2025 NHL Playoffs: Western Conference Predictions & Matchups

Peter Klein

🎙️ From the Jets vs Blues to Oilers vs Kings, I preview every Western Conference matchup in the 2025 NHL Playoffs. Can Winnipeg deliver? Are the Kings ready to dethrone Edmonton?  C of Dead: https://www.cofdead403.ca/ Swift Energy: https://www.swiftenergy.gg/?ref=mriusnqm  Promo Code: PKPrimetime for 25% off Apple Pod: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/couch-potato-diary/id1564122189 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM Twitter: x.com/primetimeklein IG: instagram.com/primetimeklein Facebook: www.facebook.com/Couchpotatodiary Twitch: twitch.tv/primetimepk Email: couchpotatodiary@yahoo.com We Had No Idea: every Wednesday morning,  instagram.com/wehadnoideapodcast  #NHLPlayoffs #StanleyCup2025  #EasternConference #HockeyPicks #StanleyCup #CouchPotatoDiary #WesternConference #StanleyCupPlayoffs #HockeyPodcast

Transcript

00:00we continue our breakdown of the stanley cup playoffs with a look at the nhl's western

00:12conference which gives us just a few heavyweight tilts um we'll start with winnipeg taking on

00:18the st louis blues the the jets looking to stay hot after a pretty dominant regular season just

00:23a phenomenal start to the year i'm not going to say coasted from there because they got quite a

00:28bit of push in a very competitive division but they they end up convincingly winning the president's

00:34trophy this year while the st louis blues are one of the hottest teams in the national hockey league

00:39in the last month and a bit getting into the playoffs on a high note the big question in this

00:43series is connor hellebuck if he is good winnipeg should have no problem here if hellebuck ends up

00:50seeing some of the ghosts of playoffs past then this st louis team is ready to pull off that kind

00:57of an upset they have the high-end talent that can do it they have a goalie who has shown at the

01:01highest of levels that he can go on a bit of a heater and i think that they could put some real

01:06pressure on the jets i don't see that happening i i like the st louis team i don't love the st louis

01:11team i really like winnipeg i feel like the center depth is going to catch up to them at some point i

01:16don't think it's here i think the jets take this one in six which you can get at plus 365

01:21dallas taking on the colorado avalanche um dallas getting rantan and makes this series a whole lot

01:28of fun but um no high skin and does take a lot of the fun out of it and uh robertson probably not

01:33going to play in this series either so it does take a little bit of the juice out of this one while

01:38colorado they also made some very smart moves around the trade deadline going out and getting

01:42coil and nelson and now um maybe landis cog so all of a sudden they have a center position where you

01:48are feeling very comfortable and just a forward group in general that you are feeling very comfortable

01:53with in terms of depth and in terms of the high-end quality as well again it comes down to

01:59goaltending here um ottinger is someone who can steal not just a game under can steal a series he

02:04almost did it here in calgary a couple of years ago and he has been getting better since then he is a guy

02:10who can go out and and do that sort of thing colorado doesn't have that they have the opposite they

02:15goaltending that could cost you a series so that can dramatically swing things one way or the other

02:22and it is a gigantic check mark in dallas's favor but i think given the health of both teams it's the

02:27only check mark in dallas's favor so i'm going to go colorado in six at plus 400 the winnipeg or sorry

02:34the vegas golden knights taking on the minnesota wild minnesota really struggled with injuries down

02:40the stretch so they limp into the playoffs there's a lot of talent on this team and so i do think like

02:45just watching them down the stretch there was a lot of shots that were trying to be perfect and

02:49either just missing the net or hitting the post and stuff like that i do think it's odd because it's

02:54the playoffs but i do think just getting in gives them a bit of a

02:57moment that lets them just okay we're here now we can play our game um and so i think we see a very

03:06competitive series but vegas has the experience they also have a good team there is some concern about

03:12secondary scoring um in this series that this is not the exact vegas team that we are used to high

03:17end wise they are good although eichel and stone like they didn't play in calgary for a reason um

03:21they're a little bit on the banged up side so we will see what you get out of them and then after

03:25that like there's just there's not a ton carlson at this point is more a defensive guy um and like

03:31pearson is you're relying a lot on him if the big guys aren't scoring so that is that that is a way

03:37like there's a chance kaprizov is the best player in this series and minnesota has a chance to upset

03:41the apple cart a little bit i i don't think that catches up to vegas here i think that they

03:46i think that they kind of make a bit of a statement in this series i do think while i like this minnesota

03:51team quite a bit and i think the future is very bright i have vegas winning this one in five at plus

03:56350 and our last one here breaking it all down um i have the kings taking on the edmonton oilers

04:04i think that this is the year that the kings get the job done against edmonton i think you look

04:09we talked about it a bit on this show this off season that in going into this year is going to

04:16prove i think to be the fatal flaw of this team like obviously the high-end talent is there for

04:22edmonton but the secondary score just is not where it was a season ago to get through the grind of the

04:27playoffs and now missing at home and skinner has just not had the consistent season that you would

04:32like from him so i just have those worries about edmonton that it's just a lot of what helped

04:38last year obviously the big thing was connor mcdavid and he's still there but a lot of the

04:42other things that really helped get them to that seventh game in the sound of the cup final isn't

04:47there anymore and this la kings team is silly good right now they've won eight of their last nine

04:54going into the postseason uh by a score of 42 to 16 um 17 and four since the deadline less than

05:00three goals scored just six times in 21 games down the stretch we knew they could defend then

05:07they add kuzmenko i'm not saying that's the only thing that's done it but they add kuzmenko and now

05:11this team offensively is just dynamite and so i i feel like this is a very complete team and a very

05:19dangerous team and i i think they are finally catching edmonton at a good time in the postseason so

05:24i have the kings pulling off the upset i have kings in six which you can get at plus 600 but i can't

05:29wait nba playoffs we did that yesterday um hockey playoffs doing it today that the next couple of

05:34months sports watching are going to be incredible we have some great matchups in both brackets that

05:39are going to be really really really fun to watch

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