Washington Capitals
This is another matchup that would be great on multiple levels. There are so many intriguing aspects to this potential series.
First, and foremost, you’d have the last two Stanley Cup winners playing against one another. That’s never really happened before. The closest thing is when Montreal played Philadelphia in 1976, but even then, it had been two seasons since the Canadiens won.
On top of that, you have the crossing stories of each team. The St. Louis Blues were always held back by some fateful moment that kept them from winning a Stanley Cup. Similarly, the Capitals had similar problems always come up.
Both teams always had some rival that was just slightly better at the time. Washington has always run into Pittsburgh, Detroit or Philadelphia at the wrong time, while the Blues had the Red Wings, Blackhawks and Avalanche to contend with.
There is the T.J. Oshie connection too. Oshie facing his former team for hockey supremacy would surely be mentioned a million times on NBC.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Alex Ovechkin are two of the most consistent scorers in recent NHL history. The fact they are both Russian would not go unnoticed either.
There’s just a lot of similarities between the two teams and franchises, even if they play different overall styles. Another fun one to see.