Best team to not win the Stanley Cup

[Gjman2019]

93 and 96 Penguins

94 Canucks

 

[Machinehead]

Either the 2014 or 2015 Rangers. Those teams were loaded, and Hank was playing out of his damn mind. Unfortunately, they ran into the inferno that was the LA Kings in '14, and just ran out of gas in the Final. The 2015 team should have beaten Tampa in the ECF, but crapped the bed in games 6 & 7. I'm convinced they would have beaten Chicago for the Cup that year had they advanced.

The Rangers weren't the best team to not win the Cup either of those years.

That would be Tampa in 2015, and while I agree that Chicago would have been a good matchup for the Rangers, they won three Cups. It's hard to argue that they weren't the best team to not win in 2014.

 

[Khelandros]

Why not? LA was a great team and won the Cup from the 16th seed. Regular season success is not necessarily indicative of the quality of players that occupy the roster.

LA was a defensive powerhouse that struggled to score goals. Nashville was middle of the pack in every statistical category.

 

[eojsmada]

LA was a defensive powerhouse that struggled to score goals. Nashville was middle of the pack in every statistical category.

With one of the elite backends...an extremely good goalie and a pretty deep (until injuries) forward corps.

ETA: Trying to establish what "great" is, is very subjective. I appreciate your input, but it just is what it is.

 

[Miami Wice]

I will also add 2017 Capitals. I thought Lars Eller addition to get better 3rd line C and push Beagle to 4th line C gave them better matchup against Pens bottom 6 which dominate Capitals bottom 6 previous year. Also on paper Caps got Shattenkirk, but he did not play that well for Caps.

When team lost to Pens and then in offseason lose top 6 guy like Justin Williams and Marcus Johansson, and on defence lose Alzner (ended up being good thing), and Shattenkirk, and Nate Schmidt- I thought Caps will never win again.

But things end up working out next year, but I definitely thought 2017 Caps teams best one in Ovechkin era.

 

[Calvin Bale]

95-96 Red Wings are the most obvious candidate and objectively the "best" when you consider total points + how close they got. 86-87 Flyers were the stronger of the two Philly teams that battled with the dynasty Oilers and played an incredibly close series against them but just had nothing left by Game 7.

 

[Guignol le fou]

Leafs are clearly the best at not winning the cup

 

[CascadiaPuck]

Well in a division as historically bad as the 2010-11 and 2011-12 Northwest its very easy for a flawed team to get back to back President's Trophies

2010-11: Canucks are the only playoff team in the division. the others are 17th, 21st, 29th, 30th in the league
2011-12: Canucks are the only playoff team in the division. the others are 17th, 20th, 24th, 29th in the league

Canucks in the 10/11 season had a better record outside of their division than within it. Bruins won the Cup. It is what it is. Why not leave it there instead of pushing weird narratives?

 

[Chet Donnelly]

Canucks in the 10/11 season had a better record outside of their division than within it. Bruins won the Cup. It is what it is. Why not leave it there instead of pushing weird narratives?

The poster you quoted probably only did surface-level research. Once you look into the numbers more, you realize that the weak division narrative doesn't really hold up.

 

[Goatlender]

The 2011 Canucks had something like 1st in the league in PP, GF, GA (won Jennings), 2nd in PK, won the President’s Trophy, and had the Art Ross, Lindsay, and Selke winners along with nominees for the Vezina, Hart, and Jack Adams.