Go with Capitals to win Cup next season

Sharks  
This postseason was another megadose of negative reinforcement for a talented team that keeps coming up short in the playoffs. San Jose has to look at making some changes to its roster. Its two top players are Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton. Marleau has one year left on his deal at $6.3 million, and Thornton has two remaining years on a contract which pays him $7.2 million a season. The Sharks haven’t been able to win a Stanley Cup with Marleau and Thornton, but they’ll be hard to move given their high salaries.

It could be that the Sharks don’t have enough players on their roster who have a real hatred for losing, and that comes back to bite them in the postseason. The only way a team wins the Stanley Cup is if it has an abundance of players who hate to lose.

San Jose had the most points (117) of any team in the regular season, so the Sharks are still going to be a quality team next season, one that must be considered a top contender to win it all, past playoff failures aside.

Blackhawks  
Behind young stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, Chicago made it to the Western Conference finals. There certainly can be seen a parallel between Toews and Patrick Kane, and Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin of the Penguins. Toews and Kane don’t just possess tremendous talent, they are both such competitive players.

So many of the Blackhawks came into their own last season, and took their games to another level. Chicago has balance and depth. Its blueline is solid, and still young. The most notable unrestricted free agent the Blackhawks would like to sign is Martin Havlat, an offensively talented, but frequently injured winger. The Blackhawks are likely going to find the price of re-signing goalie Nikolai Khabibulin too steep so if they part ways with the veteran they’ll gain some salary cap space.  Plus, they have Cristobal Huet signed for three more seasons.

Canucks
How serious a contender Vancouver becomes will be predicated on it re-signing the Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel. They are a package deal, you don’t get one without the other. They will not play apart on different teams.

The Canucks will again have a solid defense, and they have Roberto Luongo in goal. Even though Luongo was disappointing in the playoffs, he still one of the best at what he does, and next season he will be playing for a new contract.

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