Capitals Could Be Surprise

Don’t get me wrong. There are indeed clear-cut favorites as the NHL begins its Stanley Cup playoffs -- specifically Dallas, Colorado, Detroit and New Jersey. But you know who could make a lot of noise crashing the big party over the next two months? The Washington Capitals.

A coach must feel pretty good about his team’s chances when he says on the eve of the playoffs, as Ron Wilson did Tuesday, “We don’t need any more time. We’ve been playing playoff hockey for two months.”

There’s nothing unrealistic about Wilson’s optimism. The Capitals have pretty much everything you’d want going into the playoffs. They’ve got one of the hottest goaltenders in the league in Olaf Kolzig, the highest goal-scorer of anybody in the playoffs in Peter Bondra, Cup finals experience in Esa Tikkanen and Brian Bellows, role players galore, way-above-average defense and a coach whose force of personality could really make a difference.

So why aren’t the Capitals a favorite?

Because there’s a difference between having pretty much everything and being loaded.

Dallas, Colorado, Detroit, New Jersey (and perhaps even Philly) are loaded. Dallas finished with the best record in the league (109 points), even though Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Modano missed time with injuries. Now they’re back, and the Stars are motivated by last season’s early upset loss to Edmonton. Not only do the Stars have a great goaltender in Ed Belfour, but they also have created a defense that doesn’t allow even 20 shots some nights.

The Stars will need every advantage because they could face the last two Cup champions (Detroit and Colorado) just to get out of the Western Conference, which has five legit teams when you throw in St. Louis and Los Angeles. Personally, I find it hard to bet against the Avalanche if it can keep Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy healthy. Regardless, for the third straight season, you could make the argument rather convincingly that the West has the four best teams in the league.

A month ago, that might have sounded totally silly because New Jersey was cruising. But the Devils finished 3-5-2 in their final 10 games. Of even more concern to the team is that Martin Brodeur has been struggling in goal.

Still, you’d want to include the Devils with Dallas, Colorado and Detroit in the first tier.

In the second group you’ve got St. Louis, Los Angeles, Philly, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Montreal, the Capitals and, unfortunately for the Capitals, Boston. They’re all far too good to be cast as Cinderella. Probably, any one of these teams could dispose of one of the big boys without it being a fluke. “Everybody’s anointing New Jersey, Dallas, Detroit, Colorado, with Philly and Pittsburgh dark horses,” Wilson said Tuesday.