Ranking every matchup the Carolina Hurricanes would’ve had in the 2018 playoffs

In reality, the Carolina Hurricanes are out of the playoffs. In fantasy land, they’re in the playoffs with a multitude of matchups as a possibility.

It’s playoff time around the NHL, and the Carolina Hurricanes extended their league best playoff drought to nine years. With the Canes left out once again, the fans in Raleigh are left watching the rest of the league take part in the Stanley Cup Finals without them.

Carolina fans have to be eager to experience some playoff hockey again at PNC Arena sometime soon. Considering more than half the league takes part in the playoffs each spring, missing the postseason nine times in a row can ware on a fan base. That’s exactly what’s happening to the most stagnant team in the league over the past decade.

It’s tough to find direction when it seems like everything a team, its coaching staff and players do to finally make a successful playoff push. Carolina actually finished with less points this season than they did during the 2016-17 campaign. Head coach Bill Peters tied the previous best amount of wins he had at the helm for the Canes, with 36. But, the Canes did have less overtime and shootout losses than the season before.

Fans can only imagine what it would be like for their team to take part in the playoffs now. Moreover, since the Metropolitan Division was so competitive again, the Canes ended up falling behind along with the New York Islanders and New York Rangers.

Altogether, five teams from the Metro made the playoffs in the East this year. That made it very tough for the rest of the division to play catch up down the stretch. Although, Carolina was expected to make a run similar to that which the Florida Panthers actually put together.

Qualifications for the list

This list takes into consideration how the Canes would matchup with each of the eight teams that actually made the postseason. It’s not just based on how each of the squads that made the Eastern half of the NHL Playoffs finished up in the points department. Other things are taken into consideration.

For instance, the Canes tend to matchup horribly against the Rangers, even though they were not a playoff team this time around. On the other hand, the Canes usually play opponents like the Columbus Blue Jackets, New Jersey Devils, and Tampa Bay Lightning pretty tough.

There was really no telling to which version of the Canes we would see on the ice in 2017-18. They were one of the most unpredictable and up and down teams in the league this season. Yet, they still managed to sweep possibly the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Nashville Predators.

All in all, this list is based purely on hypothetical situations, and the current state of each playoff team. Some teams looked much better in the early portion of the regular season than they do now, in both conferences. The Minnesota Wild are an example of that. Overall, the chances that the Canes would have to make it past a matchup with each team is the ultimate determining factor to each ranking on the list.

8. Philadelphia Flyers

Regular season points: 98

Seed: 3rd in Metro

The Canes wrapped up the regular season with a 2-2-1 record in five games played against the Philadelphia Flyers. Carolina and Philly were in roughly the same position entering the turn of the calendar year from 2017 to 2018.

However, the Flyers went on a great run in the final months of the regular season, with a significant amount of overtime and shootout losses powering them into the top three of the final Metro standings. And, the Flyers were one of numerous teams under threat of missing the playoffs due to a mad dash in the last two months from Florida.

With the way the Flyers have looked through two of their first three playoff games, giving up way over 10 goals in two losses, gives hope that the Canes would take them down too. Even though this is all to the imagination, Philly would make for a good matchup in favor of the Canes.

It was a very even regular season matchup, and the Flyers have a similar issue to the Canes in terms of both goaltending situations. Brian Elliott has been up and down for the Flyers this season, as was Scott Darling and Cam Ward. Stopping Flyers captain Claude Giroux is the main task that the Canes would have to deal with here.

7. New Jersey Devils

Regular Season Points: 97

Seed: 2nd in wildcard

The only reason that the New Jersey Devils are placed ahead of the Flyers on the list is the way the regular season schedule stacked up for the Canes. New Jersey took down the Canes three times in the final two months of the 2017-18 slate.

That does not make for too attractive of a draw for the Canes, with a team that had their number a few times in such a short span of time like the Devils. Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier, and Kyle Palmieri made for a tough offensive trio to stop this year against Carolina.

On the other hand, the Devils are showing up in sub par fashion in their first round matchup. And, the Devils were up and down all season, to an even greater degree than the Flyers. Hall is the only thing that consistently carried them through, as he’s a Hart Trophy contender for the first time in his career.

The thing that the Canes have going here, in a hypothetical matchup with both the Devils and Flyers, is the goalie matchup. Keith Kinkaid was solid against the Canes this season, but he’s struggling in the first round. As long as the Canes take care of the Hall matchup, they could win this.

6. Washington Capitals

Regular season points: 105

Seed: 1st in Metro

A playoff choking bug caused the Washington Capitals to be possibly the most disappointing postseason team in the past decade. Since superstar Russian forward Alex Ovechkin first entered the league in the 2005-06 season, the Caps have been one of the best regular season squads in the league.

However, the playoffs spell a different story for the Caps. Things got underway in difficult fashion for the Caps in 2018 too. Landing first place in the Metro should have helped them get through their first round matchup a bit easier. They lost Game 1 as heavy favorites.

In four games played against Washington this season, the Canes wound up with a record of 2-1-1 against them. Darling also had some of his best games of his inaugural season with the Canes while facing Washington. Justin Williams would have the opportunity to knock off his former squad also.

The chance to take down a rival like the Caps would be a bittersweet way for the Canes to make their return to the playoffs for the first time in nearly a full decade. Washington is one of the top regular season teams in the East portion of the playoff bracket. Things might be different through the course of the playoffs itself.

5. Columbus Blue Jackets

Regular season points: 97

Seed: 1st in wildcard

Possibly no team pulled off a more surprising feat in the set of first round Game 1’s than the Columbus Blue Jackets taking down the Capitals, in Washington D.C. Columbus winger Artemi Panarin scored a clutch overtime game-winner to knock off the Caps in the first game.

Although Columbus finished the regular season tied with the Devils for the least points among all eight playoff teams in the East, they wrapped things up as one of the hotter teams in the league. It was hard for any team to defeat Columbus in regulation, largely thanks to the reigning Vezina Trophy winning goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Unlike the first three teams listed here, the Jackets have a very set situation in net. Bobrovsky would be tough for the Canes to get past in a seven game series. Even if the Jackets went with the backup goalie, Joonas Korpisalo is a very solid depth piece that could come through.

Carolina did fare well against Columbus during the regular season, which is why this would still be a winnable matchup. Yet, it did take Darling’s best statistical performance of the season for the Canes to walk away with a 2-0-2 record against Columbus. That likely would’ve swung to a 1-0-3 record without 34 save outing on Dec. 16 from Darling.

4. Toronto Maple Leafs

Regular season points: 105

Seed: 3rd in Atlantic

There were quite a few breakdowns for the Canes this season, at different points throughout. Things also went steadily downhill for the Canes against the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. They started off this regular season matchup with the Leafs with a 6-3 victory.

The remaining two games saw the Canes fall short to the Leafs once in overtime and once in regulation. The last time these two squads met resulted in one of the worst scores of the season for the Canes, in a thoroughly embarrassing seven point defeat.

Any time you have two consecutive losses to a good team, including an 8-1 road defeat, a playoff matchup is not too desirable. However, since Toronto is starting off their first round playoff series so poorly, this could be one that would give the Canes a chance, if nothing else.

Halting rising star forwards like Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and Zach Hyman would be tough. And, the phenom Scottsdale, AZ, native Auston Matthews is the ultimate test for Carolina’s blue line. If those factors are not enough, Toronto finally got a solid goaltender in Frederik Andersen, who shut them down the final meeting between these teams.

3. Boston Bruins

Regular season points: 112

Seed: 2nd in Atlantic

Through two first round playoff contests, the Boston Bruins are cruising. Moreover, in three meetings with the Bruins this season, the Canes finished up with a record of 0-2-1. One of those losses was similar to the level of embarrassment felt in the 8-1 defeat at the hands of the Leafs, when Boston defeated the Canes 7-1.

Another home loss to the Bruins was one of the biggest let downs of the entire season. Carolina owned a three goal lead for most of a March 13 matchup with the Bruins, at PNC Arena. Yet, the Bruins managed a huge third period that powered them to an eventual 6-4 victory.

All the let downs that the Canes had against the Bruins this season makes this the first of three seemingly unwinnable series opponents. The separation between the toughness of the Bruins and the Leafs is pretty large too.

Another tough aspect in facing the Bruins is that they are strong in every zone on the ice. Boston’s physicality and strong puck possession allows them to dominate the neutral zone. It’s needless to say that their blue line, top six forwards, and goalies are all solid also.

2. Tampa Bay Lightning

Regular season points: 113

Seed: 1st in Atlantic

After such a successful regular season, it’s very hard not to put the Tampa Bay Lightning at the top of any list similar to this one. However, since the reigning back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions are still in this playoff picture, the Bolts fall in second.

The good news for the Canes in this matchup would be that they took down Tampa Bay in the final regular season game. That could allow them to build enough confidence and momentum to pull off a few upsets on the road to kick things off.

Listing out all the top tier talent that the Bolts have on the roster makes things very scary for their actual first round matchup, the Devils. That list includes Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Hart Trophy, Vezina, and Art Ross could all end up in Tampa, FL, this summer.

All of that skill would be terrifying as a hypothetical seven game series for the Canes. It’s hard to imagine, in really any scenario, that the Canes could pull off an upset of this level. And, it doesn’t matter when the Canes would meet the Bolts in the playoffs, they have home ice advantage throughout Eastern Conference portion.