It certainly would be interesting if the Stanley Cup championship series turned out to be a meeting between the franchise that moved to Colorado from Quebec and the team that abandoned Colorado for New Jersey.
Don’t be surprised if it happens.
The Devils, who went east 19 years ago, are the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Avalanche, which came down from Quebec in 1995-96 and immediately won the Stanley Cup, looks like the best in the West.
However, seven weeks remain in the season and major trades before the March 13 deadline or injuries to key players could have a huge impact on what happens on the road to the Stanley Cup.
A trade involving a Rob Blake, an Eric Lindros or a Jeremy Roenick might transform a Stanley Cup pretender into a viable contender.
“Colorado is the best team talent-wise,” said San Jose coach Darryl Sutter, the leading candidate for coach of the year. “Colorado has all those All-Stars and if Adam Foote [injured defenseman] comes back healthy, they’ll be even better.”
It’s impossible to find a weakness in Colorado. Goalie Patrick Roy and defenseman Ray Bourque are future Hall of Famers. Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg give the Avalanche the league’s best one-two punch at the center position. And the supporting cast is strong.
But Colorado isn’t invincible, in Sutter’s opinion.
“New Jersey and Detroit are really tough,” he said. “And I worry about Detroit if Cheli [defenseman Chris Chelios] comes back ready to roll. That’s a team loaded with playoff guys.
“It’s hard to get a read on what St. Louis will do because of all the injuries.”
The Blues have the best defensive record in the league and arguably the top two defensemen, Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis. But both Pronger and MacInnis are on the injured list. The Hawks went through this window of vulnerability Friday night and won 6-2, dealing the Blues their worst defeat of the season.
The Western Conference is considered the stronger conference. The 15 Western teams went into last weekend flaunting a 222-194-66-28 record in 510 games against Eastern opponents.
“Colorado, St. Louis and San Jose are fast skating teams with puck control and strong defense,” Hawks coach Alpo Suhonen said. “In a sense, New Jersey has those things, but not as much as I like.
“But the Stanley Cup is something different. Just because you’re from the best conference doesn’t mean you will win it.”
The Western Conference playoffs figure to be ultra-competitive.
“The first round in our conference could be like the conference final because there’s so little difference in the teams,” Sutter said.
The Sharks are the best proof of their coach’s point. Last season they finished fourth in the Pacific Division and eighth in the Western Conference. But in the opening round of the playoffs they knocked off St. Louis, the team with the best record in the NHL.
Goaltending is of paramount importance in playoff hockey, and New Jersey has arguably the game’s best goalie in Martin Brodeur. In Friday’s 4-4 tie with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Brodeur had Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux shaking their heads and muttering in amazement because of his play in overtime. Brodeur thwarted Jagr on a breakaway with a sensational save, then came up with another when he denied Lemieux on the rebound.
Much has been made of the fact Lemieux has returned in an attempt to bring the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh.
He and Jagr make the Penguins an unenviable team to try to beat in the playoffs. But Pittsburgh’s goaltenders and defensemen aren’t of championship caliber.
Along with San Jose’s young and talented team, aging Detroit or Dallas conceivably could go all the way. Dallas lost the Stanley Cup championship series to New Jersey last year after capturing the Cup the previous year. If their emotionally unpredictable goalie Ed Belfour gets his act back together, the Stars could go all the way.
“Dallas is very, very good defensively,” Hawks senior vice president Bob Pulford said. “They have a chance.”
Complementing the Stars’ strong defense and Belfour’s goaltending are three first-class forwards with the ability to put the puck in the net-right wing Brett Hull and centers Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk.
In addition to a wealth of experience, Detroit has the Scotty Bowman factor going for it. During the course of an NHL coaching career that began with the St. Louis expansion team in 1967-68, Bowman has coached eight teams to the championship.
“Scotty has studied the game in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, and he has adapted to the different styles of the players in the game,” Detroit’s All-Star defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said.
“I don’t see it as a negative to have a lot of older players. They have the experience. I think we have a good enough team to win it.”
Among the Eastern Conference teams, the favorites besides New Jersey include Ottawa, Washington and Toronto.
A trade might do the Stanley Cup trick for any of the three, but all are wary of making a short-term gamble that might come back to haunt them.
“We’d like to win a Stanley Cup,” Ottawa General Manager Marshall Johnston said. “But we’re not going to leave the team in jeopardy for next year.”
