Is this the look of a man who has been successful?
But seriously, 78% of the time in franchise history they've made the playoffs. They've made at least the 3rd round five times, just under 19%, so almost once every five years on average. The NHL is not an easy league. To win it all, you need multiple things going your way, all at the same time. There's something to be said about coming back year, after year, after year, disappointment, after disappointment, after disappointment, after disappointment,
after disappointment. I watched the Kings quit from day 1 of training camp last year, and that was with 10 guys that had won the Cup for the franchise. Experience is supposed to count for something, and it meant nothing in that case. Nobody ever gets old in SJ either. It's ridiculous. They've played in a 30+ team league for 66% of their existence, and they've missed the playoffs twice in that time. The years after missing the playoffs, they went to the 3rd round, and the Final. That's bouncing back. The playoff failure is very fun, but you have to call them a successful franchise.
Unless the standard is Cup or nothing. If that's the standard, then the 5th best player in the league might as well retire today, because he's not going to win the Hart. No real chance of winning it either, and it's all or nothing.