Blues vs Oilers. Which turn around is more impressive?

[ZJuice]

I think the Oilers were sandbagging to get rid of their coach personally. They were always expected to get here.

I thought that the Oilers players did that as well. They did the same to get rid of Tippett, why not again?
I was very glad to see Woodcroft sacked. He was a good coach until he thought he was a good coach, if that makes sense

On topic though, no matter the outcome I think the Blues had a bigger / more shocking turnaround

 

[ManofSteel55]

This conversation should be saved for after the Finals, if the Oilers win. There is no debate that the answer is St. Louis if the Oilers lost. I would argue that there is little debate even if they win, the answer is St. Louis. They were in last place at the Christmas break.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Blooz

 

[Ace Card Bedard]

Everyone expected the Oilers to be contenders.
They had among the best odds in the preseason.
+1000 or somewhere around there.

Blues were around +3000 in 2019. They were expected to be good not great.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

No contest, it's the Blues.

 

[Tryblot]

St louis is being underrated. People are acting like they were buffalo and came from nothing to win the Cup.

This was a team that had made the conference finals a few years before and had just added some big players in O'Reilly. They heavily underachieved in the first half.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Blues were a fluke and system dependent. Oilers are more likely to continue the success.

 

[snag]

All I can say is damn I wish I putt a hundred bux on the Oilers when they were 2-9-1

I think the Oilers were sandbagging to get rid of their coach personally. They were always expected to get here.

They wouldn't need to do that....it would just take a text message from Connor.

 

[MessierII]

Blues easily. Last in January? Insane.

 

[KevinRedkey]

FWIW, here's the official pre-season odds for both teams:

Win the Cup:
Blues: +3000 (T-11th)
Oilers: +1000 (T-3rd)

Points (O/U):
Blues: 97.5 (T-8th)
Oilers: 106.5 (T-1st)

 

[Chinaski89]

blues

I loathe the Blues more than any team {Sharks fan fwiw}, but it’s unquestionably them. My only regret is not putting money on the Oilers to win the cup back in November, because they always have a chance with McDavid and Drai.

 

[WATTAGE4451]

Blues easily. Last in January? Insane.

They were only last by points but not points percentage. They had played several less games than some teams..

But blues also werent a favorite going into the year and missed playoffs year before

 

[Thallis]

The Blues missed the playoffs the season prior but were seen as underachievers. They traded for Ryan O’Rielly offseason and I think expectations were a bounce back season but I don’t think anyone had them had them cup contenders and Mike Yeo was their coach who is one of the worst head coaches ever, at least in the salary cap era.

The cup favorites heading into that season was a mix of Tampa,Winnipeg,Nashville, San Jose, and Toronto due to the Tavares signing effect and the core not having that can’t compete in playoffs reputation yet.

I do get the similarities though. They were a decent cup favorite heading into the playoffs but not a safe lock. Tampa was expected to kill the field out east and Calgary, San Jose, Vegas was a common pick to be the western rep. They were slight favorites their first two series rounds but Sharks were supposed to end it for them. They still won but were underdogs to Boston.

I think the Blues turnaround was more impressive. They’re turn around started much later in the season, they didn’t really have any superstars like Oilers as Ryan O’Rielly, Petro, Taresnko were borderline star players at best. Binnington was a rookie goalie with no experience. I also think the league was more competitive that season, as the teams that year were better than the teams this year.

Pietrangelo was a top 5-10 Defenseman in the league and had been for the previous 7 years. O'Reilly was a legitimate 1C. The high end talent was there, the Blues were one of the secondary choices for the cup preseason after Tampa. It's just easy to underestimate or forget the talent because of the market but they were a legitimate contender in the preseason, they just weren't favorites.

They were only last by points but not points percentage. They had played several less games than some teams..

But blues also werent a favorite going into the year and missed playoffs year before

3rd to last vs last isn't really a tangible difference when we're talking about a cup win.

 

[Hockeyholic]

Blues because they turned it around when they didn't have as much time. They didn't have McDrai either.

OT: But anyone think this will be the only SC champion with zero hall of famers? A.P. will get consideration. But he is no slam dunk.

They remind me of the 06 Canes in the sense yes they won the cup. But I never expected them to repeat. Canes had HOFers.

 

[McShogun99]

Blues is the only correct answer. The Oilers had 70 games to turn things around while the Blues had around 40. The Oilers were also cup favorites going into the season so that 12 game stretch felt like just a string of bad luck, something most teams go thru during a season. It just looks much worse when you start the season poorly instead of having that stretch at the midway point of the season.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I had forgotten that the Oilers sucked to start the season. Oilers play in the same division as the Ducks, Sharks and Flames who were all sellers, so it was pretty much a given that they were going to make the playoffs

 

[leafsfan5]

It was fun dunking on Edmonton during their early struggles, but the underlying numbers were strong and it was just a bad stretch

Blues was much more unexpected

 

[MessierII]

They were only last by points but not points percentage. They had played several less games than some teams..

But blues also werent a favorite going into the year and missed playoffs year before

Yeah I know they had games in hand but that doesn’t really change anything for me. I remember before that year started I thought they were probably the most improved team which ended up being true in a weird roundabout way.

 

[Bernie Federko]

Pietrangelo was a top 5-10 Defenseman in the league and had been for the previous 7 years. O'Reilly was a legitimate 1C. The high end talent was there, the Blues were one of the secondary choices for the cup preseason after Tampa. It's just easy to underestimate or forget the talent because of the market but they were a legitimate contender in the preseason, they just weren't favorites.


3rd to last vs last isn't really a tangible difference when we're talking about a cup win.

I remember NHL Network just prior to the playoffs saying the Blues did not have any top 10 players at any position. Pietrangelo was certainly a top 10 defenseman. Tarasenko was a top 10 right winger.

 

[elmaco]

Blues obviously, they won.

 

[NotTheRocketman]

The Blues for sure. Their turnaround was later in the season, and they had far less talent to work with. Looking back at that squad, there won't be a single HOFer among them which is extremely impressive these days.

 

[NotTheRocketman]

They had a fantastic system and team depth and especially defense. This might be a out take, but 2018-2019 Schwartz was the best 2-way winger in the game, yes even better than Stone that season. O'Reilly was obviously an excellent 2-way forward elite on defense and strong offensively.

Schwartz was always underrated, but his luck in 18-19 was unbelievably bad; he couldn't BUY a goal. I remember one game, he hit the post on an empty netter from center ice. But I had a feeling once the Playoffs started that he'd figure things out, and he sure did. He dominated the first and third rounds, with a pair of hat tricks along the way, and strong two-way play.

 

[HighNote]

Blues because they turned it around when they didn't have as much time. They didn't have McDrai either.

OT: But anyone think this will be the only SC champion with zero hall of famers? A.P. will get consideration. But he is no slam dunk.

They remind me of the 06 Canes in the sense yes they won the cup. But I never expected them to repeat. Canes had HOFers.

I'm not sure the Canes are comparable in that sense.

Blues had a good chance to repeat the following season, but Bouwmeester collapsed from that freak cardiac-episode, and then COVID ended the season. They were leading their division and conference and had won 10 of their last 12 games leading up to the season coming to a halt. All that with Tarasenko sidelined for almost the entire season.

Heading into the 19-20 season, they were easily a top 5 favorite to win the Cup and likely the #1 favorite coming out of the West (COL was right there too). They were coming off a Cup win and had actually upgraded their roster with Faulk coming in, Edmundson going out.

You might not expect them to repeat, fair enough. But they absolutely were one of the top favorites going into the season and down the stretch before COVID hit. I don't recall what kind of roster turnover the Canes had from 06 to 07, but they dropped 24 points in the standings from their Cup year to the next and missed the playoffs entirely. I don't see any way that Blues team would have dropped that far in the standings or even flirted with missing the playoffs.

 

[Pig Papi]

The blues imo.

 

[sfvega]

Blues were a fluke and system dependent. Oilers are more likely to continue the success.