mercury
Registered User
Worst ever? Not sure, but possible (have to say, Tampa's D was nothing special either...). Ward *did* overachieve, sure. But, see, e.g. Vernon had terrible save % almost all his career yet came up big enough in playoffs for not one Cup, but two. It happens.
Bottom line, the 2006 Canes winning the Cup was far less of an overachievement than '96 Panthers making the finals... or many others already mentioned in this thread. That team was one of league's best. '96 Panthers were trap team with no talent and Vanbiesbrouck.
I still hate that team. I was 13 years old and just getting into hockey with the Lindros-era Flyers, and that team beats us and then a tremendous Penguins team to get to the Finals. We could have had Flyers-Pens in the ECF and Avs-Wings in WCF; the four division winners, the four best records in the NHL, two epic Conference Finals, and a classic Cup Finals. Instead, we got a four-game sweep of one of the most boring, infuriating teams ever by a superior opponent.