The San Jose Sharks didn’t just land an all-star in defenseman Erik Karlsson when they obtained him a trade using the Ottawa Senators on Sept. 13, they also earned the final piece to a Stanley Cup championship team, in accordance with seven of the 18 NHL.com panelists who have made their preseason predictions.
The Sharks, who were made the Stanley Cup Playoffs at 18 have never won the Cup, reaching the Final in 2016, where they lost in six games to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Karlsson, who played his first nine NHL seasons will be awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player of the playoffs, three of panelists predicted. Sharks defenseman Brent Burns (2), forward Logan Couture (1) and goalie Martin Jones (1) were another choices for Conn Smythe from San Jose.Though that the Sharks obtained the most votes to win the Cup, the Tampa Bay Lightning, that reached the Eastern Conference Final last year, were selected by six specialists to win everything.
Winnipeg Jets and the Nashville Predators every got two votes and the Penguins got you. Some of the specialists not, chosen Even the Washington Capitals, the defending Stanley Cup champions to replicate. In fact, the Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights, who played in the Stanley Cup Final last year, were not selected by some of the specialists to get back there this year.
The Lightning are the overwhelming favorite to represent the Eastern Conference in the Cup Final, receiving votes from 13 of the 18 specialists. The Toronto Maple Leafs (2), Penguins (2) and Boston Bruins (1) obtained the other votes in the East.
In the West, the Sharks got nine votes while the Jets got Predators four and five, to reach the Final.
Of the six who picked the Lightning to win the Cup, three predicted defenseman Victor Hedman to win the Conn Smythe Trophy, two select forward Nikita Kucherov and one picked goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.
The other Conn Smythe selections were Filip Forsberg of the Predators (two ), Sidney Crosby of the Penguins (1) and Mark Scheifele of and Patrik Laine of the Jets.
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