from Dimitri Filipovic of Sportsnet,

With the Capitals on pace to finish with the fifth winningest season in league history, they’ve already made a compelling case for themselves with their play. This looks like the best team they’ve assembled around Alex Ovechkin since he came to town, from top to bottom.

The same can be said for the Blackhawks and Kings, who have selfishly combined to take home the Stanley Cup five of the past six years. There will be tricky hurdles to get over along the way, but at this point, no one that’s been paying attention to the league’s recent history would be remotely surprised to see the two of them once again going toe-to-toe for the right to represent the Western Conference in the final.

The Blackhawks shook off an early season malaise and patched up their biggest lineup holes by acquiring Andrew Ladd, Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise. Giving Jonathan Toews legitimate wingers to play with is an obvious plus, but the trickledown effect of allowing players like Andrew Shaw to move down into more suitable roles for their talents is just as important.

Los Angeles has been a well-oiled machine, suffocating their opponents in the neutral zone en route to putting themselves amongst elite company in terms of 5-on-5 play.

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