The second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is underway after a memorable -- and frankly, wild -- first two weeks. I've spent that time traversing the East Coast, spending hours at the rinks having conversations with players, coaches, front office executives and people around the game. Here's some info I've gleaned:
• The Toronto Maple Leafs-Florida Panthers series will pit the two most electric American players against each other: Auston Matthews and Matthew Tkachuk. And they're seemingly at full strength, which wasn't the case all season. Matthews' production dipped following his 2021-22 MVP campaign, but a large part of that was because of a hand injury he nursed and played through earlier in the season.