Rocky Mountain Highs, Stanley Cup lows

[RickyHP]

Your top three choices for WCF champs that couldn't finish the job in the cap era?

Criteria:
overall roster strength, their dominance throughout the playoffs, and their historical legacy had they won the cup.

My picks (in no particular order):

10-2011 Vancouver Canucks
President trophy winners, elite possession, peak sedins, a crazy deep blue line and kesler was playing like a conn smythe winner. Everything you needed in a team to win the cup.

08-2009 Detroit
One of the nastiest rosters of the cap era. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Franzen, Hossa. They were the shoe-in for back to back cups. That cup final, game 7 loss to Pittsburgh flipped the legacy of both franchises.

23-2024 Edmonton
A historic playoff run by mcdavid, with Edmonton almost pulling off the reverse sweep. What could have been one of the greatest Cup winning stories ever.

i'll include 2016 San Jose as the homer, honorable mention choice

 

[Bounces R Way]

Not sure if losing to the Penguins in 7 games in 2009 really flipped the Red Wings legacy exactly. Two great series those teams had. That Detroit team lost only twice at home that whole 2009 postseason, once in OT to the Ducks and the 1G loss in G7 to the Pens. MAF played out of his mind that game. Maybe others disagree but I wouldn't consider it a choke at all, more of a proverbial passing of the torch to a young turk Pittsburgh core.

Think the 2011 Canucks best fit the bill here. Absolutely loathed that team with every fibre of my being but they were a damn well put together hockey club. Bruins just took it from them in that G7.

The 2016 Sharks are a decent answer because cumulatively what that core had been through in the playoffs.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

The 2025 Oilers were better IMO. Problem was so were the Panthers.

 

[tarheelhockey]

2011 Vancouver is the case study in a team being primed for immortality and ending up remembered for the wrong reasons.

Ironically that Stanley Cup saved 2023 Boston from a similar fate. It’s incredible how much mileage that 2011 Bruins team bought for their successors.

 

[Ignatius]

2006 Oilers - that was the most incredible, memorable playoff run from a Western conference team I think I'll ever see after the 2005 lockout. They didn't have a particularly great roster and rode heavily on the backs of Chris Pronger and Dwayne Roloson quite literally playing out of their minds at level I'm not sure I've seen since. Fernando Pisani torched the entire Western conference, all the great teams that they went up against. An all-time great run that did not end up in winning the Cup. Pronger should have won the Conn Smythe, I've never seen any player be so abjectly dominant over the course of a playoff run.

 

[MachoMadness]

2006 and 2007 sabres

 

[Johnny Concussion]

Think the 2011 Canucks best fit the bill here. Absolutely loathed that team with every fibre of my being but they were a damn well put together hockey club. Bruins just took it from them in that G7.

You weren't the only one. Everyone hated Vancouver during that run.

Us Canucks fans were f***ing pariahs on HFBoards. It was lonely times. The loss sucked a lot of love I had for the game out of me. I didn't cry like a bitch tho, just felt so f***ing empty. Kesler destroyed his hips on that run and was half-man half-drugs during his Anaheim run.

This f***ing team is cursed.

 

[Realgud]

Detroit had a great roster but prime Crosby, Malkin, Bettman, Letang and Fleury was such a good core too

 

[Dwarfrogue]

2011 Vancouver is the case study in a team being primed for immortality and ending up remembered for the wrong reasons.

Ironically that Stanley Cup saved 2023 Boston from a similar fate. It’s incredible how much mileage that 2011 Bruins team bought for their successors.

That loss ruined our franchise for 15 years. Just starting to maybe pick up the pieces now. One of the most devastating losses for a truly elite team in NHL history.

 

[RickyHP]

2006 Oilers - that was the most incredible, memorable playoff run from a Western conference team I think I'll ever see after the 2005 lockout. They didn't have a particularly great roster and rode heavily on the backs of Chris Pronger and Dwayne Roloson quite literally playing out of their minds at level I'm not sure I've seen since. Fernando Pisani torched the entire Western conference, all the great teams that they went up against. An all-time great run that did not end up in winning the Cup. Pronger should have won the Conn Smythe, I've never seen any player be so abjectly dominant over the course of a playoff run.

one of my favorite (recent) under dog stories. I think the kings were seeded pretty low one year, but i never really viewed any of the winning kings teams as underdogs in the playoffs.

 

[Ignatius]

one of my favorite (recent) under dog stories. I think the kings were seeded pretty low one year, but i never really viewed any of the winning kings teams as underdogs in the playoffs.

Forgive the off topic post

The 2012 Kings were an 8th seed and barely squeaked into the playoffs but went on an absolutely historic run.

Won first three games of every series.

Lost one game in round one and three, swept the second round, and lost two games in the Stanley Cup Final.

Defeated the first, second, and third ranked teams in the Western conference.

First team to ever win a Cup as an eighth seed

***I will die on the hill of opinion that the Coyotes would have won the Cup that year if not for that LA Kings team. They were on a magical run as well.