Cy Denneny Playoffs, Part 2
1924: Ottawa was defeated for the NHL championship by Montreal, 5-2 on total goals. Denneny scored the only two Senators goals, so it looks like his team let him down in this one. Clint Benedict seems to have received much of the blame.
1926: It was Ottawa versus the Maroons for the NHL championship, and Montreal were the winners, 2-1 total goals. This was a notable upset. Denneny didn't record any points.
1927: Ottawa defeated the Canadiens in the semi-final, 5-1 on goals. Denneny was said to have scored a nice goal in the first game. He seems to have been in top form in the Final against Boston. He scored the insurance goal in a 3-1 Ottawa win in Game 2. He scored the tying goal in Game 3 (finished a 1-1 tie), and then scored two goals in the decisive Game 4 (3-1 Ottawa win). King Clancy seems to have been Ottawa's best player by now, but Denneny might have been their top forward in this particular Cup win.
1928: Denneny seems to have gone from upper-echelon scorer to insignificant substitute almost overnight. He dressed for Ottawa's two playoff game, but it is unclear whether he even left the bench at all in the series (the Trail claims that he did not during the first game in particular).
1929: Denneny, now in Boston, is listed as a sub for three of their playoff games, but it is again unclear whether or not he actually participated.
Conclusion: Denneny's playoff career can almost be split in two, it seems. In the earlier days, there's really no evidence that he was of particular importance to Ottawa. As
@BenchBrawl concluded when going through the detailed newspaper accounts from the time period, the other star players on Ottawa simply get much more mention and accolades than Denneny. Nighbor, Darragh, the defensemen, Benedict, even Punch Broadbent are mentioned as the keys to success more often than Denneny is.
Denneny does seem to have stepped up and filled the void as these great Ottawa players got old and/or moved on. They probably don't get past Montreal in 1923 without him, and he was instrumental to their Cup win in 1927, despite being at the end of his career.
How we view Denneny's regular season resume in light of this is open to interpretation. He was always at the top of the scoring race and looks great on the surface. But with the caveat that it's a small sample size, the recounting of playoff games from 1918-22 would suggest it's possible, if not probable, that Denneny was a benefactor of the great players around him and the stats overstate his case. In his defense though, he may indeed have been a Joe Malone-level player who was simply surrounded by even greater teammates. He did continue producing in the regular season and seemed to become more prominent in the playoffs even as Ottawa slowly declined throughout the mid 1920's.
At this point, I think I must rate Denneny 5th out of the five players who played the majority of their relevant seasons on (near)dynasties when it comes to playoff performance. Jari Kurri's scoring prowess, consistency, and defensive role on one of the best center-winger combos ever give him the edge. Fedorov was indispensable as the two-way threat of the great Red Wings teams, and was probably their playoff MVP of the 1990s decade. Bentley and Broda were clearly next in line on the Leafs dynasty after Kennedy. Denneny strikes me as closer to being "only" a Glenn Anderson, Brendan Shanahan, or Harry Watson equivalent in terms of general importance.
