The 2020-21 Montreal Canadiens say hi.
Well I’m not sure if they were the worst team to make the second round of the playoffs in however many years.
But they were by far the worst cup finalist from 2006 through now. Maybe even weaker than the 2006 Oilers. I mean, they had Carey Price and Shea Weber, who were both better than anybody Edmonton had that year.
Actually, didn’t Chris Pronger play on those 06 Oilers? I take back the claim that Weber was better than anybody they had.
The Canadiens had a couple of notable weaker deep run playoff teams in fairly recent history. The 2010 team that made the conference finals was pretty damn mediocre. I think they only even made it in with 88 points, though the Flyers finished with the same number of points that year I think and made the SCF after knocking that Canadiens team off in the ECF. That team was pretty much pushed through two rounds by Halak.
The 2014 Canadiens that lost to the Rangers in the ECF were also nothing worth bragging about. That was Price, Subban and……and……and…… I can’t think of too many other players worth naming. And then they lost Carey Price in game 1 after Kreider ran him.
One other notable weak team were the 2012 Coyotes who made the WCF. That was merely a hot run from Mike Smith. Even hotter than the 2010 Halak run for Montreal. 35 year old Shane Doan was their best player after Mike Smith.
Quite a few mediocre teams have made the second round. I’ve forgotten almost all of them, but I can remember those listed as ones that made one or both of the last two rounds.