Nine teams that can unseat the Washington Capitals

Never mind that the 2018-19 NHL season hasn't even started yet. There is already speculation as to which team is going to challenge the Washington Capitals for the Stanley Cup. It's been only a couple of months since captain Alex Ovechkin did a keg stand with Lord Stanley's mug and brought a parade to D.C., but it's already time to see how rival teams could be shaping up to challenge his squad. Here, we take a look at teams that could unseat Ovi and the Caps.

1. Tampa Bay Lightning
After a disappointing 2017 campaign, the Bolts emerged last season as the most intimidating team in the Eastern Conference. The finely tuned mix of strength and speed gave Tampa the near-perfect two-way game, and Andrei Vasilevskiy tended goal better than just about anyone in the league.

The only thing that stopped them from reaching the Stanley Cup Final was how much their five-on-five game took a tumble during the ECF against the Capitals. During that series, home-ice advantage became nonexistent, and the Lightning's big stars — Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov in particular — couldn't get anything going.

If Tampa Bay can have the same success it had last season, without the slump late in the playoffs, there's no reason its chances of hoisting the Cup will remain high.

2. Toronto Maple Leafs
The excitement that has surrounding the Leafs for the last two seasons greatly intensified during the offseason with the addition of John Tavares. The former Isles captain is expected to be the perfect addition of veteran skill to mix with the young and hungry Auston Matthews-led squad.

But don't get too excited just yet. Toronto will need more than a few new names in the starting lineup to really make a push. This is the same team that has been kicked out of the first round of the playoffs two years in a row, most notably in 2018 when its defense couldn't hold off a physically imposing Boston Bruins team. (More on them a bit later.)

Don't get us wrong: The Leafs do a lot of things right. Let's see if their offseason additions can push them over the top.

3. Nashville Predators
For the last two seasons, the Predators have been an offensive juggernaut in the Western Conference. Yes, even in 2017 when very few people envisioned them making it all the way to the Cup Final like they did. Thanks to one of the best defensive corps in the league, Nashville is able to keep goals out of its own net and put points on the board.

Making it back to the big dance will require the Predators' blue line to stay that dominant down the stretch. P.K. Subban, Roman Josi and the rest of Nashville's highly touted D have to continue giving netminder Pekka Rinne as much help as possible keeping the puck from finding the back of the net. If they can, like they did in the 2017 playoffs, there's no reason they couldn't make it back to the Cup Final this season.

4. Vegas Golden Knights
It probably still seems a bit surreal that the Golden Knights made a legitimate push for the Stanley Cup in their inaugural season. Nevertheless, the Las Vegas squad enters its sophomore season with expectations incredibly high, given it put up a major fight against the Washington Capitals before being narrowly defeated in five games.

The Knights got a bit of a makeover in the offseason, including the departure of goal-scorer James Neal and the addition of former Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty. Will this year's team have the same chemistry? Will Vegas continue being too fast for its Western Conference opponents to keep up with? Can Marc-Andre Fleury have another triumphant campaign? If the Knights can put all these pieces into play, there's no reason why they won't be playing hockey in June. (Well, unless one of their rivals in the West can unseat them.)

5. San Jose Sharks
No, the Sharks didn't make the list just because they added Erik Karlsson in the off-season.

Team Teal became an increasingly better team at the end of last season with the addition of Evander Kane (who the team also signed to a seven-year deal in the offseason). The addition of Kane to the Sharks' offense made them a faster and more physical bunch, to the point that they were able to stand toe-to-toe with Las Vegas in Round 2 of last year's playoffs before being bounced after Game 6.

Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said after that final game that his team "probably turned too many pucks over" and spent too much time in its own zone. Will that problem be remedied by the addition of two-time Norris Trophy winner Karlsson to San Jose's blue line? Adding him to Brent Burns' d-corps and the Sharks' power play certainly sounds like the ideal recipe for making a run at the Cup.

6.  Winnipeg Jets
If Vegas was the team to bring speed to the Western Conference last season, Winnipeg was the team to bring the most physicality — and had a stout defense that looked as though it could slow down even the Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final last year. But after their longest playoff run in franchise history, the Jets were no match for the speedy new squad from Las Vegas.

Although they lost Paul Stastny to the Golden Knights in the offseason, locking in Connor Hellebuyck between the pipes can help the Jets maintain that sturdy stance on the back end of the ice. Plus, positive showings from some of the younger players in training camp have Winnipeg poised to have another strong season — and potentially make another deep playoff run.

7. Boston Bruins
The Bs took the East by storm late last regular season when they went on a winning tear that boosted them over the Lightning in the standings. With a team so red-hot at the end of the regular season, it came as a bit of a shock — and disappointment for Boston fans, surely — when Tampa Bay knocked the Bruins out of the playoffs in Round 2.

Expectations heading into the season are astronomically high since Boston was relatively quiet this offseason (especially since it's in a division with the Leafs and the Bolts, who are the big powerhouses). That being said, the Bruins tend to thrive when we least expect it, making them a continued threat in the East.

8. New Jersey Devils
This may seem like a long shot, but the Devils showed last season they can play with the best in the league, despite a first-round playoff exit at the hands of a deep Tampa Bay Lightning. So who's to say that Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall and the Devils can't capitalize on what they did last season?

Unseating the Capitals will be no easy feat, given the Devils don't have the same veteran presence as last year's Stanley Cup winner does. Nevertheless, if everyone — not just Hall — can put a strong game together in front of the net, they could be in really good shape.

9. Pittsburgh Penguins
Of course the Penguins make the list of teams that could take the Cup from the Capitals. Granted they aren't a shoo-in like they have been in seasons past, especially since Washington finally beat them in the playoffs last season. But the Pens will still be a tough team to beat.

Per usual, talk of whether the Pens will make it to the Cup Final starts as soon as training camp opens up. Any wounds sustained during camp ensue fear that the regular season will be peppered with injuries. And if Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin don't score goals in their first two tilts, all hell may break loose. But with a longer summer to rest and recuperate, Pittsburgh could be looking at another run at the Cup.