That team was always better on paper than in reality. Between injuries and chemistry reasons, it never really fully clicked the way it should have. They didn't even win their division (albeit, only one point behind Vancouver). Steve Konowalchuk ended up with more points than either Kariya or Selanne (and, as a Caps fan, I love Kono - but that ain't a sign that things are going well).
If your team had a hot goalie and a roster full of no-name jobbers, you were a prime candidate to beat Detroit from 2003-2006.
Dallas beat Colorado in both 1999 and 2000 in the Conference Finals. They faced Detroit once in 1998 and lost. They lost to Edmonton in 1997. In 2000, they lost to a stacked Devils team. The 2000 Stars weren't as good as the 1999 version, but I agree they deserve honorable mention. By 2001, though, they were done.
You're absolutely right. I remembered that as a 5 game series for some reason.
They didn't start tracking advanced stats until 2007-08. I think you're referring to the 08 wings - they had by far the best cf% since it's been tracked, 59% I believe.
Draper played on the top line with Datsyuk/Shanahan. Not hard to figure out why that didn't work. Yzerman played with Lang/Williams. Zetterberg with Samuelsson/Holmstrom. Franzen centered the 4th line with Maltby/Cleary.
yeah next year's team was much better, they won the President's. Just got overcome with injuries in the playoffs, that was their year.
They were screwed by injuries and a Bruins team that figured out how to play them after a couple games (including moving Chara back to the point on the PP).
That one stung but that loss to the Bruins for me was the worst!
True. I forgot about the 2003 team. Very strong lineup though I was never sold on Turco in big games. He was no Belfour.
Sometimes stacking team does not work because you need a little bit of different characters to make it work. Look at the 2001 Avs team had quite a few different personalities who did whatever it took to win.
