Most skilled game type Stanley Cup winners since 1990

[SnowblindNYR]

I want to purposely exclude the Oilers and before. I feel like the 2022 Avs fit the bill here. Maybe the Pens from 16 and 17 and the Hawks mini dynasty, 2008 Red Wings? The Lightning were a weird team that had insane skill but I felt like won a grinding game. A lot of people love these physical, hard forecheck teams like 07 Ducks, 12 Kings, 14 Kings, and 24 Panthers but they're not my cup of tea. I'd much rather see a team keep possession through passing than through a hard forecheck style.

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[Michael Farkas]

Yeah, the 2016 and 2017 Penguins fit your bill. Speed, skill, multi-line puck carriers all over the lineup (1C, 2C, 3RW, 1RD).

I did a video way back, briefly, about how the Penguins generated speed behind the puck, they had guys over top of the puck, and they just continued to flip the ice with weakside rotation plays all day long.



The 2008 Red Wings were a buzzsaw, but I'm not sure that they fit the mold of these Avs teams and Pens teams. If you think the Lightning were grindy, then the '08 Red Wings were Super Deluxe Grind haha

 

[MadLuke]

What about the 91 and 92 Lemieux pens ? The highlights of those are quite the skill competition level of show by time.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Also fun. Except maybe the last three games of the Patrick Division Semifinal when the Pens basically played a 1-1-3 to come back from 3-1 down to beat Washington. But that kind of stuff maybe should be lost to the sands of time haha

 

[SnowblindNYR]

What about the 91 and 92 Lemieux pens ? The highlights of those are quite the skill competition level of show by time.

I was going to include them and by the time I made the post forgot, lol. I started thinking of post-lockout teams.

Were the 2008 Wings really all that grindy? I remember them putting on a defensive clinic on the Pens but it felt like more in terms of passing than forecheck and grinding.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Were the 2008 Wings really all that grindy?

They were always in your space. They're always touchin folks...for coming out of the wide open years where teams like Buffalo dominated, this was a big contrast...it was like there was always six guys out there because of their spacing, they're picking guys offensively, they owned both creases/slots...they were a battleaxe...

 

[SnowblindNYR]

They were always in your space. They're always touchin folks...for coming out of the wide open years where teams like Buffalo dominated, this was a big contrast...it was like there was always six guys out there because of their spacing, they're picking guys offensively, they owned both creases/slots...they were a battleaxe...

Maybe them beating the Pens and destroying them in games 1 and 2 clowded my judgment a bit because they did me a solid, lol.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Heh (*grumble grumble*)...yeah, there was just no counter-punching that team. They could throw a haymaker and you still couldn't catch'em in the front, they were already guarding already protecting...ugh, man, screw them haha

 

[ShelbyZ]

Were the 2008 Wings really all that grindy? I remember them putting on a defensive clinic on the Pens but it felt like more in terms of passing than forecheck and grinding.

I've always thought the Wings getting grittier after their super skilled yet super soft 2006 team got upset in the first round was what helped push that team over the edge.

By the time the 2008 playoffs rolled around, Draper and Maltby (and their enforcer according to Mathieu Schneider, the powerplay) had been joined by Dallas Drake, Darren Helm and the returning Darren McCarty at the bottom of the forward ranks and they also had Kopecky (who got hurt right before the end of the RS) and Aaron Downey (who was pretty much replaced by McCarty) during the regular season.

What about the 2002 Red Wings? Technically their 4th line was Robitaille-Larionov-Holmstrom

 

[SnowblindNYR]

I've always thought the Wings getting grittier after their super skilled yet super soft 2006 team got upset in the first round was what helped push that team over the edge.

By the time the 2008 playoffs rolled around, Draper and Maltby (and their enforcer according to Mathieu Schneider, the powerplay) had been joined by Dallas Drake, Darren Helm and the returning Darren McCarty at the bottom of the forward ranks and they also had Kopecky (who got hurt right before the end of the RS) and Aaron Downey (who was pretty much replaced by McCarty) during the regular season.

What about the 2002 Red Wings? Technically their 4th line was Robitaille-Larionov-Holmstrom

I always felt they were a puck possession team that kept possession with passing and skill rather than by a heavy forecheck like the Kings and Panthers. I guess they can still be grindy.