Happy Monday y'all!

Most leagues have ended by now so if you're bringing home some fantasy gold, take a picture of your roster and post it on Twitter and tag Dobber. Let's see those winning lineups!

We are just days away from Stanley Cup playoff action! Games will start on Saturday and I don't know about you, but I can not wait to sit on the couch all weekend and have nonstop action all day and through the night. 

While the Central Division is locked with the Colorado Avalanche clinching the division (basically since the start of 2026) and the Dallas Stars securing the two seed, meaning they'll play the Minnesota Wild in the first round, the Pacific Division and wild card spots are in flux. The Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers have clinched a playoff spot while the Anaheim Ducks are on the verge of receiving a ticket to the dance. The Utah Mammoth have clinched their first ever playoff berth and will likely hold the first wild card spot.

While the San Jose Sharks and Winnipeg Jets are still mathematically in it, the Los Angeles Kings could have a lot to say about that when they take on the Seattle Kraken tonight. A win for the Kings would eliminate the Sharks and the Jets, and possibly the Nashville Predators, depending on the outcome of their game.

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Moving back to the Pacific Division, the Golden Knights (91 points), Oilers (90), and Ducks (90) are all separated by one point with 80 games played so lots of positioning on the line. Even the Kings could creep into this picture since they have a game in hand. 

What a wacky season it has been for LA. Sellers at the trade deadline and losing Kevin Fiala to a brutal injury at the Olympics, their season looked toast. Add in a bleak 5-5-4 record in the month of March and fans were starting to look towards the offseason, but that is why you play every game. Currently 5-0-1 in April, the goaltending of Anton Forsberg has led the club back into a playoff spot. He and his teammates are trying to make Anze Kopitar's swan song as memorable as can be and hoping to give him one more Cup before he rides off into the sunset.

Along with the Kings, two other Pacific foes have been on hot streaks as well during this crunch time. Vegas is 5-0-1 under John Tortorella to leap to the top of the Pacific and Edmonton has a 6-2-1 record in their last nine games to potentially win the division as well. Along with the coaching change in Las Vegas, their goaltending play picked up. Carter Hart is 4-0 in the month of April since returning from injury and has been their guy; with the history he has with Torts, it looks like it's his net to lose.

The division that used to have the likes of Roberto Luongo, Miikka Kipprusoff, and Evgeni Nabokov, now the goalies to carry their teams into the playoffs are Forsberg and Hart. I think that just goes to show you don't need a hall of famer in net, just a competent goalie that can string together a good stretch.

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I want to personally thank Winnipeg, San Jose, and St. Louis for turning it on after the Olympics to create this chaos in the playoff race, but now that we are near the end, they have pretty much run out of race track. These end of season runs will be interesting next season as the league jumps to 84 games. With a potential extra four points on the line, some of these organizations could have pulled off some late season heroics.

I really would have loved to watch Macklin Celebrini in the playoffs. He makes things happen every shift and I think he would have given the shaky goalie situation in Colorado a run for their money. He should definitely receive some Hart trophy recognition, but since the Sharks won't make it to the postseason, it's not an award he should win.

If the Blues can capture all of this momentum and roll it into next season, they could be a real force. Management will have three first round picks in this summer's draft to add some pieces and turn into a true contender or keep building from the ground up. Only Dylan Holloway needs a new contract and they have plenty of cap space to play with.

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The battle for Minnesota (the old North Stars versus the current Wild) is the only confirmed matchup we have thus far, and if it is anything like the game they played last Thursday, we are in for a treat. The Stars trailed going into the third period, but came out with a huge win. Both teams did not miss opportunities to finish their checks and we had a few scrums to end the game. Dallas will be limping into that series though, as players like Roope Hintz, Miro Heiskanen, and Sam Steel may not be available for Game 1.

What playoff series are you looking forward to most? Let me know on Twitter @LAM1926

Have a great week y'all!