The Golden Knights are hot, but between them, the Avalanche and Lightning, which of the NHL's recent champs has what it takes to win it all again?

The Vegas Golden Knights are back to their usual dominant selves, going 9-3-1 in their last 13 games and sitting tied for third in the NHL standings.

It’s a marvel of consistency for the still-very-young organization, but don’t think for a second they don’t realize how difficult it would be to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. All you have to do to realize that is take a look back at teams that have won a Cup more recently.

Take the Colorado Avalanche, for example. There’s a franchise that has made many more great decisions than not, but they were unable to repeat as champions. 

Part of the reason for that was a factor that makes a difference regardless of how a team was constructed – and that’s having good health. The Avs did not have injured star forward and captain Gabriel Landeskog last season – they still don’t have him – and while Colorado management got to use Landeskog’s $7-million cap hit, it’s incredibly difficult to acquire a difference-maker.

The Avalanche have tried to work in new faces, such as Ryan Johansen, Jonathan Drouin, Miles Wood and Ross Colton, and more recently, Zach Parise. But getting that perfect balance between experience and youthful verve is an inexact science, to say the least. For the Avs to be a team that wins two Cups in three seasons – the closest thing we have to a modern dynasty – all the stars must line up perfectly for them. They have to be healthy, and they have to be peaking at the right time. Not easy.

It is possible for a team to repeat as champs, with the Tampa Bay Lightning being the most recent example. But that’s a team that did have better luck with injuries, at least, come playoff time. They had all their core components in place in winning two consecutive Cups, and while management tweaked the roster as they pursued a second straight championship, the essence of the team was essentially the same. Everyone knew their roles and knew what was expected of them. Nobody tried to do too much. There was a hunger there as well. The only way the Bolts dominated as they did was, again, having good health and surging at the right time of the year.

That brings us back to Vegas. The Golden Knights have done well despite not having a true generational talent, such as Nathan MacKinnon, and Steven Stamkos. Although Jack Eichel and Mark Stone are elite players, there's more high-quality depth in Colorado and Tampa right now than we see in Vegas. It’s still possible to like what Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon has done with them and also believe there’s an incredibly tough road ahead for them to repeat as champions. 

Even if they do well this post-season, the Golden Knights have some important pending UFAs – forwards Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Alec Martinez. They likely won’t be able to keep all three, so their job will be that much more difficult starting next season.

If we had to pick a Cup winner from the Avs, Lightning and Golden Knights, we’d argue Colorado is closer to winning again than the other two of those three teams. But if we’re being honest, we think it’s more likely a new team will step up and establish itself as a new top dog in hockey’s top league. Maybe that team is the Dallas Stars. Maybe it’s the Carolina Hurricanes or Vancouver Canucks. But when you consider the physical and mental toll a long playoff run takes on a team, it’s clear why, in the parity-rich NHL, we’re going to see a team win a Cup that hasn’t won one in recent years.

The competitive balance of the league is a real thing. Although Vegas deserves kudos for being so consistently good, you have to have more than that if you want to repeat as champs. Much of it is within your control, but there are certainly elements that aren’t, and that’s what keeps NHL GMs awake at night. 

Jacob Stoller and George Nassios went into the Stanley Cup odds for the Avalanche and touched on Vegas as well in Thursday's episode of The Hockey News Action show. Check out that related link below.