Roundtable: Predicting the Stanley Cup finalists

The NHL trade deadline has come and gone. Every GM has arranged his final chess pieces on the board. Which teams look like the true alpha-dog contenders for the stretch run?

For this week’s Daily Faceoff Roundtable, it’s cards-on-the-table time. Who are your predicted Stanley Cup finalists, post-deadline?

FRANK SERAVALLI: First off, I shouldn’t be allowed to make any Stanley Cup predictions. Period. This is the second time in five years that I picked a team (Winnipeg) to win the Cup that won’t even make the playoffs. That’s embarrassing. I also don’t like making the safe pick, which is part of the reason why I get myself in trouble. It was the easy choice to go safe and pick Colorado. Similarly, I don’t think it’s much fun to pick the Avs here, even though they’re the best team in the league by a seemingly wide margin. The playoffs are wacky, and that’s what makes this sport so great. The best team does not often win. With that said, I’m picking Carolina vs. Minnesota. I think the Wild are the team best suited in the Central to knock off the Avs. They’re big, they can score, their back end is mobile and they now have "Flower" in net. Everyone has been sleeping on the Canes in the East. There’s so much focus on the Panthers and Lightning, yet one of those two is guaranteed to not make it out of the second round. I think the first two rounds on that side of the bracket are going to be such a slugfest that they won’t be prepared for what’s coming next in Carolina, opening the door for an upset which shouldn’t really be much of one at all, given that Carolina has arguably been the most consistent team in the league this season. 

MATT LARKIN: I have pretty much been the conductor on the Florida Panthers train since summer 2021, and nothing has changed. I still believe they are the deepest, most versatile team in the Eastern Conference. The Claude Giroux trade makes their top-nine forward group that much more dangerous, and it sounds like No. 1 defenseman Aaron Ekblad will be healthy come playoff time. They’re my pick to represent the Eastern Conference in the Final. On the Western Conference side of the bracket? A study I did this week changed my opinion. For a story on Daily Faceoff, I examined the most common traits among the past 10 Stanley Cup champs, and the Calgary Flames are the current team that most closely resembles the recent winners. They play lockdown defense, have an elite goaltender in Jacob Markstrom, have two of the top 10 scorers in the league in Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, and have multiple players on the roster with Cup rings. They know how to win and buy in to coach Darryl Sutter’s system. If anyone can upset Colorado, it's Calgary. I say it happens. Panthers and Flames in the 2022 Final.

SCOTT BURNSIDE: Last year I picked Carolina to win it all. That was incorrect as the Hurricanes were bounced rather unceremoniously in the second round by eventual champion Tampa. Does that disappointment plus the maturation of young stars Andrei Svechnikov and Sebastian Aho plus the stellar netminding of Frederik Andersen plus the addition of Max Domi at the deadline plus the presence of one of the most respected coaches in the game in Rod Brind’Amour all add up to a trip to the Stanley Cup Final? With full disclosure that I provide content for the Hurricanes, I’ll say, yes, yes it does mean that, even though the Eastern Conference is a buzzsaw wherein you can make a case for all eight teams to make their way to the Final. The West? Come on, Colorado is a lock, right? Yes. But we know how “locks” make out in the playoffs, don’t we? Remember when 62-win Tampa was a lock in 2019? Four games and gone. So let’s take a flier out west, and I’m going with the St. Louis Blues. Hungry, deep, well-coached and even though Torey Krug’s injury is problematic, this is a team that has its 2019 swagger back, and I’m OK with Ville Husso carrying the freight in goal. Carolina Hurricanes/St. Louis Blues.

MIKE MCKENNA: My brain tells me that either Carolina or Tampa Bay should be coming out of the East, but my gut says the Pittsburgh Penguins. At the start of the season, when so many players were out of the lineup, Tristan Jarry carried the team. Since then, the Penguins have gotten healthy, and Sidney Crosby is playing some of the best hockey I’ve seen from him in quite some time. I like the move at the deadline to add Rickard Rakell. And last year’s trade for Jeff Carter has worked out better than anyone could have hoped. The Penguins play fast. The only question is whether Jarry can make it happen in the Stanley Cup playoffs. From what I’ve seen so far this year, I believe he can. The same thing goes in the Western Conference: Colorado should run away with it. But I really like the Calgary Flames. I think GM Brad Treliving has done a masterful job of crafting a lineup in the reflection of the team’s head coach, Darryl Sutter. They work hard, defend well and have the creativity to make plays down low in the offensive zone. I’d put the line of Johnny Gaudreau, Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk up against any other in the NHL. And I think the defensive corps of the Flames flies under the radar. Homegrown talent like Rasmus Andersson and Oliver Kylington have made a big difference. And Calgary’s ultimate X-factor is Jacob Markstrom. He’s imposing in the net and can steal games. Pittsburgh Penguins versus the Calgary Flames.

CHRIS GEAR: I’m picking Colorado and Tampa Bay. The Avs have just been too consistently good to not see them coming out of the Western Conference. I do think Calgary will give them a run, but once the Avs come together following the additions of Artturi Lehkonen, Josh Manson, Nico Sturm and Andrew Cogliano, I think the roster is just too deep and too talented not to pull through. It’s time for Nathan MacKinnon to put his stamp on the playoffs and for the Avs to put their past playoff failures behind them. In the Eastern Conference, it’s tough to go against the two-time defending Cup champs. Beyond the pure talent and skill at every key position, they have the X-factor of knowing what it takes to climb the mountain. The Bolts’ moves to pick up Brandon Hagel and Nick Paul at the deadline should give them the same type of balanced lineup they have been successful with in their past Cup runs, and I think it gives them a slight edge over their friends down in Sunrise.