 What's up, everyone? Take down here. Welcome back to another video. Today, I'm going to be sharing my thoughts and predictions on the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. I'm really excited that this has been recently announced that they're going forward and doing some kind of playoffs because I thought to me it would have been a waste for an entire season to just throw away this season and then start a new season next season without crowning this year's champions. I understand everything with the pandemic, how they have to do certain protocols, and the chances of having fans in the audience at the playoff games is very slim. I doubt we're ever going to see that this year. However, I'm glad that they're going forward with a playoff. This year, they're going to be doing a 24 team playoff instead of the regular traditional 16 team playoff series. And the reason for that is because, in my opinion, there were so many teams that were close to getting in that personally, I feel like they could have gotten in if it were to make it to the end of the season. However, the season was cut short. So why not include them into the playoffs as well? I thought that was a smart decision. I think all the teams except for two voted for the 24 team playoff series. So I'm excited to see what happens this year. And I know for the past few years, they've been wanting to do a 24 team playoff series because they are doing it this year. Due to the pandemic, I could see it, if it's something that's successful and the fans like, I could see it sticking around for years to come. And that makes me very excited because that gives more teams an opportunity to win the Stanley Cup. So today, I'm going to be starting off with the qualifying round, something that's new for the 24 team. Not all the teams are going to be put in the first round and facing off. There's eight teams, four for the Western Conference and four for the Eastern Conference, who are going to be going into the first rounds. But prior to that, there is a qualifying round to see who is going to be facing them. So it's pretty interesting this year. And I absolutely love that concept. So now also for the qualifying rounds, it is going to be a series best of five instead of the traditional best of seven. They haven't announced what round one, two and all the other rounds are going to be. Something tells me they're going to be best of sevens like the traditional playoff series. But for the qualifying round, it's only going to be a best of five series. So up first for the Western Conference, we're going to start there. We have Edmonton Oilers versus Chicago Blackhawks. Now I'm excited because Chicago Blackhawks picked up a due to a trade what I believe to be a top goalie. And I'm really excited to see what this player does to see him hopefully get a push. And that is Malcolm Subban. I've been a fan of him for years in Vegas. He hasn't been getting a push when he was there because Flurry was the starting goalie. So now that he's on the Chicago Blackhawks, I'm hoping he does good. However, they do have a lot of elite players and they have been doing good in recent years. Hopefully he gets a lot more ice time and starts to very improve. But going against the Oilers, Connor McDavid, I'm a fan of the Oilers. I personally believe that the outcome of this series is going to be 3-2 for the Oilers. I believe the Oilers are going to be winning 3-2 and then they're going to be advancing on to the first round, which is going to be the Oilers versus Dallas Stars. That's what I believe my prediction is for this series. Next is going to be the Nashville Predators versus Arizona Coyotes. Now this one's very excited. I've been a fan for the past few years of the Predators. However, Arizona Coyotes this past season, they've been growing on me a lot. Of course, they have Phil Kessel and a lot of good rookies and ones that for the past few years, a lot of young talent that has been coming there have been really doing good and succeeding. And I'm really excited. Phil Kessel alone, I'm a huge fan of him. And they have also other great players as well. They're starting to really build up their franchise in Arizona. So I'm very excited to see what's going to happen. My prediction for this series, which if you asked me a few years ago for this series, I would say Predators all day. For this series, I'm going to say Coyotes 3-1. That's my prediction for this series. I just see that happening. I think the Coyotes are going to be going far in the playoffs this year. I really hope so because they've been growing on me. So in the next series, you will see in the next round, the Coyotes versus Vegas Golden Knights, if my prediction comes true. Next is going to be the Vancouver Canucks versus Minnesota Wilds. I haven't really been a fan of the Wild. I know they have some pretty keen players and some good players. However, the Canucks, I'm a Canadian, I have to vote for them in this one just because I could see them advancing. They have great players as well. They've been doing, in my opinion, a little bit better. So I think the Canucks are going to win 3-1 as well. And that in the next round, we're going to see the Canucks versus Colorado Avalanche, which I think is going to be a very exciting series. And the last one for the Western Conference is the Calgary Flames versus Winnipeg Jets. Canadian teams going at it, which is something I usually do not agree on. I usually like to see a Canadian team versus an American team and hopefully the Canadian team advance. That's just my mindset of doing it because we don't see Canadian teams win too much. But the teams that win, they usually have a lot of Canadian players. So for this series here, I've been a fan of Flames for years. I think they're going to be doing good in this series. Winnipeg Jets, I think they could do okay, but I'm going to say the outcome is going to be the Flames 3-2. And that means the Flames are going to advance to face the St. Louis Blues in the next round. So now I have the Eastern Conference here, which is a little bit more intense as far as the matches for the qualifying round and also who they're going to be facing in the next round if they do advance. So up first is the Pittsburgh Penguins versus Montreal Canadiens. Something that the Montreal Canadiens have been choking for years now. Usually in the first round, they get eliminated or they don't get too far into the playoffs. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of them whatsoever, but I've been growing on them just because simply the fact that they have good players, they have a good lineups at times. It's just Kerry Price with his injuries over the past few years and a lot of other things. I just don't see them advancing too far. The Penguins on the other hand, Sydney Crosby, they've already won the championship two years consecutively. And then prior to that, a few, I honestly think the Pittsburgh are going to give the Montreal Canadiens a run for their money. But this one here, for a surprising thing, something I didn't think I'd predict, I'm going to say Montreal Canadiens are going to win three to two, just because I don't want to see Pittsburgh win and go on and go fire into the playoffs. I know they're an elite team. They're one of the top teams in the league. I just don't need to see them this year. Maybe next year, this year, I don't want to see them advance too far. So I'm going to say the Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers are going to be facing off in the next round, which I'm really excited for the Flyers this year. I'm really hoping that they go really far and hopefully win. That would be exciting for me to see because I'm a huge fan of them. Next is going to be the Carolina Hurricanes versus New York Rangers. Now, New York has a few players that I really like. Number one, Mika Zabanajad. I loved him on the Ottawa senders. I like him on New York Rangers. He's been really doing a great push and I really see them advancing the Hurricanes had a good run at the last playoffs. But this year, I believe it's going to be three zero for the Rangers. That's my prediction. I think that it's going to be a clean sweep for the Rangers and then Rangers versus Washington Capitals in the next round. The next series is going to be the New York Islanders versus Florida Panthers. Now, New York Islanders have been losing a lot of their top talent, in my opinion. Now, they do have Pajot who they got from Ottawa Senators and I was sad to see him go. I think he's going to be doing great in the playoffs this year because of that, especially when he got the contract he wanted. So that's pretty nice to see a player get what he wants and be a part of a team that he wants to be part of. I know they have a lot of potential. However, they're going against Florida Panthers who've been really pushing and grinding and doing a lot of work and they have a lot of great players as well and a really great goalie. So this one's going to be very interesting, but I'm going to say my prediction is going to be three to one for the Panthers. I think it's going to be close, but I'm going to say three to one just because to spice things up, Panthers and then hopefully the Panthers in the next rounds, we will see the Panthers versus Tampa Bay Lightning. Florida team versus Florida team, that's going to be exciting to see in my opinion and I know Tampa Bay Lightning are a good run for the cup this year and to see them face the Panthers, I know a lot of people would choose Tampa Bay. I would honestly like to see Panthers go all day in advance and go forward and hopefully win a cup that would be interesting to see. So Panthers for this series, that's my prediction. And the last series is going to be the Montreal Canadiens versus Columbus Blue Jackets. Now, Columbus has been doing good in recent years, but they've also been trading away a lot of keen and top talents. However, Toronto Maple Leafs, I almost said the wrong team there, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a lot of top talent, but they're always combating each other and I could see in a few years a lot of their top talent leaving because they won't be able to continue to pay them as much as they're paying all of their players moving forward. So we're going to see a lot of change ups with Toronto Maple Leafs in the future. But for now, this lineup here, honestly, Toronto Maple Leafs don't usually go to find the playoffs to begin with and I don't really think they're going to for this one here. I'm going to say it's going to be a clean sweep for the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-0 for the Columbus Blue Jackets and then the Blue Jackets will be facing Boston Bruins in the next round. If in my opinion, by Miracle, Toronto Maple Leafs do advance to the next round and face Boston, you know that round is going to go clearly to Boston because they've beaten the Maple Leafs before in the playoffs and they're going to continue to do that every time they're matched against them. So this is right now my predictions for the 2020 NHL playoffs. It's exciting to see a little bit of a change instead of the traditional 16 team playoff doing a 24 team playoff. And instead of every round being a best of seven, the first qualifying round is going to be best of five. That's what really is going to spark my interest and I think a lot of fans are excited to not only have the end of the season determined by somebody hoisting up the Stanley Cup, but also the facts that they're not just throwing the season out the window, which I think would suck. And I'm honestly excited to start making bets again for the NHL. So once the playoffs starts, I'm going to be making my bets and hopefully I'll be able to capitalize and get some kind of wins for my bets going. That's what I'm really excited for the playoffs, but I also want to see a team hoist the Cup. Now, right now I'm going to predict who I feel might be hoisting the Cup this year. My prediction, the three teams I'd like to see hoist the Cup are going to be number one, St. Louis Blues. Once again, I think that'd be awesome to see them do it two years in a row for never holding a championship before that. I'm also going to say Arizona Coyotes because I'm a fan of them. They've been growing on me and I'd like to see them win because they've been a team for the past few years that people thought would get cutouts. Now they're starting to gain a lot of traction. And the last team is going to be Philadelphia Flyers. I'd honestly love to see them win. So this is my prediction for the qualifying round of the 2020 NHL playoffs. Comment down below what your prediction are for the series. And I'm going to leave this video here. Please take care. Peace.