Narratives about roster building that the finalists reinforce/undermine

[HockeyWooot]

Both teams:

-Team. Buy in to systems and how to play, all players on the same page working to the same thing and executing with razor focus. Coaching and players have good communication and on the same page.

-Culture. Playoff hockey is a warrior’s game. Up compete and battle level, sacrifice the body to make a play, pay a price to get to hard. Players support one another and keep each other accountable. Players are playing for each other.

-Depth. Can’t go far without it, even if not showing

-Good coaching. Good coaches on both sides.

-Big mobile dmen. On averages this trend seems to be continuing this year.

- Goalies that arent flawless or standing on their head every night, but can step up in the big moments with a big save when needed.

 

[mandiblesofdoom]

Same things as always:

1. Strong down the middle of the ice at the Center position

2. High-end skill

3. Big, mobile defensemen

4. Grit and physicality

You need those main things, and both teams have them.

And possession. Cats & Oilers are # 2 & 3 in xGF% for the regular season.

This is of course not really separate from your list.. But they both do play the right way.

 

[stewy04]

Florida is deep down the middle with a 1C and 2 2C’s on the 2nd and 3rd line. They have a superstar winger. They are deep at both forward and defense. They have a good goalie

Edmonton has 2 of the best players in the game that center the top 2 lines, one of them will be out there ~70% of the game and they combine on a lethal powerplay. They have one of the top offensive defensemen in the game. They have good veteran depth for cheap and everyone has bought into the system

No oilers has been out 70 % of the time this year. Both teams have great depth that is contributing!

 

[Bank Shot]

my point stands. Currently they have 4 picks playing for them, and a long the way, and players they use to have they traded away. So trading is also a recipe for success.

In certain markets it is. Winnipeg or Edmonton wouldn't be able to wheel and deal the same way.

 

[JackSlater]

I don't think that's the real lesson from the Panthers, given that Barkov is their only elite talent that they've drafted.

Fine, or acquire talent that was drafted high.

 

[oXo Cube]

The real lesson teams will learn from these finals is to abuse LTIR to circumvent the salary cap.

 

[Edmonton East]

It’s a copycat league. GMs will go on and on about analytics over large sample sizes, then throw their whole strategy overboard because one team won a Cup while looking a certain way.

More than one way to skin a panther....or something like that.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The number of very high premium picks and lack of what you may call "excess" picks from Late 1st/Early 2nd/Extra 2nd is certainly something that catches my eye as well. Is that just coincidence or sign that NHL is getting more efficient in drafting (i.e., it's harder to find a premium talent outside the premium picks now)?

 

[WarriorofTime]

Fine, or acquire talent that was drafted high.

Yeah Florida basically picked a timeline and has gone all in on acquiring players within that timeline. Most of the trades for players within the timeframe occurred when players were at stages where they'd generally become available (RFA years, while very close to UFA years) with team control expiring. This added onto a base that had Barkov, Ekblad, and at time Huberdeau (who they swapped for an expiring team controlled player that fit their roster better) that they used premium draft picks on. Nobody walks into the 2013 NHL Draft with the 2nd and 4th pick, or the 2014 NHL Draft with the 1st, 2nd and 4th pick but a decade later, that's what they ended up with. I don't think it's coincidence, I think it's a very deliberate strategy of picking a timeline, targeting players within that timeline at a period where they will actually be made available and going all in appropriately.

Many teams will take the wrong lesson, and not have a Barkov about to enter his prime and just start making trades to try and go from middle to the top. There is something to be said for not just making a pick every year, doing nothing of substance and hoping one day it'll all just happen for you. But the "doing stuff" requires you have a great foundation, which will typically require the premium draft picks, to begin such a process entirely.

 

[Edmonton East]

Some devils fans have suggested trading Hischier for Brady Tkachuk. I get that his brother is a playoff force, but he still only had 55 points this last season.

The whole thing is very weird because their dad was a notorious disappearing act in the playoffs and Matthew wasn't that good with Calgary in them.

Some? Maybe like 1 rando, and I don't even recall seeing that. Devs have no organizational C depth. The better comparison would be a material, but certainly minority amount of Devs fans that were hopeful for something around a Bratt / M Tkachuk swap pre-Florida. And I think those of us in the pro trade camp have been proven correct at this point. No, this doesn't mean Bratt is a bad player obviously.

Hell, we can do Bratt+ for Brady right now in some alternate reality where Brady had 3 more years on his contract as well. And that'd make the team better overall too.

 

[Edmonton East]

Same things as always:

1. Strong down the middle of the ice at the Center position

2. High-end skill

3. Big, mobile defensemen

4. Grit and physicality

You need those main things, and both teams have them.

Pretty much this plus some form of: elevated drive to win relative to rest of league, hate to lose, "dawg" in them, etc. Some teams have the right mentality. Majority do not.

 

[JackSlater]

Yeah Florida basically picked a timeline and has gone all in on acquiring players within that timeline. Most of the trades for players within the timeframe occurred when players were at stages where they'd generally become available (RFA years, while very close to UFA years) with team control expiring. This added onto a base that had Barkov, Ekblad, and at time Huberdeau (who they swapped for an expiring team controlled player that fit their roster better) that they used premium draft picks on. Nobody walks into the 2013 NHL Draft with the 2nd and 4th pick, or the 2014 NHL Draft with the 1st, 2nd and 4th pick but a decade later, that's what they ended up with. I don't think it's coincidence, I think it's a very deliberate strategy of picking a timeline, targeting players within that timeline at a period where they will actually be made available and going all in appropriately.

Many teams will take the wrong lesson, and not have a Barkov about to enter his prime and just start making trades to try and go from middle to the top. There is something to be said for not just making a pick every year, doing nothing of substance and hoping one day it'll all just happen for you. But the "doing stuff" requires you have a great foundation, which will typically require the premium draft picks, to begin such a process entirely.

That's a good write up covering it. The core of Florida's forward group was born from 1995-1997, including Barkov, Reinhart, Tkachuk, Bennett (all high picks) and Verhaeghe. 5 of Florida's 8 defencemen were born 1994-1996, including Jones, Ekblad, Forsling, and Mikkola. Definitely a clear strategy, though obviously you're often going to have key talent in their prime years if you're a good team.

 

[GMR]

Despite some similarities, it's hard to overlook how Florida spent a lot of money on Bobrovsky, while Edmonton has two future car salesmen playing goalie.

 

[Edmonton East]

And possession. Cats & Oilers are # 2 & 3 in xGF% for the regular season.

This is of course not really separate from your list.. But they both do play the right way.

Florida 5v5 regular season % of hits given (vs opp): 57%, 1st in league.

They are 8-2 this playoffs vs the 31st (TBL) and 29th (CAR) teams. 4-3 vs the only other physical team they played, the 7th ranked Leafs.

The Oilers were 30th....and Hyman was one of their more physical playoff guys this year. Also the Oilers haven't played a physical team yet. They've beaten the 21st, 28th, and 32nd % hit ranked teams.

Last year Florida was 11th. And the only team that gave them a run for their money was the Rangers who ranked 5th. Every game was close af that series. Rags easily could have won game 4 in OT and been up 3 to 1. Once again, they beat the bottom of the barrel % hit teams with ease....aside from the Oilers....who they almost beat with ease.

Small sample size obviously and not saying anything definitive (duh). Also haven't bothered going back further. But at a high level, the data/observation is interesting at the very least. Oh, and before some pseudo "advanced" stat genius tries to say % of hits is totally irrelevant since many top teams miss the playoffs....no. This happens because bad teams are generally losing and/or don't have the puck / killed in zone time, hence throw more hits. Usually only worth even considering this metric for good teams as a result.

 

[Saga of the Elk]

Despite some similarities, it's hard to overlook how Florida spent a lot of money on Bobrovsky, while Edmonton has two future car salesmen playing goalie.

Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway recently sold his car dealerships for $82.5 million. Is that a bad thing these days?

 

[JaegerDice]

The lesson teams SHOULD take:

Surplus value.

There are lots of ways to build a cup contending and winning roster. Lots of ways a cup winner can play.

At the end of the day, you need all or at least most of your players out-performing their cap value, from your elite core players to complementary players, to depth guys having once in a life-time hot streaks.

 

[JKG33]

You need to go out and get good players. Tkachuk, Reinhart, Bennett, Jones.. all big trades Florida made. Bobrovsky, Verhaeghe.. UFAs. Forsling on waivers. These aren't just rentals, theyre core players.

So many teams sit on their hands and hoard assets that don't end up turning into anything. As a Kings fan, it was painful watching this team lose out on Eichel because they insisted on keeping some mid prospects.

 

[edevils]

Don't confuse them with facts. You'll mess up the pre-made excuses for losing.

Isn't that the whole point? That winners are often over the cap?

You're getting upset because someone is pointing that out?