The Stanley Cup Final is upon us, and we have the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers facing off to bring home the prized trophy. In this final prediction piece, voters for The Hockey Writers cast their vote on who will win the series, who will win the Conn Smythe, who will be the second player to receive the Cup and a look at some records being chased.
Edmonton Oilers vs. Florida Panthers Predictions
Edmonton Oilers: 62.4% of votes
Florida Panthers: 37.6%% of votes
Related: 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs Hub
The best offense the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs has to offer against the most physical team, the Oilers and Panthers are bound to make for a very entertaining series. It is hard to bet against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard right now, but with the Oilers taking 62.4 percent of votes, the writers have picked them as the 2024 Stanley Cup Champions.
EDM in 6 Games: 31.3%
EDM in 7 Games: 25%
FLA in 7 Games: 18.8%
FLA in 6 Games: 18.8%
A series going at least six games feels inevitable. These two teams are willing to battle through whatever it takes. Both teams aren’t afraid to get into scrums, have good shutdown forwards, and can play great offense. It should be a tight series.
Conn Smythe Trophy Winner
Connor McDavid: 43.8%
Aleksander Barkov: 18.8%
Leon Draisaitl: 12.5%
Other players to receive one-plus votes: Carter Verhaeghe, Matthew Tkachuk, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
McDavid is the clear runaway winner here. Chasing his first Stanley Cup isn’t something he needs to be a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer, but it would sure be nice. Adding a Conn Smythe Trophy on top of that would be no surprise, but he isn’t guaranteed it yet. Aleksander Barkov is a lot closer to it than some people may think. His shut-down abilities have been far and away the best the playoffs have had to offer. In nearly 90 minutes of ice time against Artemi Panarin, David Pastrnak, and Nikita Kucherov, that trio only managed to score one goal with Barkov on the ice. McDavid is the next test.
Second Player to Raise Cup (Oilers)
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 37.5%
Leon Draisaitl: 31.3%
Corey Perry: 12.5%
Adam Henrique: 12.5%
Evander Kane: 6.3%
The hand-off of the Stanley Cup usually goes to one of two players, especially with the group winning their first Cup together. The captain, in this case, McDavid, will typically pass it to the longest-tenured member of the team, which in this case is Nugent-Hopkins, and that…
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