Which NHL conference will have a more exciting opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs?

While we have less than a month to go in the regular season and still some time to sort things out, we’re starting to see some intriguing potential playoff matchups.

With the current standings, there would be some entertaining battles in the Western Conference, especially in the Central Division. The Dallas Stars would take on the Colorado Avalanche, with the first-place Winnipeg Jets hosting the red-hot St. Louis Blues. Yet, the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks are trying to get into that final Wild Card spot, which would set up an entertaining all-Canadian battle.

There’s also a scenario in the Eastern Conference where the Toronto Maple Leafs could win the Atlantic Division, setting up a Battle of Ontario if the Ottawa Senators finish in the first WC position. The Florida Panthers would be relegated to another edition of the Battle of Florida with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

On Monday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed which side of the continent would offer the best matchups.

Frank Seravalli: My gut feeling is West because it’s gonna be so hard to look away from Stars/Avs round one. But … tell me, who wins the Atlantic? If it is the Leafs, and that sets up Leaf/Sens and then Panthers/Lightning, I’m going to say it’s the East. It has to include the Leafs winning the division.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I agree with you because if the Leafs can win the division, who knows? Maybe Montreal even ends up passing Ottawa. As long as the Leafs win the division, you’ve locked in an all-Canadian matchup there. Then, out west, I guess you could maybe say the same thing in terms of what-ifs like if the Flames get in and you have an all-Canadian Jets/Flames round one to go with Dallas and Colorado on what would probably be the opposite nights to split up the Central Time Zone teams … that could be really interesting.

Frank: I just think if you go Battle of Ontario, and then Battle of Florida in round one … Plus, if it would be Washington/Montreal then most likely … One time, the Caps did win the President’s Trophy. They lost as the one seed to the Montreal Canadiens.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…