With their third Stanley Cup win in the last six seasons, the Chicago Blackhawks are officially a dynasty. But they have not won titles in back to back years. In fact, no team has won back to back title since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998. But there will be challenges in the offseason. Like the previous two times they have won the Cup, good players will have to leave. Among the free agents are defensemen Johnny Oduya and Michal Rozsival as well as young Kyle Cumiskey, centers Antoine Vermette, Brad Richards, and Marcus Kruger (RFA), wingers Andrew Desjardins and Brandon Saad (RFA). Kimmo Timonen will also be gone as he rides off into the sunset a champion at last, and Patrick Sharp may be on his way out for messing around with significant others of his teammates. But this team doesn’t rebuild, they reload. It will be interesting to see whom they put around the core of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith, but here are the top threats to take the Cup from Chicago next season:
1. Tampa Bay Lightning: This wasn’t a group of players on their last legs. This team is not only young, they’re young and good. They’ll be around for a while. Their only significant free agents are Brendan Morrow (a fourth liner), Andrej Sustr and Vladislav Namestinkov, with the latter two being RFAs. The last two teams (and three of the last four) that have lost the Stanley Cup Final have won the President’s Trophy the next year, and with almost all of their core returning, this writer could see Tampa Bay continuing that trend.
2. Nashville Predators: Twice during the last six years the Blackhawks had to get over this team in the first round. This year, Chicago pulled out two multiple overtime games in round one to defeat this team. One play here or there and that series easily could have gone the other way. Filip Forsberg is a dynamic young scorer and he will get even better. This team has a ton of young talent on defense to go along with Shea Weber in Roman Josi and Seth Jones, among others. Pekka Rinne is one of the top three goalies in the league, and they have a Stanley Cup winning coach in Peter Laviolette (Carolina in 2006). They have some free agents, such as Mike Fisher and Mike Ribiero that they’d love to have back, but are not irreplaceable.
3. New York Rangers: They’ve come close each of the last two years with Alain Vigneault on the bench, and they will be in the thick of the race once again. They don’t have any significant UFAs except for Martin St. Louis, and this writer wasn’t expecting him to return anyway. They’re a team built on speed, and at 39 he doesn’t fit the mold. They still have Henrik Lundqvist, and as long as he is there he gives them a chance. Derek Stepan and Carl Hagelin are RFAs, but both should be coming back next year.
4. Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks finally got past Bruce Boudreau’s glass ceiling of the second round this year, making it to the conference finals and playing an absolutely sensational series in the west finals against Chicago before losing in seven games. That was one of the best series we’ve seen in recent memory. The Ducks should be fighting for the top spot in the west once again with their core coming back, only significant free agents are defenseman Francois Beauchemin, winger Matt Beleskey and Jakob Silfverberg (RFA). Emerson Etem is also an RFA, but he is not a guy they need to bring back. The size of the Ducks wore on the Blackhawks, but they could not finish the deal. But speaking of another team that is big and physical that can give the Blackhawks fits, how about that other group from the same area in California?
5. Los Angeles Kings: This year was a colossal disappointment for the Kings, who went from Stanley Cup champions to out of the playoffs. Still, they have depth down the middle and are a big and physical team on defense and at the forward spots. Losing Slava Voynov to suspension really messed them up this year, but they will be back. They do have some free agents that they could lose in Justin Williams, Andrej Sekera and Jarrett Stoll, but they have enough depth overcome the losses. Jonathan Quick had a down year for his standards, if he rebounds in 2015-16 there is no doubt he will lead this team to the playoffs and if they get there they could cause problems for Chicago.
6. Montreal Canadiens: While they need to upgrade their offense, they have the best goaltender in the NHL in Carey Price and he will keep them in any series. They have a solid defensive core and a very good wing scorer in Max Pacioretty. They don’t have that top of the line playmaking center though, or a second really good scoring threat on offense. But with one piece added, this team could get to the Stanley Cup finals. They have the talent everywhere else.
Dark horse - Washington Capitals: They still haven’t gotten over the hump of the second round with Alexander Ovechkin there, but he is still as good as ever, scoring 53 goals this season to lead the league. Braden Holtby came around big time this year for Barry Trotz. If he continues to improve he will become a top of the line goalie. They pushed the #1 seed New York Rangers to the brink in the second round before getting eliminated at Madison Square Garden in game seven.