Yes, I think this team has Stanley Cup potential and I'll tell you why. The first month was absolute disaster, an absolutely atrocious start that really skewed the numbers for the rest of the season.
It took the team a month to adjust to their new coach and a new shutdown line (3M) and dominant defensive pairing (Gio-Dougie) later and this team truly looked elite. When you look at the numbers from there onwards, you'll see just how good this team was after the first nonth.
These stats are from NHL.com after the first month of the season vs all 30 teams (in 66 gms)
Wins: 40 = 4th best
Goals Allowed: 161 = 3rd best
Shots Allowed: 1894 = 5th best
PP%: 23% = 6th best
PK%: 84.1% = 6th best
Goals Scored: 184 = 15th best
Faceoff%: 48.6% = 20th best
These stats show that this was an upper echelon team in some very important categories. The team has since improved on the backend and could be even better next season defensively. Offensively, the team wasn't quite as strong, but Gaudreau didn't get going until the last quarter of the season when Ferland was inserted on the top line. Also, any improvement from Sam Bennett would help overall team scoring considerably. Also, no Wideman should help the team by addition from subtraction, hopefully less penalties and an increase in goal differential. Overall, this team could easily be elite and contend for a cup if all goes as planned.
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