Quest for Lord Stanley begins

The Stanley Cup playoffs get underway on Wednesday night and this season's edition could see record TV ratings. Five Canadian-based franchises qualified this year, as opposed to zero last year.

"It's terrific, and really its five different stories. The two that are alike are Edmonton and Toronto, in that they've each got a generational superstar right at the start of their careers in Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews. Calgary is a little further along. They had the big step forward two years ago, won a round in the playoffs, and then they had a big step back last year. That's the big cautionary tale for these other young teams," said Timmins' own Dave Poulin, a hockey analyst for TSN, and a former captain of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Poulin successfully called the increase in Canadian content. When he spoke with TimminsToday in October to make predictions on the regular season he said 'there could be as many as five in this year'.

He spoke with TimminsToday again on Tuesday to share his thoughts heading into the post-season.

He likes the domino effect that occurred for the Oilers after trading former first overall pick Taylor Hall last summer, the veteran additions of the Flames, and the impressive play of rookies on the Maple Leafs, but one factor stood out in getting five Canadian teams to the playoffs.

"The common strand in each of these five teams is goaltending. They've gotten better goaltending this year than they have in the past."

A Canadian based franchise has not won the Stanley Cup since Montreal did, way back in 1993.

Poulin said the majority of people would likely believe that Montreal is the biggest threat out of the five Canadian qualifiers to hoist Lord Stanley this season because they are the oldest, and they have star goaltender Carey Price, but he said don't sleep on the Senators.

"Ottawa is a really hard team to play against. I do a lot of the Ottawa games, and I know I talked to a couple of the other teams in the east, and they did not want to see Ottawa."

He said the transformation of Senators superstar defenceman Erik Karlsson from primarily an offensive dynamo, to an all-around player, along with an impressive commitment to team defense this season has made Ottawa a league wide nuisance.

Poulin spoke a bit about each series...

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Washington Capitals vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

"Really, really tough matchup for Toronto, without question. The Caps system has been as consistent a build towards a cup team that you could possibly get. Adding incremental pieces, including the coach (Barry Trotz), they've got all the ingredients. That's a team that is built to win now, and that's the luck of the draw for Toronto in losing that last game to Columbus."

"I think Washington will win, and I think they'll be a pretty dominant team."

Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Rangers

"I don't think it's a good draw for Montreal, I really don't. New York has sat comfortably for awhile, they've got a well balanced group. They have a goalie (Henrik Lundqvist) by reputation, stature, and personality who can go up against Price."

"I wouldn't be surprised to see that one go the length. It's a 'pick-em' for me, but I think it goes seven games."

Ottawa Senators vs. Boston Bruins

"It might depend on health, on both sides. (Brandon) Carlo and (Torey) Krug just went down for Boston on defence and what that does, is put more pressure on a 40-year old defenceman in (Zdeno) Chara with a lot of mileage. As good as he's been, the extra load is not what he needs right now."

"Ottawa's got their own injury issues as well. It looks like (Cody) Ceci is ready. (Marc) Methot, I'd be surprised if he played, and to me Erik Karlsson is the 'X-factor' in this series. It sounds obvious, but he's the guy. He's been so timely in what he's done this year. From a depth standpoint, they're as solid as just about any team in the league."

"I think Ottawa comes out of this series. They've been playing one-goal games all year, they're used to winning 2-1, it doesn't bother them at all."

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets

"I would have liked to have seen (Kris) Letang playing for Pittsburgh. I still don't think we know Columbus very well. This is a team that as long as three or four years ago, I thought was really on the right track. Then it went south, and they made a coaching change, they've been through a lot, and appear as poised as they've ever been. But '87' (Sidney Crosby) in Pittsburgh right from the start of the year, to me, his mantra was that he was going to repeat. He was going to separate himself from the other mega-stars of his era, who have not repeated. The last repeat was 1997 and 98 with Detroit, nobody's done it since then. That's going to be Columbus' biggest stumbling block is number 87."

"Columbus is a deep team, but I still see Pittsburgh getting through the first round."

Blackhawks vs. Nashville Predators

"Chicago. I'm going to keep picking Joel (Quenneville) as my coach of the year until someone else does. What he's done, to me, is masterful. They're young group is really nice, they're a good team."

"I played for David Poile (Predators General Manager) for two years in Washington, you won't find a finer man in the sport, but wow he gets some bad draws in the playoffs, and this appears to be one of them."

"Who knows how much longer Chicago is going to be as intact as they are, but to me they're coming out of the west."

Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues

"Which Minnesota team are you going to get? The one you had for the first three quarters of the year, or the one you had for the last quarter? That was about as schizophrenic of a situation as you could possibly have, and St. Louis has played really well lately."

"That's probably as close to the Rangers-Montreal series for me, in terms of going the distance."

"If it comes down to goaltending, I'm taking (Devan) Dubnyk. As much as he's been down, I prefer Dubnyk over Jake Allen (Blues)."

Anaheim Ducks vs. Calgary Flames

"I think this is one that everyone's going to stay up and watch."

"Clearly Anaheim has had Calgary's number in Anaheim. I might have been playing the last time they beat them there. I think Calgary is better suited than they were in the past. They can clearly be more physical with (Matthew) Tkachuk, (Michael) Ferland, (Troy) Brouwer, and (Kris) Versteeg, who is a pain to play against."

"I think that's going to be a terrific, terrific series. Calgary is my dark horse if they can get by the first round."

Edmonton Oilers vs. San Jose Sharks

"I think that's a tough draw for San Jose. Edmonton's speed will win out there. This is Connor McDavid's first show. When you turn on an Oilers game, it seems like in the first six minutes he's got three dazzling rushes every night. I think he's going to be so excited for the playoffs."

"I think San Jose had their run last year. It surprised me they didn't do more at the trade deadline, to make one more 'old' run, but they didn't really. I think this is Edmonton's series."

POTENTIAL BREAKOUT PLAYERS?

"I'll give you an un-obvious superstar, because he's a star, but I think he could be the key to the whole thing in the east, and that's Nicklas Backstrom. If the Leafs make any noise at all, Frederik Andersen has to be the guy. You'd like to pull a name out of Minnesota and say that Eric Staal is going to have a great playoffs, or Zach Parise."

WHO'S GOING TO THE FINALS?

"I wouldn't be surprised if it's Chicago and Washington. I think that would be a reasonable choice."