Another year, another trade deadline, another epic arms race where the balance of power changes and shifts with each major acquisition. Now that the dust has settled, it’s time to take stock of the Stanley Cup race to see where each team landed.
This is something we do every year after the deadline, which is a natural point in the season to reflect on each team’s past, present and future. That means how they’ve played to date, who they’ve added to help with that, and where they stand relative to the field because of it.
We don’t know which moves will pan out or flame out. We don’t know how each player will fit on their new teams. But we can still make an educated guess based on how each team looks on paper.
Here’s how the Stanley Cup field looks, ranked by odds of winning it all, separated into five categories.
Data as of March 9
The favorites
The best chance to win it all: 10 percent or higher
Carolina Hurricanes: 16.7 percent
After landing Jake Guentzel, the biggest prize at the deadline, the Hurricanes enter the stretch drive as the favorite to win it all.
The Hurricanes’ puck possession style has always been missing some scoring oomph, a flaw that has plagued them the past few postseasons. Guentzel, a gifted scorer with serious smarts, is the antidote to that: An offensive weapon that will help bolster the power play and add some pop at even strength. The addition of Evgeny Kuznetsov on top of that has the potential to further the team’s offensive creativity — if he can recapture the player he once was.
Those two players give the Hurricanes a loaded roster that can score and defend well. They’ll control play better than anyone and have added the requisite talent to make the most of it. Led by Sebastian Aho, there are no weak links up front. They’ve got talented scorers in Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis and Martin Necas. And they’ve got an excellent bottom six of defensive stalwarts led by Jordan Staal’s continued shutdown excellence. It’s a deep and balanced group that ranks just outside the league’s top five.
The team’s biggest strength is a mobile blue line that defends extremely well led by Jaccob Slavin and Brent Burns. Carolina’s plus-28 Net Rating from its defense corps is the best in the league, born out of two-way dominance. It’s enough to insulate a now-healthy Frederik Andersen who doesn’t have to be anything more than cromulent behind such a stacked group.
All of that makes Carolina one of the league’s best teams, but not the very best. The Hurricanes actually rank fourth (marginally ahead of Florida due to greater defensive ability). The reason they’re here at the top has more to do with the Eastern Conference where there’s really only one other team in its class. The Western Conference being so deep at the top means a tougher path to the Final, something the Hurricanes will be far less worried about in the East.
Dallas Stars: 15.5 percent
No team is more complete than the Stars, who check in as the team to beat per the model. Their expected win percentage of 0.659 narrowly edges out Edmonton’s 0.656. The addition of Chris Tanev and emergence of Logan Stankoven has plugged any hole in the lineup Dallas may have had going into the playoffs.
The Stars still have their elite top line, but they now also have a middle six that’s the envy of the league. Matt Duchene has been an excellent addition on the second line while the continued growth of Wyatt Johnston has worked magic on the third line. Miro Heiskanen continues to prove he’s one of the league’s best defensemen, period, but now the Stars also have Thomas Harley who has emerged as No. 1-caliber defenseman in his own right. That gives the Stars two elite two-way defensemen, which is usually a winning recipe. With the always-solid Esa Lindell playing with Tanev, they also have a staunch shutdown pair that can go toe-to-toe with anyone. All that and they also have Jake Oettinger — a bonafide top-10 goalie…
This article was originally published by a theathletic.com . Read the Original article here. .