Brian Burke says 07 Ducks could've beaten any of the Cup winning teams since them

[TurboLemon]

If Burke wants to talk about rosters and on paper stats he should look at regular season stats.

Playoffs have too many variables for blanket prefictions. League directive on penalty calling, injuries, luck, controversial game breaking calls, wheel of discipline, and variance between zebras/games.

 

[RickyHP]

I mean that Pahlsson line was monstrous too.

I believe this was the top-9 if I'm not mistaken:

Kunitz - McDonald - Selanne
Penner - Getzlaf - Perry
Moen - Pahlsson - Niedermayer

Then obviously a top-4 with Niedermayer, Pronger, Beauchemin and O'Donnell.

Giguere was a very good goalie at the time, especially in the playoffs.

They'd be quite formidable.

christ i always forget that team had penner

 

[Paul4587]

I’m a homer but I would say he’s close to being right. I think maybe 2008 red wings would beat us. Other than them I don’t see any other team competing with us. Prime Pronger and Niedermayer were too much on the backend.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Strange because they beat that nearly identical wings team in 6 games the year before..

Wings could have won that series. But they were better in 08.

 

[2legit2quit]

He's right. They could beat any Stanley Cup team after 07'.

• Selanee (94 points), McDonald (80 points), Kunitz (60 points), Getzlaf, Perry, Penner (30 Goals), Travis Moen (prime, scored 7 playoff goals). Insane top 6.
• D-Man: Pronger, Scott Niedermiyer, Even his brother Rob Niedermyer (who was an amazing stay-at-home D), and Beauchemin (in his prime)

08' Wings can't compete with them --- Ducks played an identical Wings team in 07' and beat them in 6,
16' Penguins can't beat them. Not enough defense (or offense). 07' Ducks literally had 6 ELITE Goal Scorers. And they had 2 of the best defensemen of all time. No way PENS can handle them.

As for the Hawks; Toews, Kane, Hossa, et al. can only go so far.
Yes Keith is a good D-man; but he doesn't compare to Niedermiyer or Pronger.
Toews/Kane, et al are all good --- but I'd rather take: Selanee, Kunitz, McDonald (in his prime), Perry, Getzlaf, Penner (30 goal season).

 

[Laveuglette]

Could've? Sure. Any SC finalist from the past 20 years could have beaten any SC finalist since then if things went well.

I do think that they were a better team than the other winners since, though. Hell of a team.

 

[Bank Shot]

Where the Ducks might struggle a bit is if the game was played today, and how the current game is called, they might not be quite deep enough to handle all the 5on5 play.

They basically played with 10 forwards and 4 defencemen which was a lot easier to do in 06-07 because all of the special teams.

They had some real scrubs in spots 11-13 and 4-7 on their forward and D depth charts.

 

[Laveuglette]

I'll make one bigger than that : The 1977 Montreal Canadiens would've beaten any cup winner in NHL history in no more than 5 games. Adjusted for era I mean, whatever that means.

 

[2legit2quit]

Top 4 sure but depends on how much value you put on the 2 other guys (preds better but not even by that much ) vs the 2 hof guys that could be on the ice the entire game .
Kinda like malkin and Crosby with whoever vs idk Minnesota's top 6

Staal and koivu not bad . Better wingers sure . But nah you take Crosby and malkin and whoever instead of them every day even without kessel.

Ducks 07' Offense > Pens 16' Offense

Selanee (95 Points), McDonald (Prime, 80 points), Getzlaf (Young, but scored PLAYOFFS 18 points in 20 games), Perry (Young, but just like Getzlaf, he dominated playoffs), Kunitz (Prime, 60 points), Dustin Penner (Prime, 30 Goal Season), Travis Moen (Prime, 2-way-Fwd, Scored 7 Goals in Playoffs).

Penguins had Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel.
Crosby had (19 points in 24 games PLAYOFFS) -- Malkin had (18 points in 22 games PLAYOFFS) -- Kessel had (22 in 24 games PLAYOFFS)

How are those 3 even comparable to Ducks' offense as a whole? Plus, I'm not even including Ducks' legendary D-man: Pronger + Niedermiyer. P.S. Rob Niedermiyer, and Francious Beauchimin were legit #2Ds playing 4D

Also, Letang is not a #1, he lacks in the defense department. I know he was amazing offensively, but, he is not in the same league as Niedermiyer or Pronger.

 

[Paul4587]

He's right. They could beat any Stanley Cup team after 07'.

• Selanee (94 points), McDonald (80 points), Kunitz (60 points), Getzlaf, Perry, Penner (30 Goals), Travis Moen (prime, scored 7 playoff goals). Insane top 6.
• D-Man: Pronger, Scott Niedermiyer, Even his brother Rob Niedermyer (who was an amazing stay-at-home D), and Beauchemin (in his prime)

08' Wings can't compete with them --- Ducks played an identical Wings team in 07' and beat them in 6,
16' Penguins can't beat them. Not enough defense (or offense). 07' Ducks literally had 6 ELITE Goal Scorers. And they had 2 of the best defensemen of all time. No way PENS can handle them.

As for the Hawks; Toews, Kane, Hossa, et al. can only go so far.
Yes Keith is a good D-man; but he doesn't compare to Niedermiyer or Pronger.
Toews/Kane, et al are all good --- but I'd rather take: Selanee, Kunitz, McDonald (in his prime), Perry, Getzlaf, Penner (30 goal season).

Umm Rob Nieds was not an amazing stay at home D..... far from it.

 

[Leaf Fans]

At winning Stanley Cups. Which was the topic being discussed. 25 years since a Canadian team has won it, California has three since the lockout. There's 24 American teams.

Oh ya, I am poor at math. Yes it has been 25 years since a Canadian based team has won it.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Umm Rob Nieds was not an amazing stay at home D..... far from it.

Lol; no he wasn't, you're correct!

He was a forward.

Outside of 95-96 with Florida when he had 61 (26g - 35 a)points he never hit 20 goals again.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

I don't disagree. That team was amazing. Anyone they couldn't outscore, they'd beat into submission.

 

[Chuck Norris Trophy]

"X would've beaten y" etc is always an exercise in futility. With how much luck and bounces are involved, who knows what could happen.

Exactly this. It's fun among friends as a beertalk for awhile and nothing more. There is billions of factors that could/would decide the outcome.

 

[ShelbyZ]

He's right. They could beat any Stanley Cup team after 07'.

• Selanee (94 points), McDonald (80 points), Kunitz (60 points), Getzlaf, Perry, Penner (30 Goals), Travis Moen (prime, scored 7 playoff goals). Insane top 6.
• D-Man: Pronger, Scott Niedermiyer, Even his brother Rob Niedermyer (who was an amazing stay-at-home D), and Beauchemin (in his prime)

08' Wings can't compete with them --- Ducks played an identical Wings team in 07' and beat them in 6,
16' Penguins can't beat them. Not enough defense (or offense). 07' Ducks literally had 6 ELITE Goal Scorers. And they had 2 of the best defensemen of all time. No way PENS can handle them.

As for the Hawks; Toews, Kane, Hossa, et al. can only go so far.
Yes Keith is a good D-man; but he doesn't compare to Niedermiyer or Pronger.
Toews/Kane, et al are all good --- but I'd rather take: Selanee, Kunitz, McDonald (in his prime), Perry, Getzlaf, Penner (30 goal season).

Rob Niedermayer was a forward.....

And it's only been mentioned about 47466 times in this thread, but for 47467th, the 07 Red Wings were NOT identical to the 08 team.

 

[FrozenJagrt]

Speaking about the much talked about defense of that team, I remember there was a common sentiment after they won the cup that Beauchemin actually played the best of the lot, but didn't get the recognition because he wasn't a future Hall of Famer like Niedermayer and Pronger. What a stacked team that was.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I think the 08 Wings and the lockout version 13 Hawks are handily better. But hey he is entitled to his opinion.

 

[Leafidelity]

Its not surprising that a member of a very good championship team still believes they're the best. Especially when you consider the person has an ego to begin with.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Tough call, but Niedermayer/Pronger was an insane 1-2 punch on D. If Burke's not right on this, he's not far off.

The 08 Wings would give them a run for their money.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Tough call, but Niedermayer/Pronger was an insane 1-2 punch on D. If Burke's not right on this, he's not far off.

The 08 Wings would give them a run for their money.

I feel like 08 wings vs 07 ducks could play 100 times and both teams would end up winning near 50% (give or take a couple) vs each other... would be a fun matchup tho.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

That Ducks team was a very hard to play against, that D corps led by Pronger and Neidermayer were hard to play against. And Giguere was at the top of his game at the time. They would be a tough opponent. But hard to say definitively one way or the other, but a case can be made either way. One thing that is often overlooked. The Travis Moen, Paulsson, Neidermayer line was one of the best #3 lines I can recall in the Stanley cup finals. So maybe that is the edge there.

 

[b in vancouver]

The '11 Bruins vs. the '07 Ducks would be a war.

 

[Brent Burns]

ITT: a bunch of kids who never actually watched that Ducks team play / were too young to comprehend the game

Burke’s right and I hate to say so as a Sharks fan. Whoever said Beaucheman was their secret weapon was right. Kind of like Hjalmarsson for the later Hawks teams, but better offensively.
That Ducks team was stacked top to bottom.

 

[Duck Off]

I mean that Pahlsson line was monstrous too.

I believe this was the top-9 if I'm not mistaken:

Kunitz - McDonald - Selanne
Penner - Getzlaf - Perry
Moen - Pahlsson - Niedermayer

Then obviously a top-4 with Niedermayer, Pronger, Beauchemin and O'Donnell.

Giguere was a very good goalie at the time, especially in the playoffs.

They'd be quite formidable.

Yeah, the Pahlsson line was by far the best checking line since 06. They wouldn't just shut lines down, they'd often outscore them. As far as Burke's comments:

Of course Burke is going to say that so no one should be surprised by his comments. As for his comments: I definitely think they are top 2. The 08 Wings team may have beat them. Those two teams are clearly the best since the cup run. I don't think any of the Hawk teams would have beat them. Nor the LA teams. The 15/16 Pens team would be close, but I think the Ducks team would have beat them. Teams were consistently facing one of the Niedermayer or Pronger every shift.

The other thing about this team that people forget or don't credit enough is that if the team knew they were going to lose a game, they would intentionally start running at the other team to try and ware them down the next game. Often, they'd even cross the line. I'm not condoning crossing the line, but I've always wondered why more teams who are losing don't just try and dump the puck in and just keep finishing hits against the other team during the playoffs. A team could win a game but it was a very difficult team to beat 4 out of 7.

 

[glovesave_35]

He's right. They could beat any Stanley Cup team after 07'.

• Selanee (94 points), McDonald (80 points), Kunitz (60 points), Getzlaf, Perry, Penner (30 Goals), Travis Moen (prime, scored 7 playoff goals). Insane top 6.
• D-Man: Pronger, Scott Niedermiyer, Even his brother Rob Niedermyer (who was an amazing stay-at-home D), and Beauchemin (in his prime)

08' Wings can't compete with them --- Ducks played an identical Wings team in 07' and beat them in 6,
16' Penguins can't beat them. Not enough defense (or offense). 07' Ducks literally had 6 ELITE Goal Scorers. And they had 2 of the best defensemen of all time. No way PENS can handle them.

As for the Hawks; Toews, Kane, Hossa, et al. can only go so far.
Yes Keith is a good D-man; but he doesn't compare to Niedermiyer or Pronger.
Toews/Kane, et al are all good --- but I'd rather take: Selanee, Kunitz, McDonald (in his prime), Perry, Getzlaf, Penner (30 goal season).

Stay at home checking forward maybe.