Why Your Team Won't Win The Stanley Cup

[XIX]

The NHL playoff field is set. Sixteen teams are in, and fourteen are out. Unless you are MIKolbe, I don't think I need to explain to you why the 14 fourteen missing the playoffs (including the Sabres ) won't win the Cup.

Only twice has there ever been a Stanley Cup winner that finished outside of the top-6 in the overall NHL standings. The Penguins did it after finishing seventh, and the Devils finished ninth. But the Devils finished ninth after a lockout-shortened season, and they almost certainly would have finished higher had the season played out for the full 82 games. So if your team doesn't have one of the 7 best records in the NHL, they aren't winning the Cup. That leaves us with the Sharks, Bruins, Red Wings, Capitals, Devils, Blackhawks, and Canucks.

Teams with only 1 or 2 scoring threats do fine in the regular season, but they tend to struggle in the playoffs. That's because teams clamp down on whatever line has all of their scoring. That means the Canucks are going to be eiminated somewhere along the line. Their only bigtime threats are the Sedin twins.

You definitely need adequate goaltending to win in the playoffs, so that eliminated the Red Wings and the Capitals. Recent yours have shown that your goalies don't need to be spectacular. They don't have to win games by themselves, but they do have to avoid squandering games. Otherwise you end up on the golf course the way Carey Price and the Habs did last year.

The Devils have remained true to form in the post-lockout era: outperform all expectations in the regular season when everybody thinks they are finally going to collapse and become a non-playoff team. Get in the playoffs as a top-four seed. Every year without Stevens has been like this. But they've also failed to win more than five playoffs games in a playoff year without Stevens. That bit of history will also repeat.

The Blackhawks are an upstart group of young players that is getting it's first taste of playoff action. Recent history suggests that they won't get out of the first round (2008 Capitals and 2007 Penguins). They certainly won't win four rounds.

The Bruins are good, but they've played way over their heads this year. Tim Thomas is not THAT good--he's a career journeyman goaltender for a reason. Plus, they face their arch-rival Canadiens in the first round. No matter how any games that series lasts, nobody is going to win that series--they'll merely survive and have very little left in the tank for the rest of the playoff run. Teams that win the Stanley Cup traditionally have an easy time in the first round.

That leaves us only with the Sharks, who in this era with their current core of talent, have yet to escape the second round despite having the talent to go all the way. In recent years, they've lost to the Red Wings, Stars, and the Oilers. The way the blew it against the eighth seeded Oilers was so choke-tastic that even Manny Legace was impressed. And people think this is their year? idunthinkso.

So there you have it. Nobody's winning the Stanley Cup this year. Hopefully Tim Thomas blows up so badly that Ryan Miller will be the starting goaltender for Team USA in Vancouver next year.

[Selah]

Boooorrrriiinnng

[T-Bone _]

bah

[Nihil Obstat]

The Flames are winning this year. Last few disappointing runs notwithstanding.

[CatherineM]

Both my teams are on vacation already.

[MIKolbe]

vote c

[princessgianna]

This is also why you don't get dates!

[MIKolbe]

you shouldnt be so mean to XIX

[princessgianna]

I am not being mean! I am being helpful!

[Saint Therese]

I don't have a team.

[SaintOlaf]

[quote name='XIX' post='1833182' date='Apr 12 2009, 10:43 PM']The NHL playoff field is set. Sixteen teams are in, and fourteen are out. Unless you are MIKolbe, I don't think I need to explain to you why the 14 fourteen missing the playoffs (including the Sabres ) won't win the Cup.

Only twice has there ever been a Stanley Cup winner that finished outside of the top-6 in the overall NHL standings. The Penguins did it after finishing seventh, and the Devils finished ninth. But the Devils finished ninth after a lockout-shortened season, and they almost certainly would have finished higher had the season played out for the full 82 games. So if your team doesn't have one of the 7 best records in the NHL, they aren't winning the Cup. That leaves us with the Sharks, Bruins, Red Wings, Capitals, Devils, Blackhawks, and Canucks.[/quote]
95% of statistics are slanted towards a biased viewpoint.

[quote]Teams with only 1 or 2 scoring threats do fine in the regular season, but they tend to struggle in the playoffs. That's because teams clamp down on whatever line has all of their scoring. That means the Canucks are going to be eiminated somewhere along the line. Their only bigtime threats are the Sedin twins.[/quote]

at the Sedin's being legitimate scoring threats in a 7 game series.


[quote]You definitely need adequate goaltending to win in the playoffs, so that eliminated the Red Wings and the Capitals. Recent yours have shown that your goalies don't need to be spectacular. They don't have to win games by themselves, but they do have to avoid squandering games. Otherwise you end up on the golf course the way Carey Price and the Habs did last year.[/quote]

This is where I begin to disagree with you. The Red Wings, just last year, won a cup with a sub-par goaltender by anyones judgment throughout the regular season. Even thought so by his own coach, he was a backup. To win the cup you need people to step up and utilize every facet of their game, Osgood did this.

[quote]The Bruins are good, but they've played way over their heads this year. Tim Thomas is not THAT good--he's a career journeyman goaltender for a reason. Plus, they face their arch-rival Canadiens in the first round. No matter how any games that series lasts, nobody is going to win that series--they'll merely survive and have very little left in the tank for the rest of the playoff run. Teams that win the Stanley Cup traditionally have an easy time in the first round.

That leaves us only with the Sharks, who in this era with their current core of talent, have yet to escape the second round despite having the talent to go all the way. In recent years, they've lost to the Red Wings, Stars, and the Oilers. The way the blew it against the eighth seeded Oilers was so choke-tastic that even Manny Legace was impressed. And people think this is their year? idunthinkso.

So there you have it. Nobody's winning the Stanley Cup this year. Hopefully Tim Thomas blows up so badly that Ryan Miller will be the starting goaltender for Team USA in Vancouver next year.[/quote]

I agree with most of this.

I just need Fides to show up to back me up on my Red Wings homerism.

[Nihil Obstat]

I repeat:

CALGARY FLAMES.

That is all.

[SaintOlaf]

Flames/Blackhawks is going to be a great series, right up there with San Jose/Anaheim (hooray for grinding San Jose down so early) and Boston/Montreal.

[Nihil Obstat]

[quote name='SaintOlaf' post='1833604' date='Apr 13 2009, 12:16 AM']Flames/Blackhawks is going to be a great series, right up there with San Jose/Anaheim (hooray for grinding San Jose down so early) and Boston/Montreal.[/quote]
It sure will be!

I have a friend who's a huge Blackhawks fan. I'll bet he's completely ecstatic about our matchup, because now he's at least guaranteed to see all the first round games for his fave team.

I'm not quite as happy, considering this season is an 0-4 record against 'em.

it's ok though. I remember like... seven years ago where Calgary was hopeless. I've seen what they can do.

[SaintOlaf]

Both Calgary and Edmonton have always seemed to find a way to put the will of the entire nation of Canada on their back and blow away the expectation.

I know Detroit's been on the wrong end of that a few times in the last decade.

I always loved the intensity that the Flames and Oilers play with (sorry Vancouver fans, not you)