With the playoffs starting on Saturday, what a perfect time to discuss my top 5 teams who are most likely to hoist Lord Stanley this June. Lets get into it.

1.

Colorado Avalanche

Nate dog and the Avalanche are looking scary this year, they broke the hockey world with one of the biggest trades I have seen in a long time dealing Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes for Martin Nečas. With captain Gabriel Landeskog coming back for the first time in 3 years, Mackinnon ripping it up will 116 points this season, and Makar being the favourite for the Norris, the Avs are definitely a team you should have your eye on.

2.

Florida Panthers

The defending Stanley Cup champs are back and scummier than ever. Adding Brad Marchand at the trade deadline, the weasel and Sam Bennet will be terrorizing their opponents in every single game. Speaking of terrorizing lets not forget they have arguably the best 2 way center in the league in Aleksander Barkov, who proved to be an instrumental piece in last years cup run. Matthew Tkachuk who can score goals, dish out some of the best trash talk in the league, and never shy’s away from a scrap, this team has back to back champs written all over it.

3.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights are one of those teams you can never count out. Ever since entering the league in 2017, they have consistently been one of the best teams in the NHL each season. You know the Knights mean business when Mark Stone gets added to the teams LTIR. With the depth and playoff experience this team has they will definitely be a dark horse coming out of the west, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they swept the Minnesota Wild in round 1.

4.

Tampa Bay Lightning

There must be something in the water in Florida because both of their teams are red hot this year. Nikita Kucherov has to be one of the scariest players in the league. This man is casually putting up 100+ point seasons 3 years straight, and I don’t think I’ve seen him smile once. like actually, does this dude even like playing hockey? This team is filled to the brim with playoff experience and no matter where they finish in the regular season everyone knows this team is a serious threat in the playoffs.

5.

Dallas Stars

The Stars has to have the most stacked forward group in the NHL, sometimes I look at the amount of talent this team has and it baffles me how they haven’t already won a cup with the group they have. With the absolute daylight robbery of Mikko Rantanen from the Hurricanes at the deadline, the pressure is on for them to win this year and are a lot of peoples favourites going into the playoffs. Why do I have them at number 5 you ask? Personally I’m not convinced they can go all the way, I’m sure you think I am crazy, but I guess we will see what happens in round one against the Avalanche.

Let me know what you think of my picks, do you agree or did I get it all wrong? Let me know down in the comments!