Last Team without stars that won Cup

Dennis Bonvie

Registered User
Dec 29, 2007
29,206
17,561
Connecticut
Thomas won the Vezina, close to winning the Hart too (finished 5th). Had just won in 2009. Chara won the Norris in 2009 was still elite in 2011.

Maybe even to a lesser extent Bergeron.


Either way, the best answer is probably Carolina but Staal had a fantastic year that no one should forget. The problem is he never followed it up so we tend to think of him as not being a great player. But that season, he was.

Bruins leading scorer that year had 62 points.
 

Evincar

I have found the way
Aug 10, 2012
6,462
778
:huh:. He is then very lucky boy. You can have luck, one, two, maybe 3 times. But all season?

He scored 43 goals on just 184 shots. There is luck involved when someone shoots 23.1% for a full season. We'll see how many goals he scores next season with a normalized shooting percentage and when opposing teams make adjustments.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,590
15,949
I don't agree. I suppose it depends upon how you define "star." Thomas Gradin & Stan Smyl were the Canucks' number one line combo for three seasons at that point, always number one & two in scoring, and they definitely had the support of fans here. Granted, on many other teams in the league, they likely would've been second line players, but they filled their leadership roles here well & were arguably the two best players for the Canucks in their run to the Finals, really hitting the peaks/primes of their respective careers at that point. The following season with Darcy Rota on their left side they were one of the top producing lines in the NHL. In addition to Tiger Williams, who you mention above as a "name player," but never a star - definitely one of the best known & colourful players in the league for sure - but you can't discount Ivan Boldirev, who had spent years as the Hawks' number one center & leading scorer. He still managed to put up 33-40-73 playing #2 center behind Gradin. Richard Brodeur had been a Second Team All-Star in the WHA.

John Vanbiesbrouck & young Ed Jovanovski may be the only 96 Panthers arguably better than Gradin, Smyl, Brodeur, Williams , Boldirev, Harold Snepsts & Curt Fraser.

believe me, i admire those canucks a lot. but i understood "star" to be higher than gradin/smyl/boldirev. it's worth noting that between those three players, they only played in two all-star games. and that was in the era where every team gets one guy in the game, leading of course to the immortal john garrett's legendary performance in 1983 (when he almost won the car full of snacks).

i think if you lead the canucks, or the dead cat bounce blackhawks, with 60-85 points, at a time when the guys leading the flames, jets, and kings are scoring 100-135 points, you're just a very good player, not a star.

whereas, john vanbiesbrouck was a legit star. former vezina winner, two-time post-season all-star, former MVP candidate.

marc-andre fleury played in three all-star games, made the canada olympic team, started on a stanley cup winner.

the canucks had a lot of guys i admire. as you say, in addition to steamer and gradin, harry snepsts, king richard, curt fraser, but i wouldn't call any of them stars. at least not anymore than i would call henrik karlsson a star.

there were two legit stars on that canucks teams, and neither was tiger williams, who was a star in a different way obviously. one was ivan hlinka, but he was past his prime. the other was anders eldebrink, who wasn't in his prime yet.
 

Killion

Registered User
Feb 19, 2010
36,763
3,211
believe me, i admire those canucks a lot. but i understood "star" to be higher than gradin/smyl/boldirev. it's worth noting that between those three players, they only played in two all-star games. and that was in the era where every team gets one guy in the game, leading of course to the immortal john garrett's legendary performance in 1983 (when he almost won the car full of snacks).

i think if you lead the canucks, or the dead cat bounce blackhawks, with 60-85 points, at a time when the guys leading the flames, jets, and kings are scoring 100-135 points, you're just a very good player, not a star.

whereas, john vanbiesbrouck was a legit star. former vezina winner, two-time post-season all-star, former MVP candidate.

marc-andre fleury played in three all-star games, made the canada olympic team, started on a stanley cup winner.

the canucks had a lot of guys i admire. as you say, in addition to steamer and gradin, harry snepsts, king richard, curt fraser, but i wouldn't call any of them stars. at least not anymore than i would call henrik karlsson a star.

there were two legit stars on that canucks teams, and neither was tiger williams, who was a star in a different way obviously. one was ivan hlinka, but he was past his prime. the other was anders eldebrink, who wasn't in his prime yet.

... assuming... given the breadth, depth & knowledge of your posting history.... relevancy, intelligence, objectivity.... huge fan of the Czech's, players, system, contributions yes?
 

justafan22

Registered User
Jun 22, 2014
11,629
6,249
None. They all have had stars. Better one to do would be cup final teams to make it without a star.

This year's Vegas team counts, since nobody on their team save Fleury was a star before.
 

vadim sharifijanov

Registered User
Oct 10, 2007
28,590
15,949
... assuming... given the breadth, depth & knowledge of your posting history.... relevancy, intelligence, objectivity.... huge fan of the Czech's, players, system, contributions yes?

you give me too much credit, k. i'm a little embarrassed to admit that i don't know much about '70s czechoslovakian hockey. i know who the big names are, i know they won some WCs, but here i just sort of knew that hlinka was/is a legend as a player.

but i wouldn't call any of them stars. at least not anymore than i would call henrik karlsson a star.

and yikes, did i just the league's third highest scorer and +/- leader mixed up with calgary's old backup goalie? can there not be so many karlssons in the league?


cut.jpeg
 
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Brodeur

Registered User
Feb 27, 2002
25,864
15,276
San Diego
:huh:. He is then very lucky boy. You can have luck, one, two, maybe 3 times. But all season?

Sustaining over 20% is tough, even for the best snipers. T.J. Oshie scored 33 goals and shot 23.4% last year and most of us expected him to regress to his normal shooting percentage this year. He ended up with a 14.2% shooting percentage and ended up with 18 goals.
 

Iron Mike Sharpe

Registered User
Dec 6, 2017
945
1,118
believe me, i admire those canucks a lot. but i understood "star" to be higher than gradin/smyl/boldirev. it's worth noting that between those three players, they only played in two all-star games. and that was in the era where every team gets one guy in the game, leading of course to the immortal john garrett's legendary performance in 1983 (when he almost won the car full of snacks).

i think if you lead the canucks, or the dead cat bounce blackhawks, with 60-85 points, at a time when the guys leading the flames, jets, and kings are scoring 100-135 points, you're just a very good player, not a star.

whereas, john vanbiesbrouck was a legit star. former vezina winner, two-time post-season all-star, former MVP candidate.

marc-andre fleury played in three all-star games, made the canada olympic team, started on a stanley cup winner.

the canucks had a lot of guys i admire. as you say, in addition to steamer and gradin, harry snepsts, king richard, curt fraser, but i wouldn't call any of them stars. at least not anymore than i would call henrik karlsson a star.

there were two legit stars on that canucks teams, and neither was tiger williams, who was a star in a different way obviously. one was ivan hlinka, but he was past his prime. the other was anders eldebrink, who wasn't in his prime yet.

Yeah, I hear you, my man. I always wondered where guys like Smyl & Gradin would've slotted in on other teams with more talent or depth, like the Islanders or Oilers, or even the North Stars or Nordiques... but Smyl being my favorite all-time player leading that run to the Final, he was always a huge star in my eyes. He actually should've been the Canuck to play the 83 All-Star game.
 
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Ishdul

Registered User
Jan 20, 2007
3,989
144
Chara was a recent Norris winner, frequent nominee and IIRC the highest paid defenseman in the league at that point.
 

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