HOCKEY IS BACK! Well, almost back. We are only nine days away from the NHL season kicking off, and I for one have never been more excited to get a season underway. The league is stacked with as much, if not more talent than we have ever seen. Every team has hope that this will be their year to lift Lord Stanley's Cup. With that being said there are some teams with a better outlook than others. When I take a look at the league I see 12 teams that have a very legitimate shot at the cup, and that's what I'm here to talk about.
THE EAST
When it comes to comparing the two conferences I see the East as the weaker of the two from top to bottom, with that being said the top-end talent is electric. The five teams that look to be contenders are stacked with talent and experience. So without further ado, let's get into it.
BOSTON: This is an easy one. The Bruins made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final last season and lost in game 7. You can't get any closer than that. There's no reason to believe that they can't do it again this year. The Bruins return all of their top players from the year before, including Bergeron, Marchand, Pastrnak, McAvoy, and Rask. Their top-end talent has been playing together for a long time and has won a cup in the past. The Bruins are led by a confident head coach in Bruce Cassidy. He's headed into his fourth season and his third full season behind the bench. He has a very clear way that he wants his teams to play, and this Bruins team does it very, very well. This team may still not be the favorite to win the East, but I would not be surprised to see it happen. The reason being its hard to find a fault with this team. They simply don't have many weaknesses. The only problem Boston faced last season was injuries. If the Bruins can stay healthy this season do not be surprised to see them making a deep run.
TAMPA BAY: What is there to say that hasn't already been said about this team. They're sick, they're nasty, and they're an absolute WAGON. This team is the reason that the Bruins are not the favorite to win the East, but with all that said its hard to ignore what happened last year. The Lightning put up a staggering 128 points last season and were somehow swept in the first round by Columbus. With that said the Lightning are going to be coming into this season pissed off, and that should probably scare the rest of the league. They have arguably the best goalie in the league in Andre Vasilevskiy and one of the most dynamic playmakers in Nikita Kucherov who put up a ridiculous 128 points last season. On top of that, they also have a Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, Victor Hedman. And the cherry on top is their head coach Jon Cooper, who has done nothing but win since taking over the job in 2012-13. Much like the Bruins this team has almost no weakness, the only thing is a lack of living up to expectations come playoff time. This team has been the pre-season cup favorite for the last two or three seasons and has crashed out of the playoffs before the finals each year. While that is certainly cause for concern it's hard to believe that they will drop out as quickly this season. The Lightning should definitely be considered as one of, if not the best team in the league again this year.
PITTSBURGH: For the better part of the last decade and some change the Penguins have been considered a contender, and a large reason for that is a man named Sidney Crosby. Say what you will about who the best player in the league is now, but over the last ten years, it's been Sid. When you've got the best player in the league it makes it pretty easy to be a contender especially when he's joined by a guy Like Evgeni Malkin. While Malkin had an "off" year last season, he'll be coming into this season with his hair on fire. Having a healthy, and confident Matt Murray in the crease certainly doesn't hurt either. Mike Sullivan will be returning behind the bench for the Penguins, he's only led them to two cups in the last four seasons. There are plenty of reasons why the Penguins will be contenders, but there are a few things that could be their downfall. While the forward group in Pittsburgh should be fine, the defense is a bit of a question mark. They obviously have a great player in Kris Letang when he's healthy, but other than him there's not a ton of solid talent. Murray is a great goalie, but if the D is giving up 35+ shots it's gonna be very difficult to really make a run at the cup. If Sullivan can rally his D-core the Pens could be a dangerous team coming down the stretch.
WASHINGTON: After winning the cup in 2018 many people believed there would be a Stanley Cup hangover, and after watching Ovechkin get absolutely buckled all summer it was easy to understand why (see GIF above). But they didn't, in fact, they had a great regular season, and even finished at the top of the Metro Division. When it came to playoffs they were unceremoniously knocked out in the first round by the surprising Hurricanes. It was just about as unexpected as Tampas early exit. The Capitals window is closing a bit quicker than the other teams previously mentioned, and they will really be pushing to win now. Their core group of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Carlson, and Holtby are all phenomenal players and will be the driving force again this season. The cause for concern here is depth, the Caps need to get high-end production from guys like Oshie, and Tom Wilson. Without that, they will really struggle to make another deep run in the playoffs. The elite talent is still very much there, and will certainly keep them in the hunt, but the role players have to step up for the Caps to make it to the Cup again.
TORONTO: This is the most intriguing team in the East. The Leafs are an insanely talented team going forward, and its a daunting task for any team to go stride for stride with the Leafs up front. Not too many teams can contend with the firepower created by Matthews, Tavares, Marner, Reilly, and that's just a few names. The forward depth that the Leafs have is on par with any of the best teams in the league, and while the blue line is not as gaudy it is certainly very serviceable. On top of Morgan Rielly, Toronto added one of the leagues best puck-moving defenceman in Tyson Barrie (which makes me sad as an Avs fan). The addition of Barrie means the Leafs can rollout two power-play lines that would be number one groups on almost every team in the league. In addition to a plethora of attacking talent, they might have the most experienced coach in the league, Mike Babcock. Babs has been behind the bench for a loooong time and won a cup with the Red Wings in 2008. He clearly has the resume and pedigree to lead this team to the promise land. The expectations for this team are as high as they've ever been, and that's something that this young team is going to have to deal with. The team has seemed to struggle with these lofty expectations come playoff time, and has failed to advance out of the first round in each of the last three seasons. All that said this version of the Leafs looks as poised as ever to make a deep playoff run if their young studs show up come playoff time.
That's it that's all for the Eastern Conference. Those are the teams that are going to be fighting at the sharp end of the league. There are certainly other teams that will be making the playoffs, but these are the ones that can truly contend for the cup. Keep your eyes peeled in the coming days for a look at the contenders in the stacked Western Conference.
If you think I'm wrong feel free to let me know @msovi27 on twitter. I look forward to arguing cause I'm very clearly ALWAYS right.