Penton: Here’s a Wild pick for the Stanley Cup
By Bruce Penton
Just when it appears as if the long and winding Stanley Cup playoff road will inevitably end with a Colorado Avalanche victory, the hapless Vancouver Canucks skate into Denver two weeks before the end of the regular season and lay an 8-6 thumping on the team that has been the class of the National Hockey League all season.
So now what? Are the Avalanche vulnerable? Is the team’s goaltending so subpar that it couldn't possibly withstand a gruelling two-month playoff run? Will one of the surprising upstarts of the 2025-26 campaign — Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Utah Mammoth or the Anaheim Ducks — surprise the hockey world by hoisting the Cup in June? Maybe the Oilers will get Leon Draisaitl back from the injured list and regain the playoff mojo that propelled them to back-to-back appearances in the Stanley Cup final.
Maybe. Maybe not. Likely not, in fact. The Oilers’ regular season showed more losses than victories, so a playoff run seems unlikely, especially with journeyman Connor Ingram being their best hope in goal.
So who are the favourites to stay alive through the marathon playoff run into mid-June? Tampa Bay has been hot down the stretch and has the answer to the No. 1 question regarding playoff power: Do you have a solid goalie? In Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Lightning do, indeed, have what it takes between the pipes. But so does Dallas, with Jake Oettinger, and the rejuvenated Boston Bruins, with Jeremy Swayman. The Oilers would be in seventh heaven if they had Minnesota’s netminding duo of Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt, which makes the Wild another top contender for the Cup. Carolina Hurricanes are always a threat to win the Cup, and they not only have the power up front, with Sebastian Aho and Co., but the Canes have a dependable goalie duo in rookie Brandon Bussi and veteran Frederik Andersen.
The vulnerability of the Avalanche is compounded by the fact that they are the winners of the President’s Trophy, the bad luck piece of silverware which goes to the team amassing the most points during the regular season. Not since 2012-13, when the Chicago Blackhawks accomplished the Presidents Trophy/Stanley Cup sweep, has the No. 1 team during the regular season enjoyed the ultimate playoff success.
With 16 teams starting fresh, what will happen? What key injuries will derail a contender? What goalie will get hot? What rookie just called up from the U.S. college ranks turns into an Ovechkin-style sniper?
Those are some of the great unknowns, but we can be assured we’ll have a new winner this year, since two-time champion Florida Panthers aren’t in the playoff run.
So we’ll just cut to the chase and tell you that the Minnesota Wild will win this year’s Stanley Cup. They have the goaltending; they have one of the NHL’s best defencemen in Quinn Hughes and have more than enough scoring with Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy leading the way.
But I’ve been wrong before.
Cathal Kelly of the Globe and Mail, on Canada’s weak group (Bosnia, Qatar, Switzerland) in the upcoming World Cup: “You’ve heard of the Group of Death. This is the Group of Coma – probably the weakest ever at a World Cup.”
Ron Green, Jr., in Global Golf Post, describing the simplicity of Augusta National Golf Course: “There is no signage. Rae’s Creek is not sponsored by GoDaddy.com. There are no cars floating in the pond beside the 16th green. The white leaderboards don’t advertise credit cards.”
Pro golfer Rory McIlroy, on the menu he chose for the Masters champions dinner: “People ask me why I didn’t go full Irish. I wanted to enjoy it, too.”
Kyle Porter of Normal Sport, offering an unfriendly critique of Jordan Spieth’s Champions Dinner wardrobe: “Spieth needs an intervention. We cannot be doing green on purple on darker purple. This is what happens when (caddy Michael) Greller’s not there to step in.”
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Oakland/Vegas/Sacramento A’s pitchers combined to one-hit the Yankees today to win 1-0. How long until the Dodgers just try to buy the As pitching staff?”
Headline at theonion.com: “MLB rookie still can’t believe the sunflower seeds are free.”
fark.com headline: “Looking for an exorcist? Try the NHL playoffs; they consistently cast out Devils.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: “The appropriately spelled ‘K’azuma Okamoto is on pace to strike out about 200 times in his first big league season.”
Comedy guy Torben Rolfsen of Vancouver: “Brady Tkachuk got a slashing penalty while sitting on the bench. I can see where this is heading. He’s going to get penalized for doing his podcast. Overdue.”
Rolfsen again: “(Golden Knights goalie) Carter Hart had nine saves vs. the Canucks the other night. He could have worn sunglasses at night and still won that game.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca