The always underachieving, regular season merchant, Carolina Hurricanes finally broke through. They quickly dispatched the Montreal Canadiens to set up a clash with the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2026 Stanley Cup Final. For the first time in years the Hurricanes didn’t have to tango with a team like the Florida Panthers, as a matter of fact they really haven’t broken a sweat all playoffs. First, they had Ottawa who was absolutely no match for Carolina. The same can be said about the Philadelphia Flyers. I will admit I thought the Sens were going to put up a much better fight, I even picked them to win the series, but it was abundantly obvious they were a significantly worse team. Finally, the Canes played the Habs who were running on fumes after taking out Tampa and Buffalo. I feel like either of the teams that lost to Montreal would have put up a better fight against Carolina, but instead they were handed a young Montreal team who completely ran out of gas. The series with Montreal was a snooze fest despite two overtime contests. Montreal simply had nothing left, nor could they do anything to figure out Carolina’s suffocating defense. Every single game, even game 1, Montreal was swallowed up in the defensive zone. Carolina set a record for the least shots against in a five-game series, their defense was that outstanding.
Carolina may have had a cake walk to the finals, but it doesn’t look like finals will follow that script. Vegas hasn’t had too difficult a road to the finals either. They played playoff first timers in Utah and Anaheim. Then Vegas had the pleasure of playing an extremely banged up Colorado team. Despite enjoying a similarly easy road to the finals, Vegas was certainly more tested. Carolina was the only team to trail a series, but that was likely only due to having a 12-day break between sweeping the Flyers and playing the Canadiens. Vegas has never trailed in a series, but each of their first two series were tied 1-1. I also think the quality of opponent Vegas faced far outweighed the opponents of Carolina. You don’t get to choose who you play, but if Carolina was allowed to choose, they likely would have had chosen the same route to the finals. I think that’s a big deal. These two teams have a combined three loses in the playoffs, so I am cherry picking an edge in “playoff tested” but I just feel like Vegas should be given more credit for who they had to go through.
The series does feel like good vs. evil. Carolina isn’t a plucky underdog, but they are perennial underachievers who people wouldn’t mind see lifting Lord Stanley. Vegas is anything but an underachiever. They have made their third cup final in the team’s first nine seasons. However, along the way they have garnered a lot of haters. Winning will do that, but I think it’s more about how they handle their business. Vegas has regularly tossed away aging players the same way they have tossed away draft picks in trade to replace said players. The results have made it worth it, but the hockey world isn’t used to a team being so cutthroat. It started with Marc Andre Fleury being benched and promptly traded against his will.
It continued with several other moves that were seen as heartless, but Vegas doesn’t care about that they only care about winning. They even took a chance on Carter Hart to right the ship in goal for them. Sure, Hart was innocent in court, but he has certainly been deemed guilty in the court of public opinion. If Hart was embroiled in legal controversy, he would likely be the front runner for the Conn Smythe, because that’s just how things work for the Golden Knights. You add the LTIR gymnastics they have used in the past (though everyone did this) and you have a perfect storm for acquiring league wide hate.
So, we have good vs. evil. Typically, in movies the good guy always wins in the end. However, the cup final isn’t a movie. Evil certainly has a good, maybe great, chance at prevailing in this story. It’s hard to trust the Hurricanes, and it’s easy to see Vegas coming out victorious. As a matter of fact, I am rooting for that outcome. While I would love to see Jordan Staal win another cup, I would much rather see the implosion in Toronto if Mitch Marner wins a cup (and Conn Smythe). I really hate the fans of Toronto that much. They are just so stupid, and pretentious, that seeing them wallow in self-pity will be more than enough for me to be satisfied with this year in the NHL. They had to do it when they ran Phil Kessel out of town too, and I loved that for more selfish reasons as Penguins fan.
While I am rooting for Vegas by rooting against Toronto in a convoluted way, Carolina shouldn’t be slept on at all. The reason I give Vegas the edge is due to players like Marner. Carolina is devoid of any true superstars, and I feel like it will be hard for them to counter the Marner’s and Eichel’s. Not only does Carolina not boast a lineup with any true star power, their two players closest to that level Aho and Jarvis have been largely non-factors throughout the playoffs. If that continues in this series, I really have no idea how Carolina wins. It’s impressive that Carolina has only lost one game without their two best players producing anything of importance, but against a team like Vegas every guy in the lineup will need to be firing on all cylinders. If Jarvis and Aho wake up then my prediction could be entirely off base, but for now I am picking Vegas in 6.
