I may be mistaken, but I don't think a cup winner in the past twenty years has gone on to not make the playoffs. We only lost Ward and Cullen, and we replaced them with a roster spot for Anton Babchuk and Scott Walker. It really isn't as big of a deal as people claim. Losing Doug Weight's and Mark Recchi's 16 regular season points isn't going to impact this team a great deal. They were one of the best in the league without those rentals, and yet people count them as leaving as if it's part of the core group.
If you want to say everybody on the team had career years, then by all means. However, they're the same group that was in place last year. The top two lines are still the same.
Stillman - Staal - Cole
Ladd - Brind'Amour - Williams
That group of players is a legitimate top six, and they're all still here. Carolina will make the playoffs next year. Where they go from there, that's anybody's guess.
