NHL teams that have impressed, flopped so far in Cup playoffs

The first week-plus of the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs has already provided much in the way of excitement and bone-crunching action. The average playoff game has featured 89.5 total hits by both teams — nearly double the league-average figure (45.5) from the regular season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

With so much chaos, there are plenty of teams that have exceeded — or fallen short of — expectations already.

For instance, the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights have been mighty impressive, taking a 2-1 lead over a Dallas Stars team that had led the league in goal differential during the regular season. But on the disappointing side, the Toronto Maple Leafs have fallen behind in their series against the Boston Bruins, and the Los Angeles Kings are in a deep hole versus the Edmonton Oilers.

Let’s run through the clubs that fit into each category, based on their playoff goal differentials as compared with what we’d expect from the pre-series power ratings of themselves and their opponent (adjusting for home-ice advantage). We’ll also highlight a player who has contributed to the state of his team, for good or bad, in the playoffs thus far.

We’ll start with the positive side of things. Here are three teams that have impressed the most:

Fire on ice: Hot teams to start the playoffs

Series: Wins the series 4-0 vs. the Capitals. Next: vs. Hurricanes-Islanders series winner

Playoffs GPG Differential: +2.00 | Versus Expected: +1.34

The President’s Trophy — given to the team with the NHL’s best record during the regular season — comes with a lot of baggage. Just two of the past 20 winners have hoisted the Cup, while plenty of others have suffered embarrassing early defeats like last year’s Bruins did. So it’s a good sign already that the 2023-24 winners, the Rangers, have come out strong with a sweep of the Capitals — making them the only team to deliver a first-round sweep in this year’s playoffs. Although regular-season scoring leader Artemi Panarin was somewhat relatively quiet in the series (2 goals, 1 assist in 4 games) in the series, Mika Zibanejad has bounced back from a relative down regular season with a goal and 6 assists while linemates Alexis Lafreniere and Vincent Trocheck combined for 10 points.