Fluke SCF appearances

[Butch 19]

Vegas knights has to be the first team mentioned

wow - it just doesn't end does it? Even after 10 months of being proved wrong.



(or more than likely you just forgot to add the , right??? good one. )

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Why is everyone saying Vegas? They smacked every team on their way there, including the Cup contending Jets.

 

[BRAINROT]

Everyone on here saying "2018 Golden Knights" is crazy, they had forward and defensive depth that was comparable to other cup contending teams. Not to mention a 3 time Stanley Cup champion in Marc Andre Fleury.

A Caps fan before the start of the season thinking that their team was "primed for a good cup run" with guys like Brett Connolly, Devante Smith-Pelly, Alex Chiasson, Michal Kempny, Jay Beagle, etc. in their depth department is completely mental.

That'd be like me as a Bolts fan saying the 2013 lightning roster was primed for a good run with guys like Brett Connolly, Radko Gudas, Benoit Pouliot, Tom Pyatt, Richard Panik etc.

They were at best trying to manage to stay competitive and see what happens.

I'm in no way saying the capitals don't deserve the cup this year, they played with heart and Holtby played really great when he had to but come on. This was a team that on paper at the beginning of the season was just trying to stay competitive and hope they could catch a ride on Ovechkin and Holtby's back to another playoff appearance and see what happens.

I'm not trying to diminish what they accomplished or managed to put together this season i'm just saying that since this is a thread about "Flukes", that this Capitals roster in comparison to their rosters in the past, that this would be the best example of a "fluke" appearance. The play of Kuznetsov, Ovechkin, and Carlson made it not a fluke but people believing that this was going to be a dominant cup contending force this year at the start of the season would've been dead wrong.

And don't get me started on people saying "2012 Kings, 2016 Sharks...."
I'm starting to wonder how many people actually watch hockey or just watch their favorite team play.

 

[innitfam]

Going back to pre-cap...

1981 North Stars
1982 Canucks
1998 Capitals
2002 Carolina
2003 Anaheim
2006 Oilers

 

[DitchMarner]

91' North Stars. 68 point team, none worse than that. And to take the All-Star team Pens led by Lemieux to 6 games was pretty amazing in itself.

Their PP became a scoring machine in those playoffs. Despite their shitty season, they did have some talent up front. They beat the two best teams in the League and the defending Champions to reach the SCF.

The following players all had 20 or more points for Minnesota in the 1991 playoffs:

Bellows
Gagner
Propp
Broten
Modano

Bobby Smith had 16.

Tom Powers: Bob Gainey recalls North Stars’ epic 1991 playoff run – Twin Cities

 

[Whaleafs]

Do you think you are proving a point with Woolley's point totals? The Sabres had eight guys with double digits in points. It's considered a strength in the playoffs to have depth and scoring from everywhere, not a weakness.

Additionally, why point how good the Sabres would be without the league MVP? They had him, what's it matter what kind of team it would be without him?

It has more value than whatever "point" you were trying to make about winning the league MVP the season before. Or whatever you happen to personally consider a strength about team scoring when 98% of the time someone playing for one of the Cup finalists leads the scoring race.
Leading playoff scorers by year | NHL.com - News
Not to mention Dallas had the top 3 playoff goal scorers, the assist leader & the 2nd & 3rd in overall points.

I'm not sure what your infatuation is with commenting on my posts lately, but if you could just go ahead and assume I have no desire to know any opinion you have about anything ever, that would be great.

 

[KingBran]

2017 Preds

 

[KingBran]

There is no such thing as fluke SCF appearance under the normal playoff format (Blues making the SCF back in the day for example is a different story).

You can make the finals never having to face a dominant team if it just happens to be a weaker year for your conference, but you still were the best team and deserved to make it.

People forget the Blues first season in 1968 cup finals - EVERY game was a 1 goal game and two of the games went to OT. It was basically expansion amatures vs pro's. Anyone from 'the next 6' would have been a "fluke" if anyone is to say the Blues were. They were all amatures vs pro's essentially.

But the fact that they were all 1 goal games with 2 going to OT meant they held their own and the series was a lot closer than a 4 game sweep. But people will just look at it as a sweep and think the Blues got blown out. Hardly the case.

69 and 70 were a different story and of course you got the famous Bobby Orr picture... again though, it wasn't exactly the most level playing field for any 'next 6' team vs the O6.

 

[Roboturner913]

Carolina Hurricanes, accidently had the right team build for post lock out rules with a very hot Ward. Then an even hotter Roloson got injured. Biggest fluke in the modern era.

same core made it to the finals in 2002.

Same core made it to the ECF in 2008.

not a fluke.

 

[valet]

I don't know if you'd call it a fluke or just riding Hasek to the finals, but '99 Sabres.

that wasn't a fluke, those mid-late 90s sabres teams were really good at the game they played. obviously it helps to have the best goaltender of all time behind you.... but hasek's talent wasn't a fluke. he was just amazing

 

[HockeyFan100]

2014 Rangers

 

[DitchMarner]

2014 Rangers

Who won the President's Trophy in 2015?

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

12 wins in the playoffs is no fluke, in my opinion.

 

[Hockeyholic]

2014 Rangers

Not even close. Especially considering they were President trophy winners in 2012 & 2015. I don't know how the answer to this isn't the 91 North Stars or 96 Panthers.

 

[HockeyFan100]

Who won the President's Trophy in 2015?

Uh, definitely not the 2014 Rangers... whatever they did a year later is irrelevant.

 

[HockeyFan100]

Not even close. Especially considering they were President trophy winners in 2012 & 2015. I don't know how the answer to this isn't the 91 North Stars or 96 Panthers.

They barely got past the Flyers in the first round without Mason, then Penguins choked, and then had to face the Canadiens without Price. Out of the teams they had from 2012-2015 that was the worst one imo but they got lucky

 

[DitchMarner]

Uh, definitely not the 2014 Rangers... whatever they did a year later is irrelevant.

They had many of the same players the following season. Why do you think their SCF appearance was a fluke?

 

[Whaleafs]

that wasn't a fluke, those mid-late 90s sabres teams were really good at the game they played. obviously it helps to have the best goaltender of all time behind you.... but hasek's talent wasn't a fluke. he was just amazing

> "best goaltender of all time"
> still couldn't pull it off
> never returned anywhere close to final

Literally never said Hasek was a fluke.

 

[Hockeyholic]

They barely got past the Flyers in the first round without Mason, then Penguins choked, and then had to face the Canadiens without Price. Out of the teams they had from 2012-2015 that was the worst one imo but they got lucky

Who was responsible for the Penguins
" Choking" though? They were a damm good team.

 

[DitchMarner]

2017 Preds

How? They destroyed CHI and then handled STL and ANA. The Predators won the President's Trophy in 2018 with the same core.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

No such thing.

You don't fluke your way through 3 rounds of the playoffs, just doesn't happen.

People might look back at a "weak" SCF team and call them a fluke, but they weren't.

I'm sorry, but the 2002 Hurricanes and 2006 Oilers were damn right flukes. They had an enormous amount of luck go their way and they were both bad teams who missed the playoffs the next season.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

...huh?

You do realize how good the Sens were in 2007, right? The season before, they had 52 wins and 113 points. That season, they had 48 wins and 103 points (after a slow start), including going 31-7-8 in the second half of the season.

They absolutely steamrolled anyone they played, until they met Anaheim, one of the best teams in recent SCF history. They didn't lose more than one game a series until the Finals, taking out a young Penguins team with Crosby/Malkin/Gonchar, a decent Devils team with Brodeur and the top-seeded Sabres, all with ease. They had the best line in hockey which featured one of the best two-way wingers in Daniel Alfredsson (who scored 15 goals in 20 games), a 50 goal scorer in Heatley and a great #1C in Spezza.

I agree with you. 2007 Sens may seem like a fluke because of how big of a mismatch there was in the SCF and because the team nosedived after that season, but in 2007 they were a very good team and prior to that had been on the doorstep for a while and had a 113 point season the year before.

 

[AWSAA]

^

The only fluke thing about it was them finally making the SCF the year after losing Hasek, Chara, & Havlat for nothing. They probably win the Cup in '05 or '06 without the lockout/Hasek getting injured in the Olympics.

 

[valet]

> "best goaltender of all time"
> still couldn't pull it off
> never returned anywhere close to final

Literally never said Hasek was a fluke.

but your fluke argument revolves around the idea that hasek had some sort of miracle performance in those playoffs. he was that good every year.

that's how i interpreted what you said at least

 

[32hunter]

no such thing as a fluke in the NHL playoffs.