Playoff Prep – Analysis of Western Conference Teams 2015: Part Two

Doran Libin

2015-04-13

Sean.Monahan

Playoff preparation – looking at a few more Western Conference players

Last week featured the top four teams in the Western Conference playoffs, now it is time for the rest of the playoff qualifiers. The bottom four features the two weak sisters of the conference's playoff teams, Vancouver and Calgary, conveniently matched up against each other.

Conversely, the two wild card teams, Minnesota and Winnipeg, look deep and strong but both have question marks in net. For Winnipeg, can Pavelec continue his current run of hot play? While Minnesota needs Dubnyk to continue to provide a strong backbone in order to succeed, as none of their other options inspire confidence.

On defense, the player to watch is Yannick Weber, as he has come alive since being placed on the top power-play unit. He has nine points in his last 19 games with six of those points coming on the power play. In March, he averaged more than two minutes of power-play time per game, and was bumped up over three minutes per game in April. He has never averaged more than a minute and a half of power-play time per game in any other month.

Calgary

Forwards

Player	Season	P/O	Player	Season	P/O	Player	Season	P/O
Hudler	0.61	0.50	Monahan	0.62	N/A	Gaudreau	0.80	N/A
Bouma	0.27	N/A	Colborne	0.39	N/A	D Jones	0.44	0.10
Jooris	0.40	N/A	Backlund	0.43	N/A	Stajan	0.47	N/A
Byron	0.35	N/A	Bollig	0.10	0.08	Raymond	0.48	0.33
Granlund	0.38	N/A	Ferland	0.19	N/A

Defense

Player	Season	Playoffs	Player	Season	Playoffs
Wideman	0.49	0.56	Brodie	0.38	N/A
Russell	0.31	0.38	Engelland	0.18	0.07
Schlemko	0.22	0.11	Diaz	0.24	0
Smid	0.13	N/A	Giordano	0.48	N/A

Calgary is the surprise team in the Western Conference. No one expected them to be here, especially without star defenseman Mark Giordano. The Flames forwards are severely lacking in playoff experience, and the ones who have been there have traditionally failed to match their regular season pace.

Two thirds of their impressive top line has yet to see an NHL playoff game. Monahan, Hudler and Gaudreau have beat the odds all year, but it may be wise to avoid reaching for the trio. Backlund, Bouma and Jones may be a line better suited for playoff success, especially Bouma, as he has the feel of the next grinder to become a playoff beast in the mold of Bryan Bickell or John Druce. Backlund is a possession beast on a horrible possession team, which means that this line should continue to generate scoring opportunities.

There are three Flame defensemen worth noting during the playoffs. The first is TJ Brodie, who with the injury to Giordano has the unenviable task of propping up the Engelland contract. Brodie is still getting his shots even though he is not getting much in the way of power-play time. Brodie will get lots of minutes and the points will come, even without a ton of power-play time.

The other two workhorses on the Flames' defense are Dennis Wideman and Kris Russell. These two get the lion's share of the Flames' power-play minutes. Of the two, Wideman is the big point producer, with 14 goals on the year his shot is a weapon on the Flames power play.

Winnipeg

Forwards

Player	Season	P/O	Player	Season	P/O	Player	Season	P/O
Wheeler	0.70	0.29	Ladd	0.61	0.28	Little	0.62	N/A
Scheifele	0.54	N/A	Frolik	0.46	0.53	Perreault	0.53	0.41
Stafford	0.58	0.35	Lowry	0.29	N/A	Stempniak	0.53	0.21
Tlusty	0.42	N/A	Thorburn	0.18	N/A	Slater	0.24	N/A
Peluso	0.08	N/A	Halischuk	0.29	0.18	Galiardi	0.33	0.20

Defense

Player	Season	Playoffs	Player	Season	Playoffs
Byfuglien	0.58	0.64	Myers	0.43	0.54
Trouba	0.39	N/A	Stuart	0.15	0.09
Enstrom	0.50	N/A	Harrison	0.20	N/A
Pardy	0.15	N/A	Chiarot	0.20	N/A
Postma	0.18	N/A

Winnipeg qualified for the playoffs as the last wildcard seed, but they deserve a lot more credit than that. All it took was for them to finally get some decent goaltending this year, and now they look like a serious threat. This is another team that has a deep group of forwards, running 10 deep with a legitimate top-nine group.

However, the Jets are an inexperienced group with seven of their forwards lacking significant playoff experience. That includes Bryan Little, Mark Scheifele, Adam Lowry and Jiri Tlusty, four of their top 10 forwards, including their top two centers. Having said that, the traditional top line of Little, Ladd and Wheeler should continue to produce. If the Jets can get by Anaheim in Round One, they should go on to the Western Conference finals, meaning that the top line could put up some big numbers.

Keep an eye on Scheifele, as he racked up 14 points in his last 19 games and 30 in his last 44. Part of that was with Bryan Little out, but Scheifele should continue to roll in the playoffs. Keep an eye on the line combinations as late in the season Wheeler was with Scheifele and Stafford, while Frolik was with Little and Ladd. If those combos remain, that bodes especially well for Frolik and Scheifele.

On defense, Dustin Byfuglien was of Norris caliber for much of the season, and the playoffs suit his rugged style of play. His playoff numbers to date in his career are stellar but feature significant usage as a forward. Even then, there is no reason to shy away from Byfuglien for the playoffs. Tyler Myers has been on fire since joining the Jets with 10 points in his last 17 games. That run includes some serious power-play time. Myers is another player who has shown that he can bump up his production heading into the playoffs.