"A hipster picker's nightmare, indeed. As is tradition, I revealed my Stanley Cup selection to a member of that team while at the player media tour in Las Vegas: Me: I wanted to inform you that I'm picking you guys to win the Stanley Cup. Avalanche star Cale Makar: I appreciate that. Me: I also wanted to inform you that I'm not good at making Stanley Cup predictions. Makar: Well, we'll prove that wrong, hopefully."
"That's despite having Nikita Kucherov, second only to Connor McDavid in points (378) over the past three seasons; Andrei Vasilevskiy, third in save percentage (.913) in that span; Victor Hedman, seventh in points among defensemen (191) and a defensive rock on which to build; and the rest of a cast that includes Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Brandon Hagel and Jake Guentzel."
"Oh, and behind the bench a guy named Jon Cooper, considered by everyone except Jack Adams Award voters to be the best coach in the league. One of the bottom-feeders in the Atlantic was eventually going to be full enough to rise into contention, and that ended up being the Senators, who made the playoffs last spring for the first"
The Colorado Avalanche are predicted to win the 2026 Stanley Cup over the Carolina Hurricanes. Cale Makar expressed appreciation and hope the team would prove doubts wrong. The Hurricanes are making at least their sixth Eastern Conference attempt under coach Rod Brind'Amour to break through. A division-by-division standings projection lists playoff teams. The Atlantic Division shows significant power rebalancing; the Tampa Bay Lightning have not finished atop the division since 2018-19 despite elite players Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Victor Hedman and coach Jon Cooper. The Ottawa Senators rose from bottom-feeder status into playoff contention last spring.
Read at ESPN.com
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