Best Teams since the 2005 lockout to not win the Cup?

[ChiefWiggum]

The 07 Sabres, 06 Senators, 11 Canucks and 13 Penguins all come to mind for me. Who do you think of?

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[bathdog]

Not sure about best, but few that springs to mind that should have done better: Predators 2007, Sharks 2008-2010, Capitals several (2010, 2017 etc).

 

[GlitchMarner]

2016 Capitals may be the best.

 

[Wrath]

2011 Canucks is probably the consensus pick for "great team that was expected to win" at all stages (regular season, early playoffs, SCF, etc.).

2013 Bruins I think were hot at the right time, and watching them play the Blackhawks in the SCF it looked like they would win, then they just sort of... didn't (including a massive choke in the clinching game). They weren't really a season-long favorite though.

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

2014 Bruins were deep. I thought those guys were going to win. Just ran into their nemesis Montreal in the second round.

2009 Sharks were really good too. Were expected to win from the start of the season until they got eliminated. That was the year that guys like Thornton and Marleau really earned their choker labels.

 

[Terry Yake]

06 Wings and Sens
09 Sharks
11 Canucks

 

[McGarnagle]

2011 Canucks is probably the consensus pick for "great team that was expected to win" at all stages (regular season, early playoffs, SCF, etc.).

2013 Bruins I think were hot at the right time, and watching them play the Blackhawks in the SCF it looked like they would win, then they just sort of... didn't (including a massive choke in the clinching game). They weren't really a season-long favorite though.

The 2013 Bruins were great and on a roll in the playoffs, but they were actually the #4 seed after struggling through the end of the regular season.

2011 Canucks were pretty loaded and were the favorites going into the playoffs, but even then a lot of voices were questioning their mental toughness.

I'd say the 09 Red Wings are the best team to not win the cup. They had basically the team that just won the cup plus Marian Hossa.

 

[tony d]

2013 Bruins and 2011 Canucks. Homer vote maybe but the 2006 Senators as well.

 

[Voight]

2006 DRW were sooooo stacked.

 

[GMR]

2006 DRW were sooooo stacked.

They had an amazing regular season with eight players scoring 20 or more goals. They had 11 more points than anyone in the league, despite having only four shootout wins, which was about middle of the pack. .

The problem is that the team wasn't built for the playoffs. They had six fighting majors the entire season and were soft as butter. Shanahan wasn't a playoff performer anymore, despite netting 40 goals in the regular season. Datsyuk was still struggling in the playoffs at this time. Yzerman was old. Legace was a choker. At the time, they looked like Cup favorites, but in hindsight, it's hard to see them winning another round even if they got past Edmonton.

I would say the 2009 Wings were the strongest non-Cup winner post-lockout. They were defending champions and added Marian Hossa to their roster. They came as close as possible without repeating and overcame a crapload of injuries to get that far. I believe they beat the Blackhawks with Datsyuk and Lidstrom missing the last part of that series. They got past an underrated Ducks team that year, who they struggled against in prior years.

My next choice would be the 2011 Canucks, who were dominant at every phase of the game that season. They just don't have the playoff pedigree that the 2009 Wings had.

 

[Voight]

They had an amazing regular season with eight players scoring 20 or more goals. They had 11 more points than anyone in the league, despite having only four shootout wins, which was about middle of the pack. .

The problem is that the team wasn't built for the playoffs. They had six fighting majors the entire season and were soft as butter. Shanahan wasn't a playoff performer anymore, despite netting 40 goals in the regular season. Datsyuk was still struggling in the playoffs at this time. Yzerman was old. Legace was a choker. At the time, they looked like Cup favorites, but in hindsight, it's hard to see them winning another round even if they got past Edmonton.

I would say the 2009 Wings were the strongest non-Cup winner post-lockout. They were defending champions and added Marian Hossa to their roster. They came as close as possible without repeating and overcame a crapload of injuries to get that far. I believe they beat the Blackhawks with Datsyuk and Lidstrom missing the last part of that series. They got past an underrated Ducks team that year, who they struggled against in prior years.

My next choice would be the 2011 Canucks, who were dominant at every phase of the game that season. They just don't have the playoff pedigree that the 2009 Wings had.

Weren't they missing Lidas and Datsyuk for like 3 games in the SCF too?

Fleury makes the secret service save one time out of every 10 chances.... crazy how close they came to going back to back.

 

[IslesFan2017]

Another underrated pick maybe but what about the 2008-09 Devils? Zach Parise had his best season of his career, and Martin Brodeur suffered an injury during the season, but he was back for the stretch run and the postseason, meaning that he was healthy and well-rested which I thought would be huge for them going into the playoffs. Obviously the Hurricanes comeback in Game 7 of their first round series ended the Devils hopes that year.

 

[MarkStone]

Weren't they missing Lidas and Datsyuk for like 3 games in the SCF too?

Fleury makes the secret service save one time out of every 10 chances.... crazy how close they came to going back to back.

Must be just me but I've always seen that situation as one where I would have been surprised if Lidstrom had scored on that shot. He got to a slow moving puck very late in the dying seconds with d-men closing in on him that allowed Fleury to laterally move to cut off the angle very well. Lidstrom didn't really have alot of room to shoot that puck past Fleury if you take another look at it. Of course the situation could have been very different if the puck was moving faster, Lidstrom was closer to the net, or if Fleury had even slipped while trying to push across.

 

[Voight]

Another underrated pick maybe but what about the 2008-09 Devils? Zach Parise had his best season of his career, and Martin Brodeur suffered an injury during the season, but he was back for the stretch run and the postseason, meaning that he was healthy and well-rested which I thought would be huge for them going into the playoffs. Obviously the Hurricanes comeback in Game 7 of their first round series ended the Devils hopes that year.

While they did have five 60 pt scorers, names 3-5 on that list are Zajac, Langenbrunner and Gionta. & there was a big drop off from that.

 

[EpochLink]

Homer vote goes to the 2011 Canucks.

2009 Sharks I had pencilled in for the WCF, then they blew it against Anaheim.

2006 Senators should’ve gone all the way but they completely fell of the rails against Buffalo.

The Capitals of 2009/2010/2016 should have reached the SCF with those stacked teams.

 

[GMR]

Weren't they missing Lidas and Datsyuk for like 3 games in the SCF too?

Fleury makes the secret service save one time out of every 10 chances.... crazy how close they came to going back to back.

I believe Datsyuk missed the first four games of the SCF. I don't remember Lidstrom missing any games in the SCF.

 

[justafan22]

Could be the 2009 red wings. Carbon copy of the team that won in 2008 with Hossa as well.

Another would be the 2011 canucks.

2010 capitals though for me is the answer. Mike Green almost scored at a PPG pace that year with Ovechkin right in the middle of his peak with Backstrom and Semin. They lost because Halak stopped 131 of 134 shots from games 5-7 in that series.

 

[GordieHowsUrBreath]

08 pens

16, 17 caps

14 hawks

13 bruins

 

[Langdon Alger]

2013 Bruins and 2011 Canucks. Homer vote maybe but the 2006 Senators as well.

A healthy Hasek and maybe adding a top six forward before the deadline, and that team probably has no glaring weaknesses.

Acquiring Arnason was useless. He was awful. Doug Weight and Olli Jokinen were guys Ottawa was supposedly interested in. Weight went to Carolina and Jokinen stayed in Florida I believe. A strong second line centre behind Spezza would have been a big help.

 

[Voight]

08 pens

16, 17 caps

14 hawks

13 bruins

"One of these is not the like the others"

 

[EpochLink]

A healthy Hasek and maybe adding a top six forward before the deadline, and that team probably has no glaring weaknesses.

Acquiring Arnason was useless. He was awful. Doug Weight and Olli Jokinen were guys Ottawa was supposedly interested in. Weight went to Carolina and Jokinen stayed in Florida I believe. A strong second line centre behind Spezza would have been a big help.

Doug Weight would benefited them greatly.
They sorta made up for it the next year when they got Comrie for their 2007 finals run.

But Arnason was garbage, I don’t know what Muckler was thinking at that time.

 

[GordieHowsUrBreath]

"One of these is not the like the others"

please explain to me how a team that only lost 2 eastern conference playoff games and then won the cup the next season is "not like the others", or maybe you meant they are better than the others because those teams weren't as dominant but i doubt it

tell me more about how great an ottawa team that never came close to winning anything is so much better, you know the same ottawa team this 08 pens team swept

or the 09 sharks losing in the first round LOL

 

[ShelbyZ]

They had an amazing regular season with eight players scoring 20 or more goals. They had 11 more points than anyone in the league, despite having only four shootout wins, which was about middle of the pack. .

The problem is that the team wasn't built for the playoffs. They had six fighting majors the entire season and were soft as butter. Shanahan wasn't a playoff performer anymore, despite netting 40 goals in the regular season. Datsyuk was still struggling in the playoffs at this time. Yzerman was old. Legace was a choker. At the time, they looked like Cup favorites, but in hindsight, it's hard to see them winning another round even if they got past Edmonton.

The one factor I always go back to with the 2006 Red Wings was the schedule. That was the first year they decided to go with the "inter-division heavy" schedule, where you played each team in your division 8 times a year as a way to try to create some rivalries for less storied teams. That year, the Red Wings got 8 games each against the last place Blues, 3rd from last rebuilding Blackhawks and still trying to establish themselves 6th from last Blue Jackets. I think they went something like 21-1-2 in those 24 games. IIRC, something like 16 of Shanahans 40 goals came in those 24 games.

While still definitely a good team, I often wonder how much closer to Earth they might have been with more than just Nashville as their worthwhile divisional competition.


Back on topic... I'd say the 2007 and 2009 Red Wings rank up there. The 2007 team took the eventual winner Ducks to 6 games while missing their #2 and #3 dmen, while the 2009 team was essentially the 2008 team with Drake and Lilja subtracted and Hossa and rookie Ericsson added, just unfortunately a few more injuries than the 08 team.

 

[c9777666]

I got to 2006 Wings over Senators because Detroit was healthier and Ottawa had played basically the 2nd half post-Olympics without Hasek.

 

[Big Phil]

2006 DRW were sooooo stacked.

I like the 2009 team better. The 2006 team had one thing going for them, a terribly weak division. Yes on the surface this team got 124 points. The most any non-Wings team has gotten (1996 had 131) since the 1978 Habs. Even with the shootout wins in place for ties, it was still impressive historically. However, they played the Blues, Hawks, Predators and Blue Jackets 8 times each because of that format after the lockout that favoured divisional games. Their record in those 32 games? 25-3-4.

The 2009 team was reigning champs. Sorry, I never thought the San Jose Sharks were going to win the Cup that year, or any year, even though they led the NHL in points.

That being said, other teams to remember were the 2006 Sens, 2010, 2016 and 2017 Capitals. You always kept thinking this was Ovechkin's "year" because they led the NHL in points and did what they always did, put themselves in the perfect spot to win. Yet they never did. Go figure, this will be the year they do it when they have a more modest point total.