The New York Rangers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games, despite being younger than them by nearly a year, on average. In the second round, results were mixed, with regard to team age. Tampa Bay also has a Vezina Trophy-caliber goalie which also enhanced their chances of advancing in the playoffs. In contrast, the one older team that advanced to the second round, the Tampa Bay Lightning, featured key players in their prime or late prime: Steven Stamkos (31), Victor Hedman (31), Nikita Kucherov (28), Alex Killorn (32), Brayden Point (25), and Andrei Vasilevskiy (27). The Tampa Bay Lightning was the only “older” team that advanced.
#EASTERN CONFERENCE SERIES#
The first-round series results pointed to a potential trend of older teams being past their peak as contenders, at least in the cases of Boston, Pittsburgh, and Washington. The only exception was the defending Stanley Cup-winning Tampa Bay Lightning defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games. In three of the four series, the younger upstarts prevailed, with Florida defeating Washington in six games, Carolina over Boston in seven games, and New York over Pittsburgh in seven games. All four series were competitive, with three out of four being decided in seven games and the remaining series decided in six games. In all four series, a relatively younger upstart team was the higher seed in a matchup against an older team.
New York Rangers against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Carolina Hurricanes against the Boston Bruins, and. Toronto Maple Leafs against the Tampa Bay Lightning,. Florida Panthers against Washington Capitals,. The first round of the playoffs featured the following matchups: For the Atlantic, the Florida Panthers ranked 14 th in the league with an average age of 27.78 and the Toronto Maple Leafs ranked tenth with an average age of 28.27. The two front-running teams in that division were younger than the “older” powers but the contrast in age was not quite as drastic as in the Metropolitan Division. The Tampa Bay Lightning ranked third in age, with an average age of 29.45 while the Boston Bruins ranked ninth in age with an average age of 28.32. In contrast, the newer powers of the Metropolitan Division, the Carolina Hurricanes ranked 17 th in the league with an average age of 27.35 while the New York Rangers were even younger, ranking 26 th in the league in age with an average age of 26.48.Ī similar comparison was done among the Atlantic Division teams from last season. In comparing the average ages of the Metropolitan Division teams from last season, the Washington Capitals ranked as the second oldest team in the NHL, with an average age of 29.42 while the Pittsburgh Penguins ranked as the fourth oldest team, with an average age of 29.32. Thus, the question is whether a changing of the guard within the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference is taking place. The Bruins also finished a whopping 32 points ahead of the fifth-place Buffalo Sabres. Instead, the Tampa Bay Lightning finished in third place (110 points ) while the Boston Bruins finished fourth (107 points) and were a wild card team. This was different from the recent past when either the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Boston Bruins would be the division front runners. The top two finishers in the Atlantic Division were the Florida Panthers (122 points) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (115 points). The Atlantic Division standings played out similarly. The Capitals finished 16 points ahead of the fifth-place New York Islanders. In 2021-22, the Pittsburgh Penguins finished in third place (103) while the Capitals finished in fourth place (100). However, in 2021-22, the top two finishers were the Carolina Hurricanes (116 points) and New York Rangers (110 points). 
Typically, the top two finishers in the Metropolitan Division have been the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
It was also a season where the “newer” contenders finished ahead of the most established contenders, indicating that a potential changing of the guard for Eastern Conference powers could be in progress.
There was a relatively large chasm between fourth place (making the playoffs) and fifth place (missing the playoffs) in both the Atlantic Division and the Metropolitan Division. The 2021-22 season was one where all eight qualifiers for the NHL Eastern Conference Playoffs had at least 100 standings points, the first time this has happened in NHL history.
0 kommentar(er)
