The NHL released the full playoff schedule, though some times need to be filled in. Many of the American series are starting this weekend but Canada won't start until next week, as will Carolina and St. Louis. The full schedule can be viewed here.

It will be interesting to see how they navigate the start of the second round. Staggered starts? I hope so.

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Tampa Bay had full line rushes:

#Bolts lines and D-pairings from practice:

Palat-Point-Kucherov
Killorn-Cirelli-Stamkos
Colton-Gourde-Coleman
Maroon-Johnson-Joseph

Hedman-Rutta
McDonagh-Cernak
Sergachev-Savard
Schenn-Foote

— Bryan Burns (@BBurnsNHL) May 13, 2021

They also did a PP practice with Stamkos-Kuch on the top unit with Point-Killorn. It must be nice to add a couple future Hall of Famers for the postseason.

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Yesterday, I talked about some of the playoff matchups we'll be seeing starting this weekend. I wanted to wait a day to talk about the West and North because we still had some possible jockeying to be done. Technically, there is still some jockeying that can be done as Colorado can overtake Vegas for first in the division with a win on Thursday night (this is being written Thursday afternoon).

Before digging into that, all I will say is this: even if Colorado overtakes Vegas for first in the division, I don't think it really changes much. Both teams will be big favourites over either St. Louis or Minnesota: Colorado went 10-5-1 against those two teams while Vegas went 9-6-1. Vegas seemed to have some trouble with Minnesota, but it doesn't matter, they'd still be the favourites.

I am going to assume Colorado won on Thursday night and clinched first in the division; I went to bed at 5-1 in Colorado’s favour at the intermission.

Also, for a lot more detail on the playoffs, including customizable draft lists, check out our 2021 Interactive Dobber Hockey Playoff Draft List!

Colorado vs. St. Louis

The thing with St. Louis is they haven't really turned their season around. Yeah, they made a push late in the year to secure a playoff spot, but this is not 2019. In that season, they went the second half of the year leading the league in expected goal share at 5-on-5, which translated to them leading in actual goal share. That team legitimately turned itself around from the dregs of the league to an absolute juggernaut. The result was a Stanley Cup.

That has not been the case this year. Since the start of April, or when they started getting all their players back, the team is 29^th in expected goal share with an actual goal share of 50.6 percent, or 15^th in hockey. They have been on a little PDO bender and have been average in the league by goal share. That is not close to what they did in 2019.

Conversely, there haven't been many moments when the Avalanche looked like one of the top teams in the league this year. They lost three games in a row in April, two games in a row in February, and never lost back-to-back games besides those two small stretches. Even since their season was paused in mid-April, which could have caused a disturbance in the season, the Avs lead the league in expected goal share (top-10 in actual goal share). This really is a case of two opposed poles.

If St. Louis has a shot here, it's with special teams, but we know how referees like to swallow the whistle in the postseason, which is why we like elite 5-on-5 teams. St. Louis can win this series, but Colorado is heavily favoured, as they should be. I would look elsewhere for your underdog.

Vegas vs. Minnesota

This is an intriguing series. Vegas is clearly one of the top teams in hockey but they struggled mightily against Minnesota this year, posting a 3-4-1 record against them. On top of that, two of the three wins were a back-to-back in March in Vegas. A week later, Minnesota took two games in Minnesota.

Minnesota has speed to burn, is one thing. What is more is that when they're at home, they dictate matchups, and they have arguably the best shutdown line in hockey they can deploy. That isn't hyperbole, either, as they had the best expected goals against mark (1.35 per 60) of any line with at least 200 minutes this year. That leaves players like Fiala and Kaprizov in easier matchups, which could be a tipping factor. Minnesota doesn't have home-ice advantage in the series though, so they'll have to figure out a way to win in Vegas to get this done.

The difference could very well be in goal. Marc-André Fleury is a legitimate Vezina contender while Robin Lehner was solid, if oft-injured. On the other side, Kaapo Kahkonen is just a backup right now and Cam Talbot looked very human down the stretch, posting a .904 save percentage in his final 16 starts. If Talbot can't improve on that, it could be a quick series for Vegas.

Minnesota does have a path to victory here and it starts in net. Talbot doesn't have to be Vezina-calibre every game, but he probably can't cost them a game, either. That is too narrow a margin for me, so it seems Vegas is the choice. I will say that if you're in a deep pool, Minnesota players make some sense. I think they have a better shot at beating Vegas than St. Louis does Colorado.

Toronto vs. Montreal

This should be a fairly quick series. Toronto dominated the matchups this year, going 7-2-1 against the Habs with the three losses spread out over three months. In other words, it's not as if Toronto dominating was something that happened earlier in the year but then tapered off. This has been a lopsided matchup all season.

What is worse for Montreal is Phillip Danault has a concussion. They will probably get Brendan Gallagher back, and that helps, but without Danault, they don't have a true shutdown line for Auston Matthews. And if Matthews gets 15 minutes a night against Nick Suzuki or Jesperi Kotkaniemi, he's going to eat them alive. Again, that's not hyperbole: in 66 minutes against Matthews/Marner at 5-on-5, Danault has held them to 1.82 goals per 60 minutes and a 49.3 expected goal share. In 29 minutes against that duo with Suzuki on the ice, the Habs are allowing 6.1 goals per 60 minutes and a 69.4 percent expected goal share. For Montreal to have a realistic chance in this series, they need Danault in the lineup for Game 1.

Of course, Carey Price could steal the series. He did that last year. But you can say that about any goalie, which is why saying Price could steal it is pretty useless.

At the end of the day, Montreal's defence is slow and they don't have an answer for Matthews. This is also not a spot to look for an underdog.

Edmonton vs. Winnipeg

I really am looking hard for ways for Winnipeg to win this beyond Hellebuyck Good, Smith Bad, because Smith himself has been good. I look at the season series and Edmonton went 7-2 against Winnipeg and outscored them 34-22 in the process. The funny thing is 12 of the 22 goals came in two Winnipeg wins much earlier in the season. Meaning Winnipeg scored 10 goals in seven losses against Edmonton. That is quite bad.

Losing Nikolaj Ehlers may be too much for the Jets to overcome here. He was the guy that gave them a legitimately dangerous second scoring line, and beyond that, he's great defensively. Now, they won't start playoffs for a week so there's a chance he returns, but what kind of game shape he'll be in is fair to wonder. Also, the Oilers were beating the brakes off the Jets even with Ehlers.

It really doesn't take much to envision the Jets winning this series. Connor Hellebuyck is still the best goalie in the world and it has to strike midnight on Mike Smith here soon. Combine that with Ehlers returning, and they have a shot. The problem is their top line is horrific defensively, and that's enough for McDavid to run them over. And even if Winnipeg wins, they won't get past Toronto, so this isn't a place for your underdog picks, either.