While the 2019-20 season is on pause, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at the contenders for if/when the season resumes. There has been talk whether to have a 16, 20, or 24 team playoff when the season resumes, but regardless of that my list potential winners stays the same. Today, I will take a bit of an in depth look at 6 potential Stanley Cup winners (3 per conference).
In the East
Washington Capitals (41-20-8, 90 pts, 1st in Metro): The Capitals are having another solid season, from Alexander Ovechkin, who is tied for the NHL lead in goals with 48, to John Carlson, the potential Norris winner who leads the NHL in points by a defenseman with 75. A strong goaltending tandem of Braden Holtby and rookie Ilya Samsonov will be a key factor if Washinton is able to make it back to the Stanley Cup Finals for the 2nd time in 3 seasons.
Washington added two pieces to their roster before the trade deadline who they hope can contribute to helping them win their 2nd ever Stanley Cup. Ilya Kovalchuk was acquired from Montreal on February 23rd, a day before the deadline, for a 2020 3rd round pick. Kovalchuk, who is now on his 3rd NHL roster this season, was having a bit of resurgence while playing for the Canadiens recording 13 points (6 goals, 7 assists) in 22 games. He may not be playing a big role like he did in 2011-12 when he lead the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals, but Kovalchuk will no doubt be a key piece playing on the 3rd line, and on the power play. Currently, in 7 games with Washington, Ilya has 1 goal and 3 assists.
The other addition for the Caps was defenseman Brenden Dillon, who was acquired from San Jose on February 18th in exchange for a 2020 2nd round pick, and a conditional 3rd round pick in 2021. Dillon, known more for his stay at home style of play, is exactly the type of player Washington needed. The Capitals top 4 d core (Carlson, Orlov, Kempny, & Dillon) are poised for a deep playoff run, and combined with the Holtby/Samsanov duo in net, should help keep Washington to a very low number of goals against throughout the playoffs.
Boston Bruins (44-14-12, 100 pts, 1st in Atlantic): The Bruins, in my eyes, are probably the lock to win the Prince of Wales trophy this season as Eastern Conference champions, and return for their 2nd consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearance. The big 3 of Pastrnak/Bergeron/Marchand are having an outstanding year, combining for nearly 47% of the Bruins goals this season. Pastrnak and Marchand sit 4th (95) and 6th (87) on the NHL points list.
In net Boston also have arguably the best duo in the entire NHL, and a huge reason why they have the lowest goals against in the NHL with 174. Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak have nearly split the starts playing 41 and 31 games respectively. Rask is likely the front runner for the Vezina this year. He is among the top 10 in all goaltending categories, leads the NHL in G.A.A. with 2.12, 2nd in save percentage with .929, tied for 2nd in shutouts with 5, and is 7th in wins with 26. Halak, in his 2nd season with the Bruins, has answered the call whenever head coach Bruce Cassidy has turned to him. His 18-6-6 record speaks for itself as he cements his place as the best “backup” in the NHL.
Boston made also made two deals around trade deadline day, both with the same teams, the Anaheim Ducks. The first trade was a big one, it saw the Bruins acquire RW Ondrej Kase in exchange for David Backes (Bruins retained 25% of his salary), D prospect Axel Andersson, and a 2020 1st round pick. So far, Kase hasn’t lived up to the hype, recording 1 assist in 6 games.
The other trade with Anaheim was a big one, but for another reason. Boston acquired 6’2″, 230 lb Nick Richie in exchange for Danton Heinen. Richie’s physcial play will desperately help the Bruins 4th line during what is likely going to be a long playoff run.
My only issue with the Bruins is their d core, Chara is aging, and I’m not confident relying on Charlie McAvoy and pending UFA Tory Krug for 25+ minutes a night is going to benefit them in a long playoff race. But we’ll have to wait and see if Boston is able to return to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Tampa Bay Lightning (43-21-6, 92 pts, 2nd in Atlantic): The 3rd potential Cup winner from the East is the Tampa Bay Lightning, who sit 2nd in the Atlantic division, 8 points behind 1st place Boston. Tampa leads the NHL in goals for with 245, and a major factor behind that is the depth they have. 11 players on the Lightning’s roster have 30 or more points so far this season. Led by the reigning Hart, Art Ross, and Ted Lindsey award winner, Nikita Kucherov, who leads Tampa in points with 82 points in 67 games. An interesting note on Kucherov, he is averaging above a point per game thus far in his career accumulating 544 points in 514 games.
As I mentioned, Tampa Bay has enough depth at every position to make them perennial Stanley Cup Contenders year after year. But have failed to live up to that title, making the Stanley Cup Final in 2014-15, and the Eastern Conference finals in 2015-16, and 2017-18. Those 3 deep playoff runs were great, but having the roster Tampa has had recently, they should have won the Stanley Cup by now.
Last year, they had one of the best regular seasons in NHL history finishing with a record of 62-16-4. Only 3 times in NHL history has a team made or surpassed the 60 win mark, including Tampa Bay. When it came playoff time almost everyone predicted that they would win the Cup, then came the collapse. Columbus pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the last 10 years, sweeping the Lightning.
This year should be different, Kucherov along with Stamkos, Point, up front, Hedman, Sergachev, Mcdonagh, and Shattenkirk leading the way on the back end and Andrei Vasilevskiy having another monster year in net with a 35-13-3 record, an almost lock for a Vezina nomination, Tampa is a force to be reckoned with.
At the deadline, Tampa gave up quite a bit to get some help for their forward group making a pair of trades. First, the Lightning traded top prospect Nolan Foote and Vancouver’s 2020 1st round pick (originally acquired in the J.T. Miller deal) to New Jersey for Blake Coleman. Coleman was on pace for a career year recording 31 points in 57 games with the Devils prior to the trade.
The other trade was by far one of the most puzzling trades I have seen in a long time. Tampa traded their own 2020 1st round pick and forward Anthony Greco (who was traded to Tampa 4 days prior by Florida) to San Jose for Barclay Goodrow and a 2020 3rd round pick originally owned by Philadelphia. Do I think Goodrow is a good player? Yes, given the role you put him in he can be a pretty solid player, throws the body around, can fight, and was having himself a career year with 24 points in 62 games with the Sharks. Do I think he was worth a 1st round pick? Absolutely not. What I think happened here was Tampa waited too long to add another top 9 forward and ultimately overpaid, which happens to a lot of teams on trade deadline day.
Hard not to think about if the season gets canelled, Tampa won’t have the chance to win the Stanley Cup obviously, but is also out two 2020 1st round picks, and their top prospect. Yikes.
In the West
St. Louis Blues (42-19-10, 94 pts, 1st in Central): The reigning Stanley Cup champions are the first Western Conference team on my list. The Blues are having a great season so far, leading the Central division and Western Conference with 94 points.
St. Louis has had some injury trouble including to their superstar Vladimir Tarasenko who has been limited to 10 games this season after having shoulder surgery back in late October. An wrist injury in mid November to Sammy Blais kept him out 8 weeks, before returning to the Blues lineup shortly after the all star break. The most unfortunate injury came to defenseman Jay Bouwmeester who collapsed on the St. Louis bench during a game vs the Ducks in February. Understandably, Bouwmeester is done for the season, but is non-committal on his playing future.
Ryan O’Reilly leads the way in points for the Blues with 60 points in 70 games, followed by David Perron with 59, Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz are tied for 3rd with 57 points.
On the back end captain Alex Pietrangelo has 52 points in 69 games to lead all Blue defensemen, but it’s their defensive play thats been solid. They have limited their opponents to 193 goals against in 71 games.
Jordan Binnington is having a stellar year, posting a 29-13-7 record with a 2.56 G.A.A., .912 save percentage, and 3 shutouts. Backup Jake Allen has held his own when in the crease, 12-6-3 with a 2.15 G.A.A., .927 save percentage and 2 shutouts.
The only trade the Blues made around the deadline was acquiring some defensive depth from the Montreal Canadiens in the way of Marco Scandella. St. Louis traded a 2020 2nd round pick and a conditional 2021 4th round pick to Montreal for Scandella who has 1 assist and is +4 in 11 games with the Blues.
Look for the Blues to make yet another deep playoff run this season. Their experience gained from last year should benefit them wonders heading into the 2020 NHL playoffs.
Colorado Avalanche (42-20-8, 92 pts, 2nd in Central): As with the Blues, the Avalanche have had their own mountain of injuries. Burakovsky, Calvert, Grubauer, Kadri, Makar, Rantanen, and Wilson are all currently on injured reserve, but despite these injuries Colorado have pushed through and sit 2nd in the Central division, 2 points behind 1st place St. Louis.
Nathan Mackinnon continues to prove that he is one of the best players in the NHL currently. He sits 5th in league scoring with 93 points in 69 games. Behind Mackinnon in team points is rookie defenseman Cale Makar with 50 points in 57 games. Makar, the potential Calder winner, has suffered a couple upper body injuries that has caused him to miss 13 games and as I mentioned, is currently on IR.
In net they have a tandem of Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz who have basically split the games. Francouz has the better record of the two with 21-7-4, 2.41 G.A.A., and a .923 save percentage.
The Avalanche went a similar route as St. Louis when it came to a depth trade around the deadline. Colorado got Vladislav Namestnikov from Ottawa for a 2021 4th round pick.
Overall, the Avs have a roster capable of making some noise come playoff time. The depth, the scoring, the goaltending is all there, its just a matter of everyone getting healthy and making a run towards the Stanley Cup.
Vegas Golden Knights (39-24-8, 86 pts, 1st in Pacific): Finally, the last team on my list is the Golden Knights. Vegas is currently leading the Pacific division with 86 points, but it has been a wild and crazy season for mostly every team in that division.
Vegas was one of the most of the most active teams around and on trade deadline day. Adding help in all departments. Defensive help from rivals Los Angeles acquiring Alec Martinez in exchange for two 2nd round picks, one in 2020, and one in 2021. Forward depth and another physical presence was added from Montreal. Nick Cousins was brought in for a 2021 4th round pick.
The most surprising of them all was adding goaltender Robin Lehner from Chicago by way of Toronto in a 3 team trade. This one was a doozy so bare with me here. Toronto dealt Martin Dzierkals to Chicago for Lehner. Vegas then acquired Dzierkals from Chicago and Lehner from Toronto. Toronto retained 25% of Lehner’s contract and acquired a 2020 5th round pick from Vegas, while Chicago acquired Malcolm Subban, defenseman Slava Demin, and a 2020 2nd round pick. Lehner as appeared in 3 games for Vegas so far and has won them all while also contributing 1 shutout on top of a 1.67 G.A.A and .940 save percentage.
Max Pacioretty leads Vegas in scoring with 66 points in 71 games, 1 point off his career high he reached in both 2014-15 and 2016-17. Mark Stone is close behind with 63 points, and Reilly Smith rounds out the top 3 with 54 points. The scoring depth is there, and will no doubt continue to be there throughout their playoff run.
On D, Shea Theodore keeps growing as a player, and will be a pillar on that back end for the next half decade, and possible more as he signed a 7 year extensions with Vegas back in 2018. Each year he has surpassed his previous career high in points by nearly 10. in 2017-18 he recorded 29 points in 69 games, 2018-19 had 37 points in 79 games, and this year Shea has 46 points in 71 games. Rounding out the D core is Derek Engelland, Alec Martinez, Nate Schmidt, Nick Holden, and Brayden McNabb. Zach Whitecloud, Jon Merrill, and Nicolas Hague have also appeared on the Golden Knights blue line at times this season.
In the crease Vegas also has a tandem of their own, which seems to be trend with the majority of the contenders I have identified. The veteran Marc-Andre Fleury and aforementioned Robin Lehner will arguable form the best duo in the NHL, both have the capability of taking the starting role, and can come in anytime and steal a game. But as of now it seems Fleury is the #1, with Lehner there as a safe guard just in case things go south. Not a bad option if you ask me.
Before I end today’s article I thought I would share my predictions for both conference finals as well as the Stanley Cup Final.
Eastern Conference Final: (A1) Boston vs (M1) Washington.
Western Conference Final: (P1) Vegas vs (C2) Colorado.
Stanley Cup Final: (M1) Washington vs (P1) Vegas.
I will not choose who I think will win the Stanley Cup because I feel like it is too much of a toss up. Both teams are very solid throughout their lineups and either team could win it all for sure.
Also, I know I mentioned Boston is probably a lock to win the Eastern conference final, but overall in a 7 game series I would pick Washington due to the fact their D core is superior to Boston’s in my opinion.
Thank you all for the support on my first two blogs, I know this one is a bit long, but I truly appreciate every view, share, and visit to my blog. Have a great week everyone!
-Cooper