2. New York Islanders
When I began putting this article together, I had no intentions of even including the Islanders in a possible matchup. Their recent hot streak has forced me to throw them in here because they're very much in the race now.
The Islanders are interesting because since they traded Brock Nelson at the deadline they have been on a heater. They could be one of those rare teams that sell at the deadline and still make the playoffs.
If they get in, I don't see them getting out of round one. Barzal has battled injuries and only played 30 games this season, their only real free agent signing Anthony Duclair has also only played 38 games, and Dobson has had a significant down year.
The only thing that scares me about this Islanders team is if you run into a red-hot Ilya Sorokin. Goaltending is the ultimate equalizer so the fact you have to play against Sorokin in a playoff series scares me a little bit but the rest of the roster doesn't.
1. Detroit Red Wings
Detroit has been one of the streakiest teams in the league this season. They went on a heater when they fired Derek Lalonde and brought in Todd McLellan but they have gone cold again.
This is my favourite matchup because nothing about Detroit scares me. Their goaltending threesome of Talbot, Lyon and Mrazek isn't very good. Their defence core outside of Seider and Edvinsson (who's a rookie) isn't good. I think the big guys could tear the goaltending and defence to shreds.
Their forward core is the best part of the team. Larkin is phenomenal, Raymond has been fantastic and it looks like DeBrincat is back to being the DeBrincat we saw in Chicago.
They have some great pieces but I think if Yzerman isn't named Yzerman, he would've been fired by now. Some of the decisions he has made building this team have been mind-boggling and now it looks like they're going to miss the playoffs yet again.