Who is the Best NHL Team 2020?

The 2020 NHL season is just around the corner and there are a lot of teams with a chance to win the Stanley Cup. So, who is the best NHL team heading into the new season?

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference.

Regular Season

As of the 2019–20 NHL season, the Tampa Bay Lightning have the best regular season record in the NHL. They have a record of 62-16-4, for a total of 128 points. They are followed by the Boston Bruins, who have a record of 57-21-7, for a total of 121 points.

Playoffs

The Tampa Bay Lightning are a professional ice hockey team based in Tampa, Florida. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The Lightning have one Stanley Cup championship in their history, in which they defeated the Calgary Flames in seven games during the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.

The Lightning play their home games at Amalie Arena, located in downtown Tampa. The “Thunderbug”,[2] a lightning bolt wearing a Tampa Bay jersey, is the official mascot of the team. Captain Steven Stamkos is the franchise’s all-time scoring leader.

Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights are currently the best team in the NHL. They have an amazing record and their players are some of the best in the league. They have a great coach and a great GM. Their fans are also the best in the NHL.

Regular Season

The Golden Knights have accomplished something no other team has done before in their short history. They have dominated the NHL regular season.

Since joining the league in 2017, the Golden Knights have had the best record in the NHL twice (2017-18 and 2018-19). In their inaugural season, they became the only team in history to win their division in their first year.

This success is even more impressive when you consider that the Golden Knights are an expansion team. An expansion team is a new team formed from scratch that starts playing in a league. The last successful expansion team before the Golden Knights was the Ottawa Senators, who joined the NHL in 1992.

The Golden Knights are also one of only two teams to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first two seasons of existence. The other team is the St. Louis Blues, who accomplished this feat in 1968 and 1969.

Playoffs

The Vegas Golden Knights are battling for the Stanley Cup this year and are one of the best teams in the NHL. They have strong defense, good goaltending, and a deep offensive attack. They are also a very good team at home, which is important in the playoffs.

Washington Capitals

Regular Season

The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference. The Capitals are owned by Monumental Sports & Entertainment, headed by Ted Leonsis. From 1974 to 1997 the Capitals played their home games at the Capital Centre, in Landover, Maryland. In 1997 the team moved to the arena now called Capital One Arena, their present home arena in Washington, D.C.[2][3]

The franchise began play as an expansion team in the 1974–75 season, and their first head coach was Billy Reay. In 1982–83, Washington won the Patrick Division regular season title for the first time en route to capturing its first Stanley Cup in the 1983 Stanley Cup Finals. The team would miss the playoffs in each of its next 10 seasons before returning to prominence with another Patrick Division title and Conference championship in 1997-98. Excluding missing playoffs once while winning a division title (in 2014–15), this is still the only time since winning their Cup that they have failed to make playoffs following a division championship.
From 2007-08 through 2017-18 they won seven Southeast Division championships and recorded eight 100 point seasons, including back-to-back 109 point seasons in 2010–11 and 2011–12. During that 14 year stretch they qualified for playoffs 12 times and won their second Stanley Cup championship by defeating Vegas Golden Knights in 2018.[4] Currently led by Alex Ovechkin – who has served as captain since 2005-06 – they have made 27 playoff appearances and have 13 division titles since 1974.[5][6]

Playoffs

As the Washington Capitals head into the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they do so as the defending champions. The Capitals are looking to become the first team to repeat as champions since the Pittsburgh Penguins did it in 2016 and 2017. But winning back-to-back titles is never easy, and the Capitals will have their work cut out for them if they want to hoist the Stanley Cup for a second consecutive year.

St. Louis Blues

The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Regular Season

The regular season is when each team plays 82 games. These games are used to determine who makes the playoffs. The team with the most points at the end of the regular season is awarded the Presidents’ Trophy.

Playoffs

As the top two teams in the NHL’s Western Conference, the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche were on a collision course for the 2020 playoffs. The two teams met in the first round, and it was the Blues who came out on top in seven games.

Now, the Blues will face off against the Dallas Stars in the second round. The Stars knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in double overtime of Game 7 in Round 1.

The winner of the Blues-Stars series will advance to the Western Conference Final, where they will take on either the Avalanche or the San Jose Sharks.

Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Avalanche were founded in 1972 as the Quebec Nordiques and were one of the charter franchises of the World Hockey Association (WHA). The franchise joined the NHL in 1979 as a result of the NHL–WHA merger.

Regular Season

The Colorado Avalanche are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver, Colorado. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Avalanche were founded in Quebec City, Quebec, as the Quebec Nordiques in 1972. Following the announcement by the NHL that it would expand to Denver, they relocated to Colorado in May 1995. The Avalanche played their first game during the 1995–96 NHL season.

The franchise won their first Stanley Cup Championship in their first season in Denver, 1996. Led by captain Joe Sakic and veteran goaltender Patrick Roy, they repeated as Stanley Cup champions in 2001.Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Avalanche

Playoffs

In order for a team to make the playoffs, they have to finish in the top four of their division. The Avalanche are currently in first place in the Central Division, so they have clinched a spot in the playoffs.

The playoffs are a best-of-seven series between the teams that finish in the top four of each division. The Avalanche will play the winner of the Wild Card game, which is between the fifth and sixth place teams in each conference.

If the Avalanche win their first round series, they will advance to the second round of the playoffs and play either the Edmonton Oilers or the Winnipeg Jets.