Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Teams Need More Than A Great Winger To Win The Stanley Cup

12/28/2014 at 8:31am EST

from Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun,

The history is against Alexander Ovechkin and Phil Kessel as possible Stanley Cup champions.

The history of a winger — not a centre, a defenceman or goaltender — being the best player, the most indispensible player, on a championship team.

Over the past 50 years, only one team has won the Stanley Cup with a winger as its absolute top player. And that team won four straight Cups with Guy Lafleur in Montreal, with a Hall of Fame coach in Scotty Bowman, with a Hall of Fame goaltender in Ken Dryden, with the Big Three on defence, Larry Robinson, Serge Savard and Guy Lapointe.

There are few, if any, Drydens in the NHL anymore, no Big Threes to speak of and with thinner supporting casts and only one Mike Babcock to go around, the opportunities are indeed limited.

In 10 seasons, Ovechkin has played in just 58 playoff games and has been beyond the first round just twice. In nine seasons, Kessel has played in only 22 post-season games, and has been beyond the first round once. Expecting either of them to lead their teams to Cups at any time is expecting too much.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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