The first NHL playoff tournament without a local club since the Devils moved to New Jersey in 1982 opens Saturday afternoon with the Senators and Hurricanes kicking off the two-month sprint to the Stanley Cup.
As has become the norm under the current format, the first round is packed with stories, and the bracket will inevitably thin out early.
There is Buffalo’s return to the postseason for the first time since 2011.
There is an intriguing Wild-Stars series, with the winner likely facing the Avalanche in a bare-knuckles Round 2 showdown.
There is Sidney Crosby back in the postseason after a three-year drought, leading the Penguins in a Battle of Pennsylvania, and there is a young Habs team running straight into the grizzled, experienced Lightning.
The Eastern Conference is wide open after the mighty Panthers, reigning two-time Cup champs and three-time conference champs, suffered an injury-plagued regular season and missed the tournament.
This could be the year Rod Brind’Amour’s Hurricanes make it over the conference finals hump. The Canadiens, Lightning and Sabres all have real Cup aspirations as well.
The Central Division trio in the West — Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado — guarantees the current issues with the format will continue. Whoever makes it through that gauntlet and into the conference finals, though, will have the victor of the Pacific Division’s pillow fight to contend with.
Even though it was Connor McDavid who used just that phrase, his Oilers loom as an obstacle, if only they can get their goaltending sorted.
It is as good a postseason as we’ve had in recent years, and New York will experience it from afar, on television.
