The NHL is officially set to return with a 24-team tournament that will give way to the Stanley Cup playoffs.. I'd wager that the latter is the more likely scenario.Lehner has been very strong this year, even behind a sketchy defense in Chicago. Will they get some surprise contributions on the back end? 1 seed in the West were the 2019 Stanley Cup champion Blues, with a conference-high 94 points. NHL.com is the official web site of the National Hockey League. Winnipeg surrendered more high-danger chances than any other team in the league and Hellebuyck still managed to post a .922 save percentage with 22.4 GSAA.The Flames had the Western Conference's best offense a year ago but they struggled to find that same explosive spark for a significant portion of this season, finishing 20th in the league in scoring during the regular season. Boston and Edmonton are the only teams to have two players in the top 10 in points this season.Chicago announces headdresses will no longer be allowed at games and other team-sanctioned eventsTheir offense has been more productive than the Bruins' this season, with 245 goals in all. The power play ranked 28th in the league with a 15.2 percent conversion rate and that's going to need to be much, much better if they're going to get another taste of postseason glory. Will the heavy-lifters in the top six provide enough to overshadow a lack of depth? Thirty-three of those came from Nikita Kucherov, who was seventh in the league in points before the season ended.In the Eastern Conference, the qualifying matchups are as follows: (5) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (12) Montreal Canadiens, (6) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (11) New York Rangers, (7) New York Islanders vs. (10) Florida Panthers, and (8) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (9) Columbus Blue Jackets.Now let's take a look at each team's odds in this jumbo-sized playoff format and make some predictions about who we'll see in the Final beginning Sept. 22.Colorado had both the tiebreaker and a game in-hand over St. Louis, and the two have been a thorn in each other's side all season.
After healing up during the long break, will he be able to add to a great year by establishing himself as a game-changing postseason presence?The Predators were one of the most frustrating teams in the league this season because their talent level and underlying stats suggest they should have been much more successful than they actually were. (The Preds' power play ranked 25th and their penalty kill ranked 29th this year. With that in mind, perhaps they're more dangerous than the total ranking would suggest, or maybe the long break will force them to reset and work through the same struggles they dealt with at the beginning of the season.But how effective will Tarasenko be after such a long gap between meaningful games? He was arguably the best goalie in the league this season despite playing behind one of the league's worst defenses.