KungFuPenguin
Registered User
I know someone else put together a list like this one, but I couldn't find it, so I made a new one. It lists Stanley Cup Winners and finalists since 1990, and their payroll's relative rank within the league.
Data is taken from this table
http://www.econ.uregina.ca/augustin/Readings/Econ 296/NHL team payrolls - 89 to 03.pdf
As you can see, only NJ won the Cup with a bottom-half payroll. Every other Cup winner since then has been in the upper half of the league, payroll-wise. A lot of runner-ups have made it to the finals with a modest payroll, though.
Please look at the source as well. I'm not sure of its accuracy.
Anyway, discuss.
Code:
Year Stanley Cup Winner Rank Runner-up Rank # of Teams in League
90 Edmonton 3 Boston 10 21
91 Pittsburgh 7 Minnesota 11 21
92 Pittsburgh 1 Chicago 8 22
93 Montreal 9 Los Angeles 3 24
94 NY Rangers 2 Vancouver 18 26
95 New Jersey 7 Detroit 5 26
96 Colorado 11 Florida 20 26
97 Detroit 4 Philadelphia 7 26
98 Detroit 10 Washington 6 26
99 Dallas 2 Buffalo 20 28
00 New Jersey 15 Dallas 4 28
01 Colorado 3 New Jersey 1 30
02 Detroit 1 Carolina 18 30
03 New Jersey 8 Anaheim 15 30
Data is taken from this table
http://www.econ.uregina.ca/augustin/Readings/Econ 296/NHL team payrolls - 89 to 03.pdf
As you can see, only NJ won the Cup with a bottom-half payroll. Every other Cup winner since then has been in the upper half of the league, payroll-wise. A lot of runner-ups have made it to the finals with a modest payroll, though.
Please look at the source as well. I'm not sure of its accuracy.
Anyway, discuss.