2025 NHL Playoff Predictions: Panthers, Golden Knights, Hurricanes + More

Peter Klein

The 2025 NHL Conference Semi-Finals are set! 🏒 Peter breaks down all 4 matchups and gives his playoff predictions:  Florida Panthers vs. Toronto Maple Leafs – Can Florida out-Leaf the Leafs?  Washington Capitals vs. Carolina Hurricanes – Underrated series with major goaltending disparity.  Vegas Golden Knights vs. Edmonton Oilers – Vegas has the depth and D to shut down McDavid & Draisaitl.  Winnipeg Jets vs. Dallas Stars – Both teams are banged up, but Dallas looks sharper after the last round.  Get playoff insights, X-factors, and Peter's early picks for the Conference Finals!  🎙️ Drop your own predictions in the comments and join the hockey talk!  ➤ Subscribe for NHL Playoff content, reactions, and bold takes.  #NHLPlayoffs #StanleyCup #PanthersVsLeafs #JetsVsStars #Oilers #GoldenKnights #Hurricanes #Capitals #NHL2025 #HockeyTalk  🔗 Stay Connected & Support the Show 🎧 Listen & Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189  Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM 🧠 Partners & Promos:  C of Dead Apparel → https://www.cofdead403.ca/  Swift Energy → https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm  🎁 Use Promo Code: PKPrimetime for 25% off! 📲 Follow Me:  Twitter (X) → https://x.com/primetimeklein  Instagram → https://instagram.com/primetimeklein  Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary  Twitch → https://twitch.tv/primetimepk 📬 Business Inquiries & Fan Mail:  Email → couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com

Transcript

00:00the stanley cup playoffs now reach their second round as the uh we are down now to just somehow

00:14some way four series left the nhl's elite eight now get ready to embark on what will be again

00:21a grind of the next couple of weeks let's start our breakdown in the eastern conference as the

00:27panthers are taking on the toronto maple leaves the leafs will have home ice advantage in this

00:31series as they win the division for uh just the second time since 2002 but i would suggest that

00:38they're coming into this as the underdog as the leafs put away the ottawa senators in six which

00:43is one more game than it took the panthers to dispatch of the tampa bay lightning i think if

00:48you were to look at regular season stuff i i i just don't think you can at this point um florida was

00:54banged up a lot with ekblad being suspended kachuk having some injury problems marchand having some

00:59injury problems as well um toronto different goalies bouncing in and out of the lineup and all

01:05of that and also we have seen with the buds regular season success does not equal playoff success

01:12necessarily so the and i mean in this last series they lost the season series to ottawa and came out

01:17and put them away so i don't think we can look a lot at what we have seen in the postseason so or in

01:23the regular season leading up to this as far as what we've seen from the playoffs the panthers look

01:27like the best team in the east they have really started to put everything together again you can

01:31see where everything is starting to click into place after the marchand deal he comes in a little

01:36bit banged up kachuk was hurt until basically the start of the postseason ekblad was suspended for the

01:41last third of the year as well he is now working his way into it and you can see where everything fits

01:46and you can see where the plan is and all of a sudden this looks like a juggernaut of a hockey team

01:51again it is the assumption that they play a heavy grinded out style and they do like for a lot of

01:59it that is an accurate assessment of how this hockey team performs but i would also suggest that

02:05they can speed and skill it up with the best of them i think matthew kachuk i i i'm not gonna say

02:11he's underrated because i think everyone kind of understands at this point this is one of the best

02:14players in the national hockey league but i don't think he gets enough credit for the um the skill

02:18aspect of his game he's not a burner but he can still he can still hang out there and he can still

02:24make that work so i i i just think that there's a lot of different ways you look at how the leafs

02:30are going to want to play this series and i don't know how much of an edge they have on florida in

02:35quite frankly any of them so while i i do think that the leafs have checked a lot of boxes for what

02:41you needed to see i do just think it is a bit of a different animal now when you are going up

02:46against this florida panthers team with how responsible they are on offense but how they can

02:51also be a bit high flying and kind of the same on defense that they can kind of shut things down

02:56defensively but like forsling ekblad all those guys jones they can also go out and light the lamp on

03:02the offensive side and then bobrofsky whilst inconsistent at times it seems like those times

03:07aren't in the playoffs as he continues to build up an amazing playoff resume over the last three

03:12seasons and his entire career it is it's a it's a big mountain to climb if you're the toronto maple

03:18leafs on their side though i will say that again it doesn't seem like it came with the most resistance

03:23from ottawa but a lot of the things that were problems for them before weren't as much against

03:28the sense there was a couple of times where had trouble putting them away goal scoring starts to

03:32dry up a little bit but this is easily the most defensively responsible um toronto maple

03:38leaves team that has been into the playoffs since like they traded for brian leach like it's been a

03:43really long time and i think all of that is because of how well tanev has played and it just kind of

03:48filters out to the rest of the team um matthews coming up with some big goals in big games we've

03:54never said that before he has had big chances in big games and hasn't really been able to capitalize

03:59they were scoring on the power play and that is something that now as we get into the second round

04:03the opportunities start to dry up a little bit but that is still something that they weren't doing

04:08in playoffs past so they are they are really doing a great job of playing a playoff style of hockey

04:17and so if they can kind of keep that up if you just look at on roster toronto still has a very high

04:23level of talent and i think can kind of match the high level that the florida panthers can play it is

04:27just the panthers do have another gear that we have seen and we haven't from toronto yet so i think this

04:31is going to be a good series i do think it'll be panthers in six the other eastern conference series

04:37um which is i i think how the nhl is going to market it too because there is not a whole lot that is um

04:43very enticing about washington against carolina i will say coming out of that first round like

04:48carolina new jersey was a bit of a dud i look i think these are both very good hockey teams um and

04:54i do think kind of once the the of that carolina new jersey series kind of goes away like once we see

05:00this this is going to be a series that's going to be a little bit easier to get into again it is

05:04washington with ovechkin and dubois and strome who are playing so well right now going up against this

05:11carolina team that kind of turned into a bit of an offensive juggernaut as that series with the

05:16devils went along they were peppering uh markstrom with shots and really creating a lot of great

05:22opportunities so this is while i said it's a bit of a as you talk about it and as you go into it a

05:27little bit further and a little bit more in depth this does become a very interesting series when

05:33you start to break it all down um the one area that i think is kind of the biggest check mark in

05:39this and the reason why i am picking washington in this series um while it looked like he might

05:44have died for a second logan thompson has been spectacular and i have more faith that that is going

05:52to continue then i have faith in the carolina goaltending holding up for seven games in this

05:57series so when you look at the offensive side i think the forward groups obviously washington has

06:01the greatest goal scorer of all time carolina has a pretty good group of forwards defensively carolina

06:06lost quite a bit in the the offseason i still think they have a good group i do think washington's a

06:12little bit better so it does feel like you can kind of counter off a bunch of different aspects of the

06:17game but they just all don't the the none of it really weighs out the way i think goaltending does

06:24so i think washington is able to get the job done i honestly like i i do think a lot of carolina and

06:29rob brindamore and all of that i do think this has the potential to be a five game series but i will

06:34say washington in six so that's the story from the eastern conference moving out to the west it is the

06:40vegas golden knights taking on the edmonton oilers um edmonton coming off of a very intense series with

06:50the los angeles kings and have started to hit their stride a little bit for vegas i don't think that

06:55they have yet um but they still are able to get past the minnesota wild and again like let's just

07:02break this whole thing down looking at the forward groups obviously like it is it's such a fun matchup

07:08because it's mcdavid eichel dry sidle stone like it is kind of the like these sides match up quite

07:15well and i think it is extra interesting when you look at the the depth situation because that has

07:21long been a problem for edmonton but that depth admittedly starts to play a little bit better

07:26against the la kings as that series went along and in that last game they got six goals against the

07:32kings none of them were scored by humans named mcdavid and dry sidle which means that those guys are

07:37obviously falling off no um but that's huge right like to get brown and henrik and all of those guys

07:42going is massive just a quick aside um watching that the highlights and the nhl's youtube channel

07:49the highlights are from um espn and they they had the guy on there calling it who i'm not overly

07:56familiar with i'm sure he's very good at it but um nugent hopkins and hyman scored as oh that depth

08:02scoring for the oilers like man like maybe we can't be calling anyone not dry sidle and mcdavid

08:10depth scoring like hyman scored 50 a season ago nugent is a former first overall pick both these

08:15guys are top six dudes on their team that's not that's not what we have in mind when we're talking

08:20about the depth scoring for these guys if that were the case then every player on the flames was

08:25depth scoring this year like these are guys who play in their top six we can't be doing that so that's

08:29just a quick aside on the vegas side the high-end guys haven't really been scoring the depth has been

08:33able to step up but that does not seem sustainable at all and if vegas if vegas is going to win this

08:40series we have to be talking about eichel like he was the best player in it that's basically what

08:44this comes down to is he has to be the guy who steps up here for vegas and wins them a couple of

08:50games because like you just can't rely on carlson and howden and all of these guys to get the goals

08:56for you it has to be the eichels the stones the smiths those guys um dorofiev that that group has

09:05to be the one stepping up to get this team going it can't be those depth players anymore on the blue

09:10line you like the vegas defense i think much better than than edmonton's um bouchard nurse they can be

09:17all over the place they have obviously been discussed quite a bit but you look at what vegas can

09:21trot out there on that blue line and it's just it's exceptional what they have so they get a big

09:26check mark there and then you feel better about where they're at in goal too with aiden hill um

09:30pickard coming up with a few massive moments for edmonton but again i am wondering at the

09:37sustainability of that from an edmonton standpoint i just i think when you look at vegas again i just

09:42think they are built a little bit better than edmonton is right now but it really is going to come down to

09:48that high level forward group of eichel mcdavid and who is going to step up in that big time way

09:54uh then the last series winnipeg against dallas look if that first game is just everyone dragging ass

10:01and it's a one nothing whatever no one's going to complain because of what these two teams just went

10:06through in game seven over the weekend an incredible showing from excuse me from both sides

10:13i think a massive part of this is the health of shifley he was at another level when he was

10:19healthy in that series for winnipeg um against st louis and really making everyone around him better

10:25and when you look at how the stars stack up down the middle if shifley isn't there then like yeah

10:31bless them for what they were able to do against st louis but this stars team is significantly better

10:38than the st louis blues and again i don't want to take away anything from the amazing win that

10:43winnipeg had in that series but i think the other seven teams in the west would have dismantled with

10:50st louis in five right like i just i don't think the blues did a lot to push winnipeg into that area

10:57i don't think it took a whole lot of pushing to get winnipeg to be thrown off of their game and now

11:03when you look at the high level that dallas can play with with ranton and going hints who had a bit of a

11:08rough one in game seven but had a really good game six wyatt johnston is getting uh getting rolling

11:12again and then you look at the goaltending matchup ottinger we know how good he can be in these big

11:19situations and we know what hellebuck can be in these situations as well now maybe that win is

11:24enough to just level everybody up but if if shifley isn't there i don't think the series is close

11:30if shifley is there i think it's a little bit closer and i think it is a battle but i just

11:35seeing those last couple of games and seeing dallas really get rolling this is a team that

11:40everyone should be deathly afraid of in the western conference now so i i am going to stay

11:46uh i guess i didn't make a pick i'm gonna say uh vegas in six and i'm going to say

11:50man this seems really dismissive and i am i am so sorry winnipeg fans

11:54i'm saying stars in five i i just think that they they found something against colorado and

12:03i i just while winnipeg also found something against st louis i think that it is more impressive

12:08finding it against colorado than i do finding it against st louis so i just think that there is

12:13a little bit of a gap between what these teams can do this time of year so that is the preview of

12:18the second round of the nhl playoffs

12:21you

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