The new Stanley Cup started less than a month ago, and has already brought a lot of surprises. The Seattle Kraken, which is only in its second season in the National Hockey League and has just made its playoff debut, narrowly missed the Conference Finals on its first try, knocking out last season's champions, the Colorado Avalanche, along the way. The Avalanches, along with the Boston Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning, and New York Rangers, were all absenteely listed as top favorites for the tournament, all of which went on early vacations in the first round. And the final list of the last four contenders for the trophy was hardly predictable by anyone.
The final Stanley Cup semi-final pairs: >Western Conference: Vegas Golden Knights vs. Dallas Stars
On the one hand, the absence of superstars like Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov, Artemy Panarin and others among the participants hits the picture and the attractive component. On the other hand, the unexpected selection of the remaining contenders for the Stanley Cup guarantees us new stories.
Firstly, for the 2022/23 NHL champion, this victory will definitely be long-awaited. The Stanley Cup winners of the last 16 years (including the Anaheim Ducks, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche) have either failed to make the playoffs in the current season or have already been eliminated from the tournament. The last «living» champion remains «Carolina» — «Hurricanes» can win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2006.
The same goes for Dallas. The Stars recently (in 2020) reached the final of the tournament, but the Stars were not lucky enough to stumble upon the most powerful and invincible Tampa. The efforts and strength of Anton Khudobin, Denis Guryanov and Alexander Radulov were not enough to confront the «lightning». But his last Stanley Cup — he's the first and only since the franchise moved to Texas — «Dallas» won back in 1999 with Sergei Zubov, Brett Hull and Mike Modano in the composition. The current Stars under Peter DeBoer are now more than ever energized to prove their championship intentions.
Secondly, the option is not ruled out in which the league will receive a completely new champion. “Vegas” has long struck the entire NHL insolence. He is not ashamed to behave in the same self-confident way now. The Knights are only in their sixth season in Major League Hockey but will play in the Conference Finals for the fourth time. The debut year of the “Golden Knights” in the NHL, we recall, ended with their grandiose entry into the Stanley Cup final, where Alexander Ovechkin’s “Washington Capitals” turned out to be stronger. Vegas is now mature enough to take a historic step towards the cup.
On the same, to the surprise of many, claims and “Florida”. The Panthers jumped into the playoffs at the very last moment, and this was largely facilitated by the misfire of direct competitors in the face of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nobody believed in them in the confrontation with Boston, and everyone was waiting for a convincing victory for the Bruins, but everything turned out differently. Much more helpless in the battle with the Panthers were the players of the Toronto Maple Leafs, apparently prematurely euphoric after reaching the historic second round.
And for dessert — the Stanley Cup will definitely go to the Russian. Eighth year in a row. The series, which was started back in 2016 by Evgeni Malkin, will be extended by one of at least four Russians who continue to fight for the title. Among them are Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev, Stars forward Yevgeny Dadonov, and Hurricanes forward Andrei Svechnikov. Perhaps this list will also include Svechnikov's teammate, goalkeeper Pyotr Kochetkov. Of all those listed, only Barbashev has previously won the Stanley Cup.
The title of Stanley Cup holder is awarded under several conditions:
- — The hockey player must play at least one match of the final series of the Stanley Cup and be in the team's application when it becomes the champion;
- — In the case of goalkeepers, it is sufficient for the goalkeeper to be second goalkeeper in at least one final match;
or:
- — Hockey player must play at least 50% of total regular season gamesThe latter criterion is especially relevant for Svechnikov, who misses the entire playoffs due to injury, but will definitely be included in the list of champions if Carolina wins, as he played in 62 out of 82 regular season matches. At the same time, the NHL regulations allow for the request of the champion clubs to make exceptions to the rules and to include in the list of trophy holders even those who meet the above criteria. In this case, if Petr Kochetkov does not enter the application for any of the potential matches of the Stanley Cup Final, then with the victory of Carolina, the club bosses can rely, for example, on the number of matches that the Russian goalkeeper played on the court and in reserve in the regular season «. In sum, they exceed the allowable 50%. In this scenario, many will envy the development of the career of Kochetkov, who made his debut in the NHL just a year ago.
Today:
- Pyotr Kochetkov («Carolina») — 2nd season in the NHL. Stanley Cups — 0;
- Andrey Svechnikov («Carolina») — 5th season in the NHL. Stanley Cups — 0;
- Ivan Barbashev (Vegas) — 7th season in the NHL. Stanley Cups — 1;
- Evgeny Dadonov (Dallas) — 9th season in the NHL. Stanley Cups — 0;
- Sergey Bobrovsky (Florida) — 13th season in the NHL. Stanley Cups — 0.
PollWho will win the 2023 Stanley Cup?
Carolina Hurricanes (Andrey Svechnikov, Petr Kochetkov)14.5%Florida Panthers » (Sergey Bobrovsky)71%Vegas Golden Knights (Ivan Barbashev)11.3%Dallas Stars (Evgeny Dadonov)3.2%Vote Vote:62May 16, 08:00