Stanley Cup Playoffs: Skill and balance will be key in 2020

In these unprecedented Stanley Cup Playoffs, skill and balance will be more important than ever.

In any sport’s postseason, having skilled players and a balanced lineup are two critical components to winning a championship. For NHL teams in 2020, though, these aspects will take center stage in the Stanley Cup Playoffs come August 1.

In a normal year, I would put the emphasis not on skill and balance but on momentum and depth. Momentum might be the most important of all, and that is exemplified by the St. Louis Blues’ 2019 playoff run, as they had been one of hottest teams for the entire second half of the season.

This year, of course, no team or player has any more momentum than another, so skill will take over. Very rarely does the team that is supposed to win a championship actually come out on top, because, typically, that team does not have the most momentum heading into the playoffs.

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In 2020, though, those teams should be able to shine. In a couple of weeks, 24 teams will be essentially starting over, and which teams are most likely to quickly get into a rhythm? The top teams that boast the purest talent.

But in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, there is another twist, thanks to COVID-19. It’s hard to say what things will look like once teams are in the bubble, but through phases two and three, we have seen players test positive for the virus.

If players continue to test positive or be held out of practices and eventually games out of caution, teams may be faced with playing without top talent. That is where balance comes in.

Normally, depth is the key here, but if the potential exists for top players to miss time at any moment as a result of COVID-19, teams need more than just competent players to round out rosters; They need guys who are capable of stepping up and succeeding in larger roles.

Top-heavy teams could struggle if something goes wrong with a star player. Young teams could have a tough time asking inexperienced players to take on larger roles on the biggest stage. These are issues that teams face every year in the playoffs, but in 2020, the odds of players missing time seems higher than usual, making balance throughout the lineup crucial.

So, which teams have enough skill and balance to be dangerous this postseason? In the East, I look at teams like Boston, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Washington, Carolina, and Toronto. In the West, teams such as St. Louis, Colorado, Vegas, Dallas, and Nashville can be strong teams.

These are teams that have multiple quality goaltenders, second or third-line forwards that could move up a line successfully, and bottom pair defensemen that could play significant minutes throughout the playoffs.

Starting from scratch, all 24 teams will have a good chance to advance through a round or two of the playoffs, but teams that boast pure talent and a balanced roster are the ones to watch out for in the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.