthers the back-to-back Eastern Conference champions and going for their second straight Stanley Cup championship, they are also built to be one of the most frustrating teams in the NHL to play against. That only got worse at the trade deadline when they acquired Brad Marchand from the Boston Bruins, adding him to a lineup that already includes Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett.
They are arguably the best team in the league in terms of skill, and the most frustrating.
Whether it's Tampa Bay, Toronto, or Ottawa in that first-round matchup, having to go against a team with this much talent, this much physicality, and this number of agitators will be the literal definition of a hockey nightmare.
Los Angeles Kings: Playing the Edmonton Oilers …. Again
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Unless somebody catches the Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division (possible, but not likely), the Los Angeles Kings will be stuck in their nightmarish, postseason Groundhog Day experience with a fourth consecutive first-round meeting against the Edmonton Oilers.
The first three have not gone well for them, with the Oilers winning this matchup in the past three postseasons.
Speaking objectively, there are a lot of reasons why the Kings should be feeling optimistic about the matchup this season.
They are good. They have great underlying numbers as a team, both defensively and in terms of pushing play and controlling the pace of the game, and Darcy Kuemper has bounced back in his first year with the team and given them some really high-level play in goal.
Perhaps the best sign from a Kings perspective is that Quinton Byfield is starting to go on an absolute heater offensively with 21 points in his previous 20 games entering play on Tuesday.
There is also the fact that Edmonton has some pretty significant flaws on its roster – again – and I am not sure Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are enough to overcome them, especially since neither is 100 percent healthy.
Even with that being the case, Edmonton still has Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and the Kings do not. Two megastars on their own might not be enough to win a championship, but they can take you through a round or two if they both get hot at the right time. If they do, the Kings might not have the offense to match up with them.
The Kings are an outstanding playoff team. They have established that baseline for themselves. They have to take the next step. Failing to do so at the hands of the same team that has ended their season in each of the past three seasons is not what anybody associated with the Kings wants to see.
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Washington Capitals: Montreal Canadiens Memories
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Okay, hear me out.
If the Montreal Canadiens earn the second wild-card spot, I would fully anticipate the Washington Capitals being heavy favorites in that series and ultimately winning it.
They are the better team. They have the playoff experience. They should be able to move on.
The nightmare here would be more about the bad memories this would almost certainly trigger from Capitals fans.
I mean, come on. It’s too crazy. A potential Presidents’ Trophy-winning Capitals team, drawing a scrappy, underdog Montreal Canadiens team in the opening round? We have seen this movie before – the 2009-10 postseason – and Capitals fans did not like the ending.
All of this would be irrelevant to the players, of course, but Capitals fans would probably be having a bad case of deja vu.
Of all the Capitals teams that fell short in the playoffs before their 2018 championship, that 2009-10 team is the one that truly feels like the big missed opportunity. That team was loaded until it ran into Jaroslav Halak, having the playoff series of his life
Vegas Golden Knights: A Healthy Minnesota Wild Team
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The Vegas Golden Knights have a strong hold on the top spot in the Pacific Division, which would put them into a first-round matchup against the first wild-card team. That is likely to be the Minnesota Wild.
That would potentially be a tough matchup on one condition – if the Wild get healthy.
They are currently decimated by key injuries to forwards Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, and defenseman Jonas Brodin.
If the Wild can get them back in time for the playoffs, that would be a huge lift to their lineup, especially as it relates to Kaprizov, who had been playing at an MVP level prior to his injury.
The other X-factor here is Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson. Gustavsson has been outstanding in net for the Wild this season and as of Monday has a .918 save percentage that puts him near the top of the league. He has also been better than both Vegas goalies. If there is one position that can swing a short playoff series, it is goaltending.
The Wild have the upper hand here, and could give their roster a boost if and when Kaprizov gets back. If they are healthy, they would not be an easy team to knock out
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