4 teams that won’t win the Stanley Cup this year but could in 2021
The 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs have been unprecedented, but there can be only one winner. Here are four teams that won’t win it this year, but could be Stanley Cup champions in 2021.
It’s been the most bizarre season in NHL history due to the Coronavirus pandemic that put the season on pause, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs have been no different. It’s the middle of August, the 23rd and 24th best teams made the playoffs, there are no fans in the arenas, and the players are locked in a Canadian hub city. Still, these playoffs have delivered in every imaginable way.
With the second round underway, plenty of Stanley Cup contenders have emerged, but plenty of teams have already gone home. Here are four teams that won’t be winning the 2020 Stanley Cup, but have a solid chance of lifting it in 2021 during a traditional Stanley Cup Playoff with actual fans in the building.
4. Edmonton Oilers
While the Oilers suffered a disappointing end to their season at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks in the qualifying round, there were some significant steps taken this season after the hiring of Ken Holland as general manager and Dave Tippett as head coach. There’s still a lot of work to do, but one good offseason is all takes to push the Oilers over the top.
When you have Connor McDavid, that alone gives you a chance at the Stanley Cup every season. With Art Ross winner Leon Draisaitl as his partner in crime, the Oilers have arguably the best offensive one-two punch in the league. But as we’ve seen since McDavid was drafted by Edmonton in 2015, it can’t just be those two doing everything every night, there needs to be a complete team around them.
The Oilers need depth just about everywhere in their lineup, and the lack thereof proved to be their downfall against the Blackhawks. Ken Holland did a decent job in his first season to try and clean the mess his predecessor made, but he’s still got a lot of work to do. All it would take to get the Oilers to another level is to clean out some of the bloated contracts and add effective depth through free agency and trades.
The scariest part about the Oilers is that McDavid might not even be close to the best he can be yet. He spent all of the previous offseason performing a miraculous recovery from a torn PCL and risked his career by electing to rehab and not get surgery, and he still only finished behind Draisaitl in points in the NHL. Now with the pause and this offseason to fully recover, he could run circles around the league next season, even more, than he already has.
If the Oilers can surround him and Draisaitl with just a competent supporting core, the Oilers can easily turn into a powerhouse in the West and bring home the Stanley Cup as soon as next season.