The Maple Leafs are out, so who do you want to win to the Stanley Cup?

The Maple Leafs post-season is over, but the Stanley Cup Playoffs move on. There are eight teams left. Naturally, we hate some, we like some, and are indifferent to others.

I asked the PPP staff to answer these three questions about who they would like to see win the big prize.

1) Which team do you want to win the Stanley Cup and why?
2) Which team(s) do you not want to win the Cup and why?
3) Which team will actually win the Cup?

Elseldo

1) I want the Predators to win the cup. It's time for someone new to raise it for the first time. We got close last year with the Sharks. I think this year’s best chance is Nashville. Also P.K.'s reaction would be the best. The day he brings it to the Montreal Children’s Hospital would be a great day of tears of joy, tears from sad Habs fans, and rage from those who have always hated him.

2) I do not want any Canadian teams to win the cup. No Oilers. No Senators. The media and nationalistic circle jerk that would happen would be more disgusting than what we got when the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg.

3) I think the Penguins will be the first back to back champs since the 97-98 Red Wings. Their blue line is depleted, but their path is Capitals then Rangers. It'll be fine.

Fulemin

1) The Preds, for Seldo's reasons. Subban deserves it. I could make my peace with the Caps finally doing it though. I'd rather not have a situation in five years where they're the Sharks doing the history-to-the-defeated thing.

2) The Sens, I guess? I was really worried the Habs had a road this year. I'm glad they're out. Anaheim would lead to a bunch of shit about how Carlyle was actually good so I'd prefer not them.

3) Whoever wins the Pens-Caps series. I'll give a narrow edge to the Pens, but the Caps could certainly do it (I think we were an unusually bad match-up for them.)

Nafio

1) Echoing my esteemed colleagues, I want Nashville to win the Cup. Don't know that they can actually make it that far, but man it would be fun.

2) There's nobody I really hate that's still in the running, but I am opposed to Randy Carlyle getting another Cup so I'll say the Ducks.

3) Despite their injuries, I think the Pens repeat.

Katyaknappe

1) The Preds, for what Seldo said, but also the Oilers winning would be so funny, and maybe one game with McDavid in it would be on before I'm asleep, if they at least go deep.

2) The teams I love to hate are already golfing, so I don't much care about who doesn't win. St. Louis bores me, so maybe them.

3) Pittsburgh look like they can roll over anything in their way.  But, who knows. I'll hedge and say whoever wins between them and the Caps, that's the real final right there.

Achariya

1) I have an issue -- I dislike every team remaining in the Eastern Conference. Ottawa seems likely to crumble if Erik Karlsson gets tired; the Rangers will go bust if Henrik Lundqvist wears out; the Capitals are everybody's team that "should" win but never does; and the Penguins have a Cup in recent memory, so they shouldn't be greedy. That leaves the dismal prospect of St. Louis, Anaheim, and Edmonton. So, out of all of these, I'd like my compatriot in Southern hockey up in Nashville to win it.

2) I'd really like the Rangers to get nowhere near sniffing the cup, because I am skeptical that one youngster in their system is going to take them very far without seriously overhauling their crew. This might make the team better, though, so, maybe they should lose in the ECF again so that they think they're good enough to contend without a retool.

3) I had Tampa as my preseason pick, so screw predictions, and the other 29 teams too. Hmph.

Baseball Annie

1) I too am jumping on the Nashville bandwagon. Imagining P.K. Subban winning the Cup brings me immense joy, and really, an off-season full of photographs of happy PK Subban (and his suits!) is all I could ask for right now. Plus, I've always liked Laviolette.

2) I don't want any of the Metro teams to win, but especially not the Penguins, because I am tired of watching their success. Phil Kessel is already a Stanley Cup Champion, there isn't even that silver lining in it for me this year.

3) That being said, congratulations on your repeat, Pittsburgh.

JP Nikota

1) I'd be pretty happy with a Cup win for any of the remaining teams except, Ottawa or Anaheim. St. Louis has never won, and have been in the hunt long enough to deserve it. Nashville has Subban, but it would also really solidify their market the way that the Cup win helped Dallas, back in the day. Edmonton would get pretty smug, but I enjoy watching Connor McDavid enough that I don't care. The Rangers? Meh. Sure. And then it's always fun to cheer for Crosby, Kessel, and Malkin, so a Pens' victory is always fun. Finally, and I think this is my top choice, there's Washington. Ovi deserves that Cup.

2) It's tough to choose between Ottawa and Anaheim, but I'd have to say that Ottawa would be worse for Leafs' fans. There would be a silver lining in their victory, in that I think it would help the team remain financially stable (what's life without a few enemies, anyway?), but it would still be horrible to hear about for the next however many years. It would be kind of cool to see MacArthur win one, though. Same with Dion, though to a lesser extent.

3) Probably whoever wins the Pens/Caps series.

Arvind

1) Nashville, for a few reasons. First (and most importantly), it makes the Leafs pick slightly better if they advance. Secondly, I love PK Subban, and Filip Forsberg should get his due as one of the very best players in the world, especially for his two-way ability. Thirdly, I may have bet on them. I'd be happy with Washington or Pittsburgh too, and even a team like St. Louis is easy to root for.

2) Ottawa. Thankfully, that won't happen. Fuck Ottawa.

3) Washington

Species 1967

1) Allow me to round out the chorus with Nashville. It’s by process of elimination. There’s no ‘dark horse’ fun team left to which I am generally indifferent, like the Flames to cheer. If anything, The Leafs themselves were actually that team. Perhaps Ottawa is now? But, ewww.

2) Ottawa. No way. Not ever Ottawa.

3) At the end of the final between the Penguins and Predators, suddenly it’s Auston Matthews music! The Maple Leafs skate out and Bettman cites an obscure rule to award them the Cup. As Matthews holds it in the air, Bettman leaves the ice to a chorus of boos. In the hallway he passes an old man in the shadows who hands him a burlap sack with a $ on it. He opens the sack to see it filled not with the expected Guernsey bank bearer bonds, but with Canadian Tire Money. He looks up at the old man in the shadows who starts cackling and menacingly waving a crowbar in the air. For the record, the Penguins actually won the game.

Tallying up the results

1) We’re almost unanimous in our support of the Predators winning. The lone dissenter of our nine voters is JP Nikota who selected the Capitals.

2) There’s a lot of teams we don’t like, but a majority seem to agree they don’t want the Senators to win.

3) It will be whichever team wins the Penguins vs. Capitals series.

So who do you think will win? Who do you not want to win?

Which team do you want to win the Stanley Cup?