Stanley Cup Finals Match-Up and Prediction

Detroit Red Wings vs Pittsburgh Penguins: schedule can be found here http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/playoffs/finals/pitdet;_ylt=AkKF5z2cqYksu5mdUfro6MR7vLYF

It is a rematch of last year's Cup finals, with Detroit once again the better team in terms of seeding. There can be all kinds of storylines written about this one: Sidney Crosby getting another shot at the Cup, but this time rubbing the Prince of Wales trophy. The Red Wings pretty much have the exact same roster as last year, whereas the Penguins added key members Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz to the wings of Sidney Crosby, which adds much more offensive depth and grit around the skill set of Crosby. But the biggest storyline is Marian Hossa. Detroit fans might have forgotten about it, but Pittsburgh sure hasn't: during the offseason, Hossa took a paycut to sign with the Red Wings after they eliminated his team from the finals last year, saying that he wanted to win a Cup and the Wings had a better chance of doing it than the Penguins. So he pretty much said if it came down to this situation again, Hossa was betting on the Red Wings and abandoned his old team so he can come along for the victory ride. Well Hossa was right about his statement... before the trade deadline. Although they didn't make too many big name moves, the Penguins came out of the month of March a much deadlier team, and it has shown in their domination of the Eastern Conference in the playoffs. All the pressure is on Hossa to back up his bark. He stepped up his game in the Conference finals against the Blackhawks, which is good news heading into a match against his old team in the same scenario. But if Crosby and company end up taking the Cup this year, how big of an idiot will Hossa look?
There are a lot of reasons why you would choose Detroit over Pittsburgh. Obviously, they have the experience. That experience took them over two young, upstart teams in the Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks. Chris Osgood, despite all his regular season woes, is once again back in postseason form (he seems to be the opposite of Martin Brodeur, who loses his touch in the playoffs). Pavel Datsyuk is in the running for regular season MVP; Niklas Lidstrom, although probably not retaining his defensive player of the year award due to the rise of offensive defensemen, is still the best defensive player in the game. And in a match-up of the third and fourth lines, Detroit has a slight edge in terms of offensive power. But the Pittsburgh Penguins are not like the Blue Jackets and Blackhawks. If anything they should be compared more to the Anaheim Ducks who took Detroit to a 7 game series. Yes, they are still young, despite the addition of Guerin. But they have as much experience as the Ducks. They were in the finals last year, unlike the Blue Jackets who have never made it in franchise history and the Blackhawks who have been kept out since the 90's. Instead of going for pure offense like they were last year, they added a grinder in Kunitz and playoff smarts in Guerin. And Evgeni Malkin is the leading point score in both the regular season and the playoffs (although there is absolutely no doubt that if the Penguins win the Cup, Sidney Crosby will be playoff MVP). The real pressure will be on the defensive core of the Penguins, who dumped Ryan Whitney to the Ducks for Kunitz. We know Detroit has as solid of a d-core as any team in the NHL, from their first to their third line. How will Pittsburgh's third defensive pairing match-up against the second and third lines of Detroit? But none of that matters if Detroit gets into penalty trouble, as they have the worst playoff penalty kill going up against the best playoff power play in Pittsburgh. In short, there is a very good argument for both teams winning the Cup. But as much as it pains me to imagine Sidney Crosby holding up Lord Stanley's Cup, I'm going to predict Pittsburgh wins in 6, and Marian Hossa is going to wonder where his decision-making went wrong.