Four months after beating the Philadelphia Flyers in the most watched Stanley Cup Final series for over ten years, the Chicago Blackhawks have begun the 2010-11 NHL season as slight underdogs after a summer hampered by the salary cap.
Three years after it was first introduced, the cap, which puts a limit on how much money a team can spend on its squad, continues to have the desired effect of preventing the richest teams from hoarding too many of the league’s best players.
Can the Philadelphia Flyers win the Stanley Cup this season? – Latest Ice Hockey News
As Chicago proved in June, they have plenty in the way of good players – too many by the salary cap’s judgement. Ten active players in total were shipped out of the Windy City this summer, including both goaltenders and three of their top-ten regular season point scorers, with most of them leaving to free up space on the cap for contract extensions.
Not that they have downgraded everywhere, most notably in goal where USA international Marty Turco has been acquired from the Dallas Stars for relatively little salary cost after a couple of quiet years in an under-achieving team.
Still, enough players have been lost to suggest that the retention of the Stanley Cup will be tough although, in a weak Western Conference, only their Central Division rivals Detroit and reigning Pacific Division champions San Jose should offer a serious play-off challenge.
The toughest opposition to any team at any point in the season will emerge from the Eastern Conference where the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals continue to grow into legitimate dynasties to match Wayne Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s and the Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s.
Perhaps only the cap has stopped them from picking up the kind of silverware won by the aforementioned franchises, as they have dominated the regular season, scoring over 94 points in each of the last three seasons, but have been inconsistent in the play-offs.
Both teams have kept their big stars – Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for Pittsburgh and Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin – but have otherwise moved sideways rather than forwards. The Penguins remain light on the wings and the Capitals have two inexperienced goalies with talent but no proven record.
These are the sort of problems which could cost them a Stanley Cup, but shouldn’t stop them going deep into the play-offs.
Expect the Flyers to be in the mix again after a quiet summer during which they decided against re-tooling between the posts where they were exposed in the Finals, while Boston should win a weak Eastern Conference, further frustrating Canadian NHL supporters who haven’t seen a Stanley Cup winner from north of the border since Montreal in 1993.
