The 20 biggest storylines heading into the NHL playoffs

You won't find many observers who will say that the Penguins were the NHL's best team this season. In fact, you might not find any. That makes sense; they didn't win their division, and several teams in the league finished with much higher point totals. That said, it could be argued that multiple Eastern Conference teams spent the season's final weekend behaving as if they wanted to avoid the Pens in the first round. No team in the league can match the Penguins' 1-2-3 punch of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel. If Matt Murray and Kris Letang bring their "A" game in the post-season, a three-peat--which would be the first since the 1980s Islanders--is well within Pittsburgh's reach.

For the second time in three seasons as a pro, Connor McDavid will be watching the playoffs on television. This is not good for the league, for McDavid, or for the fans. Had the Oilers not been so putrid this season, McDavid would have been a near-lock for the Hart Trophy. Instead, he almost certainly will not win that award, and, despite an individual performance that improved on last year's stellar sophomore campaign, will not have the chance to make his mark on the post-season. Edmonton will have to re-evaluate this off-season, in an effort to stop wasting McDavid's best years.

Here is the list of players who have won the Conn Smythe Trophy three times: Patrick Roy. That's it. That's the list. Only Bobby Orr, Bernie Parent, Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux have won the award twice, with Parent and Lemieux each winning theirs in back-to-back seasons. No one has won it three times in a row. Crosby can equal Roy's Conn Smythes won, and put himself alone in history by doing it three years in a row. It would be still another addition to an already crowded trophy case. Crosby's biggest challenge might come from within. Both Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel have had legitimate cases for the award in each of the last two seasons, and both outscored the Penguins' captain on the season.

For the first quarter or so of the season, the only question following the Golden Knights concerned how long their good start would last before they came back to earth and turned into a seller at the trade deadline. That regression never came, and if anything, Vegas' peripheral numbers improved as the season wore on. Led by William Karlsson, the Golden Knights boast a balanced attack, and Marc-Andre Fleury, though he battled injuries, had a career year when healthy. The main reasons to suggest that Vegas won't come out of the west are their inexperience, and the fact that they weren't supposed to be here. Well, that, and the presence of the Predators. Still, anyone counting out the Golden Knights does so at their own peril.

Say the words "New Jersey Devils" to a random passerby and chances are that person, even if they aren't a hockey fan, will respond with the words, "neutral zone trap." Then they'll probably make a face and tell you that the Devils ruined hockey in the mid-90s by executing an already well-known system with borderline religious fervor. These Devils are much more about speed and skill, and boast a possible Hart Trophy winner in Taylor Hall. That said, they don't have much in the way of established scoring after Hall, so unless he raises his game even higher and the goaltending is superior, it might be a short run for New Jersey. That said, this feels like the start of a new era of contention for the Devils.

1967. Just say the year if you'd like to aggravate a Leafs fan. That was the last time Toronto won the Stanley Cup, and they've suffered through some rough periods in the half-century since. Now, with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander leading the way, Leafs fans are hopeful that the team can escape the meat grinder that is the Atlantic Division and make a serious push to end 51 years of Stanley Cup futility. Toronto has the firepower, ranking second in the league in goals for, and eleventh in goals against, but a brutal first-round series against Boston might end their quest before it has a chance to get started. 

For much of the season, Tampa Bay was the league's best team, and the health of Steven Stamkos played a big part in that success. Stamkos has missed the Bolts' last three games, and his status for the playoffs is uncertain. With Stamkos, the Lightning roared to the league's best goal total. Without him, their offense will take a big hit, and Nikita Kucherov's effectiveness might be hindered. Without Stamkos, the Lightning will still be dangerous, and a formidable challenger for the Penguins in the East. With him, they might deserve to be called Stanley Cup favorites. 

Toews, Kane, Keith, Sharp — we've all gotten used to seeing those names come playoff time. Usually, they're wearing the label of Western Conference favorite. Chicago always draws eyeballs to televisions, but their hangover after getting humiliated by Nashville in the first round of last year's playoffs extended to this year, where they finished last in the Central Division and were never really competitive at any point in the season. Still, a post-season without Chicago doesn't feel quite right, especially when Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are still very close to their respective primes.

Goaltender interference has been a major topic for a few seasons running, perhaps never more so than this season, with several goalies getting injured on collisions. The on-the-fly rule change that gives the NHL Situation Room the final say on goalie interference decisions, as opposed to the referee who made the original call, will doubtless come into play at some point in the post-season, and will almost certainly be subject to plenty of scrutiny. The league has to hope that they somehow make it through an enormous slate of games without an exceedingly controversial call taking center stage.

The Bruins and Maple Leafs are in, and therefore arguably the biggest hockey hotbeds in both Canada and the United States will be represented in these playoffs, but the Red Wings, Canadiens, Blackhawks and Rangers didn't hold up their end of the bargain. NBC can't be happy about three major U.S. cities that tend to draw solid to excellent ratings being out of contention, and the lack of a "blue blood" presence never helps the playoffs. That said, the flip side of the coin is that Winnipeg's fans will be rabid, and Vegas will be a surreal experience. 

Columbus avoided the Penguins in the first round — some would say on purpose — which means that John Tortorella's team will get to take their chances against the Washington Capitals. Torts has turned the Blue Jackets into a formidable regular season force, but last year's playoffs were a disaster, and another swift exit would not be a good look. He probably still has at least another year ahead of him, no matter what happens, but a humiliating performance this year might warm his seat considerably. Conversely, if the Jackets make it through Washington, then somehow find a way to exorcise their Penguins demons, Tortorella will be the toast of the town.

Some people love the current division-based format, but most don't. This year, the current format might well see the league's top four teams by regular season point total have to play in the second round. President's Trophy-winning Nashville is on a collision course with Winnipeg, and Tampa Bay and Boston seem destined for a second-round showdown as well. The plus side to this is that there is a better chance for powerhouse match-ups, but the downside is that a 1 seed through 8 seed format would make it much more likely that said match-ups, if they occurred, took place in the conference finals, with a trip to the Stanley Cup Final on the line. 

Two NHL stalwarts exited the league with very little fanfare, as Daniel and Henrik Sedin retired from the NHL after a year that saw the Canucks fail to qualify for the playoffs. While they weren't ever the most famous stars of their era, they were consistently very good to excellent. That their careers will end with them never having won a Stanley Cup feels a bit unfair, and that they couldn't get one more run at playoff glory, however improbable it would have been, also makes things seem a bit hollow. 

The Capitals were supposed to be down this year, but here they are again, champions of the Metropolitan Division. That doesn't matter much to the Beltway crowd, however, because the second round of the playoffs has been a brick wall for Washington. Barry Trotz might well be coaching for his job, but he might have an ace in the hole, as well. Philipp Grubauer has played exceptionally well of late, and has clearly wrested the starting job away from Braden Holtby. Clearly in the eyes of most observers, at the very least. Trotz hasn't definitively signaled his intentions one way or another, but it stands to reason that Grubauer's strong play and Holtby's career 29-30 mark in the post-season would earn Grubauer the nod.

The Predators won the President's Trophy, they got Mike Fisher out of retirement to bolster an already strong lineup, and in the eyes of many, they are the best all-around team in the league. Oh, and they also have Ryan Johansen healthy. The Preds have plenty of strength down the middle, plenty of defense and goaltending, and while they don't have a ton of offensive super stars, they are tremendously well-balanced across the board. A re-match with the Penguins in the offing? If it comes to pass, one would have to think that Nashville fans would be confident. 

It's okay if most of Winnipeg's team doesn't qualify as household names. Outside of southern Manitoba, the majority of the Jets' roster could walk around and not be recognized. That said, they've flown under the radar as much as a 114-point team can. The Jets do everything well, having tied for second in the league in goals for, and fifth in goals against. Connor Hellebuyck has been a revelation in goal, with a .924 save percentage on the season, and the Jets have gotten contributions from all over the roster. If they can win the battle of southern Manitoba vs. southern Minnesota in the first round, it would set up a potential powerhouse tilt with the Predators.

So, the one guy not mentioned above was Patrik Laine, and that's for good reason. Of all the Jets' players, he is the one most worthy of his own story. Sure, Blake Wheeler is the team's leading point producer, but Laine is the kind of electrifying goal-scorer that commands attention. And he's still in his teens, albeit for a few more days, to boot. Connor McDavid is the future of the NHL, but Laine seems poised to become the Alex Ovechkin to McDavid's Sidney Crosby. Doesn't seem like a bad fate, especially if he can have more success in the post-season than Ovi. 

Remember the Bruins? The last time they made major waves was when they suffocated what appeared to be an unstoppable Penguins team in an Eastern Conference Finals sweep in 2013, holding that vaunted group to two goals for an entire series. The B's couldn't pay that off with a Cup, and slowly but surely declined, eventually costing Claude Julien his job. They're back now, and while some of the names are different, the team's M.O. is very much the same. Boston scores plenty, but they hang their hat on defense, and they ranked second in the league in goals against. Tampa Bay spent most of the year being bandied about as the Penguins' biggest threat, but the Bruins may well have overtaken them in that department.

We've already discussed Steven Stamkos' injury status, and how it may or may not affect the Lightning's playoff hopes, but he's not the only significant name with injury issues. The Penguins still don't know what they'll be able to get from Derick Brassard, who has missed time with a groin injury. Additionally, Minnesota will be without Ryan Suter, lost to a broken leg; the Avalanche will have to try and win without Erik Johnson and Semyon Varlamov, and the Ducks are dealing with injuries to Cam Fowler and John Gibson. 

Fleury got the fairy-tale ending in Pittsburgh, helping backstop the Penguins to a second straight Stanley Cup, then moved on to Vegas, where he instantly became the face of a Golden Knights team that has taken the league by storm. Fleury's .927 save percentage this season is a career best, and he has been integral to the Golden Knights' success. With Vegas a legitimate threat to emerge from the west, there exists the chance that the ultimate storyline plays out: Fleury leads his new team into the Stanley Cup Final, trying to prevent his old team from winning their third straight Cup. We should be so lucky.