The 2009 Stanley Cup Finals matchup has been set, as the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins will face off against each other for the second year in a row. This is the first time since the 1984 Stanley Cup Finals (when the Edmonton Oilers faced the New York Islanders for the second year in a row) that the same two clubs will face each other for the second straight year.

Detroit earned the right to defend its championship by dispatching the upstart, revitalized Chicago Blackhawks in five games, while Pittsburgh earned a return trip to the Finals by defeating a very tough Carolina Hurricanes team (which itself had knocked off New Jersey and top seeded Boston) in an impressive four game sweep.

The core of each team returns from last year, with one notable exception – 30 year old Slovak star Marian Hossa now plays for the Red Wings, having left the Penguins as a free agent at the end of last season. Hossa has been quoted as saying that signing with the Red Wings gave him the best chance at winning a Stanley Cup. He can expect a very unfriendly reception from Penguins fans when the series shifts to Pittsburgh for Game 3.

Detroit will, as usual, be led by its seemingly ageless captain, Swedish defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. Lidstrom, now 39 years of age, remains among the world’s top five defensemen and one of the sport’s elite players. Star offensemen Hossa, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, together with Johan Franzen, will be counted on by the Red Wings to provide the bulk of the offense, with secondary scoring from Dan Cleary (who looks like a first liner with 8 goals this playoff season so far), Valtteri Filppula and Mikael Samuelsson. Chris Osgood will return to guard the Detroit goal. Osgood is a three time Stanley Cup champion with the Red Wings, including twice as a starter. While his statistics languished at the bottom of the NHL’s goaltenders this year, the 36 year old has a proven history of playing extremely well in the pressure-cooker of the playoffs, and this year has been no exception, with Osgood having considerably raised his game from what he showed in the regular season. Detroit’s depth is better than any team in the world; its fourth line of Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Justin Abdelkader (or occasionally Darren Helm, who scored the overtime clincher vs. Chicago) could play on the third line of most NHL teams, and its third defensive pairing of Jonathan Ericsson and Brett Lebda could play on many teams’ second defensive unit.

Pittsburgh is led by its two superstars – 21 year old captain Sidney Crosby and 22 year old assistant captain Evgeni Malkin. Crosby is the leading scorer to date in this year’s playoffs with 14 goals and 14 assists for 28 points in 17 games, and has a chance to match or even break the all time NHL record for goals scored in a single playoff year (19, scored by Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976 and Jari Kurri of the Edmonton Oilers in 1985). Malkin is tied with Crosby with 28 points through 17 games (on the strength of 12 goals and 16 assists); this is an especially impressive total considering his slow start to this year's playoffs and his tepid numbers in last year's Finals. He has been hot, having had 6 straight multiple point games, which ended with the final game of the Carolina series. While the Penguins lost Hossa, they have added tough scoring forward Chris Kunitz
(12 points in 17 games) and still capable, veteran 38 year old forward Bill Guerin (7 goals, 7 assists for 14 points in 17 games with a very impressive +11 plus/minus rating). Ukrainian forward Ruslan Fedotenko is having a strong playoff with 6 goals and 5 assists for 11 points. The defense is strong, with all-around defenseman Mark Eaton (4 goals, +10 plus/minus rating), physical stay at home defenseman Brooks Orpik, defensively sound Rob Scuderi, young Kris Letang, stalwart Hal Gill and a still offensively dangerous, 35 year old Sergei Gonchar leading the way. 24 year old goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has finally shaken the inconsistent play that had plagued him throughout his NHL career, and has emerged as a dependable, and occasionally brilliant, NHL starter. He has been particularly strong in this year’s playoffs, coming up with many spectacular saves at crucial times.

The Penguins are, for the most part, a young team. They are coming into their prime, and are battle tested - and have learned - from last season. Crosby and Malkin are two of the top three offensemen in the sport at the moment, recalling, for many, the imposing Mario Lemieux - Jaromir Jagr combination that led the Penguins to back to back Cups in 1991 and 1992. However, Crosby and Malkin are, like Lemieux before them, emerging as complete, all around players in addition to their elite offensive numbers (Crosby has a +12 plus/minus rating, while Malkin is +3). They also have a pair of key veteran leaders in Guerin and Gonchar.

Detroit is a mostly older, veteran team that has been battle-tested many, many times. The Red Wings are the NHL benchmark club for basically the past fifteen years - they have won 4 Stanley Cups in the past 11 years, and have reached the Western Conference finals 8 times in the past 14 years.

However, Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Datsyuk & Draper have had some nagging injuries, and for as well as Osgood has played in this year’s playoffs, the Penguins' Fleury has been better. Lidstrom recently lost his playoff ironman streak at 228 games, the 6th longest in NHL history. He's still day to day. Kris Draper, Detroit's best faceoff man, has missed most of this year's playoffs due to injury.

While Detroit still has better depth than any other team (including Pittsburgh) and championship experience, and while the Stanley Cup Finals are wide open in terms of which club will emerge victorious, yours truly expects the Penguins to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1992 after defeating the Red Wings in a draining seven game struggle. Of course, given the Red Wings' history, predicting them to lose is a perilous game.