Previewing the 2022 Stanley Cup Final: A Heavyweight Title Bout

In the blue corner our challenger coming out of the Western Conference, The Colorado Avalanche. The Avs are a team a lot of people thought would reach the Stanley Cup sooner than just this year, but the wait seems to have only made them hungrier. A lineup built around speed and skill, the depth on this squad's lineup makes them the first real threat the defending Champs will have to face this year. Headlined by young Superstars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, Colorado has two player capable of taking over a game in a single shift(or swinging a series in a single game). The rest of their core is rounded out by Captain Gabriel Landeskog, offensive dynamo Mikko Rantanen, and two breakout defenseman in Devon Toews and Bowen Byram. While they will be missing Samuel Girard (broken sternum) there is a chance two way threat and ultra pest Nazem Kadri is back from injury for this series. Good news for the Avs though is that starting goalie Darcy Kuemper should be back and ready to go for Game 1.

Now, in the red corner, coming out of the Eastern Conference, your 2x reigning, defending, undisputed, back to back Stanley Cup Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning have been the best run hasn't been seen since the 1980's Islanders. On their quest for a 3rd straight Stanley Cup, they could cement their legacy as one of the best teams of all time, if not the best, as they would be the first team to 3peat in the salary cap era. The more impressive part of that would be not only doing it in the salary cap era, but over 3 years in which the Salary Cap remained flat!

The #GoBolts are the best team in the NHL over last decade and it's not close.

2 Stanley Cups
4 Cup Finals
6 Conference Finals
Tied the best regular season in NHL History

And a shot at doing something we haven't seen in 40 YEARS: 3 straight Cups.

This team, man. SPECIAL.� Jackie Redmond (@Jackie_Redmond) June 12, 2022

Headlined by the nine headed hydra that their is roster, boasting names such as Captain Steven Stamkos, former MVP Nikita Kucherov, former Norris Winner Victor Hedman, former Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy, all star forward Brayden Point (who is expected to be back this series per HC Jon Cooper), two way threat Anthony Cirelli, a second pair of defensemen that would be top pair on most teams in Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev, and former MVP ultra pest Corey Perry. Talk about stacked, when you look at this roster there is no surprise they've been able to go on the run they've had. And I don't wanna hear any of that loser talk that they cheated the salary cap or these are asterisks cups. If you can dominate the regular missing some of your top players that is incredible, as seen by Vegas trying and failing this year, as well as the Chicago Blackhawks likely would not have been able to beat Tampa in 2015 had Patrick Kane not broke his collarbone giving the team cap space to load up on depth for the playoffs.

Some fun facts for this series though is Tampa forward Patrick "Big Rig" Maroon is looking for his fourth straight Stanley Cup, while "The Worm" Corey Perry has joined Hall of Famer Marian Hossa as the only players to go to three straight Stanley Cups on three different teams.

Fans are for an absolute treat this series, as it is probably the best playoff matchup in a long time. A battle of the hungry young contenders and the legendary proven champions. Will Colorado's depth and speed be able to wear down the battle tested Lightning? Or will the Big Cat Andrei Vasilevskiy continue to prove why he's arguably the best goalie of all time? Only time will tell as the Stanley Cup Final kicks off Wednesday June 15th at 7:00 PM CT.

Who do you have winning The Cup? Let me know by participating in a poll and sounding off in the comments!