Frankly, I voted for Vancouver without backchecking all the seasons and because they somehow came "closest" to winning the Stanley Cup in 1994. Rather than a solid reasoning, I will try to defend my vote from being an embarassment and point out that the Canucks had more Division titles than Buffalo and prepared their organisation for a quite successful period right now.
Gruß,
BSHH
The numbers just don't add up. They both entered the NHL in 1970, so they are directly comparable, and the Sabres are clearly more successfull
Win/Loss Record - Sabres 1487 Wins, 1158 Losses, 409 ties, 62 OT/SO Losses
Nucks 1248 Wins, 1413 Losses, 391 ties, 64 OT/SO Losses
Divison Titles - Nucks 7, Sabres 6 - The only category the Nucks have an edge
Conference Titles - Sabres 3, Nucks 2
Playoff Appearances - Sabres 28, Nucks 23
Getting Past 1st Round - Sabres 14, Nucks 10
Final 4 - Sabres 6, Nucks 2
Final Appearances - Sabres 2, Nucks 2 (Total Won/Loss in the finals Sabres 4wins, 8losses and Nucks 3wins, 8losses).
There really is no objective way that somebody could pick the Nucks over the Sabres.
A successful franchise means a strong bottom line to me. The Canucks have only really been close to the cup once but have been sold out for years.
This poll is strictly about on-ice success. If you want to do poll on the financial success of teams, that should be in the Business of Hockey board.