All 8 first round matchups are now set; first round series predictions

In terms of how the matchups go, we already knew that the East would break down like this:

Boston/Florida
Toronto/Tampa Bay
Carolina/Long Island
New Jersey/New York

Now, with the Avs having won the Central Division, the West is also set, breaking down like this:

Colorado/Seattle
Dallas/Minnesota
Vegas/Winnipeg
Edmonton/Los Angeles

Now, as a Leafs fan myself, I'm a tad biased in suggesting that Leafs/Lightning is the most exciting round 1 series, so if I take Toronto and Tampa out of the equation and look at the remaining 7 matchups, the ones I'm most looking forward to are Devils vs Rangers and Avalanche vs Kraken.

The Devils basically came out of nowhere and emerged as a big time player this season, finishing 3rd overall with 112 points. The Rangers, being a close proximity rival, creates what should be a fiery matchup between two very good, high octane teams.

Meanwhile, the Avs will begin their 2022 Stanley Cup Championship defense against one of the league's highest scoring teams in Seattle. In fact, of the 16 playoff teams, Seattle sits behind only Edmonton, Boston, New Jersey, and Florida for goals scored. The Avs will be without the services of captain Gabriel Landeskog and the Kraken will have to rely on questionable goaltending to get by, so this matchup is an intriguing one for me, personally.

As far as my round 1 predictions go, here are my picks for who will take each series and in how many games:

Boston in 6
Leafs in 6
Hurricanes in 5
Rangers in 7

Avalanche in 6
Stars in 7
Jets in 6
Oilers in 5

I do think the Leafs finally get it done this year. The Leafs and Lightning have both experienced substantial transitions between last season's iterations and this season's. I think the losses of Ryan McDonagh, Ondrej Palat, Jan Rutta and Cal Foote may be a little too much for Tampa to overcome, while the additions of Calle Jarnkrok, Ryan O'Reilly, Jake McCabe, Ilya Samsonov, Noel Acciari, Luke Schenn, Sam Lafferty and even Matthew Knies will put the Leafs over the top.

So there you have it, Leafs Nation! My 2022-23 Playoff Bracket is set! I can't share my full bracket yet, but there are my first round selections. Best of luck on yours!