jkutswings
hot piss hockey
- Jul 10, 2014
- 11,084
- 8,842
And that's the part I don't understand.Apparently "anything" can happen if you make it in. Team planes would have to collide mid-air in order for this garbage team to win the Cup.
Yes, since the inception of the salary cap, there has definitely been a greater frequency of lower seeds going deeper in the playoffs. But a closer look shows some significant details and trends among those lower seeds, which definitely do not bode well for Detroit hoping in the "anybody can win" theory:
The 2005-06 Edmonton Oilers squeaked in as the 8th seed, and made it all the way to Game 7 of the Finals, before losing to the Carolina Hurricanes. But this was a run anchored first and foremost by goaltender Dwayne Roloson (acquired for a 1st round pick at the trade deadline), and, to a lesser extent, by Chris Pronger anchoring the blue line. Really, Roloson stole the show, posting a .927 save percentage, despite facing an average of 34 shots in each of his 18 games played. Had he not gotten injured in Game 1 of the Finals, Edmonton might have completed the Cinderella run.
The 2011-12 Los Angeles Kings won the Cup as an 8th seed. The epitome of, "anything can happen", right? Except that LA wasn't a team with 8th seed talent, but one with significant upheaval, that finally caught fire at the end of the regular season. The team, notably the forwards, had gotten so out of synch, that they fired Terry Murray in December, and eventually brought in Darryl Sutter. Oh, and they traded for Jeff Carter at the deadline, who went on to tie for the team lead in playoff goals, including the Cup clincher. Not to mention that the entire run was on the back of some insane goaltending by Quick.
And didn't we just witness Nashville, the lowest seed of either conference, make it to Game 6 of the Finals? Yep, and once again, it included a major roster move, trading Weber for Subban, and on the back of a long stretch of outstanding goaltending by Rinne.
So if the Wings really want to follow the model of making noise as an 8 seed, they're likely going to need a major roster move to shake things up, and are definitely going to need borderline historic goaltending.
With this GM in charge of trades, and these goalies? Good luck with that.