Would the Islanders been cup champs?

[Ignite111]

Cap hit or not it's clear that Tampa is the best team in the world and will soon be back-to-back Stanly Cup champs. In each of the past two years, Tampa beat the Islanders in the Eastern Conference Finals being the better team. With that being said if the Isles were to have gotten a few bounces and somehow won both series, would they have another Stanley Cup(s) to be added to their franchise history?

Matchups -

New York Islanders VS Dallas Stars (2020)
New York Islanders VS Montreal Canadiens (2021)

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[Foppberg]

Both. At least in a vacuum.

 

[Fataldogg]

They would have beaten both. The Islanders vs Lightning was the 2020-2021 Cup Finals. They pushed the Lightning to 7.

Islanders are unfortunate in that they are peaking at a time when the Lightning are in the process of establishing a dynasty. If there was no Lightning, they likely would have a Cup.

 

[The Moose is Loose]

Definitely Montreal, maybe both

 

[Ezpz]

Match ups are a thing in hockey. Who knows definitively what would have happened. Montreal beat Vegas, maybe Vegas would have beaten the Islanders.

 

[LeProspector]

Match ups are a thing in hockey. Who knows definitively what would have happened. Montreal beat Vegas, maybe Vegas would have beaten the Islanders.

But they're not beating the Lightning so those matchups are backfiring.

Isles would have beaten down on MTL, but don't know about Dallas, that would have been a close series.

 

[Ezpz]

But they're not beating the Lightning so those matchups are backfiring.

Isles would have beaten down on MTL, but don't know about Dallas, that would have been a close series.

I'm just saying every year teams that lost to the cup champs pretend that was their only obstacle to winning the cup. "If we beat ___ we would have won the cup!". It's not grounded in reality. Habs would have beaten the Leafs in 93.

 

[Ignite111]

I'm just saying every year teams that lost to the cup champs pretend that was their only obstacle to winning the cup. "If we beat ___ we would have won the cup!". It's not grounded in reality. Habs would have beaten the Leafs in 93.

Im for one not pretending anything. I asked a simple question if they beat Tampa what do you think the outcome would have been in the cup final. Also, losing in the Eastern / Western conference finals means you have 1 team (obstacle left) to beat. No obstacles they faced earlier shouldn’t mean anything. It’s way different than losing to the cup champs in the first or 2nd round.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

They’d cream Montreal, idk about Dallas tho

 

[DFC]

I think NYI might be the 2nd best playoff team in the league, judging by the way they've been able to push TB. TB is a lot more balanced than people give them credit, and I think NYI would shut down teams without that kind of balance. As in, if NYI shuts down TB's offense, TB beats them with defense (usually). I don't see other teams being able to do that.

 

[Xspyrit]

Wait, only 4/52 posters think Montreal would have won vs the Islanders?

 

[Hockeyholic]

Islanders will be great for a long time. I see a cup win as soon as next year.

Who will challenge them in the east besides Tampa?

Lightning
Isles
Avs
Knights

Will be four favorites in preseason imo.

 

[Machinehead]

The Islanders beat both easily.

Montreal is a .500 hockey team on a crazy run. Dallas low-key wasn't any better.

 

[Machinehead]

1991 North Stars
1994 Canucks
1996 Panthers
1998 Capitals
1999 Sabres
2002 Hurricanes
2003 Ducks
2004 Flames
2006 Oilers
2010 Flyers
2012 Devils
2018 Golden Knights
2020 Stars
2021 Canadiens

Random ass teams actually make the SCF often. But notice the pattern here: these teams are 0-13 (about to be 0-14) mostly against high seeds and teams that were favorites the whole year.

Granted, the Islanders might not be the most impressive regular season team, but they would be the favorite and the favorite literally always wins these.

 

[Captain97]

I think the correct answer is we'll never know. Hockey is a funny sport as matchups often matter over lineups on paper.

Dallas, Montreal, and Islanders all play hockey in a similar style heavy, defense first, force opponents to make mistakes.

The question really comes down to imo in any of those potential series would be who gets better goaltending as most games would be 2-1 or 3-2 and low shot total games.

 

[Iggys Dome]

Islanders remind me of the 2017-2018 Houston Rockets, a team that unfortunately peaked at the same time as their slightly better conference rival (Warriors and Lightning). And they were the only
team to give the juggernauts a fit.

 

[Kcb12345]

Stars-Islanders would've been a really nice and much more even matchup.

Funny thing is the games between these 2 defensive-based teams are usually high scoring if I'm remembering correctly

No matter what, both Montreal and Dallas would've had a better chance at the Cup against the Islanders for sure. Tampa is just a horrible matchup for both of those teams. Can also tell you I'd much rather face Varlamov than Vasilevskiy.

It's important to remember that the Finals can and usually do change some players, who knows which Islanders players could've fallen apart in the Finals under the pressure.

 

[DuneGoon84]

The Islanders are the Utah jazz of the 90's. They would have won both cups had it not been for the Lightning and I am a rangers fan. This islanders team is no joke.

 

[AvatarAang]

I think the correct answer is we'll never know. Hockey is a funny sport as matchups often matter over lineups on paper.

Dallas, Montreal, and Islanders all play hockey in a similar style heavy, defense first, force opponents to make mistakes.

The question really comes down to imo in any of those potential series would be who gets better goaltending as most games would be 2-1 or 3-2 and low shot total games.

Everyone in this thread:

Isles will destroy Montreal, but it could be an interesting matchup with Dallas

Habs fans: “Well here’s the thing about hockey, you just never know what could happen!”

 

[JasonRoseEh]

Easily Montreal, Habs have no business being in the finals.

 

[AvatarAang]

Lou’s best (and brilliant) move was hiring Trotz.

But he’s a bad GM that is limiting this team. Signing a bunch of 4th liners to ridiculous contracts forced them to trade Toews over guys like Komorov. And of course previous management gets blame too for wasting Tavares’ prime years and absolute steal of a contract causing him to eventually leave.

If Trotz had even one of Tavares/Toews on the Isles roster, I think he would have coached the isles to at least 2 Stanley cups by now.

Fire Lou before he makes the same mistake that happened with Tavares. Barzal is playing with bums and instead of getting him an elite winger they are trading for guys like zajac.

 

[AvroArrow]

1991 North Stars
1994 Canucks
1996 Panthers
1998 Capitals
1999 Sabres
2002 Hurricanes
2003 Ducks
2004 Flames
2006 Oilers
2010 Flyers
2012 Devils
2018 Golden Knights
2020 Stars
2021 Canadiens

Random ass teams actually make the SCF often. But notice the pattern here: these teams are 0-13 (about to be 0-14) mostly against high seeds and teams that were favorites the whole year.

Granted, the Islanders might not be the most impressive regular season team, but they would be the favorite and the favorite literally always wins these.

Those were not random ass teams to make the SCF. Those teams were absolutely stacked. Golden Knights had low expectations being an expansion draft team, but they assembled a great roster through trades and the draft rules. Everybody knows the infamous 2004 finals no goal call. On paper it's Tampas cup, real hockey fans know that Calgary and Iggy won in 2004.

The rest I agree, there's random teams that make it every now and then. But a prime Hasek, prime Giguere/Kariya/Sykora, Iginla/Kipper, that flyers team was insane. Richards/Carter/Giroux/Pronger/Briere/Gagne/JVR went beast mode. And Vegas is recent enough that we all know.

 

[Hockeyholic]

TIL the 99 Sabres & 03 Ducks were "Stacked".

Yikes....

 

[Machinehead]

TIL the 99 Sabres & 03 Ducks were "Stacked".

Yikes....

Prime Sykora!!

 

[SI90]

I would have signed up for 1 and been able to die happy. I feel we would have had a great shot. Dallas and Montreal made the cup finals and I don’t want to disrespect them by hypothetically claiming victory over them.