3 reasons the Vancouver Canucks can defeat the Wild

2. Stars

To win the Stanley Cup, you need stars. This is a fact. Every team who has won the Stanley Cup in the salary cap era had at least one star. Last year, the St. Louis Blues had a multitude of them with Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jordan Binnington, Colton Parayko, and Alex Pietrangelo. And your best players have to be your best players.

The Canucks are a tad bit lacking in the star department, but they’ve got enough to make some noise in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Let’s start with Elias Pettersson. On paper, he didn’t have a terrific sophomore season, as he had the same 66 points this season as he did last season. But that’s still pretty great. Pettersson is the top-line center you need to go far i the postseason.

Next, there’s Brock Boeser, who will be coming back after an injury. He’s had injury concerns throughout his short career, but man, when he’s on the ice, he’s something else. Boeser’s 2.13 5v5 points per hour this season are the most he has posted in his career.

Then there’s Quinn Hughes, who has been a blessing for their blue line. I’m still not sold the Canucks blue line is good enough to win the Stanley Cup, but with Hughes, it’s at least plausible. Hughes has emerged as one of the NHL’s top young defensemen already. Whenever he’s on the ice, the puck tends to be moving away from Vancouver’s end. That’s a good sign.