Could it be the Canes or the Stars this year? Because despite the Florida Panthers moving up in the Stanley Cup ranks in these playoffs, and in light of that recent win against the Leafs, it would seem like the reigning champions are not quite frontrunners for the Stanley Cup! According to a graph put together by Moneypuck.com where the stats are all lined up for fans to easily interpret, it looks like Florida is still going to have some fighting to do, even if they manage to bag round 2.

In the Moneypuck graph, the Florida Panthers are currently placed third in terms of their Stanley Cup winning chances. In case anyone was wondering what direction the away game on Wednesday against the Leafs would go, according to the same chart, it looks like the Florida Panthers are going to get away with that one easily, with a 51.8% chance of getting to round 3, as compared to the Leafs’ 48.2%. Still, it’s the cup that the Florida Panthers would definitely like to hold onto for another year, but they only have a 16.1% chance of doing so, if the stats are to be believed.

To put things in perspective, this percentage has increased drastically from the last graph (made prior to Florida’s game 4 against the Leafs, where they scored 2-0 and tied the series), where the Florida Panthers only had a 10.5% chance of winning, falling behind the Canes, the Leafs, the Stars, the Oilers, and the Jets!

Phew, talk about moving up in the ranks and moving up fast. However, the Canes and the Stars seem to have shown the most consistency in this ranking, so let’s see what they’ve been doing right. To be fair, we’ll have a better sense if the Canes are doing it right after game 4, which is imminent, but in any case…

What have the Canes and Stars been doing to put them above the Florida Panthers?

It’s been a while since either the Canes or the Stars have lifted the cup, but they have placed consistently on the Moneypuck graphs owing to consistent performances during the season and during the playoffs.

Let’s look at the Carolina Hurricanes specifically; they finished the regular season 10th in the league and managed to rack up 99 points (one more than the Florida Panthers, who ended up at 98, so fair enough). However, their likelihood of holding the cup probably has more to do with their division. The Metropolitan, New Jersey, didn’t prove to be much of a challenge, and Washington has got something to prove, but the question of ‘can they?’ is a big one, especially with the Canes seeming to physically overpower them, with more hits than the Capitals in the postseason. It looks like the Capitals were too busy chasing records this year to have put any real focus on cups.

The Stars, on the other hand, are below the Canes in terms of winning chances but above the Panthers on account of their performance in the postseason as well as the potential they showed in the regular season, scoring a total of 106 points. And, if they can keep up their late-season performance like they did with their last 5-2 win against the Jets, then they might be able to teach the Florida Panthers a thing or two about consistency!