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My winners and why 25% of 10,000+ polled think the Blues will win the Cup..

March 10, 2014, 1:35 PM ET [131 Comments]
Eklund
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It is kind of amazing actually to think that 25% of over 10,000 of you believe the St. Louis Blues will now win the Stanley Cup. I have been doing this poll following the deadline for years and have never seen such a resounding number. The next closest team was Chicago at 11%, followed by the LA Kings at 7%.

A little amazed that only 3% see the Sharks as winning it all. The Sharks have looked incredibly great at times this year and since the Olympics have really looked dangerous. I fully realize we have seen great regular season Sharks teams before, but this team appears to have the perfect blend of experience and youth, offense and D, and two really solid goalies...the magic formula in a long playoff run.

Another surprise is the Penguins, who only 4% saw as their Cup Favorite. Is this another case of a team whose last two playoff flops are influencing people's prediction? ....as bad as the Penguins and Sharks have played in the post season...the Blues have been right there with them.


Winner and Loser of the Deadline

Polling together the results from quite a spirited comment thread and the many @ twitter replies the three winners according to the readers were...

St. Louis, Montreal and Buffalo.

It is hard to argue St. Louis. Adding one of the best goalies in the world and a key character player in Ott were both brilliant moves towards their immediate goal. I wouldn't want to have to win 4 of 7 from them.

As for Montreal, while I agree they made a steal of a trade to acquire Vanek, I also believe the jury is still out on TV. People want to tear into Garth Snow for this one, and while he definitely could have played it better there was simply not a strong market for Vanek. I would not put Montreal in my top three. (I will write more about what I hear happened with Snow in the next blog. Not all his fault here. He wasn't able to take money back in the Vanek deal...that killed a few much better returns)

The Sabres did what they had to do this year and really stacked their future with top picks. Time will tell if they use them properly of course...but in raw potential it is hard to argue. Why I would include Buffalo as a winner at the deadline is they not only loaded up on picks but the didn't trade Tyler Myers or Christian Ehrhoff. Both are going to be key components moving forward for this team. Ehrhoff's contract is exceptional for a top 4 d-man and while Myers has seen his play consistently fall off since his first years he is still a young, big, mobile D-man. They are always the late bloomers of the NHL. As more than one person noted to me, it is impossible to judge a young D-man on a terrible team. Myers would have been a main target for me where I a Gm.

I would also like to add a few other winners in my book.

As many of you pointed out, there are short term wins and long term wins.

I would add the NY Rangers to the list of short term winners. Getting Marty St. Louis was the best solution imaginable in the Callahan saga. Adding a top 5 scorer to your team at the deadline is unheard of...especially one as solid a leader as Marty St. Louis. The Callahan saga was imploding before the hockey Gods stepped in on this one. It's almost as if Sather had one wish left and wished for an experienced, talented scorer in the top 5 to demand a trade to the Rangers a week before the deadline and "poof."

The Lightning's Steve Yzerman deserves much credit for getting what he got as well. No matter how the whole situation started, it was not an easy ordeal and a true PR nightmare. To get as much as he got with his hands completely tied was impressive. Not many GMs beyond Sather would have made that deal. If they can re-sign Callahan then this is a true win indeed. That said, almost everyone I talk to believes the contract Cally wants is waiting on July 1 just down the road from his Rochester hometown...in Buffalo.

Another winner has to be the Minnesota Wild. The Wild were looking hard at getting a goalie for insurance but when they saw the opportunity to grab Matt Moulson they jumped on it. Molson is a perfect Wild type of player. The Wild were looking hard at both Bryzgalov and Halak. As hard as it is for some to say it, they probably made the right move with Bryz. He has shown to be a solid goalie when the team plays solid defense in front of him. He can get hot and can win games. Halak is a better fit for Washington and truth be told the Halak pickup could turn into the best pickup of all making the Caps a huge winner.

Next up...The Losers, The Kesler Saga, and some trades I hear got away...
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