Tampa Bay: Are we witnessing the best roster in the cap era?

[T REX]

We played them last night and they are good but I saw some cracks in their foundation showing. I think the Oilers could beat them in a 7 game series.

Lolololol. Hilarious. The bolts dominated the Oilers. The Jets I think would go 7 games. Oilers? Naw.

 

[Tamfastic]

That quite literally makes no sense! Basically what you are saying is you would rather, not win a Cup, with the best looking team on paper, then have your team actually win the cup. Back in 95-96 the Wings went 62-13-7 during the regular season and blitzed pretty much everyone, however they did not win the Cup. Your logic says they were the best team that year, which they weren't as they did not win the Cup, the trophy that is reserved for winning it all.

Yes my logic says that they were the best team that year, even if they did not manage to win the cup. They had the best chance to win the cup of all teams that year. Sample size in playoffs is much smaller and luck has much bigger influence. Tampa lost to Arizona 1-7 this year, are you saying Arizona is a better team than Tampa this year? If the playoffs would have been repeated 100x times, im sure Detroit would have won the majority of the 100 Stanley Cups because they were the best team.

Even if my team is 5:1 favorite to win something, that doesnt mean the dice wont roll 1. The best team has the best odds.

 

[AndreRoy]

Certainly one of the most stacked on paper, but until they win a Cup it doesn’t mean anything. Players can land on the “greatest to never win a championship” list and still be respected after their careers are over; teams that end up on that list are almost always forgotten (a notable exception being the Buffalo Bills teams that went to and lost four straight Super Bowls.)

 

[Madifer]

We played them last night and they are good but I saw some cracks in their foundation showing. I think the Oilers could beat them in a 7 game series.

No. The oilers could not beat them in a 7 game series or highly unlikely.

With the proper motivation they would obliterate the Oilers lol.

If this best of 7 started next week then Id give the oilers 10-15% chance to win 4 games. And Im being generous as Im in my xmas mood

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

Yes my logic says that they were the best team that year, even if they did not manage to win the cup. They had the best chance to win the cup of all teams that year. Sample size in playoffs is much smaller and luck has much bigger influence. Tampa lost to Arizona 1-7 this year, are you saying Arizona is a better team than Tampa this year? If the playoffs would have been repeated 100x times, im sure Detroit would have won the majority of the 100 Stanley Cups because they were the best team.

Even if my team is 5:1 favorite to win something, that doesnt mean the dice wont roll 1. The best team has the best odds.

Luck happens for both sides. Are you saying that the winning team is the only one with the luck, and the losing team earned everything they got if the losing team is the favorite?
You have to be very secure in yourself as a team to win in the playoffs. You have to have a stronger fortitude. You can just ride through a lot of the regular season, you can just go through the motions and win a lot of games. You only see teams once at a time, and it's a long season, teams are not going to be as focused on you as they can be for that one game. And boom, there's another win for you, and it could be a convincing win when teams are just not that familiar with your playing style.
Everyone knows the rules before each season. The best team is the one that can make the playoffs and win the cup. That's the object. Nobody gets into this just to pile up a bunch of wins in the regular season.
Maybe the team that wins a lot of regular season games is sacrificing some playoff level of hockey just to only look at the short side of winning in the regular season and feeling like that should take care of the playoffs hockey level on it's on. Maybe you have to sacrifice some energy in the regular season to save up for the higher level you have to raise up to in the playoffs to win it all.
Maybe teams that do win in the playoffs sacrifice some regular season wins to try to include the whole picture. They could win more regular season games if they want to, but maybe that's not the right mentality to win in the regular season and the playoffs.

 

[VoluntaryDom]

Also @Kamiccolo Tampa took Pittsburgh to more games than San Jose did lol

 

[Ahoy there]

There is no doubt how good TB is. I'll withhold saying they're the best cap era roster until they hoist the Cup. I remember the Patriots going undefeated and losing the Super Bowl to Eli (lol.) The "best" the "greatest" have to close. I think they are the favorites, but it doesn't always work out that way.

 

[Team Cozens]

Honestly I think they are very beatable in a playoff series. Not by every team but I think that the top end ones or ones who can play them properly it won't be easy, but they are beatable.

However in the regular season when they just keep rolling they are in a league of their own.

Agreed. Boston and Washington can keep up with Tampa’s physical style.

 

[SEALBound]

2010 and 2013 Hawks rosters were pretty loaded...but that's considering how many of the cast offs went on to be impact players elsewhere.

The 2016 Penguins team was deep but that entire team caught the entire league off guard. They were there to burn down your village...quickly...and honestly, no one had anything to say about it.

This Tampa team is impressive though.

 

[LeafFever]

They have to win the cup this year. They have lost 2 out of the past 3 East. conf. finals. If they don't win, no one cares how good the roster looks.

 

[DistantThunderRep]

Luck happens for both sides. Are you saying that the winning team is the only one with the luck, and the losing team earned everything they got if the losing team is the favorite?
You have to be very secure in yourself as a team to win in the playoffs. You have to have a stronger fortitude. You can just ride through a lot of the regular season, you can just go through the motions and win a lot of games. You only see teams once at a time, and it's a long season, teams are not going to be as focused on you as they can be for that one game. And boom, there's another win for you, and it could be a convincing win when teams are just not that familiar with your playing style.
Everyone knows the rules before each season. The best team is the one that can make the playoffs and win the cup. That's the object. Nobody gets into this just to pile up a bunch of wins in the regular season.
Maybe the team that wins a lot of regular season games is sacrificing some playoff level of hockey just to only look at the short side of winning in the regular season and feeling like that should take care of the playoffs hockey level on it's on. Maybe you have to sacrifice some energy in the regular season to save up for the higher level you have to raise up to in the playoffs to win it all.
Maybe teams that do win in the playoffs sacrifice some regular season wins to try to include the whole picture. They could win more regular season games if they want to, but maybe that's not the right mentality to win in the regular season and the playoffs.

So if luck both ways becomes equal, then it's talent on paper that is the deciding factor. Both sides can be lucky in the playoffs and that's why we can't equate it to a deciding factor to make a decision. That's why the luck argument seems weak to me because it can go both ways. Tangible factors is the quality of players directly and performance of the season. Do I think it matters that we are good now, or we are considered the top team? No, I'm in the boat that says until we win a cup or two, we are nothing but a real good team that doesn't cash in.

Edit: Just want to add, that in hockey, nothing else matters besides winning the cup. All other accolades that people clamour over is just fluff to subside the feeling that their team didn't win the cup. IMO of course.

 

[DFC]

They have to win the cup this year. They have lost 2 out of the past 3 East. conf. finals. If they don't win, no one cares how good the roster looks.

I don't think it's a "have to win this year" thing. That's like saying Washington had to win in 2016 or whenever. The window will be open for a while yet in TB. This is just the first year where it appears "wide" open, mainly because of the way McDonagh and Stamkos are playing.

 

[ANDI P IS CUTE]

the 2003-04 leafs roster was amazing even though they did not win. lots of HOF's. Sundin Belfour Mogilny Francis Leetch McCabe Kaberle Nolan Roberts Tucker Nieuwendyk Domi.

 

[Turin]

2008 Wings has the best top 9 and top 4 D at least. The 2008 Penguins were by far the best team in the East and the Red Wings made them look short handed for an entire series. Granted, that 2008 Penguins team got by on talent and were horribly coached.

 

[Nooks]

Flightless Birds...they've had a pretty insane team in the cap era.

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

So if luck both ways becomes equal, then it's talent on paper that is the deciding factor. Both sides can be lucky in the playoffs and that's why we can't equate it to a deciding factor to make a decision. That's why the luck argument seems weak to me because it can go both ways. Tangible factors is the quality of players directly and performance of the season. Do I think it matters that we are good now, or we are considered the top team? No, I'm in the boat that says until we win a cup or two, we are nothing but a real good team that doesn't cash in.

Edit: Just want to add, that in hockey, nothing else matters besides winning the cup. All other accolades that people clamour over is just fluff to subside the feeling that their team didn't win the cup. IMO of course.

I agree. I think the true test of a team is not how you look on paper, but how you perform on the ice. And that's just how I like it. If we only had to look at rosters to determine the winner, that would be boring. It would be less than boring, it would be nothing.

 

[LeafFever]

I don't think it's a "have to win this year" thing. That's like saying Washington had to win in 2016 or whenever. The window will be open for a while yet in TB. This is just the first year where it appears "wide" open, mainly because of the way McDonagh and Stamkos are playing.

They don't have to win it this year, but major questions will occur (It would on some other teams already) if they fail again to win the cup.

 

[hatterson]

the 2003-04 leafs roster was amazing even though they did not win. lots of HOF's. Sundin Belfour Mogilny Francis Leetch McCabe Kaberle Nolan Roberts Tucker Nieuwendyk Domi.

And it was definitely a cap era roster...

 

[DFC]

They don't have to win it this year, but major questions will occur (It would on some other teams already) if they fail again to win the cup.

Meh, that feels almost like a TB vs. the field situation. It's a good situation to be in, but I don't think any team is more than what? 25% to win a cup? A lot of things can go wrong in the playoffs.

 

[DFC]

the 2003-04 leafs roster was amazing even though they did not win. lots of HOF's. Sundin Belfour Mogilny Francis Leetch McCabe Kaberle Nolan Roberts Tucker Nieuwendyk Domi.

Most of those players were well past their best days by then though.

 

[JoVel]

Meh, that feels almost like a TB vs. the field situation. It's a good situation to be in, but I don't think any team is more than what? 25% to win a cup? A lot of things can go wrong in the playoffs.

Yeah if a team has say 70% chance of winning any playoff series, their odds of winning the Cup are only about 24%. In a salary cap era there are no teams that could have a higher chance of winning the Cup that not winning it.

 

[Crow]

They are probably in the top 5. Scoring is higher now so don’t fool yourself.