1. Star Power
What’s the one thing every Stanley Cup champion in the salary cap era have in common? They had stars. Don’t believe me?
- St. Louis Blues: Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko
- Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson
- Pittsburgh Penguins (3x): Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel (2x), Kris Letang (2x)
- Chicago Blackhawks (3x): Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith
- Los Angeles Kings (2x): Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick, Anze Kopitar
- Boston Bruins: Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron
- Detroit Red Wings: Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg
- Anaheim Ducks: Chris Pronger, Scott Niedermayer, Teemu Selanne
- Carolina Hurricanes: Eric Staal
Sure, you need guys like Justin Williams, Lars Eller, and Jake Guentzel to provide timely scoring. But at the end of the day, it comes down to your best players.
That’s where the Avalanche have a distinct advantage. Nathan MacKinnon is a serious Hart Trophy candidate. He’s carried the team at times this season, which he’s needed to do thanks to injuries. MacKinnon has been huge in the postseason too.
The Avalanche have finally built a team around that, when healthy, is good enough to provide enough complementary scoring to be serious Stanley Cup contenders. Rantanen is a star as well, and so is Makar.