[Sylvanfan]

It appears to be really hard to win a Stanley Cup unless you potentially have that one player who can be the best player in the series, and than back that with a lot of depth.

Chicago as an example won their three cups with a different player winning the Conn Smythe each time. Never once needing the goaltender to do so. Pittsburgh had Malkin and Crosby both win the Conn Smythe although one could argue Crosby wasn't really the key piece last year.

On the current Flames team, the only guy that I think is capable of being that true best player in the series is Gaudreau. Outside of him, it's a collection of good players but not a dominating take over a series type. So I think that's going to make it tough for them to get to that next level.

In the past few years teams like St.Louis, San Jose, Anaheim, and Washington have all generally been pretty good. But out of those three only San Jose made a cup final. Anaheim had two guys up front who could emerge as top forwards in a series but don't have a real number one defencmen. Tarasenko in the two years prior to this has finally emerged as a game breaking forward, but they seem to lack that defenceman who's an alpha dog. San Jose finally stepped forward last year with Brent Burns emerging as a game changer on the back end. Washington to this point despite a plethora of talent has struggled to break through, again a team that seems to lack that true top defenceman.

The Rangers also have been reasonably competitive, but to me they lack the elite skill up front to be much of a contender right now. I think depth is needed to win 4 rounds, but elite guys need to take over a series somewhere along the lines and will you to victory.