What were the past few Stanley Cup finalists missing that prevented them from a Cup Win

[BlackAdam]

Just a few examples I came with

2010 Flyers
Bad Goaltending. How the Flyers got that far with Michael Leighton to begin with is insane. Although The Blackhawks goaltending wasn't great either with Niemi, They managed to outscore their mistakes in that series

2011 Canucks
Offense Dried Up immediately entering the Cup Final especially that top powerplay that the Bruins shut down. Series went 7 games but the Canucks could have easily been swept. The victories were all 1 goal games where they just squeaked by (game 1: goal scored in the final minute of the 3rd, game 2: overtime and game 5: goal scored in the last 5 minutes of the 3rd) Also the Canucks didn't have a big body on Defense to clear out Bruins players screening Luongo in front of the net. Bruins feasted in the slot area in that series.

2014 Rangers
Not enough offensive depth and really weak on Center. Rick Nash went cold after a decent Eastern Conference Final. Although the rangers lost in 5, games were pretty close with few of them going into overtime.

2017 Predators
Although they had one of the best defensive cores entering the cup final and "Pekka Rinne was too good," the Predators couldn't match the scoring depth of the Penguins roster: Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel. Especially with Ryan Johansen going down with injury.

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[Kcb12345]

2020 Dallas - needed an elite talent in their top 6, a productive Tyler Seguin, and a healthy team.

Or you know a single goal from Gurianov, Hintz (got injured), Seguin, Benn, or Radulov could've helped. Even then Tampa is a tall task tho and still a better offensive team. Would've been a closer series though I imagine. A healthy Bishop wouldn't have hurt either, but Khudobin was mostly fine.

 

[Nizzle]

The problem with the 2010 Flyers was also their 3rd D pairing which was the dynamic duo of Lukas Krajicek and Ryan Parent so basically they had 4 defensemen.

 

[jetsforever]

I know the 2018 Golden Knights had legendary chemistry and whatnot but they probably could have benefited from some actual skill players.

 

[ThorNton Apologist]

I know the 2018 Golden Knights had legendary chemistry and whatnot but they probably could have benefited from some actual skill players.

They had some “skill” players but I get what you mean. If they had acquired Stone a year earlier, they would have likely won

 

[ThatAvsGamer]

Just a few examples I came with



2011 Canucks
Offense Dried Up immediately entering the Cup Final especially that top powerplay that the Bruins shut down. Series went 7 games but the Canucks could have easily been swept. The victories were all 1 goal games where they just squeaked by (game 1: goal scored in the final minute of the 3rd, game 2: overtime and game 5: goal scored in the last 5 minutes of the 3rd) Also the Canucks didn't have a big body on Defense to clear out Bruins players screening Luongo in front of the net. Bruins feasted in the slot area in that series.

What you meant was Thomas didn't pump Luongo's tires*

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

I don't know. It seems like to me they ended up where they should have. No cup champion is perfect either.

 

[GrkFlyersFan]

2010 Flyers-Well, you covered it. Goaltending and a 3rd D pair. Remember, Leighton nor Boosh were the starter of that team. Then again, we knew Emery was done for the year before the deadline
2011 Canucks-PP opportunities, Luongo able to play in Boston
2012 Devils-Oh come on, their 4th line wasn't going to stay hot forever
2013 Bruins-Clutch saves late in Game 6
2014 Rangers-Depth
2015 Lightning-Healthy Bishop, experience
2016 Sharks-They were just too old by then, their time was around 2009
2017 Predators-Rinne able to play in Pittsburgh, competent officiating
2018 Golden Knights-High-end talent
2019 Bruins-Finishing on their Game 7 opportunities
2020 Stars-Healthy Bishop again, top players playing at full potential

 

[The Macho King]

2015 Lightning - just got the injury bug really bad. Johnson had a broken wrist. Kucherov had a separated shoulder.

Also our third pairing was abysmal but still playing 15 minutes a night.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

If Seguin gave half of Kane, the Bruins have a 2nd cup.

 

[Spirit of 67]

2017 Predators-Rinne able to play in Pittsburgh, competent officiating

Johanson injury hurt them a lot.

 

[JT Kreider]

Rangers: That Martinez shot from the point to not go in in Game 7 in Chicago

 

[Brodeur]

2012 Devils: Another top four defender could have helped. Pairings for most of the playoffs were Greene-Fayne, Salvador-Zidlicky, Volchenkov-Harrold. Henrik Tallinder was sidelined for five months and came back for the final three games of the SCF. Adam Larsson hit the rookie wall a few months before the playoffs. Larsson scored a big goal in his first playoff game, but the coaching staff didn't seem to trust him and opted for Peter Harrold.

But perhaps another D was easier said than done. The only other rental D moved at the deadline that year were Hal Gill, Nicklas Grossmann, and Pavel Kubina; The Devils gave up a comparable price to bring in Marek Zidlicky at the deadline.

Edit: We did have Anton Stralman in training camp on a PTO but Lou opted not to sign him. Stralman would sign for 900K with the Rangers.

The offense dried up a little bit in the Finals but credit the Kings for that. It was a small change, but the coaching staff opted for fresh legs in Jacob Josefson over Petr Sykora late in the ECF and for the first three games of the SCF. I'm an unabashed Sykora mark, so I would have liked to have seen if he could have helped earlier against the Kings.

 

[bradrich99]

wins

 

[nhlfan9191]

Rangers: That Martinez shot from the point to not go in in Game 7 in Chicago

Chicago had 3 cups in 6 seasons in that time span. Whoever made it out of the ECF in the east that year was screwed regardless of who they played.

 

[njdevils1982]

2012 Devils: Another top four defender could have helped. Pairings for most of the playoffs were Greene-Fayne, Salvador-Zidlicky, Volchenkov-Harrold. Henrik Tallinder was sidelined for five months and came back for the final three games of the SCF. Adam Larsson hit the rookie wall a few months before the playoffs. Larsson scored a big goal in his first playoff game, but the coaching staff didn't seem to trust him and opted for Peter Harrold.

But perhaps another D was easier said than done. The only other rental D moved at the deadline that year were Hal Gill, Nicklas Grossmann, and Pavel Kubina; The Devils gave up a comparable price to bring in Marek Zidlicky at the deadline.

The offense dried up a little bit in the Finals but credit the Kings for that. It was a small change, but the coaching staff opted for fresh legs in Jacob Josefson over Petr Sykora late in the ECF and for the first three games of the SCF. I'm an unabashed Sykora mark, so I would have liked to have seen if he could have helped earlier against the Kings.

getting at least one win in the first two OT games would've helped also

 

[tenken00]

2018 Vegas Golden Knights: a soul

 

[David Bruce Banner]

I largely agree with your Canucks synopsis... they really needed someone who could clear out the front of their net, but they also needed someone who could get in front of the Bruins net and score some short goals. I don't think Thomas ever had to make a second save the whole series.

 

[IceNeophyte]

2018 Vegas Golden Knights: a soul

That's all they had.

 

[Gurglesons]

Predators win if RyJo doesn't get hurt as a Penguins fan.

 

[SouthWest]

2016 Sharks-They were just too old by then, their time was around 2009

That isn't even remotely the case here:

Burns was 30 scored, 75 points that year and won the norris the next.
Couture was 26 and scored 30 points in 24 playoff games.
Pavelski was 31 and lead the playoffs with 14 goals.

Solid support from Donskoi, Hertl, Nieto, and Tierney, all of which were under 25 at the time.

The team only had 5 guys over the age of 30... The average age of the roster was 27.3 which is younger than the current Tamba Bay roster at 27.42.

What the Sharks needed was speed, they didn't have anyone on the roster that could keep the foot pace with the penguins top three lines.

 

[CupsOverCash]

I'd say Dallas and Vegas needed a little more scoring up front that they could depend on when things get tough. Still think that is what they need. Nashville as well if you think about it as they had good goaltending and d. SJ was too slow for Pittsburgh. Tampa wasn't mature enough to win those must win games against the Blackhawks. Still had some key lessons to learn. Rangers just were not going to win vs that really tough LA team. They had everything and the rangers just had a good roster and great goalie.

 

[AvroArrow]

2008 pens, lack of deep playoff experience
2009 wings, major injuries. Datsyuk and Lidstrom, they were up 2-0 before they went down.
2010 flyers, goaltending and the hawks were one of the best teams in recent memory
2011 nucks, didn't have gregory campbell and his daddy
2012 devils, I don't think they belonged there tbh. WCF was the SCF for me
2013 bruins, depth
2014 rangers, just outmatched all around. Forward/D/Depth
2015 lightning, no deep playoff experience
2016 sharks, not enough depth to deal with pens
2017 preds , RyJo injury
2018 vegas, elite scoring
2019 bruins, depth and out goaltended
2020, nobody was beating that Tampa team.

 

[GoldenSeal]

2019 - Bruins lacked Gloria.

 

[Brodeur]

2012 devils, I don't think they belonged there tbh. WCF was the SCF for me

Kings started to gel after the trade deadline, but it's not like the Devils had a bad season. New Jersey had a 102 point season but they just happened to be in a stacked division with the Rangers (109), Penguins (108), and Flyers (103). Boston won their division with 102 points.

Odd to think that the Kings (95 points) and Coyotes (97 points) would have been considered a shoo-in favorite to win over the Devils/Rangers.