The Era of "Superteams"...?
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winnipegger
Registered User
- Dec 17, 2013
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What Carolina just showed is that team chemistry and coaching wins championships too. You don't need superstars. Brady isn't even a superstar he just has an enormous skull which really isn't that important in hockey. He's not even a ppg player in his career never call this guy a superstar.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
I assume so. It’s just hilarious to see the word “superteam” being thrown around because ****ing Brady Tkachuk wanted to play with his brother.
Miami has had a superteam. This ain’t it.
What makes this current era of 'Superteams' (which they aren't) any different than previous salary cap era superteams?
Players have always forced their way out of situations they disliked and there have always been players chasing cups.
Zito has done a masterful job as a GM, but there are still many cores i'd consider more of a superteam than the current or cup-winning iterations of the Panthers.
Players have always forced their way out of situations they disliked and there have always been players chasing cups.
Zito has done a masterful job as a GM, but there are still many cores i'd consider more of a superteam than the current or cup-winning iterations of the Panthers.
I think it's just some teams are competent and others aren't, so the star players flock to the competent ones.
It's that a bunch of teams have locked in their role players at a young age, at a very cost-controlled salary so they can create very deep teams which can add stars. Others, will be "risk adverse" and bridge every young player and therefore won't create a superteam.
It's that a bunch of teams have locked in their role players at a young age, at a very cost-controlled salary so they can create very deep teams which can add stars. Others, will be "risk adverse" and bridge every young player and therefore won't create a superteam.
me2
Go ahead foot
When have more than 8 teams felt like super teams? Montreal then NYI then Oilers? detroit nj col circle jerk? Kings pens hawks?
The scale of the cut and run is new.
In the league's history, dynasties are not restricted to the league's biggest markets. The Habs have had their stretches, yes, but the 80's Islanders, and the Oilers dominated the league for a half decade each. The Oilers are Canadian, but Edmonton is not and has never been a big market, and their owner's financial shenanigans are part of their legend. In the pre-salary cap league, the Devils and Avalanche were top teams while the Leafs and Rangers were usually a joke. The Detroit-Colorado finals are as close to a modern super-team as you can get, and while Detroit is O6, it wasn't a generation of Leafs-Habs-Rangers dominance.
The argument for easing parity is not an argument for the hamstringing of small market teams, and I believe league history supports my stance there. The Leafs will almost certainly be trash no matter what the league prioritizes. Super teams are boring, my post does actually say at the bottom that I don't think they're good for long term league health, but I am absolutely trying to grapple with a boredom I feel of the parity era. When there's 32 teams and the middle 25 are practically indistinguishable from each other in talent level, that feels to me like the same games again and again and again that you fear.
A carousel of teams making the playoffs and going to the second round every year is dull because rivalries have completely died and the only people who have fun in May are the eight teams who've made it that far. This is an entertainment product where we lack year-over-year story lines. The Oilers going to the cup finals twice in a row was absolutely incredible for rejuvenating interest of hockey in Canada. Super teams allow fans, including casuals, to build relationships with teams outside their markets that last over time. My dad and I cheered for the Pens during the early Crosby runs to the finals, it's the only time in my life I've had a second team and that relationship built over a few years. I'm a millennial from Ontario and the Colorado Avalanche had a pretty big following on the playground with the kids idolizing Sakic, Forsberg, Blake, Borque, and Roy. I don't want baseball where the same five teams hoover up all the talent for decades, but I do want more consistency from top teams that will allow for rivalries and fandoms to build over time. Hopping on a different bandwagon every April just doesn't work.
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The Gr8 Dane
L'harceleur
What super teams are americans running to? Minnesota got smoked and the avs got put down like it was nothing.
Florida could be considered one but they have question marks at D and G
Vegas just lost
Its a parity league with a salary cap. Good luck beating a hot goalie and a team full of grinders willing to die in a corner with a bunch of stars
Florida could be considered one but they have question marks at D and G
Vegas just lost
Its a parity league with a salary cap. Good luck beating a hot goalie and a team full of grinders willing to die in a corner with a bunch of stars
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MMC
Global Moderator
Arguing for the removal of the salary cap and return to pre-2005 type of NHL is something I understand. As a Wings fan, those were fun days.
However, that's a completely different type of league. Right now, there is a salary cap. In a league with a salary cap, the cap should work as intended. Right now, I don't believe it does.
I've never thought of Brady Tkachuk when I think of an NHL superteam. lmao
ColbyChaos
I Went Deaf On A Bih
Nephew we had super teams long before this panthers team who still need to rely on Stuart Skinner to shut the door for them lol
2010s hawks, 16 penguins,2000s Avs, 2000s Wings, all had super teams that were better than this upcoming panthers squad
Dread Clawz
LAWSonic Boom
GMs at fault, even handing them to third liners nowadays.
Exactly, they made their bed.
Beukeboom Fan
Registered User
I think when you have guys like Kariya and Selanne playing for the Avs for $1M thats a superteam.
blinkman360
Shaef Daddy Supporter
Yup, those were my earliest memories of hockey. Detroit felt like Real Madrid.
Could always be worse though, we could have the hockey version of the Dodgers right now. Players typically want to play on good teams. No one gave a f*** about playing in Florida until they put a solid roster together, drafting Barkov, overpaying tf out of Bob and trading for Tkachuk and Reinhart. Same with Minnesota. It's not like they've always been some hot destination that have always attracted the best players. They built a good team through the draft and guys now want to play there. Simple. IMO any team can do this if they construct their roster well enough.
Legionnaire11
Registered User
Parity doesn't mean everyone has an equal shot every season and a different team is guaranteed to win every year. Also, you listed a 30% increase in unique winners, that's not a small number.
Beukeboom Fan
Registered User
Claypool - as someone who was a NHL fan for the 2nd half of the early period you mention - at the start of every season I knew that there really only 5-6 teams that had a real chance (COL, DET, NJ, DAL, PHI, maybe STL/BOS for some of those). Right now - I truly believe that if you have good management for an extended stretch any team in NHL has a chance to win Cup. The issue for some is that a team's competitive life-cycle for the most part is 6-8 years for the most part, and it take a long time for a team either to rise - or to fall. Back in the late 90's or early 00's, 75% of the teams would never have the chance to rise to be a real competitor.
Machinehead
What species?
"Superteam" gets thrown out way too easily. Even in the NBA.
The only legit superteam in the NBA that came close to living up to it was LeBron's Heat.
The only legit superteam in the NBA that came close to living up to it was LeBron's Heat.
The Gr8 Dane
L'harceleur
Fatass
Registered User
- Apr 17, 2017
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Viqsi
"that chick from Ohio"
The alternative to parity is a system in which nobody ever has any reason to even attempt to pay attention to the same 2/3rds of the League year on year on year because their predestined failure is a foregone conclusion. There's nothing to play for, no point in being there, malaise sets in and stars are even more motivated to force their way out, and the rich just keep getting richer as a result. Possibly engaging for the fans of those few "have" teams who can lord it over everyone else, but the majority of fans are left out in the cold. Nobody wants to watch games in which the outcome is literally incapable of mattering.
I fell in love with hockey partly because it was fun at first, but also because it was something my home has had that we could be a part of, and as a result I've long been an advocate for "growing the game". I've consequentially had decades of folks dedicating unreal amounts of time to browbeating me and others like me with repeated assertions of We Don't Want You, You Don't Matter, You're Not Real, You Should Just Go Away, Your Hopes And Dreams Only Deserve Failure over and over and over - starting with people here literally cheering and celebrating when Mr. Mac (z''l) died - and had that paralleled with streaks of horrendous ill fortune that ensured that we never could have an answer for them that they would ever respect. And these two things have combined to, gradually, eventually, beat all joy for the game itself out of me. I've been having troubles bringing myself to follow the games at all since Kivi (z''l) died, and I haven't even watched any playoff games at all since Johnny (z''l) died; I can't bear to do so anymore.
All I have left is a wild, desperate, irrational hope that maybe, someday, it'll have all been worth it somehow. Advocating for a non-parity League would be the final nail in the coffin, though, because the only path for upward mobility in such a thing is Stupidly Rare Amazing Good Fortune, and two and a half decades have left me with absolutely no doubts whatsoever about what our chances are of that. I doubt our franchise could survive that kind of doomsday. I know my hockey fandom could not.
Machinehead
What species?
IdleTraveller
Barkov Fangirl (Sasha - call me!)
Obviously, if hockey fandom doens't give you joy or entertainment, then it sounds like there could be much better uses of your time that doesn't involve getting bombarded by gambling ads every 5 seconds... There's a really cool sports tournament happening at the moment in your country that I would encourage you to check out
! First of all, if the panthers - the joke of the league for 20 plus years - could turn it around, any franchise could. One of the things I actually appreciate about the socialist salary cap that American sports have is that any franchise could actually win - obviously, you still need competent management and huge amounts of luck but the possibility is there. You don't have to be one of the O6, or a big market team to win. This is very different from European football where there is no salary cap, so pretty much no chance to win unless you have a billionaire owner with deep pockets.
As someone who has grown up with European football, winning can't always be the point of sports fandom - it's the fun you have watching the game itself, and being part of a community that cares about the same thing. In my experience, most sports fandom is about sharing collective misery, and there's a sick fun that we all get from that. Don't get me wrong - winning is so much fun, but it's not really the point. Given how large the league is, if all things are equal, each team would only win every 32 years - so you have to find other things to enjoy aside from winning the cup.
Viqsi
"that chick from Ohio"
The Panthers aren't a source of hope, they're a source of misery - because Zito was our assistant GM before Florida hired him.Obviously, if hockey fandom doens't give you joy or entertainment, then it sounds like there could be much better uses of your time that doesn't involve getting bombarded by gambling ads every 5 seconds... There's a really cool sports tournament happening at the moment in your country that I would encourage you to check out
First of all, if the panthers - the joke of the league for 20 plus years - could turn it around, any franchise could. One of the things I actually appreciate about the socialist salary cap that American sports have is that any franchise can actually win - the main thing you need is competent management. You don't have to be one of the O6, or a big market team to win. This is very different from European football where there is no salary cap, so pretty much no chance to win unless you have a billionaire owner with deep pockets.
As someone who has grown up with European football, winning can't always be the point of sports fandom - it's the fun you have watching the game itself, and being part of a community that cares about the same thing. In my experience, most sports fandom is about sharing collective misery, and there's a sick fun that we all get from that. Don't get me wrong - winning is so much fun, but it's not really the point. Given how large the league is, if all things are equal, each team would only win every 32 years - so you have to find other things to enjoy aside from winning the cup.
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