What Happened To Underdog Cup Finalists?

[JianYang]

Habs from 21 deserve a lot more credit for what they did. Leafs, Jets and VGK were all top tier teams before those playoffs and after.

People who discredit them the most seemingly ignore that they had go through Vegas to get to the final.

That was supposed to be a laugher apparently, but ended up going 6 games the other way.

 

[Chainshot]

Odd to have a team that went to a conference final with a league MVP in their lineup going to the finals a year later as unforeseen or unexpected.

 

[nowhereman]

The 2021 Habs were a Cinderella team, sure, but those covid years were truly an anomaly. That team doesn't even make the playoffs in a normal year.

 

[geebster]

Still happens. Also a team that was an underdog can quickly become a contender. Others have mentioned that Florida didnt exactly have a winning culture as a franchise and were certainly the underdog a couple years ago. Without changing much they became the obvious best team but that effort to bridge that gap should inspire the same kind of consideration and credit that an underdog gets for exceeding their potential.

It is playing at a higher level than you previously had in both cases, after all. Whether someone is an underdog has a lot to do with perception. Theres a lot of good teams that can put it together and win if things align right. There is still more parity today than there used to be.

 

[Brodeur]

Yes, they were sneaky-good, after a godawful start to that season. And true, they got some good fortune in that Col/Van got upset, but those were the kind of teams the Ducks were going to be dangerous against.

The ONE team I thought was a terrible matchup for them was NJ, because I just knew they didn't have enough raw offense to produce against that team, and that strict system was going to tilt the ice heavily. Anyone else, they had a good shot against, I'm a little surprised the Ducks took it to 7.

Honestly, if Ottawa beats NJ in game 7, I think there's a good chance the Ducks take one of the most unlikely Cups ever. However ... they don't end up in position to pick Getzlaf or Perry that draft, Kariya likely stays, they don't sign Scott Niedermayer, etc., and if all else stays the same Ottawa maybe wins a Cup against less of a brutal opponent in '07.

I would have bet on Ottawa in that hypothetical series. Unfortunately for Anaheim, they were idle for like 11 days after sweeping Minnesota and having to wait for the ECF to go 7 games. I don't think it's a coincidence that Anaheim came out relatively flat in the first two games against New Jersey. Not sure if that changes at all against Ottawa.

Meanwhile Joe Nieuwendyk got hurt late in Game 6 against Ottawa. He tried to gut it through Game 7 but only lasted a handful of shifts and missed the SCF. The Devils weren't deep offensively that year so subtracting Nieuwendyk in favor of guys like Jiri Bicek and later (unlikely Cup hero) Mike Rupp probably helped out Anaheim. Nieuwendyk was tremendous at faceoffs and Anaheim scored a couple directly off faceoffs, granted Adam Oates was a faceoff ace in his own right.

Sometimes I'm still in disbelief that the 2003 forward group cobbled together enough offense while the stacked 2001 group fell short. Elias and Gomez would click the following season but for most of 2002-03 they weren't great together.

Elias-Gomez-Marshall
Pandolfo-Madden-Langenbrunner
Friesen-Brylin-Gionta
Bicek-Rheaume-McKenzie

(Stevenson/Rupp inserted later in the series for Bicek/McKenzie)

 

[GlitchMarner]

Odd to have a team that went to a conference final with a league MVP in their lineup going to the finals a year later as unforeseen or unexpected.

The '99 Sabres?

They were seventh in the EC that year. I don't think the expectation was that they would get that far.

But as pointed out, NJ choked a lot in the first round back then. OTT was in its peak choking phase, with Yashin becoming one of the worst playoff performers relative to talent of all-time. Lindros was out for PHI and TOR was young and inexperienced that year. PIT didn't have a lot of depth.

Looking back, I don't think it's shocking they went that far with peak Hasek, but I don't think many saw it coming at the time.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

The crackdown on clutching and grabbing and no more michelin man goalies prevents less talented teams to level the playing field through obstruction, the trap, and simply riding a hot goalie.

 

[Took a pill in Sbisa]

I think it's mostly due to parity. There are several other teams that could have been in the finals this year and no one would have suggested they were underdogs. Would anyone have been surprised if Dallas was there? Colorado? Leafs even? Leafs are a bit of a punching bag, but they do seem to have a good team....if they made it this year, I doubt anyone would be thinking they were a cindarella team.

This. In a salary cap world with the current parity the only true underdogs are the wildcard teams, which don't seem to stand a chance against the elite teams.

 

[Chainshot]

The '99 Sabres?

They were seventh in the EC that year. I don't think the expectation was that they would get that far.

But as pointed out, NJ choked a lot in the first round back then. OTT was in its peak choking phase, with Yashin becoming one of the worst playoff performers relative to talent of all-time. Lindros was out for PHI and TOR was young and inexperienced that year. PIT didn't have a lot of depth.

Looking back, I don't think it's shocking they went that far with peak Hasek, but I don't think many saw it coming at the time.

7th but still went to the conference finals. And then followed that with the run to the finals. Not a favorite for sure, but not surprising that they had playoff success based on Hasek's ability to slam the door in back to back playoff years.