The flip of the calendar to October means the NHL season is upon us once again, and bring on the chaos. In the last three seasons we’ve had six different teams make a run to the Stanley Cup Final, and in the last six seasons there have been 11 different participants (our only duplicate is Pittsburgh’s back-to-back titles in ’16 and ’17).
Parity has reigned supreme in the playoffs in the salary cap era, which means several different teams have realistic goals of hoisting Lord Stanley in June. But which teams have the best opportunity? Here are the five favorites to win it all eight months from now:
5) Toronto Maple Leafs:
In Las Vegas only Tampa Bay has better odds to win the Cup than the Leafs, but we’re a little less enthused. Yes, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares are three of the best players in the league, but with a combined cap hit of $33 million, it means there are holes littered throughout the rest of the lineup. The lineup beyond the top-six leaves much to be desired. Longtime defensive presence Jake Gardiner is now in Carolina, and Frederick Andersen is... fine in net.
Is one of, if not the best, top-six units in the NHL enough to make Toronto the champs for the first time since 1967?
4) St. Louis Blues:
There are other teams in the West that folks are high on – Colorado is getting a lot of buzz, Dallas and San Jose are drawing attention, too. But we’ll go with the defending champs as our first Western Conference representative. For starters, as long as they don’t have the worst record in hockey at Christmas, they don’t need to play .800 hockey to return to the postseason.
Though they didn’t have much cap room, St. Louis traded a top prospect to nab All-Star Justin Faulk from Carolina, bolstering a unit that will play in front of Jordan Binnington, who will be the starter from Day 1. That’s a nice addition to a very balanced, if not necessarily star-studded, roster. Of course, playing 26 of a possible 32 playoff games last season could take its toll later in the year.
3) Vegas Golden Knights:
After a storybook inaugural season, the long-suffering Vegas fans had the worst season in franchise history: 93 points, a third-place finish in the Pacific and a first-round playoff exit – admittedly, the Game 7 collapse against San Jose was brutal.
This is a similar team to last year’s squad, with a lethal top two scoring lines led by Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny and Mark Stone. Though he’s not a sprightly youth anymore, Marc-Andre Fleury is still capable of carrying a team on a deep postseason run. And although the defense isn’t bad, per se, it doesn’t have the true number one stud that can go up against an opponent’s top line.
2) Boston Bruins:
The Eastern Conference champs were a Game 7 home game away from a championship, and the team isn’t drastically different this year. Top-to-bottom the team is as deep as any in hockey, its top scorers are all back, led by Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron. They signed a couple of guys at low-cost deals who will only add to the depth. The question is whether Tuukka Rask can bounce back from a difficult season (.912 save percentage, good for 28th in the league).
1) Tampa Bay Lightning:
They were arguably the best team of the salary cap era a year ago, racked up 128 regular season points (62-16-4), had the league MVP in Nikita Kucherov and Vezina winner Andrei Vasilevskiy... and got swept in the first round. Despite this string of success, Tampa Bay has only made it to the Final once since the 2004-05 lockout (2015), but they’re the Vegas favorites for a reason. They’re the best team in the league – they just have to prove it in the playoffs.