This is the Jeff Merrick show on the SportsNet Radio Network.

Yes, if you're hearing on radio on the Sportsnet Radio Network,

hi, Gord Stelick here for Jeff Merrick.

If you're watching on SportsNet 360. Yes, Jeff Merrick off today.

So I get to come back in my old digs at the very best time of year to fill in on the Jeff Merrick show.

What the very best time of year is the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

So a whole laundry list of topics we'll be able to chat about.

And it's nice in a Toronto sense that it's eighth consecutive year. The Toronto Maple Leafs have made it to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Of course, year number one, they were one of the, maybe the only teams. There's always one or two teams in the first round that when they get eliminated, get a standing ovation. And that was the Leifes when they had that hard fought six-game battle against the Washington Capitals, got the

standing O on the way out.

And here we are all these years later, just one playoff victory to show in the six series

since the arch rival Boston Bruins, even though they haven't played the Bruins in five years.

That series gets underway tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Canada, Canada, Canada, this looks like the best opportunity for a Canadian-based team to win the Stanley Cup since back in 1993.

And it's kind of nice that they're not matching up in the first round to knock each other off.

The Vancouver Canucks, of course, they'll be taken off their first round battle as well.

You wonder against the National Predators, an interesting battle. We'll check in on there. And the Los Angeles Kings, Vegas Golden Knights, it seems to be a disinterested Vegas Golden Knight team at the end of the season. It looked like they would be taking on the Edmonton orders, but they lose last night. The Edmund, the Los Angeles Kings win.

So the Kings and orders go at it again for the third consecutive year,

the Vegas Golden Knights defending Stanley Cup champions. But a lot of people wondering if they'll get by the first round against the Dallas Stars.

So you got that battle.

And then the Winnipeg Jets, the late surge against the Stanley

Cup champions two years ago, the Colorado Avalanche, give them home ice against the avalanche.

And you wonder, this team, can they be just when a lot of people like I have written them off?

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