5 under the radar teams poised to make a run at the Stanley Cup

Minnesota Wild

Minnesota is easily one of, if not the most, underappreciated teams of this season. Almost everything about this team screams sleeper pick. The Wild have consistently hung around a playoff spot all season despite multiple debilitating injuries. Recently they’ve begun to put it all together, and as a result they sit in third place in the Central Division with 85 points.

Minnesota is all around one of the deepest teams in the league with the ability to roll out four decent forward lines and at least two solid defensive pairings. The roster may lack a star to put it all together, but Eric Staal is having a stellar comeback season with 37 goals, enough for fourth in the league behind only Alex Ovechkin with 42, Patrik Laine with 41 and Evgeni Malkin with 39.

Like the Stars, the Wild are most likely to draw the Winnipeg Jets, Nashville Predators or Vegas Golden Knights in the first round, and all of those matchups could be prime for an upset. Minnesota has been spending the majority of the season recovering from injuries to Zach Parise, Nino Niederreiter and Devan Dubnyk, but when this team is healthy it is a danger to any team in the league. The Wild have proved that with a solid 6-4-0 run in their last 10.

The drawback of this Minnesota team is the fact that the playoffs tend to be the time that everything falls apart. But at the same time, if there’s anything to motivate a team to success, it’s to wash away past failures.