Welcome to Puck Drop Preview 2014-15, where our hockey department gives you a detailed look at each team from around the NHL leading to the start of this hockey season and
offers our insight and analysis. So far in the series we’ve looked at each of the 30 NHL teams, as well as predicted where each team would finish in their division and in the overall NHL standings. You can check out all our articles on our Puck Drop Page.
That leaves us with just one last piece of business to attend to before the puck drops on a new NHL season tomorrow night: your 2014-15 Stanley Cup winner.
Picking a Stanley Cup winner is often an inexact science. For all the fancy stats, all the analysis, all the effort that goes into determining a champion on paper before the season begins, there’s always way too much luck involved to accurately predict who’s going to win it all. An injury here, a bad bounce there, and your favorite team could be out of the running in an instant.
That being said, there are some indications based on recent history and moves about who might be on the top of the list to capture Lord Stanley’s Mug in 2014-15. We asked our hockey department who they thought would be crowned champions at the end of this season, and why that team has the best chance to bring home the Cup.
Puck Drop Preview: 2014-15 Stanley Cup Champion
1. Chicago Blackhawks – 4 votes
John Carroll (@toshanshuinLA): The fan in me wants to say the Kings will repeat, and the contrarian in me wants to pick a team like St. Louis or Tampa, but in the end when making a prediction you have to go with the most likely outcome.
Chicago is deep at every position and have virtually no weaknesses. They also have some young players who could be ready to step in and contribute as soon as this year (Teuvo Teravainen, Jeremy Morin, and Mark McNeil, just to name a few). That kind of depth in kids waiting for spots to open up makes Chicago less susceptible to injuries derailing their season than basically every other team.
The Hawks will have to fight through a death march in the West, probably having to face anywhere from 2-3 of the Blues/Stars/Kings/Sharks, but in the end they’re simply the most likely team to win the 2014-15 Stanley Cup.
Ken Hill (@LWOSPuckHead): While the team may be in salary cap hell by next summer, GM Stan Bowman has done a masterful job of keeping the core together for another chance at the Cup this year. For a team that’s been there before, elite talent up front and on the blueline combined with solid depth and a mixture of veterans and youth should be more than enough for Chicago to capture its third Cup in six seasons.
Ben Kerr (@LastWordBKerr): With a core that includes Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook the Hawks have already won two Stanley Cups this decade. Add in young up and comers like Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw, and Ben Smith, and its clear that the only real weakness the team has had in recent years has been their offensive depth at center. This off-season they addressed that issue by adding Brad Richards. With Teuvo Teravainen potentially ready later in the year, what was a weakness has now become a strength.
Expect the Hawks to re-ignite the talk of being the new dynasty with their third Cup in six years.
Shawn Wilken (@CrimsonSkorpion): When a team that has already established itself as a dynasty in a league where dynasties no longer exist, you have something special. They have oodles of skill on all four lines and management has pulled away from the typical scoring line/checking line/grinding line formation to offer four solid lines of puck possession, speed and tenacity. The defense is as solid as ever and Corey Crawford continues to show he is not just some goaltender behind a powerhouse team.
With the Nick Leddy trade, it’s funny to think they wouldn’t be hurt by letting Leddy go but they didn’t. Ville Pokka is an intriguing prospect, TJ Brennan can fill in on the bottom pairing and Anders Nilsson, who signed with the KHL back in May, adds depth to Chicago’s goaltending position. I believe Chicago has the team this year to go all the way, all they can hope for is some better fortune than what they got last post-season.
2. Los Angeles Kings – 2 votes
Tyler Shea (@TylerLWOS): The kings are one of the best teams out there. They can score, they can get under your skin, they can keep the puck out, and most of all, they have one of the best goalies in Jonathan Quick. They didn’t make too many changes this offseason, past losing Willie Mitchell and signing some depth.
The Kings also signed Marian Gaborik to a long-term contract, and rightly so, because Gaborik and Anze Kopitar made a crazy, goalie having a nervous breakdown duo on the ice. The Kings also have strong youth, mixed with some good veterans, making them one of the NHL’s prototype teams, being strong from the first line all the way to goalie depth. The Kings have two Cups so far, and will be looking for their third.
Dave Gove: I’m biased of course, but they’re the Champions and they have basically the same roster from last season. The young guys, Toffoli and Pearson are only going to be better, giving the Kings a deadly second line to match their top line. Their defense is second is none, and Quick is a playoff beast.
2. Boston Bruins – 2 votes
Robbie Jefferson (@robbedy): Even without Johnny Boychuk this is still the best team in the East. The West is clearly the stronger conference but I think the Bruins will benefit from the winner of the West having to go through a gauntlet of hell just to reach the Stanley Cup Final and then attempt to win at least four more games. Sorry Western Conference, but your strength will prove to be a downfall when you destroy each other and the Bruins will be tasked with cleaning up a tired (my guess: Blues) team
Deidre Matthews (@ddmatthews): Even with cap issues this summer, the team has fought to keep most of the same roster as 2011 when they won the Cup (with a few exceptions of players gone and newbies). They have a lot of experience working as a team unlike other teams just picking up players to place them in the lineup. They’ve won before and have come close a few times after.
4. Anaheim Ducks – 1 vote
Nick Di Giovanni (@LWOSNick): FLORIDA PANTHERS!!! Just kidding…. Anaheim Ducks. Since winning California’s first of three Cups in 2007, the Ducks have been regular season powerhouses in the Western Conference (with the exception of two seasons) while failing in the playoffs. But this year, it should be different for the team on the cusp of winning a Cup.
The additions of Dany Heatley and Ryan Kesler will add veteran presence and scoring ability left by Saku Koivu, Stephen Robidas, and of course Teemu Selanne. Both of their additions have made it and lost in the Final and both played in the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal game. They will help their team and postseason-failure coach Bruce Boudreau to win hockey’s holy grail while arguably the best offensive duo in the league in Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry will continue scoring and making defensive plays every game.
4. St. Louis Blues – 1 vote
Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74): With the additions of Paul Stastny and Jori Lehtera up the middle, the Blues now boast an abundance of talent in an area which was constantly exploited by Western Conference powerhouses last season such as the Los Angeles Kings or Chicago Blackhawks. Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz are only elevating their game, as the explosive wingers have the ability to change the tide of any contest with one singular play. With Brian Elliott in the crease along with the always-strong defensive core remaining intact, the Blues are in it for the long haul, and they mean it this time.
So, we seem to have a consensus winner: your 2014-15 Stanley Cup champions will be the Chicago Blackhawks, who garnered 4 of 10 votes. The Kings look to be a good bet to get there again, while other Western powerhouse teams Anaheim and St. Louis also received votes. Unfortunately, the Bruins are the only team from the Eastern Conference to receive votes, indicating that the Cup seems likely to stay in the West for the 7th time in the last nine seasons.
Agree or disagree with our picks? Who’s YOUR pick for the Stanley Cup this year? Feel free to let us know in the comments below, or tweet at any of our writers. We’d love to hear what you have to say!
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