Équipe: 2019-20 Équipe personnalisée

Date de création initiale: 27 mai 2020

Publié: 27 mai 2020

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

In part 1 I discussed the Habs vs pens series, and by the votes, the Pens have moved on from the qualifying round.
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Oilers: Obviously the Oilers have two of the better player on the entire planet at the moment. However they construct their lines the Hawks are going to have to try and slow down McDavid and Draisaitl, I am just not sure if that is possible. Some other intriguing secondary options for the Oilers is the Nuge who had a fantastic season with real good two-way play, and also Kailer Yamamoto who could be a big wildcard here. After the top 6 it definitely falls off quite a bit and it is below average to average, nothing special

Hawks: Kane & Toews back in the playoffs. We know what could happen as these two always rise to the occasion. I feel like their forward group while lacking the firepower of the oilers, is a bit more well rounded in that aspect. Debrincat, Strome, and Kubalik are very solid players. The Hawks definitely have more depth at forward I would say.

Advantage Oilers: In a 5 game series, If McDavid and Draisaitl can continue to produce offence like they have, the Oilers still have the Hawks covered up front.

Defence:
Oilers: I would say their blue line is around league average. They don't have a stud blue liner but they have a couple decent players. The most intriguing is Ethan Bear, who I think could be their best defenceman already.

Hawks: Keith and Seabrook are now shells of their former selves, at this point they are liabilities rather than assets. Murphy and the rookie Boqvist are decent options.

advantage: Oilers. The main difference between the two blue lines is that Edmonton does not have any major anchors compared to the Hawks, so I give them the edge on the blue line.

Goalies:
Oilers: It is very unaware of who they are going to be going with in net here. Koskinen and Smith have similar stat lines. I would say this is probably their biggest weakness tandems from my experience don't really work in the playoffs, you have to find someone that is hot and run with them.

Hawks: Crawford while not putting up amazing base numbers, did really solid in high danger opportunities. He has experience and should be a nice calming presence for the Hawks.

advantage: this is the one area that I think the Hawks definitely have over the Oilers.

My consensus: Oilers in 5. I think this is going to be closer than a lot of people expect. The hawks have pretty decent depth at forward, which I think helps cover up a bit for the lack of firepower compared to the Oilers. As well as I still think Crawford is good enough to steal a game or two. At the end of the day however, the hawks defense is below average and I expect McDavid and Draisaitl to have a field day picking them apart every game.

Listed below are my players to watch for this series.

I will give everyone two hours to vote, and the winner in the comments will move on!