Which canadian team will win the cup first?

[Dikoi]

So WPG gets Laine (probably) and suddenly they're on their way to a Cup? I don't get it. Are they even a playoff team in the West next year? Not even sure about that.

And Toronto? Not even close, they're in the same boat as Vancouver IMO.

[CascadeFilly]

So WPG gets Laine (probably) and suddenly they're on their way to a Cup? I don't get it. Are they even a playoff team in the West next year? Not even sure about that. And Toronto? They're in the same boat as Vancouver IMO.

I think you're reading the OP's premise wrong. No one thinks (or they shouldn't think) any of these teams are on an immediate road to the Cup. Of the Canadian teams, which is closest? If you don't like TO and WPG, who do you like? Edmonton, maybe?

TO is in a better boat than Vancouver. Matthews, Marner, Reilly, Nylander, potentially Stamkos... Vancouver is a few years away from having that kind of top-end youthful talent. Winnipeg could make the playoffs next year. It's not a given by any means, but they've got a nice mix of solid players in their prime, along with plenty of high-end young talent.

[Pit Bulls]

My heart says TOR but my brain says WPG.

WPG will make the playoffs next year but a cup is at least a couple of years off. TOR or EDM could win sooner IF they make the right moves but at this point in time they are further away than WPG.

[Dikoi]

I think you're reading the OP's premise wrong. No one thinks (or they shouldn't think) any of these teams are on an immediate road to the Cup. Of the Canadian teams, which is closest? If you don't like TO and WPG, who do you like? Edmonton, maybe?

TO is in a better boat than Vancouver. Matthews, Marner, Reilly, Nylander, potentially Stamkos... Vancouver is a few years away from having that kind of top-end youthful talent. Winnipeg could make the playoffs next year. It's not a given by any means, but they've got a nice mix of solid players in their prime, along with plenty of high-end young talent.

The OP's question was "Which canadian team will win the Cup first" and the overwhelming majority picked WPG, the premise can't be clearer than that. If this poll was done before the draft lottery, would WPG still be the favorite? Not too sure about that.

You want to win the Cup, you need to start with goaltending and defense. Toronto has none of that, except for Rielly who wasn't even ready to get PP time because he still has to learn how to play defense, according to his coach. Vancouver at least has Markstrom in goal, who I think will be an upper tier goaltender. But they're still in the same boat for me.

You look at the core of the other canadian teams, EDM, MTL, CGY even OTT are much closer to a cup than WPG, TOR and VAN.

[2014olympicgold]

Personally I think Mtrl is the closest. Price has the ability to carry the team, Gally SHOULD be C1 next yr and when that happens the offense will come a bit more regularly.

Then I think everyone else is in the same boat as each other. Vancouver needs the Sedin’s gone to be bad to get removed from standings purgatory. Ottawa…don’t see them being a SC contender in the near future, Karlsson carries them too much, and they don’t really have someone yet to be a game breaker besides him. Calgary is a goalie, and consistent D play away from doing well. Jets are young, but youth isn’t what wins you the cup. They’ll be 2 playoffs away before I take them seriously in the west. Toronto, building blocks there, but Goalie, and seeing if these thrown away D they have will work out.

Honestly, you could get 1 good draft in the NHL now, and go from a crap team to a great team, so I only look 3yrs ahead. And anything could change in the NHL to shift power. 3yrs ago no one would have thought Stamkos would be going to FA. No one would have thought Ovi would be a TEAM player. No one would have thought Babcock would be coaching the Leafs. So for me, Mtrl has the best chance in 3yrs to win the cup out of any Canadian team, but after that….who knows.

[JagrBomb]

No one would have thought Ovi would be a TEAM player

he still isn't. just watch any caps PP and your opinion will change. the only difference now is the caps are a much better team so it's harder to blame him for being selfish when his team keeps winning.

[2014olympicgold]

he still isn't. just watch any caps PP and your opinion will change. the only difference now is the caps are a much better team so it's harder to blame him for being selfish when his team keeps winning.

Take your pick for a correction:
Ovi is no longer just gladding back on a back check*
Ovi is actually thinking more team than more solo than 3 yrs ago*
It’s less about Ovi now than it was 3 yrs ago*

The game plan for the PP is to set up his onetimer from the spot. Personally I don’t think that’s a good piece of evidence saying he’s still selfish. But I guess “team player” is a bit of a stretch still.

Over analyzing something sometimes gets my gears grinding.

[hockeyrobot]

I have the Jets. Love

[Pengwin7]

re: WPG vs. TOR.
I think people also need to consider that TOR will be a cap spending team whenever they want... cap be damned.
Winnipeg may have an internal budget - and should be crunched by a weak CDN dollar for the foreseeable future.

One of the biggest differences, IMO... is that the most recent teams to win Cups have had very dynamic C players.
Winnipeg doesn't have that guy... they don't have anything close - unless people think Scheifele has Toews-ish upside to him.

Toronto could still foreseeably have Matthews AND Stamkos.
If they think Stamkos is a lock, I think they could do a lot by bringing in OEL for that 1st overall pick.
3years of OEL at $5.5m... that's a lot of player value and created cap space.
IMO - TOR 1st overall (Matthews) for OEL/future picks(ARI) should be a trade that thousands of people will speculate as smart - for the next two months.

At this point, TOR has to look to EDM and realize that a huge stock of forwards won't be enough in modern NHL.
They'll need an elite D1 as well, most past cup winners have had that.

CUP Requirements:
1. Elite C1
2. Elite D1

Toronto could have both of these by July 2nd.
Winnipeg has neither.