The 2022 Stanley Cup Final Is the Best Matchup in a Decade

For the first time in a long time, the Stanley Cup Final is set to feature the two best teams in hockey.

Over the next two weeks, the Colorado Avalanche will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning with the Stanley Cup on the line and in the building. Both clubs have earned their elite status, making this Cup Final the best, on paper, that fans have seen in a long time.

Let me start by saying that I love a good underdog story. The beauty of sports is that it’s not as simple as handing the trophy to the team that we believe is the best. No matter the sport, teams have to go out and earn a championship, and for the “best” teams, it doesn’t always work out.

This year in the NHL, though, it did. The Bolts are seeking a third consecutive victory in the Stanley Cup Final, while the Avs are looking to bring their dominance to the NHL’s largest stage.

The 2022 Stanley Cup Final is the best matchup in years.

If you think back over the last several Stanley Cup Finals, we have rarely seen the top regular season teams reach the final series.

Last season, the Montreal Canadiens went on an improbable run as one of the last teams into the playoffs, and the year before that, the Dallas Stars were good but certainly did not carry championship expectations into the Edmonton bubble.

In 2019, the St. Louis Blues were in last place before winning, the Vegas Golden Knights did what no expansion team had ever done when they reached the Final in 2018, and in 2017, the Nashville Predators won the Western Conference as the lowest seed in the postseason.

One could argue that the 2016 Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and San Jose Sharks featured two teams that were supposed to be there, but in a lot of ways, I think most fans expected both clubs to fall short. After all, neither one had found much recent playoff success.

I would go the whole way back to 2013 when the Chicago Blackhawks and Boston Bruins, two teams that had won championships within the previous three seasons, met in the Final as the last time we got a matchup that we were “supposed” to get.

Now, the best team in the West will take on the back-to-back champs. On paper, it doesn’t get much better than this.