Mailbag: Potential playoff upsets; Gibson's future with Ducks

Here is the March 22 edition of the mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on Twitter using #OvertheBoards. Tweet your questions to @drosennhl.

What are some NHL postseason upsets you could see mirroring March Madness? Could the Islanders topple the Bruins like FDU/Purdue? -- @mikeybox
Love the question, but the NHL's parity doesn't exactly lend itself to a Cinderella in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That's one of the great things about the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, schools like Fairleigh Dickinson defeating Purdue, or, gasp, Princeton taking down my Arizona Wildcats. But every team that makes the NHL postseason is in some ways a contender. Granted, the Boston Bruins will be the favorite when the playoffs begin April 17, but the Presidents' Trophy winners, the team that finishes with the most points in the regular season, have lost in the first round seven times since 1990-91. That includes, of course, the most famous first-round sweep, the Columbus Blue Jackets taking out the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2019 after the Lightning tied the NHL record with 62 wins. The Bruins might break that record, but it wouldn't be terribly shocking if they lost in the first round, whether it's to the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers or Pittsburgh Penguins. That's the nature of the NHL with the parity across the League.
It's even more wide open in the Western Conference, where we could debate for hours if the favorite should be the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings or Edmonton Oilers. Six points currently separate those six teams in the standings. The Seattle Kraken would be the closest the NHL has to a Cinderella only because they're in their second season and this will be their first go in the playoffs if they get there. But the Kraken have been on solid playoff footing for most of the season and have defeated each of the six teams ahead of them in the standings, including the Kings three times and the Avalanche twice. FDU did not defeat a top 25 team all season. Neither did Princeton. That's what makes them Cinderellas.

John Gibson has been a subject of trade rumors the past few seasons. Is this the offseason the Ducks move him and where would he be a fit? -- @punmasterrifkin
There are two schools of thought that I have with Gibson and his value to the Anaheim Ducks as a No. 1 goalie.
1. They need him because he can stabilize the team while they continue their rebuild and incorporate younger players. The salary cap is not a concern for them, so it's not a big deal if he's around for four more seasons. It's not as if Gibson is eating away at a team that is capped out and maybe the Ducks could become a contender in two years, which still leaves another two left on his contract.
2. The Ducks are not close yet to being a playoff contender, so why would they need a No. 1 goalie who is 29 years old and in his prime? Why waste Gibson's best years on a team that isn't ready to win when they can get value for him in a trade that could enhance their rebuild and, potentially, escalate their timeline?
The Ducks obviously know more than me, but I would think that they are contemplating both schools of thought as this season winds to a close and their business gets ready to pick up in the offseason. Gibson undoubtedly has value on the trade market.
The Penguins could use him. Tristan Jarry is in the last season of his contract, a pending unrestricted free agent, and he's been injury prone. If the Penguins miss the playoffs or get in and lose in the first round, it's possible, if not likely, that they could go in a different direction with their No. 1 goalie. Gibson is from Pittsburgh and having him could keep the Penguins run at being Stanley Cup contenders alive for a few more seasons regardless of what happens this season.
The Buffalo Sabres should also be in the mix. Craig Anderson has had a fine season, but he's 41 years old and the Sabres are built to win starting next season. Gibson fits there. He could do a lot of winning with them.

Do you think the New York Rangers will go far in the playoffs, especially with how they're playing now? -- @MissingLinc1199
I think the Rangers can go far, but how they're playing now doesn't necessarily matter in the big picture of how they'll do in the playoffs. They will get in as one of the top three teams in the Metropolitan Division. How that shakes out remains to be seen. That much we can pretty much say with authority at this point.
What we can also say is that the combination of goalie Igor Shesterkin and how the Rangers defend in front of him is absolutely the most important factor that will determine how the playoffs go for them. If Shesterkin is on his game and the Rangers are limiting turnovers and not surrendering Grade A chances after Grade A chances, they can win the Stanley Cup. They're built to give up some because of how they can push offensively. They're not going to play the man-on-man, relentless, puck-possession style like the Carolina Hurricanes. They don't have to with their talent. But if Shesterkin falters and/or the Rangers look like they're blowing tires all over the ice in front of him, then they can forget about a fun spring in New York. That's it. I'll say it until I'm blue in the face. It's all about how they defend and the goaltending they get, because the Rangers can and will score. It's just a matter of will they score enough?
The additions of Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko into New York's top six forward group look great and are working. Everybody is slotted in the right place, with a dangerous third line of
Alexis Lafreniere
, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko, and a fourth line of Jimmy Vesey, Barclay Goodrow and Tyler Motte that could be the best in the NHL. A top six defense group featuring Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Jacob Trouba, K'Andre Miller, Braden Schneider and Niko Mikkola has all the ingredients necessary, including size, reach, mobility and physicality. On paper, and on the ice of late, the Rangers look like a serious Stanley Cup contender, a team that should go far, if not the distance, in the playoffs. But of all the fancy toys coach Gerard Gallant has at his disposal, the most important one is Shesterkin. He must be great.

Goalies aside, which veteran player surprises you that he's still playing? For me, and even though he's not the oldest, it's Milan Lucic. After that, it's a tie between Brent Burns and Mark Giordano. -- @TrishTheMiddle
If you wanted an answer because of age, then I'll agree with you on Giordano and Burns. Giordano, a defenseman for the Toronto Maple Leafs, is 39. Burns, a defenseman for the Hurricanes, is 38. But I'm not surprised they're still in the NHL because Giordano and Burns are still good players and in great shape. There's no reason they can't play into their 40s. Lucic, a forward with the Calgary Flames, is another good option here not because of age, 34, but because of style of play. He's been a rugged, physical, grinding forward who has played 1,163 games since 2007-08 and has 3,245 hits, fifth in NHL history. That's a lot of wear and tear on a body, but Lucic has handled it well and he's still going, which is somewhat surprising.
But my picks are Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and Stars forward Tyler Seguin because of what they have been through health and injury wise.
Letang has played through two strokes. One would often be enough to end a playing career. One makes you fear for quality of life. Letang had two and he's still playing. It's remarkable. He's had a debilitating neck injury that required surgery, multiple concussions, broken bones, infections and the like. He keeps coming back. He's not doing it on his own. The doctors wouldn't allow Letang to play if he couldn't or if his health issues were putting his future at risk. The fact that he has plowed through is still amazing.
Seguin's right leg was ravaged from surgery and nerve damage more than two years ago. The Stars forward said he basically had no quadriceps muscle when he arrived at his trainer Matt Nichol's gym outside of Toronto in January 2021. But he was back on the ice for three games at the end of the 2020-21 season and full go for the start of 2021-22. Seguin is out now because his left leg was cut by a skate March 9, a serious injury that had general managers talking last week about making cut resistant socks and undergarments mandatory across the NHL. Stars coach Peter DeBoer said Tuesday that Seguin had the stitches removed from his leg and expects him to return to the lineup by the end of the week. The fact that Seguin is still able to play is remarkable because of how badly he was injured and how bleak it looked for him 26 months ago.

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