2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Ranking each team’s chances of winning it all

14. Dallas Stars

Why they can win: The Dallas Stars have the defense necessary to win. Not only is their blueline great, but Ben Bishop would be winning the Vezina Trophy if he wouldn’t have gotten injured. The Stars also have a very capable backup in Anton Khudobin. They nearly won the William Jennings Trophy as the team with the fewest goals until a few late season stinkers took them out of the running.

Tyler Seguin and Alexander Radulov give the Stars a viable one-two scoring punch. They might rely on them heavily, but those two guys are fully capable of answering the bell. John Klingberg and Calder Trophy contender Miro Heiskanen lead an impressive defense. Combined, they had over 70 points.

Why they might lose: The Stars get a tough draw in the first round, as they have to face the Central Division champion Nashville Predators. Nashville is effectively a better version of Dallas, as they rely heavily on their defense, which is a bit deeper than theirs.

Also, the Stars rely way too heavily on Seguin, Radulov, and Jamie Benn. Their next best scoring forward has 30 points. Yes, 30. Now, Mats Zuccarello could give them some help because he’s a great player. But as he proved with the New York Rangers, he’s not the kind of guy who’s going to turn bad players into good ones. Very few players can do that. Zuccarello’s closer to a complementary player who can make your best players even better.