The one-off "mirage season", where a bad team appeared to have broken through... but hadn't

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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There's finally some hope among Oilers' fans that the team might be competitive again this season (hoping this post doesn't look hilarious 7 months from now). In retrospect, the 2016-17 season was a mirage -- it appeared the club had broken through into the realm of winning teams, but subsequently they went straight back into the crapper:
2006-07: missed playoffs
2007-08: missed playoffs
2008-09: missed playoffs
2009-10: missed playoffs
2010-11: missed playoffs
2011-12: missed playoffs
2012-13: missed playoffs
2013-14: missed playoffs
2014-15: missed playoffs
2015-16: missed playoffs
2016-17: 103 points, third-most wins in the West
2017-18: missed playoffs
2018-19: missed playoffs

This might be an extreme example, but are there other such teams in history where they suddenly had a one-off strong season in the midst of a desert-period?
 

The Pale King

Go easy on those Mango Giapanes brother...
Sep 24, 2011
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The 2013-14 Avalanche fit the bill. A 112 point season surrounded by three seasons missing the playoffs before and three seasons missing after.

It looks extra crazy when you're looking at the charts on paper, because they went from a 16 win season to a 52 win season. But of course, one of those seasons was the lockout year, with just 48 games.

Has Patrick Roy's weird Dickensian/Elway-esque coaching fling slammed the door shut for future goalies coaching at the NHL level? I'd love to see what Brodeur could do behind the bench. Conversely, I could see a Mike Smith coached team pulling some Roger Nielsen 2.0 level antics.
 
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Normand Lacombe

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Jan 30, 2008
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The 2001-02 Blackhawks. The previous four seasons, Chicago finished under .500 and missed the playoffs each year. After finishing 14 games above .500 and finally making the playoffs in 2002, Chicago would go on to miss the playoffs every season until 2009.
 

VanIslander

A 19-year ATDer on HfBoards
Sep 4, 2004
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The 1977-78 Detroit Red Wings.

After missing the playoffs for the previous 7 seasons, the team got 33-year-old now-HHOF-inducted Vaclav Nedomansky from the WHA (where he had been 3rd in goals and that league's Lady Byng equivalent), and he helped spark a playoff berth, Nedo then leading the Wings with 8 points in 7 playoff games, losing to the dynasty Canadiens in the 2nd round. It seemed the Wings franchise was back on track.

But, despite the Czechoslovakian scoring 35+ goals the following two seasons in Detroit, the team didn't return to the playoffs until 1984.

 
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quoipourquoi

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Jan 26, 2009
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The 2013-14 Avalanche fit the bill. A 112 point season surrounded by three seasons missing the playoffs before and three seasons missing after.

It’s not like the 2014-15 (90 points) or 2015-16 (82 points) teams did that bad. Or the 2017-18 (95 points) and 2018-19 (90 points) teams. If anything, 2016-17 (48 points) is the one from the past 6 seasons that wasn’t indicative of their talent level.
 

Voight

#winning
Feb 8, 2012
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The 2013-14 Avalanche fit the bill. A 112 point season surrounded by three seasons missing the playoffs before and three seasons missing after.

It looks extra crazy when you're looking at the charts on paper, because they went from a 16 win season to a 52 win season. But of course, one of those seasons was the lockout year, with just 48 games.

Has Patrick Roy's weird Dickensian/Elway-esque coaching fling slammed the door shut for future goalies coaching at the NHL level? I'd love to see what Brodeur could do behind the bench. Conversely, I could see a Mike Smith coached team pulling some Roger Nielsen 2.0 level antics.

Roy was a fine coach. IIRC he wanted more say in hockey ops and Sakic said no, but in Roy's defence he did run a major junior team for a number of years so he wasn't exactly green at the whole GM/scouting thing.

I remember the 2014 Avalanche being boosted by MackInnons great rookie year, then you still had ROR + Duchene. Mack followed it up with several disappointing seasons until 2 years ago when they traded Duchene and gave him the top minutes he needed to break out.
 

JianYang

Registered User
Sep 29, 2017
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As the OP mentioned, the oilers fooled me too

Not only were they not able to reach that level again, but they ended up going right back to where they came from, and are still trying to this day to get out of this place.
 

Super Fadio Bro

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The Toronto Maple Leafs made the playoffs once between 2005 and 2016 (2013)

The Atlanta Thrashers made the playoffs once in their entire existence in Atlanta (2006-07)
 
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tony d

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Jun 23, 2007
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Would the 1992-1993 Nordiques qualify here? I know they went on a good run in 1995 and after but they did miss the playoffs in 1993-1994. 1992-1993 was a good year for them after missing the playoffs for so many years and being quite a poor team.
 

LeBlondeDemon10

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Jul 10, 2010
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The Jets of the 80's were infamous for good year bad year. One season they could play with the Oilers (even though they always lost), the next it was pad the stats for 99.
 
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LightningStorm

Lightning/Mets/Vikings
Dec 19, 2008
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2016 Dallas Stars. Missed the playoffs 6 of the previous 7 seasons, had the #1 seed in the West that season, then missed the playoffs the following 2 seasons.
 

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