[Erick Estrada]

Nobody should be surprised the Bruins made the finals as they would have been my 2nd pick after the Lighting to come out of the east. The Blues are a surprise but they were really good in the 2nd half of the season and were full marks for beating the Jets, Stars, and Sharks. Probably a much better team than their regular season shows as I believe like Gulutzan in Calgary, Yeo was holding that roster back. That said I feel you could start the playoffs all over again with the same match-ups and have two completely different teams in the final as there is some randomness and luck involved. In relation to the 2019/2020 season I feel I have learned little from these playoffs outside of the fact that teams playing the best hockey in the 2nd half of the season probably have a better chance than teams that cooled off down the stretch. I expect some of the teams that surprised in the first round to struggle and possibly miss the playoffs next season as I wouldn't be shocked if the Islanders, Jackets and Hurricanes all miss the playoffs in 2020.

Mike Gillis was on 960 yesterday and IMO it was a pretty solid interview and he noted that top teams may have to change how they look at the end of the season as rather than resting players and winding things down teams may have to look at methods of maintaining the intensity and ramping things up. I feel that's easier said than done but it's definitely something that teams need to investigate.