No first round upsets is a very bold pick. But honestly, if it exactly like you called it, I'd be perfectly content... until the final.

over estimate DAL.
EDM and COL are better teams than given credit for here.

I was very close to taking Tampa and Toronto. Was also seriously considering LA and Winnipeg

Dallas imo is such a deep team. 3 lines that can score, very good defensively, especially after adding Tanev, and while Oettinger has been a little shaky this year he can be elite at times. To me they’re definitely the best team in the west and they’ve been a top 3 cup contender for me all season

Colorado and Edmonton could both make the conference finals and I wouldn’t be too surprised. There’s 6 teams in the West I see as legitimate threats

Being deep doesn't = cup.
You have got to have the high end talent to cut through teams like butter.
A hot McDavid or MacKinnon blows past DAL. This is the time of year guys put teams on their back and take a team over.
Look at the CBJ vs TB series when Panarin played for CBJ. TB was by far the deeper team. But they had no answer for the best player on the ice the whole series.
That was one deep TB team too far deepr than DAL and Panarin is no McDavid.

The real problem with DAL is they lack that kind of high end talent. Playing as a team only goes so far. At some point the guy on the ice who knows he is better just puts everyone else on their heels and takes over.

Imagine thinking Dallas has no high end talent... meanwhile, McDavid has never won a conference final game. Champs can roll four lines and rely on three pairings.

I’d classify Robertson and Heiskanen as high end talent. Hintz was fantastic last year in the playoffs. Then you have Pavelski, Duchene, Johnston, and Benn who all put up 60+ points, while Seguin played at a 60+ point pace. Marchment had 50 points. Harley had a breakout year. Stankoven has been great since being called up. Tanev is still a great shutdown dman

I think they have high end talent (although not to the level of Edmonton or Colorado) and arguably the best depth of any team in the playoffs as well

Vegas over Dallas in 6 games, they have been the more dominant playoff team over the past 4 years.

Agree with Van and Col bothe in the same number of games you predicted. Edm over LA for sure but I don't think LA has the goaltending to take the series past 5 games.

I think Tampa had Flo in 7, those guys all step up in big moments and for a team like Tampa, there is no bigger moment than playing Flo in the playoffs (save for the cup finals)

Bos over Tor, it's a tradition lol

NYR over Wsh for sure

NYI over Car, Roy has that team in first round upset mode lol

Round 2 winners Vegas over Avs, Van over Edm, Boston over Tampa, NYI over NYR

Round 3 Van over Vegas, Boston over NYI

Champs Vancouver

Chumps Boston

When is the last time all the top seeds won the first round?

Imagine thinking DAL has a legit Franchise player in their forward group.
They got no one on that level. Hell even capfriendly's own scouting gives them 1 guy at 91 on a L1 ranking.

They don't have that player. You can go on about McDavid about what he has or has not won. But look how he gets there with little help around him.
DAL might have a large support staff, but you don't need that to win a cup. You just need your best two lines to dominate for 25-23 minutes each each game.
Don't think COL and EDM can't out play them with those lines, they can.

Heiskanen is a franchise player but he's not winning games from the blueline.
Robertson is a 1st line player but he's not franchise player. You look at guys like McDavid, Mackinnon, Matthews, Pasta, Panarin, Kuch.... those guys are on another level that Robertson can't even sniff.
Everyone else you listed there is simply a role player. Believe me no one is scared of 40 year old Pavelski on the ice. It's the other way around.

You all hell bent listing like 800 names half the roster. But not a one can cut a team up over a series like butter. That's the point.

Colorado over Winnipeg is an upset

No sense arguing. Dallas win the west quietly. They are the most complete team in the west. They may not have the top end talent like Edm or Col, but they have the bottom lines and Defense, they also have the goaltending (only Winnipeg has better).

By standings, sure. But is it, really? It's not by pundit rankings or betting lines. Not even that close, actually.

Okay, well now you've moved the goalposts a long way. The discussion was high end talent, not franchise players. And now you're trying to limit it to forwards for some reason. And the scouting portal here is anabsolite joke.

But none of that matters because you just made my point for me.

"You can go on about McDavid about what he has or has not won. But look how he gets there with little help around him."

Yes. He gets only halfway to winning a Cup, and that far only once so far, because his team is too heavy and hasn't had the support crew to win.

I don't know what the pundits are saying but Colorado is a 1 line team with average defense and goaltending this season. Winnipeg has far greater offensive depth + better defense + better goaltending. I think a LOT of people are sleeping on the Jets.

That may well be.

I’d say Vancouver and Nashville also has better goaltending than Dallas in the west

MacKinnon and Rantenan can only bail Colorado out so much

I think we have a pretty ridiculously big sample size to show that depth usually wins out in the playoffs. deepest team won the cup last year. tampa had star power for their run, but their third line was the difference maker for those three years.

there are way more example of teams winning with star power than depth. Which is why every team wants that star player.

Last 10 Stanley cups.
VGK -
COL - MacKinnon
TB - Kuch
TB - Kuch
STL -
WSH - OV
PIT - Crosby
PIT - Crosby
CHI - Kane
LAK

Go round and round on it all you like. 7/10 of the last 10 teams had a legit Franchise player.
You need a guy who can put a team on his back and carve up other teams.
You look at DAL, they don't have that guy. Yeah, it's possible they could win...... but you seriously under estimate the power of a star player to tilt the ice.
You can look at those team up there and they were not the "deeper" team in the playoffs. Hell that PIT team had make shift blue line of Ron Hainsey, it didn't matter.
When you got a Crosby and a Malkin, it goes a long freaking way.
So yeah DAL has a deeper team. But there is no body on DAL who can drag DAL kicking and screaming like McDavid can.
That's the point.
Don't get caught on the wrong end of McDavid on a tear or you'll be out. Because he has just enough help to win. That's what it boils down to. A team like DAL needs to be deep, EDM don't, COL don't.
They can have their stars carry them.

oh, good teams have a star player? i'm shocked! with the exception of maybe pittsburgh (and that's a reach), all those teams won with really good depth. Tampa, the gourde line. Heck, even Pittsburgh relied pretty heavily on the bonino, hagelin, kessel line.

no one moved any goal posts. You can just stop there. Not even worth reading what was after that.
no one moved anything, no one is changing any conversation.
If you see my other post on here you can clearly see 7 of the last 10 cup winners had a franchise level forward. Period.
yeah teams can win with depth without one..... but your odds are just much lower. A star goal scorer puck handler is going to carry a team on his back. You can blame McDavid all day about he didn't do this, he didn't do that.... it's all BS. You damn well know he can dominate a series. It's just a matter of time till it happens. He's only had 5 shots at it so far and getting to the 3rd round in one of them. It's not like Crosby won a his first time. It took 3 attempts... and it took a lot of help around him at a young age, including another franchise player on the team with him in Malkin. It took them another 7 years to win a 2nd one. But it should go to show you that teams with those levels of players are the ones winning cups. regardless of if they are the "deeper" team.
Don't come tell me McDavid ain't no Crosby, he's matured and plays a great game today. The same is true with MacKinnon.
DAL can be the deepest team, but they aren't the most talented.

Pit didn't rely on HBK in the playoffs, FFS the crosby line carried the team. With a weak as hell defense being dragged along.
Litterally every team listed there was carried by their top line. Saying something like "surprise good teams have a star player" while looking at DAL and noticing they don't really have that guy, and saying they got a deep team so odds in their favor is just BS to start.
This is the whole point here. You better have that guy who can put the team on his back and cut a team up. That's what makes teams dangerous. DAL ain't got it. Deep team, sure, have a chance sure, it's the playoffs.... But they aren't the most dangerous team here.

i'm starting to wonder if you watch these games....

as for dallas - robertson had 109 points last season with 46 goals. heiskanen is a stud. they've got two other 30+ goal scorers. they've got the top end guys. it's helpful that their entire lineup plays a winning brand of hockey.