"Down" seasons by generally good teams

[acor]

Sometimes it happens that generally good team misses playoffs, then comes back to being contender next season... Examples in modern history:

Detroit 89/90 ("legendary" playoff srtreak should be 4 years longer if that season never happened)

New York Rangers 92/93 (PT winner'92 to not making playoffs'93 to PT winner+SC Champion'94)

Dallas Stars 01/02 (One of three major Western Powerhouses in late 90s/early 00s missed playoffs in 02...then back to #1 seed in 03)

San Jose 14/15 (legit, although undrachieving team missed playoffs, just to post best season in franchise history next year)


How would you explain those seasons ??? Are there any more examples ...???

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[vadim sharifijanov]

new jersey in '96, philly in '07 come immediately to mind.

 

[Megustaelhockey]

Injury is often the root cause of this phenomenon.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

A few reasons for Dallas's collapse in 2002 and subsequent rebound:

- Belfour's decline. Belfour was a good goalie in 2001, but was awful in 2002 (2nd worst save percentage of the 33 goalies who played in 40+ games). Turco was vastly superior to Belfour in 2002, but was still kept in a backup role. In 2003, Belfour went to the Leafs (and he had a spectacular rebound season), and Turco continued his strong level of play as a starter (the team as a whole had the fewest goals against in the conference).

- Loss of Hull. Hull had a strong season in 2001 (scored 39 goals - two goals out of 7th place), but he signed with Detroit (along with Hasek and Robitaille) that summer. In 2002, Modano was the only Star to score more than 49 points. Turgeon (signed during the off-season) was solid when he played, but missed a fair amount of time to injury. In 2003, Lehtinen had a big year (31 goals), Zubov was great (3rd in defenseman scoring), and they signed Guerin in the off season (solid 25 goal season).

As for the Rangers:

There was a lot of turmoil in the dressing room. Roger Neilson was fired mid-season (though the Rangers had a winning record at that time; they collapsed under Ron Smith, who never coached another NHL team). Nielson publicly accussed Messier (who won the Hart in 1992) of failing to lead his team. Mike Keenan took over in 1994 - he and Messier got along well.

Leetch was injured in 1993 (played in just 36 games). He played well when healthy, but that`s still a big step down from his Norris winning campaign in 1992. He rebounded in 1994 and was a 2nd team all-star.

There were a few big performances in 1994 that also helped them rebound. Zubov was a solid rookie in 1993, but was superb in 1994, scoring 89 points. They also added Tikkanen, whose modest offensive totals understates his all-around performance.

Finally, Richter and Vanbiesbrouck shared goaltending duties in 1992 and 1993. It worked well in 1992, but Richter earned a lot of starts in 1993 despite having a mediocre year. Vanbiesbrouck was traded for Doug Lidster (who played 34 games for the Rangers) in the offseason but Richter was spectacular in 1994 (6th best save percentage among 29 goalies appearing in 40+ games).

 

[tony d]

I remember picking the Sharks to win the Cup in 2003, they didn't even make the playoffs that year. How about the 1993-1994 Nordiques? Had that great year in 92-93, didn't make the playoffs in 93-94. Turned into a league power after that.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

I remember picking the Sharks to win the Cup in 2003, they didn't even make the playoffs that year. How about the 1993-1994 Nordiques? Had that great year in 92-93, didn't make the playoffs in 93-94. Turned into a league power after that.

Montréal missed the playoffs in 1969-70 and won the Cup (yawn... ) the next season

 

[Sticks and Pucks]

I get the feeling the 14/15 Kings and the 15/16 Habs will probably be in this conversation in the future.

 

[kaiser matias]

Even though the 2003-04 Avalanche didn't exactly fair poorly, finishing fourth in the West, when one considers they had signed Kariya and Selanne that off-season, it felt somewhat hollow. Didn't help that they failed to win a division title for the first time in a decade as well, going back to their Nordiques days (though this was only by one point). But it just felt like they should have easily powered through the league that year, and they didn't.

 

[Eric Sachs]

Devils in 2011 kinda qualify. I know some people will say it was a sign of things to come but not really.. the team fell apart because multiple key pieces left, it wasn't the same team.

The Devils went from consistently making the playoffs every year since '96 and usually a threat to win the division to finishing 8th worst in the league, the first time they finished in the bottom 10 in decades.

The following year, they were in the SCF with a 100+ point regular season.

I'd pin most of 2011 on Maclean being absolutely terrible at coaching + Parise was lost for the year.

 

[Passchendaele]

I get the feeling the 14/15 Kings and the 15/16 Habs will probably be in this conversation in the future.

2015-16 Habs weren't a good team.

Everybody was overachieving early on (i.e. Dale Weise who had as many goals as Ovechkin) and they had the best netminder in the NHL. They eventually got exposed.

 

[VanIslander]

The Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1945
then
They missed the playoffs in 1946 (their two centers Ted Kennedy and Syl Apps were injured)
then
They won three consecutive Stanley Cups thereafter.