Frank Seravalli

There are a lot of people that have reacted very negatively to this, and I don't know how you could come away from that press conference today feeling like anything other than

Keith Pelley is still going to be very, very much involved in what happens next with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Well, swift turn, right?

Saturday, you have the first game of round two, while Sunday has the last game of round one.

And by the way, it was about as good as it gets.

That whole series between Montreal and Tampa was.

I would say that in general, one of the big things that stands out about these playoffs and now this round is just how exhilarating having new blood is.

It's not the same old, same old Tampa's gone.

There will be no Florida representative in the Stanley cup final for the first time in seven years.

It just feels a little bit different.

It feels like fresh and invigorating and like almost like anyone's game, which is kind of what the Stanley cup playoffs had always been.

You never really know.

And yeah,

Now we watch as these teams duke it out from a really good Minnesota-Colorado series that's high-scoring to let's see what happens here between teams like Montreal and Buffalo.

Four.

And I think...

when you unpack them all you go okay 2023 that was following three straight trips to the stanley cup final two wins and a loss and you go okay 2023 they lose to the leafs i get it they're tired they need to regroup so then they lose two years in a row to the florida panthers and you say well okay they ran into what turned out to be the best team in hockey sure now year four

I really like the Montreal Canadians and what they're building, so this isn't a knock on them, but four straight first-round exits, not having the Florida Panthers in your way this time or some juggernaut in the East, there really isn't an excuse left.

Nikita Kucherov, his shooting percentage has plummeted in the playoffs.

Can't really explain why for such a gifted point producer previously in his postseason career, a decorated postseason player.