It's the most wonderful time of the year ... or at least the spring.
The 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs commence tonight with the round of 16, beginning with four games tonight and four more tomorrow. Just under two months from now, after four grueling rounds, this year's NHL champion will be crowned, whether it be the defending titlist Colorado Avalanche again, or someone else.
The first -round matchups are as follows (higher seed listed first):
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Boston Bruins vs. Florida Panthers
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Carolina Hurricanes vs. New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Colorado Avalanche vs. Seattle Kraken
Dallas Stars vs. Minnesota Wild
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Winnipeg Jets
Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings
Returning to the NHL playoffs this season after missing out last year are the Islanders and Vegas, while New Jersey is back in the postseason for the first time since 2018, Second-year franchise Seattle is in the postseason for the first time in its short history. Toronto-Tampa Bay and Edmonton-Los Angeles are repeat matchups from last year's first round, won by Tampa Bay and Edmonton, respectively. Tampa Bay has also won three consecutive Eastern Conference crowns.
First-round winners will advance to the conference semifinals. All four rounds are again best-of-seven, as has been the case in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 1987.
By the time Lord Stanley's prize is finally hoisted by the winning club in June, a number of former NCAA players will again have made an impact, just as they did during the 2022-23 NHL regular season.
Boston's Jeremy Swayman (Maine) was fourth overall among NHL goaltenders with a 2.27 goals-against average during the regular season, while Winnipeg's Connor Hellebucyk (UMass Lowell) tied for fourth with a .920 save percentage and was third with 37 wins along with Dallas' Jake Oettinger (Boston University). Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (Boston University) finished second among all NHL skaters with a plus-46 plus-minus rating, while Dallas forward Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin) was fourth with a plus-42 mark.
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