How does 2019 TB rank with other notable first round flop teams with monster records?

[holy]

So I guess CBJ magically added an artificial heart at the trade deadline

Nah, they just went thru the motions all year long. It's like the difference between a spoiled rich kid and a hardened working class boy.

 

[Flipwon]

I'd say it's the worst not only because it was 4-0, but the way they went out was really sad. The games were just ugly.

These weren't 4 tightly won, super close games..

 

[mr figgles]

The Flyers ‘86 season was sandwiched between 2 finals appearances, and coincided with Pelle Lindbergh’s death. It probably doesn’t belong here.

 

[bobholly39]

Most other 'choke jobs' in hockey recently you still had the losing team do supremely well but eventually lose

Caps completely dominated play in 2010 but couldnt solve Halak

Detroit shot a million times and played better but got Giguered in 03

Toronto did have a collapse in game 7 and for a single game 7 thats really bad - but Boston was the better team and they had already exceeded expectations making it to game 7.

This is definitely the most underwhelming collapse from a top team ever. Tampa looked pathetic all series long.

 

[Voight]

Its one thing to get swept as a #1 seed but to get swept after having one of the best regular seasons ever... ouch

 

[gtrower]

This was a weird matchup. Tampa ties the win record, and went 2-1 against the Caps down the stretch. But those three games strengthened my resolve that the Caps would win a rematch because we just looked better than them.

Columbus has been a dark horse each of the last 3 seasons if Bobrovsky ever got his head on straight. The whole Metro was tightly bunched the whole second half of the season. And that was before CBJ went for broke at the TDL.

Think I still picked Tampa in 6, but this wasn’t a typical 1/8 matchup. And CBJ’s roster is solid up and down if Bobrovsky keeps thinking it’s February.

 

[DFC]

Gotta be the worst. It may have broken me as a hockey fan.

 

[slicedbread]

The worst ever. The worst choke in sports history.

You should have seen 98 olympics what happened to team canada

 

[God King Fudge]

Gotta be the worst. It may have broken me as a hockey fan.

I sure know it did for me. Without some pretty big changes in the build of the on ice personnel and a coaching change, I will not watch this team next season.

Mediocrity cannot be accepted.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

WOAT 1st round flop for sure.

2nd being the 2005-06 Red Wings. 57 wins and out in 6 in round 1

 

[The Panther]

1993/2017 Chicago had the best record in their conference, but also got swept (0-4 by STL and NSH, respectively).

1971 Bruins, 1990 Flames, 1986 Flyers, 1994 Red Wings, 2006 Red Wings, 1991 Blackhawks, 2012 Canucks, 2003 Red Wings.

TB is in their company. How does this compare and contrast with these other teams that had similar flameouts in the FIRST ROUND (albeit not sweeps)

(HINT: for better answers to this question, you should post it on the History Forum.)

Well, Chicago in 1993 was pretty darn bad. 1st overall, and they had a strong team with 3 Hall of Famers (possibly two more to come), and they'd been to the Finals the year before. They were swept by the Brett Hull Blues, which were barely a .500 team that year. However, at least you can point to the Blackhawks' lack of offence as a clear achilles' heel all that season, and indeed they failed to score at all in two of the four games lost. So, I think Tampa's incredible offence and well above-average defence makes them a stronger seed than Chicago in '93, though this one was pretty darn bad.

2017 Chicago was "only" third overall, and they lost to a good Nashville team that ended up two wins shy of the Stanley Cup. So, definitely Tampa '19 is worse than that.

The 1971 Bruins hugely disappointed (sandwiched between two Cups), but they lost to a .622 Montreal team that went on to win the Cup and had 10 Hall of Famers. So, not even close to Tampa in 2019.

The 1990 Flames had already dropped 18 points from the previous (Cup) season, and had lost three of their key team leaders/veterans. They had a poor coach (Terry Crisp) who'd lost the players before the playoffs started, and they faced the high-scoring Gretzky Kings (who would be a 1st place team the next season). Calgary was undone by a game three overtime loss, followed by a game four that was perhaps the most embarrassing loss any defending Cup champ has ever suffered (presumably after a night partying in Hollywood). This was a bad flop, and is kind of comparable to Tampa this year. Tampa this year was much more dominant, but Calgary in '90 were super deep in good players and were defending Cup champs. At least Calgary went six games, but the way they lost game four was utterly humiliating, so I'll call this a tie with Tampa.

1986 Philly was also really bad. A great team in that era, they lost in 5 games (it was best out of three for the final time in '86) to a sub-.500 Rangers squad. In fairness, the Rangers then took down another really good team (Washington) before running into Patrick Roy, so at least they were really "on" in spring '86. I think I'd say Tampa '19 is slightly worse because Philly was still a young team, and their embarrassing loss was sandwiched between Cup Final appearances.

Detroit in 1994 is not as bad as Tampa this year. San Jose had gone 8-2-1 to close the season and were peaking, and finished "only" 18 points behind Detroit, which was 4th overall that season.

The 2006 Wings are a tough one to compare. With a .756 season, they were almost as dominant as Tampa this year, and on paper they should have beaten Edmonton with room to spare. But since mid-December, the Oilers had gone 35-17-9 and been one of the League's top teams. They had Chris Pronger and eventually went to the seventh game of the Finals. So, I don't think was as bad as Tampa this year (though the jury is still out on how good Columbus really is this season, I guess).

The 1991 Blackhawks are not as bad as Tampa. They did have a great season, but it was their first great season in a long time, and they weren't established yet as a top team. They lost to Minnesota in six, so they were not swept. And furthermore, Minnesota was one of those "teams of destiny" in 1991 that just cut other teams down (like Edmonton in 2006). They also took down 2nd overall St.Louis and the defending champs Edmonton, and challenged Cup champ Pittsburgh.

The 2012 Canucks, I'm not really sure. (I was actually living in Van in late 2011, but I left the country in early 2012 and missed out completely on what happened after that.) But even though they had another good season, my feeling is that most hockey observers thought they had kind of shot their wad in 2011. People weren't as impressed by them in 2012. More to the point, though, they lost to the Cup champion (L.A.), so unless Columbus wins the Cup this year, that automatically means Tampa's situation is worse.

The 2003 Red Wings are maybe a closer comparable, but, again, they weren't as dominant as Tampa and they lost to a really good team that almost won the Cup. Tampa's situation this year is worse.

******

So, in conclusion, I'm going to say that the following three are in a similar ballpark to Tampa in 2019:
1) 1986 Philly (swept by the Rangers)
2) 1990 Calgary (lost in six to L.A.)
3) 1993 Chicago (swept by St.Louis)

And the worst of those three is probably Calgary in 1990, but Calgary was 2nd overall (not 1st) and they lost in six (weren't swept). Also, Calgary (1st NHL in offence) lost to the team with the 2nd best offence, which hardly seems like Tampa's case this year.

So, I think Tampa's 2019 case is indeed possibly the worst first-round flop by a team with a monster RS record. What makes it even worse (to me), is that the team's captain, Steve Stamkos, was minus 8 in the series. As Tampa allowed only 14 ES/SH goals against (and Stamkos got a 'plus' in game four), that means Stamkos was on the ice for at least 9 of those 14 goals against (possibly more). That is... bad.

 

[Fataldogg]

Worst choke in NHL history.

Only Presidents Trophy team ever to be swept. Tied an NHL record in wins.

Tampa Bay will need a serious rehaul heading into next season.

 

[NyQuil]

I sure know it did for me. Without some pretty big changes in the build of the on ice personnel and a coaching change, I will not watch this team next season.

Mediocrity cannot be accepted.

It's amazing what a few months of off-season will do.

You'll be back.

My owner traded all of my favourite players over and over again and I still come back.

 

[AfroThunder396]

The worst ever. The worst choke in sports history.

Not sure why this is a discussion.

18-1

 

[glovesave_35]

If Hedman and Stralman had been healthy then maybe.

Don't think it matters when the record is so strong. A team like that should be able to walk through whoever they draw in the first round. To not even win a game is pathetic.

 

[WingsFan95]

The worst ever. The worst choke in sports history.

Not sure why this is a discussion.

Agreed.

 

[WingsFan95]

18-1

7 game series upset>>>>>>>1 game upset.

Always.

 

[holy]

They would've won easily if they held on to Drouin. He was clearly the heart and soul of the team.

 

[Sojourn]

2003 Red Wings were sweep but they faced one of the best goaltending performance ever, with Giguere giving 6 goal on 171 shots, it was a bit of non sense

They also weren’t a flop. They dominated those games. It was kind of ridiculous how much better they were than the Ducks. Giguere just played out of his mind. I don’t think there is any question that Detroit was the better team on the ice in every way, save one.

Not a Wings fan at all, but that team doesn’t belong in this discussion. They played every bit like the dominant team they were. I’m sure you could say they could have done some things differently, or better, but they played very, very well.

Basically, what I’m getting at, is I don’t think a great team losing to a hot goaltender qualifies for this discussion. We’ve seen that a hot goaltender can win a series, and there is no shame in that. That’s hockey. It’s frustrating when it happens to you, but that’s just part of the game. It’s different when you have a team that should dominate(or, giving the credit to Columbus they deserve, should at least have been much more competitive), who just don’t seem to show up.

 

[Reality Check]

closest thing i can think of is the 2007 warriors beating the #1 seed mavericks in the 1st round of the NBA playoffs

dallas was 67-15 that season while the warriors were 42-40

But even then Dallas managed to win two games. Tampa Bay was just straight up embarrassed and can't even use the all too common hot playoff goaltender.

It's easily the biggest choke in NHL history.

 

[nbwingsfan]

The worst ever. The worst choke in sports history.

Not sure why this is a discussion.

Sports history: NO

NHL History: YES

 

[Slyfox]

Biggest choke in NHL history. They had no weaknesses and they were relatively healthy and headed into the PO still playing well.

 

[Reality Check]

They also weren’t a flop. They dominated those games. It was kind of ridiculous how much better they were than the Ducks. Giguere just played out of his mind. I don’t think there is any question that Detroit was the better team on the ice in every way, save one.

Not a Wings fan at all, but that team doesn’t belong in this discussion. They played every bit like the dominant team they were. I’m sure you could say they could have done some things differently, or better, but they played very, very well.

Basically, what I’m getting at, is I don’t think a great team losing to a hot goaltender qualifies for this discussion. We’ve seen that a hot goaltender can win a series, and there is no shame in that. That’s hockey. It’s frustrating when it happens to you, but that’s just part of the game. It’s different when you have a team that should dominate(or, giving the credit to Columbus they deserve, should at least have been much more competitive), who just don’t seem to show up.

Giguere was not only on another level but played that way up to game 7 of the SCF. Never a big fan of Curtis Joseph but that series wasn't on him at all.

Bobrovsky(?) played good enough to win but I wouldn't even consider him as the traditional hot goalie right now. Even if his asking price is going up.

2006 Wings? Manny Legace? Give me a break.

Not even worth discussing.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

In the end it was a David vs Goliath battle.
David went all in at the trade deadline for better swords & better arrows.
Goliath was so sure of himself he didn't get anything at the trade deadline cause he was sure he would defeat David even if blind folded
Result: David slays Goliath.

 

[acor]

Well, they will be talked among all those great RS teams that failed to win, obviously...
But, unless Columbus will pull "2012 Kings", then this sweep is something unprecedented, and and will be talked about more than Tampa's season itself...