Subscribe
Follow Us
The 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs are finally here, with the puck being dropped Monday night in Carolina as the first series to begin. The Stanley Cup Playoffs have always been one of the best spectacles in sports. Unlike the NBA playoffs, in hockey, top seeds are never safe in the first round. The saying “just get in the dance” has actual meaning. But this year might take that to a whole new level. There are so many good hockey teams, chock full of superstars. This might be the most anticipated postseason in recent history.
So, let's dive into exactly why the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs should be the best ever.
4 Reasons Why the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs Should Be the Best Ever
1. Depth of Competition
This year, there are more very good hockey teams in the playoffs than ever before. That's not just an opinion or general statement, it's an actual fact. This season, all eight playoff teams in the Eastern Conference recorded at least 100 points. That has never happened before in the history of the NHL, in either conference.
For the first time in NHL history, all of the eastern conference playoff teams have 100+ points
So, who's the best team? 👀
– Panthers
– Hurricanes
– Leafs
– Rangers
– Lightning
– Bruins
– Penguins
– Capitals— Hockey Night in Canada (@hockeynight) April 26, 2022
The Washington Capitals earned the eighth seed with exactly 100 points. They still have much of the same talent that helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2018. They will face the President's Trophy winner, the Florida Panthers in the first round. Despite having a great year midway through, the Panthers were extremely active at the trade deadline, acquiring veteran forward Claude Giroux. It's not often the best team in hockey makes a big move to get even better at the deadline.
The rest of the Eastern Conference is equally stacked. An argument can be made for any of them reaching the Stanley Cup finals. Good luck trying to figure out who it will be.
2. Possible Stanley Cup playoff history
The Tampa Bay Lightning have won each of the last two Stanley Cups. In 2020, they defeated the Dallas Stars in the finals, and last year, they took care of the upstart Montreal Canadiens. No teams has won three consecutive Stanley Cups since the New York Islanders did it way back the early 1980's. So, it's been almost 40 years.
The Lightning have a shot to do it again. Tampa Bay still has many of the same players, including Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman, Alex Killorn and Brayden Point, among many others. Most importantly, they still have Andrei Vasilevskiy in net.
Article Continues Below
The Lightning will begin their title defense against another one of the best teams in the NHL, the Toronto Maple Leafs. So, as good as Tampa Bay is, and they are very, very good, they are not even the favorite to win their first-round series, according to FanDuel.
Lightning coach Jon Cooper even acknowledged this is a whole new season now.
"You sit back, you have an off day tomorrow, and you say, 'Wow, this team won 51 games' … it's a hell of an accomplishment, but it will be long forgotten when we get to Toronto because it's a whole different season now."#TBLvsNYI
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) April 30, 2022
3. Superstars are everywhere
NHL fans have been treated to more scoring this year. Goals are up, and the goal scorers are all the names you know. There were 17 players with at least 40 goals during the regular season this year. All 17 of them are playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Also, all eight players that recorded 100 points this season are playing in the post season. Normally, you have a few elite goal scorers and players with a ton of points on a bad team. But not this year. During the NHL playoffs, generally, scoring comes down. Each game is tightly contested. But with so much depth in talent on team's third and sometimes even fourth lines, we can expect there to be plenty of offense this post season.
