Canadian Captain: The Only Difference

     It may be that the NHL will finally have it's blades of glory as it looks as though the dream match up is only a matter of time, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings will compete in this years final.

     No disrespect to the Montreal Canadiens who "statistically" finished first in the East, but the Pens and Wings are the best two teams in their respective Conference's...period.  Both are well deserving to play for Lord Stanley's Mug.

     So with that being said, how do these teams match up? Couldn't pitting these two super powers cause a reversal of the poles and massive destruction to the earth as we know it?

    Start in goal, where many observers were questioning both Chris Osgood and Marc-Andre Fleury's ability to lead their respective clubs through the dance, despite Ozzy's track record and previous Stanley Cup success I believe Fleury may be a little better at being bombarded with rubber, though this is like picking who is a better front man for Van Halen...David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar?

     On defence it is hard to argue with the Niklas Lidstrom factor, even Sidney Crosby called him the best player in the NHL. He can dominate games single handedly, with the gladiator Chris Chelios, slick stick handling Brian Rafalski the edge is clearly in Detroit's favour. They are so good back there, they don't dress Jonathan Ericsson who could be on any teams top three. On average this team gives up under 20 shots a game...heck why even sign a goalie next year?

     Up front its not so much the big names like Datsyuk and Zetterberg vs Malkin and Crosby, but its the surrounding players, and as good as Detroit is, Pittsburgh though younger is slightly more gifted and with a cast that includes Marian Hossa, Petr Sykora, Jordan Staal and Ryan Malone you have to like their chances, even when pitted against Detroit's explosive offence. This could be like watching Seinfeld, it gets better every time you see an episode.

     So now it simply comes down to superstitions, if you believe in them, and if you know anything about hockey players they do.

     In recent years it has been the team with the most Canadian born players on their squad that has hoisted the Cup...that does nothing to decide this as both teams list 11 on their active rosters.

     What could be the overall shift of fate though is the fact that no European captain has ever led his team to winning the Stanley Cup.

     Though none of those teams were being led by Niklas Lidstrom.

     If this is indeed the case, than I will have to give the nod to the Penguins, who may be a dynasty to the likes we haven't seen since the great Oilers teams of the 80's.

     Only because Sid "the kid" sports the "C", sorry Detroit, maybe you should have given the captaincy to Kris Draper?

     Whatever happens we are at least going to be entertained in this years final, which is what the NHL wanted after the lockout in 2004, they have finally got their dream match to hopefully sell the game.