Both Chicago and LA almost pulled off being dynasties. They have virtually the same lineup throughout their championship runs. They just didn't play well enough to do it more often.
Almost and almost. Both lost their quality depth due success/raises and that's it. End of an era, if your prospect development isn't hitting home-runs year after year.
Same happened for us, we were strong as hell until 2009 when Zeta was with 2.65M caphit and Mule 942k. When they got their paychecks, the quality depth was gone, because our every star player (Dats, Zeta, Lids, Rafi, Mule) was market priced. No team can keep that depth on long run.
The point is, Stanley Cup winners or runner-ups almost always have most underpaid players. But sooner or later, they want to get paid. And that means, "getting paid" happens elsewhere. You lose that depth.
If you have strong productive 3rd line, which usually is the differencemaker against other contenders, it doesn't fit under the cap on long run.
