What To Give the Boston Bruins, L.A. Kings and 5 More Stanley Cup Contenders This Holiday Season🎁

We identify the most important item on each favorite’s wish list — and how they might get it.

In the spirit of giving that flows through the holiday season, it’s time to do a little hockey gift shopping. For each NHL team with at least a 5 percent chance of winning the Stanley Cup (according to a blend of betting odds and statistical models), we picked out the one item that they’d love to see wrapped up with a bow on top when all the presents get handed out.

(All stats and odds are as of Thursday, Dec. 7.)

Boston Bruins

Stanley Cup odds: 10.2 percent
Simple Rating System: +0.73 (5th)

Holiday wish: Offense from the blueline

Last year’s Bruins were the team that had everything. (Up until their first-round playoff collapse against the Florida Panthers, that is.) But this year’s version, while still leading the title odds, isn’t quite as dominant — meaning it would be happy for a little extra help. Chief among its concerns might be a near-total lack of firepower from the blueline: After ranking second in scoring from defensemen last season, Boston’s D corps is tied for the 10th-fewest points of any team, with a co-league-low one defenseman (Charlie McAvoy) in double-digits. Some of their problems could be resolved if Hampus Lindholm and Matt Grzelcyk — who are on pace to contribute only 24 combined points in 2023-24 after posting 79 a year ago — pick up their play. But otherwise, Boston will need to scour the trade market for reinforcements. (Among D-men on expiring contracts, the scoring leader from teams with playoff odds below 49% is Calgary’s Noah Hanifin.)

Los Angeles Kings

Stanley Cup odds: 9.9 percent
Simple Rating System: +1.66 (1st)

Holiday wish: A better power play

A week ago in this space, we covered whether the surprising Kings had staying power atop the league’s power ratings. (The verdict was yes — even if goalie Cam Talbot was likely to regress some from his early pace.) All they’ve done since is win even more games, including an impressive victory over the Colorado Avalanche that saw L.A. outshoot the 2022 champs 38-21. Los Angeles might still be wishing for a way to keep a hot goalie toasty through the winter months, but short of that, the Kings could use more goals with the man advantage. For all of their early success, L.A. ranks just 18th with a 19.2% power play conversion rate, far below the team’s fourth-place PP showing last season. The Kings’ offense relies more on depth than high-end talent — beyond Adrian Kempe at 83 adjusted points, no one else on the roster is on pace for more than 76 — so that may put a ceiling on their power play potential. But more PP time for Quinton Byfield can help, too. The 21-year-old has ascended to the top line, and L.A. is generating a team-high 2.99 more expected goals per 60 minutes than usual when Byfield is on the ice with a man advantage.

Colorado Avalanche

Stanley Cup odds: 8.4 percent
Simple Rating System: +0.56 (10th)

Holiday wish: Improved health

Once again, the Avalanche are wishing the hockey gods would bring them a healthier roster. A year ago, Colorado lost the fifth-most salary cap space to injured players of any team in the NHL — a number that included captain Gabriel Landeskog missing the entire season, plus numerous other stars (such as Cale Makar and Nathan McKinnon) missing double-digit games. Now, the Avs rank seventh in cap space lost to injuries, and that could get worse before it gets better, with Makar and Valeri Nichushkin recently joining a growing injured list. Colorado remains a solid Cup frontrunner despite the absences, and as long as the team enjoys more stability by the playoffs, it will be happy. But we can’t blame Avs fans if they feel a bit of déjà vu with the injuries piling up, after watching the same thing help derail their team’s championship defense in 2022-23.

Vegas Golden Knights

Stanley Cup odds: 7.8 percent
Simple Rating System: +0.82 (3rd)

Holiday wish: More goals!

The defending champs have had an up-and-down beginning to the season, starting 11-1 before losing nine of their next 15 games. Injuries have played a role in that, with key defensemen Shea Theodore and Alec Martinez both hitting injured reserve in late November, but the Golden Knights also simply need more goals after averaging 2.5 per game over their previous 10 contests. On the season, they rank 17th in scoring and only one player on the roster is on pace for more than 74 adjusted points (Jack Eichel, 88). Vegas won the Cup last year after ranking only 14th in scoring during the regular season, so it’s not an impossible weakness to overcome. (And in fact, the Knights still have the league’s third-best SRS rating this season, too, despite the lack of scoring.) But the 2022-23 Golden Knights were a historic championship anomaly in how they were constructed anyway; it’s unclear if the same approach will work two years in a row.

Dallas Stars

Stanley Cup odds: 7.7 percent
Simple Rating System: +0.66 (7th)

Holiday wish(es): A return to form; offense from the D-corps

The Stars would probably ask Santa for two favors this year. The first request? For Jason Robertson to return to the superstar level he performed at last season, when the then 23-year-old winger truly evolved from one of the NHL’s best-kept secrets to a legitimate MVP candidate. After putting up 44 adjusted goals and 104 adjusted points in 2022-23, Robertson is down to 27 and 73 this year — and he’s averaging his lowest rate of shots per game (2.54) since 2020-21. The other ask would be for improved production from the blueline, where only Miro Heiskanen (who is himself experiencing a down year) has more than 10 points on the season. The Stars might find themselves shopping in the same D-man market as the Bruins before the trade deadline rolls around.

New York Rangers

Stanley Cup odds: 6.3 percent
Simple Rating System: +0.64 (8th)

Holiday wish: Scoring from forwards

There isn’t too much that might bring out the Rangers’ inner Scrooges this holiday season. Although the team lost to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, New York is a league-best 18-6 on the season, it still hasn’t had a losing streak all year, and it ranks among the league’s Top 9 squads on both offense and defense. In terms of wish-list items, Igor Shesterkin is once again down a notch from his 2021-22 Vezina Trophy form — though the unexpected resurgence of former Cup-winning netminder Jonathan Quick has helped keep the Rangers high in the save percentage rankings. A more pressing request might be for more offense from the team’s forward units, which rank mid-pack in both goals (15th) and points (15th). Better production from Mika Zibanejad — who’s down to a pace of 66 adjusted points after posting 86 last year — and just about anything from Blake Wheeler — who is tracking for a career-low of 20 adjusted points — would go a long way for the Broadway Blueshirts in that department.

Carolina Hurricanes

Stanley Cup odds: 5.2 percent
Simple Rating System: -0.17 (20th)

Holiday wish: Competent goaltending

Out of all the teams on this list, the Hurricanes might be the one most in need of some good, old-fashioned holiday magic. Carolina’s core numbers are as impressive as anybody’s in the league; they own the NHL’s greatest share of shot attempts (whether we look at all shots or just unblocked ones), and their rates of time spent in the offensive zone — or avoiding the defensive zone — are both in the 99th percentile. But the Canes still have a minus-1 goal differential because they can’t buy any puck luck. Carolina is 23rd in shooting percentage, and while that might be partly a product of their throw-the-puck-at-the-net playing style (they were 26th last year), they’re also dead last in save percentage after ranking among the top half of teams a year ago. The team has rotated starts between Pyotr Kochetkov and Antti Raanta in net, but both rank among the league’s four worst goalies by Goals Saved Above Average so far. So whether via trade or just the power of positive regression at the sport’s most fickle position, the Hurricanes are desperately wishing for improved goaltending — and maybe even for a few more of their own shots to find the back of the net — over the rest of the season.

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Filed under: NHL

Original story: What To Give the Boston Bruins, L.A. Kings and 5 More Stanley Cup Contenders This Holiday Season