Name your top 5 single-season teams that didn't win a Cup, in the last 20 years

[Zegras Zebra]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the 2015 Anaheim Ducks yet. That team SHOULD have won the Stanley Cup that year after finishing tied for the top of the Western Conference with St. Louis and comfortably winning the Pacific with 109 points. They had a relatively easy road to the Western Conference final easily disposing of Winnipeg and Calgary before blowing a 3-2 series lead against Chicago. If they didn't blow the WCF, they probably beat Tampa Bay that season.

Pretty much every Detroit Red Wings team from 1999-2010 that didn't win a Stanley Cup deserves consideration for this list.

San Jose from 2004-2006 had good chances at winning a Cup. I don't think if San Jose beat Anaheim in 2009, that they would have won the Stanley Cup that year. I think they would have lost to Chicago in the second round, Detroit if they made it to the WCF, and Pittsburgh if they made the SCF.

The 2010 Capitals were mentioned a lot, and are deserving of being mentioned.

I remember being completely shocked that the 2007 Sabres lost to the Senators in the ECF.

From 1997 to 2003 insert every non-winning version of Colorado, New Jersey, Dallas.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the 2015 Anaheim Ducks yet. That team SHOULD have won the Stanley Cup that year after finishing tied for the top of the Western Conference with St. Louis and comfortably winning the Pacific with 109 points. They had a relatively easy road to the Western Conference final easily disposing of Winnipeg and Calgary before blowing a 3-2 series lead against Chicago. If they didn't blow the WCF, they probably beat Tampa Bay that season.
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If the RANGERS didn't scrap the bed vs Tampa in game 3 and won they would have destroyed the ducks. In both meetings that season the RANGERS crushed them as the Ducks couldn't handle their speed. Ughh what could have been

 

[Big Phil]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the 2015 Anaheim Ducks yet. That team SHOULD have won the Stanley Cup that year after finishing tied for the top of the Western Conference with St. Louis and comfortably winning the Pacific with 109 points. They had a relatively easy road to the Western Conference final easily disposing of Winnipeg and Calgary before blowing a 3-2 series lead against Chicago. If they didn't blow the WCF, they probably beat Tampa Bay that season.

That Hawks vs. Ducks series in 2015 is one of those underrated classics. The Hawks had a triple overtime win in Game 2 and double in Game 4 in which they'd have been in awful shape had they lost those two. I can't give Corey Crawford enough credit for some of the saves he made in that overtime. I remember Corey Perry just being snake bit that series.

Who knows what the Ducks would have done. I mean the Hawks had a tough time with Tampa in the final as well, they were down 2-1 in the series at one point. So who knows.

 

[Zegras Zebra]

If the RANGERS didn't scrap the bed vs Tampa in game 3 and won they would have destroyed the ducks. In both meetings that season the RANGERS crushed them as the Ducks couldn't handle their speed. Ughh what could have been

I'm 95% certain we've discussed what would happen if the Ducks and Rangers met in the 2015 SCF before.

 

[TheMule93]

Some of these recent lightnings teams probably should have won a cup. They've been derailed by injuries in virtually all their runs though. 2014 ECF, 2015 SCF, 2016 ECF, injuries to top players every time.

We'll see what happens this year.

 

[whcanuck]

Why 20 years? It is simple. Everyone is going to have the 1996 Red Wings on here, that's a given. Plus the 1993 Pens, 1986 Oilers, 1971 Bruins, etc. We all know this, but let's make it more recent and a little harder to think about.

What teams starting in 1997 are the best to never win a Cup. The top 5.

#1 1997 Avalanche - Led the NHL in points and were defending Cup champs, all with Sakic and Forsberg missing 20% of the season. But they had everything. Two star centres down the middle, a HHOF goalie, Ozolinsh on defense and a very good defensive corps behind him of stay at home types. Very capable wingers: Kamensky, Claude Lemieux, Young, Deadmarsh, etc. Won their division by 22 points and ultimately lost to the eventual champs.

#2 2010 Capitals - Ovechkin in perhaps his greatest season, Mike Green in a Norris caliber year and a team that just powered it's way offensively all year. 121 points as well. Backstrom, Semin, not to mention good depth up front. It almost seemed as if it didn't matter what Theodore or Varlamov did in net. This team scored 318 goals, the most since the 1996 Penguins. It's funny, because even though Montreal beat them by the skin of their teeth, it still doesn't feel like they even lost to them that year. How do you lose a series when in the last two games you outshot your opponent 54-21 and 41-14?

#3 2011 Canucks - This really looked like their year. Luongo at the peak of his powers, the Sedins too. Kesler winning the Selke. They just had it rolling too. 117 points, murdered their division that year. Won 6 in a row twice, won 7 once, won 8 once. Maybe a puck rushing defenseman would have helped, but then again that's not why Boston beat them.

#4 2003 Senators - This is strange, but at the time you'd have taken Redden over Chara. Either way, a good defensive corps, good chemistry with Yashin long gone and they looked to finally shed their choker label. Led the NHL in points too. I honestly have to wonder if the Leafs would have beaten this dialed in 2003 version even though they did 4 times in 5 years.

#5 2000 Blues - Led the NHL in points with 114. The Blues were always a good team, but they exploded this year and just seemed poised to become a western superpower. Pronger in his Hart year on defense with MacInnis. Turgeon down the middle perhaps ready to shed his "soft" label. Demitra on the wing, and in general some balanced scoring. The wild card was Roman Turek coming out of nowhere that year in net. They looked legit. The Hockey News picked them to win it at the beginning of the playoffs.

Yeah these are some good picks, that 2000 Blues team looked so strong, I still can not believe San Jose beat them in the first round. The 2011 Canucks got too injured and that Bruins team was so tough and skilled. The '03 Senators, oh man I thought that was their year, they didn't have to play Toronto and they forced that 7th game with New Jersey after being down 3-1. Then the Friesen goal happened. The 2010 Capitals? Jaroslav Halak just completely stole that series. The '97 Avalanche were really good but for some reason I wasn't shocked the Red Wings beat them that year, I don't know why, maybe that they were going for payback and had a tougher team than the year before.

I remember the 2003-04 and 2005-06 Red Wings teams just crushing it in the regular season, I figured at least one of them would win the Cup, undone by an Alberta team both years. That '06-'07 Buffalo Sabres team that won the President's Trophy, they were a high-flying scoring machine in the regular season. But Ottawa got em back for the year before and ended their season.

 

[Big Phil]

I remember the 2003-04 and 2005-06 Red Wings teams just crushing it in the regular season, I figured at least one of them would win the Cup, undone by an Alberta team both years. That '06-'07 Buffalo Sabres team that won the President's Trophy, they were a high-flying scoring machine in the regular season. But Ottawa got em back for the year before and ended their season.

I think most people would think of the 2006 Senators before the Red Wings of that year. Here is the issue I had with the 2006 Wings. They were in an easy division. Only Nashville made the playoffs other than them. This meant the Wings played a total of 32 games (for three years at that time divisional teams played each other 8 times) against Nashville, Chicago, St. Louis and Columbus. Yikes! They were 25-3-4 against these teams. The funny thing is, other than the 1996 Wings, there hasn't been a team that had as many points as the 2006 Wings since the 1978 Canadiens. Taking into account the shootout loss, either way it is still impressive. Yet even in the regular season I just didn't like that team as much their point totals suggested.

 

[IslesFan2017]

While not being anywhere near actually winning the cup, Preds 07 looked really good during the regular season but was quite disappointing getting knocked out in the first round.

Thanks for reminding me of this one. I remember that in 2007, the Western Conference was extremely stacked, and I think that maybe the 2006-07 Sharks were one of their best teams which flamed out in the playoffs. They beat the Predators in the first round, and were up 2-1 in the next series against Detroit, and had a chance to go up 3-1 as they were leading the Red Wings late in Game 4. However, they gave up a game-tying goal and then lost the next 2 games in the series. Maybe the Ducks beat the Sharks in the Conference Finals if the Sharks advance anyway, but with Joe Thornton in his prime for the entire season, this seemed to be one of the best chances the Sharks had to win the Cup.
The Western Conference had 7 teams with at least 104 points that year, and the Avalanche missed the playoffs with 95 points, which shows how deep the Western Conference was.

 

[The Pale King]

I agree with a lot of the teams being mentioned here, but I'll throw a homer vote to the '12-13 Kings as well. I know they don't have an amazing record to show, but they've got the Cup wins on both sides of that year. The lockout seemed to really hurt them, despite the extra rest they got. Quick I believe was healing from an injury and didn't hit his stride til really late in the regular season.

Had they made it past Chicago, I think they could have taken the Bruins. That would have been an UGLY series (but entertaining as heck). The 2012-13 team had all the key players from the two cup years, minus Gaborik, but that's offset somewhat by Mike Richards still being a very effective player, and Voynov's emergence as an elite defenseman (tied for the team lead in playoff scoring with Kopitar).

 

[bathdog]

Thanks for reminding me of this one. I remember that in 2007, the Western Conference was extremely stacked, and I think that maybe the 2006-07 Sharks were one of their best teams which flamed out in the playoffs. They beat the Predators in the first round, and were up 2-1 in the next series against Detroit, and had a chance to go up 3-1 as they were leading the Red Wings late in Game 4. However, they gave up a game-tying goal and then lost the next 2 games in the series. Maybe the Ducks beat the Sharks in the Conference Finals if the Sharks advance anyway, but with Joe Thornton in his prime for the entire season, this seemed to be one of the best chances the Sharks had to win the Cup.
The Western Conference had 7 teams with at least 104 points that year, and the Avalanche missed the playoffs with 95 points, which shows how deep the Western Conference was.

Sharks had a few year stretch there where you really felt they should have done better results wise. Agree that the Conference was stacked to a ridiculous degree.

 

[Slapshooter]

A time goes too damn fast. By stretching a little I can name several from early 90’s, though. Some of them from the same season (I’m not actually a fan of any NHL team):

Boston Bruins 1990-91 (or any Bruins run with prime Neely and Bourque)

Chicago Blackhawks 1991-92 (Keenan led a team full of borderline psychopaths almost to the Cup)

Los Angeles Kings 1992-93 (Gretzky, McSorley, Robitaille, Hollywood and the power of mullet)

Pittsburgh Penguins 1992-93 (ridiculous offense)

Pittsburgh Penguins 1995-96 (same as above)

NHL changed in mid 90’s for the worse and while it’s since gotten again better (less grabbing and hooking) and worse (less hostile feelings and physical play)in some aspects, I just never got fully over with it. 2k’s hockey has been too sterile, robotic and irrelevant to name any especially thrilling or memorable teams.