To review, I'm pretty sure the Pittsburgh Penguins are the "holders" (current champion). They beat the San Jose Sharks, who were making a debut in the Stanley Cup Finals. The other choice for a western team was going to be the St. Louis Blues, who still haven't reached a Stanley Cup Final series. I'm pretty sure they've been in the league longer than the Sharks. I believe the Rangers were eliminated by the Penguins, but I forget in which round.
The NHL playoffs are also kind of quirky, at least compared to other leagues. They've had 30 teams for a while. I forget the year of the most recent expansion, but it probably brought in teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Nashville Predators. It's hard to think of another Columbus pro sports franchise (Columbus Crew). For Nashville, I'm thinking I've been to their airport, and do they host the Tennessee Titans?
Even with the 30 teams, they've tried different formats over the years. There had been a divisional format similar to MLB, where each conference had 15 teams, subdivided into three divisions (five teams in every division). Some time recently, they decided to make the conferences unbalanced. Detroit is traditionally a "Western" team (in the Central time zone?), and they play in the East. The Eastern conference should have two divisions of eight teams each. One division spans all the way up into Canada and then has the two Florida teams. The other division kind of stays in New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; Washington, D. C.; but then it expands to Carolina and Columbus. In the West, you should have two divisions also, but with only seven teams each. The Central teams look a little bit spread out (Nashville, Dallas, Chicago, Minnesota, Colorado, ...). The Pacific looks about right, plus adding some Canadian teams.
Having said all of that, the most important thing for your playoff matchup is actually how you finish within your division. I'm not sure if that leads to the best Stanley Cup Finals, but it's how they're doing things right now. Second place always plays third place in the division standings. There are two wildcard spots for teams that finish fourth or fifth in a division. Both teams could come from the same division, but that didn't happen this season. The way you assign those matchups depends on who had the best record within the conference. The lowest ranked wildcard plays that #1 overall seed. In the second round, it's also about divisional teams (assuming a #1 seed didn't get upset) playing each other, until only one team from each division should qualify for the conference finals. Last year, I don't think ANY division winner reached a conference final.
For this year, these are the opening round series:
NY Rangers vs Montreal Canadiens
I think Montreal won the season series? The Rangers look better as a road team (and they could play up to four of those games). I'm also bothered by their form coming into the playoffs. They faced maybe four or five other playoff teams to end the season, and their last 10 games were three regulation wins, four regulation losses, and then I'm thinking two overtime losses, plus a shootout loss (which breaks a tie from the overtime period). I'd obviously be favoring them in this round.
Boston Bruins vs Ottawa Senators
I'm picturing the Bruins playing in two Stanley Cup Finals during the past decade. It's hard to picture who plays for the Senators.
Columbus Blue Jackets vs Pittsburgh Penguins
If I'm thinking of the right person, Columbus had the best goalie from the regular season? Sometimes, teams can ride a strong goalie to the Stanley Cup Finals. You'd probably favor the Penguins, though.
St. Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild
I forget if the Wild are an expansion team. There used to be the Minnesota North Stars, who moved to another city (Dallas Stars?). I would probably flip a coin here, although the Blues advanced pretty far last season.
San Jose Sharks vs Edmonton Oilers
As recently as last season, I think the Oilers were one of the weakest teams in the league. Now, I think they'd be favored over a team that just played for a Stanley Cup last spring.
Toronto Maple Leafs vs Washington Capitals
You know what I said about Edmonton? Toronto was basically the worst team in the East last year. I don't think they'd be the favorite in this series, though. Washington's history has been that they can win the regular season, but eventually they'll lose a seven game playoff series.
Nashville Predators vs Chicago Blackhawks
Nashville is a team where I keep seeing them qualify for a playoff spot, but they either have one or zero wins in playoff series. The Blackhawks would be my early pick to win the whole tournament, which I think they've done three times recently?
Calgary Flames vs Anaheim Ducks
They might have the same number of Stanley Cups. Anaheim is another team where, I recognize them at the top of the standings year after year, but what happens in the playoffs? I'd at least expect them to survive past this round.
So, I don't know if I'd follow along after every two or three games, like in past years. It's just a sport where I wish I knew more about what's happening. When I picture Boston playing well, they had Tim Thomas in goal. He might not be in the league anymore. It would be "Tuukka Rask" instead. I see "John Gibson" in goal for Anaheim, instead of Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Henrik Lundqvist should still be the main guy for the Rangers, but Antti Raanta has better statistics in several categories. It's hard to even spell these Swedish or Finnish names.
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WWE 2K18 ROSTER & MATCH TYPES | ||||
If you see multiple of the same name, it just means different versions that can be in the ring together. Names highlighted in blue are Cruiserweights | ||||
1 Up Man Adam Cole Aerostar Aiden English AJ Styles Akam Akira Tozawa Albert Aleister Black Alexander Wolfe Andrade "Cien" Almas Andre The Giant Angelo Dawkins Animal Apollo Crews Ariya Daivari Arnold T101 Austin Aries B Brian Blair Bam Bam Bigelow Baron Corbin Barron Blade Batista '10 Beautiful Bobby Eaton Big Boss Man '91 Big Boss Man '99 Big Cass Big E Big Show Big Show '00 Bo Dallas Bobby Fish Bobby Roode Booker T Braun Strowman Bray Wyatt Bret Hart '97 Bret Hart '98 Brian Kendrick British Bulldog Brock Lesnar Brutus Beefcake Bryan Danielson Buddy Roberts Butch Cactus Jack '92 Cactus Jack '98 Captain Jobber Cedric Alexander Cesaro Chad Gable Chris Jericho |
Chris Jericho '00 Christian Col Sanders Cole Quinn Curt Hawkins Curtis Axel Daniel Bryan Dark Link Darren Young Dash Wilder DDP '92 DDP '98 Dean Ambrose Dennis Condrey Diesel Doc Louis Dolph Ziggler Donatello Drago Drew Gulak Drew McIntyre Dude Love Dusty Rhodes Earthquake Eddie Guerrero Edge El Mago Elias Enzo Amore Epico Colon Eric Young Erick Rowan Fandango Finn Balor Finn Balor Demon The Godfather Goldberg Goldust Gorgeous George Gran Metalik Greg Valentine Hawk Heath Slater Hideo Itami Hurricane Jack Gallagher Jake Roberts Jason Jordan JBL Jeff Hardy Jey Uso Jim Brunzell |
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Neville Nick Miller No Way Jose Noam Dar Noob Saibot Oney Locan Optimus Prime Otis Dozovic Papa Shango Pentagon Jr Pete Dunne Primo Colon Prince Puma R-Truth Randy Orton Randy Savage Raphael Razor Ramon Reptile Retro Rick Rey Fenix Rey Mysterio Rezar Rhyno Ric Flair '88 Ric Flair '91 Rich Swann Rick Martel Rick Rude Ricky Morton Ricky Steamboat '91 Ricky Steamboat '94 Rikishi Rob Van Dam '06 Robert Gibson The Rock The Rock '01 Roddy Piper Roderick Strong Roman Reigns Rusev Sami Zayn Samoa Joe Sawyer Fulton Scorpion Scott Dawson Scott Hall Seth Rollins Shane McMahon Shane Thorne Shao Khan Shawn Michaels '97 |
Shawn Michaels '98 Sheamus Shelton Benjamin Shinsuke Nakamura Sin Cara Snoop Dogg Stan Lane Starman Steve Austin '97 Sting Sting '88 Sting '91 Sting '98 Sting '99 Stormtrooper Stunning Steve Austin Subzero MKX Superman Sycho Sid Tatanka Tatsumi Fujinami Ted DiBiase TehJew22 Titus O'Neil TJP Tommaso Ciampa Tony Nese Triple H Triple H '01 Triple H '98 Tucker Knight Tye Dillinger Tyler Bate Tyler Breeze Typhoon Tyson Kidd Ultimate Warrior Ultimo Dragon Undertaker (Classic) The Undertaker Undertaker '00 Vader Vampiro Velveteen Dream Venom Viktor Voltron Waluigi Wario William Regal Xavier Woods Zack Ryder |
WOMEN | ||||
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Ivory Jacqueline Jade Kairi Sane Kharma Kitana Lana Lita Liv Morgan Mandy Rose Mariposa Maryse Mickie James Mileena Naomi Natalya Nia Jax |
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VALETS & MANAGERS Anyone above can be a "manager" plus... | ||||
Bobby Heenan Lana |
Mr. McMahon Paul Ellering Paul Heyman |
Stephanie McMahon Ted DiBiase | ||
MATCH TYPES | ||||
*** ONE ON ONE *** Normal |
*** TRIPLE THREAT *** Normal |
*** FATAL 4 WAY *** Normal |
*** TWO ON TWO *** Normal *** 8-MAN *** Tag Team |
*** 6-MAN *** Tag Team *** HANDICAP *** One on Two Tag |
MATCH MODIFIERS | ||||
Pin & Submission Both, Pin, Submit, Off 2 Out of 3 Falls Iron Man |
Over the Top Rope On, Off K.O. Last Man Standing |
Perform Finisher to Win On, Off First Blood Climb out of Cage (Cage Match Only) DQ |
Rope Break (Automatic) On, Off Ring Out Elimination |
Falls Count Anywhere On, Off Time Limit Entrance Interval (Chamber/Rumble) |
SUPER SMASH BROS. ROSTER & SETTINGS | |||
Akira Alph Austin Powers Bayonetta Bob Ross Bowser Bowser Jr Burger King Captain Falcon Charizard Charlie Brown Chuck Norris Cloud Col Sanders Corrin Dark Pit Diddy Kong Donkey Kong Dr. Mario Dracula Drew Carey |
Duck Hunt Dumbledore Falco Fox Ganondorf Greninja Iggy Jr Ike Jacky Jigglypuff Joker King Dedede Kirby Larry Jr Lemmy Jr Link Little Mac Lucario Lucas Lucina Lucy Ludwig Jr |
Luigi Majora Mario Marth Mega Man Meta Knight Mewtwo Morton Jr Mr. Game & Watch Mr. Miyagi Ness Olimar Pac-Man Palutena Peach Peppermint Patty Pikachu Pit Popeye R.O.B. Retro Rick Robin |
Rosalina & Luma Roy Roy Jr Ryu Samus Sheik Shulk Snoop Dog Sonic Steve Urkel TehJew22 Toon Link Villager Wario Weird Al Wendy Jr Wii Fit Trainer Yoshi Zelda Zero Zerosuit Samus |
BATTLE TYPES TIME BATTLE: All characters battle for a set amount of time scoring one point per KO and LOSING one point each time they are KO'ed. STOCK BATTLE: All characters have a set number of lives and when they run out, they're done. When combined with a time limit whomever has more lives left when time runs out wins. COIN BATTLE: For 2-4 characters ONLY! Coins are knocked out of characters as they battle. After a fixed time limit whomever has the most coins wins. SETTINGS TIME LIMIT: Can be from 1 to 15 minutes. |