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By now we’re all well aware that the Toronto Maple Leafs hold the longest Stanley Cup drought in the entire NHL.  Well, that’s what Damien Cox would like us to believe, but most of us also know by now that the St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings hold the exact same miserable feat to their name.

In light of both the recent deal for Jaroslav Halak by the St. Louis Blues (as well as the lack of any other notable storylines in hockey right now) it got me thinking about how all three of these teams are seemingly on the rise, all emerging from the ashes of long and harsh rebuilding processes.  Whenever one long drought ends, the next longest one seems to end within a short span.  So again, with all three of these teams clearly on the quick road to contention it seems only natural that a Stanley Cup win from one of the Maple Leafs, Kings or Blues is imminent.  Let’s take a further look at whose poised to hoist Stanley’s mug next.

St. Louis Blues

You probably know that just a couple of days ago the Blues took part in what I guess you could in fact call a blockbuster deal with the Montreal Canadiens to acquire a 25-year-old goaltender who very recently carried the Habs to the Eastern Conference Finals: Jaroslav Halak.  To acquire Halak they gave up a future third-line checker in Ian Schultz as well as a pretty nifty center prospect named Lars Eller.  Eller was expendable though, considering the fact that the Blues already have the following players down the middle: a future star in T.J. Oshie, a potential star in Patrik Berglund, a quickly rising second-line grinder in Alex Steen and a veteran center who is arguably of the first line calibre in Andy McDonald.

On the wings the Blues have one of the league’s premier power forwards in David Backes as well as a recently struggling Brad Boyes (who when on top of his game is a 30-goal scorer).  The Blues are a bit weak when it comes to the left-wing, as all they have is pending UFA Paul Kariya as well as the wildly inconsistent French-Canadian sniper David Perron.

As far as the blueline goes the Blues should be set for a long time.  They’ve got the NHL’s best prospect in puck-mover Alex Pietrangelo as well as young stud, former 1st overall selection Erik Johnson.  The Blues also have Ian Cole, an arguable blue-chipper as well as veteran shutdown players such as Eric Brewer and Barret Jackman.  One thing to note is that their three best defenseman of the future (Cole, Pietrangelo and Johnson) are all right-handed shots, a rarity amongst most defensemen.  It may be tough for these kids to click if they all shoot the same way.

In net the Blues have two young prospects in Ben Bishop and Jake Allen, as well as Jaroslav Halak now who will more than likely be St. Louis’ franchise goaltender for the next decade.

Los Angeles Kings

This past season they emerged as a playoff team after a long absence, and it looks as though things are only going to get better for California’s most promising team (sorry San Jose).

Up front the Kings have first-line center Anze Kopitar as well as two of the league’s most agitating power forwards in Ryan Smyth and Dustin Brown.  The Kings also have two above-average checking-line centers Michal Handzus and Jarret Stoll, a blue-chip prospect in Brayden Schenn, an underachieving sniper in Justin Williams as well as pending UFA Alexander Frolov.  The Kings also have a young rising power forward in Wayne Simmonds, and have been linked to rumors surrounding another pending UFA Russian: superstar Ilya Kovalchuk.

On the blueline the Kings have a young star who looks to be a franchise player for years upon years to come in former second-overall selection Drew Doughty.  The Kings also have tough guy Matt Greene, shutdown checker Rob Scuderi and the potential star Jack Johnson along with soon-to-be NHL-ready puck-mover Thomas Hickey.

In net the Kings have a young and serviceable goaltender in Jonathan Quick who is on a cheap contract for three more years.  More noteably however, they have former first-round selection Jonathan Bernier who is poised to be a star.  Bernier will compete for a job in training camp in the fall and it will be interesting to see who takes the reigns over the course of a full NHL season.

Toronto Maple Leafs

We all know they had an unbelievably miserable year, but at the same time I think we all know they’re on the rise, whether its this year or three years from now, they’ve got a lot of key pieces in place that just need to develop a bit more.

On the forwards core the Leafs have young sniper, Phil “I think I can score 40″ Kessel, the speedy Viktor “Pretty sure I can finally play in the NHL” Stalberg and Mikhail “Fucking Crazy” Grabovski.  Along with that they have the young second-line playmaker Tyler Bozak and grinding scorer Nikolai Kulemin.  Oh, and let’s not forget the potential star, but still young and developing Nazem Kadri as well as the maybe bust but hopefully decent power forward in Luca Caputi.  They hope to add more to that core this off-season by dealing Tomas Kaberle.

On the blueline the Leafs are probably pretty much set.  Should Luke Schenn finally begin to emerge as the player we all think he can be this year, should Mike Komisarek have a strong rebound year after a horrible injury-plagued mini-season and should captain Dion Phaneuf get his career truly back on track starting next season, the Leafs will have three of the NHL’s grittiest, toughest defenseman to play against.  Along with that they have Francois Beauchemin, a pretty decent two-way guy who provides leadership.  They also have the young and promising Swede Carl Gunnarsson as well as a stacked prospect pool that includes Korbinian Holzer, Jesse Blacker, Keith Aulie and Juraj Mikus.

In net the Leafs have who will probably be their stud for a long time in Jonas Gustavsson, provided the veteran poise of J.S. Giguere helps back him up to greatness next year.  The Leafs also have a promising prospect pool of three near-NHL-ready goalies in James Reimer, Ben Scrivens and Jussi Rynnas.

Conclusion

You guys may not like this answer but I think a Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup victory is not far away.  Drew Doughty could very well be the league’s next perennial Norris Trophy winner, and should Jack Johnson get his act together that pairing will be just as effective as the Chicago Blackhawks’ tandem of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.  They’ve got a ton of grit and guys who are willing to pay the price to win much like the Blackhawks as well, and their depth in net is not far away from being the NHL’s best tandem as long as they can afford to keep it together.

While the Blues and Maple Leafs have a lot of key pieces in place (Blues have the depth at center, Leafs have the blueline depth) they just don’t hold the same all-around structure that the Los Angles Kings have.  The Kings are literally one Ilya Kovalchuk signing away from becoming perhaps the Western Conference’s best team, while the Blues and Leafs need to add more than just one key piece to push them over the edge.  The overall speed, structure, depth, skill and grit is eerily similar to that of the now defending Stanley Cup Champs, the Chicago Blackhawks, and for that reason a Cup win on the coast of California seems all but a sure thing within the next few years.

Let’s hope I’m wrong.