Which teams do you consider to be a strong Stanley Cup Contender for 2025?

[Machinehead]

Have you seen Winnipeg this year? Hard not to be impressed with what that team is doing.

I don't trust teams that rely on goaltending. Your goaltending is going to have a bad series out of four.

They're outside the top 10 in xGF% and they don't have all-world talent at forward.

 

[Caps8112]

Personally I still don't buy into either Washington, Minnesota or Winnipeg being a serious contender. Definitely not tier 1.

2 months ago I had voted for Oilers, Florida, Vegas, Colorado and NYR. I wouldn't add any other team to that tier 1 group. Obviously Rangers have crashed and burned since then and probably don't belong in tier 1 anymore, though I still expect them to qualify for playoffs, so we'll see if they can turn it around, and to what extent.

Can understand your first comment looking at track record, how they did last year or just the rosters. Would definitely drop the Rangers. For Colorado, you have to wonder if either of the woods are good enough to win. The oilers imo, are fully dependent on 1 or 2 superstars having near historical runs to get back to the finals. While Vegas won with mediocre goaltending last time, not sure their team is as good as they were then. So that really just leaves Florida.

 

[Deno]

I don't trust teams that rely on goaltending. Your goaltending is going to have a bad series out of four.

They're outside the top 10 in xGF% and they don't have all-world talent at forward.

Again proof that you have not watched the Jets recently.
Helle may be the best goalie in the world but the reason he is in the Hart conversation is because of the team that is playing in front of him. Helle would be the first person to tell you that.

 

[Machinehead]

Again proof that you have not watched the Jets recently.
Helle may be the best goalie in the world but the reason he is in the Hart conversation is because of the team that is playing in front of him. Helle would be the first person to tell you that.

People say the same thing every year and every year it ends up the same.

Since they're recording xGF%, there are zero instances of a team winning the Stanley Cup without either a Hall of Fame caliber forward or a top 10 xGF%.

They said I was crazy when I had the 65-12-5 Bruins losing in the first round but all I'm doing is following patterns that have held for two decades.

 

[BB79]

View attachment 929319

As of January 2025, this graph is laughable to look back upon. The Sabres and Islanders with better playoff odds than the Bruins