What is considered a weak team come PO time?

[PistolPete]

Playoffs are a different rule book and play style. Success in the regular season doesn't usually carry over to the playoffs. Strong playoff teams aren't always on top of the regular season schedule.

Very true.

Funny isn't it? They have an 82 game schedule to sort out the best teams for PO seeding and yet.....is it really accurate for a short tournament?

 

[T REX]

..."and if you don't have that a weak team?"

Is that a correct guess at how your post would conclude?

If so, how many teams is this true for?

It's all relative. WHat is "weak", "weaker" and "weakest". We are comparatively speaking.

I didn't even mention mental toughness. Coaching could make you weak as well.

We could go on and on. My Bolts were weak AF. We are a one line team with zero toughness or grit. We are tiny tiny ppl.

We got our asses handed to us by one of the top teams in the NHL.

 

[StoveTopStauffer]

The image that appears to me when I close my eyes and think of a weak PO team is the Calgary flames logo.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

I just saw a poster claim LA was weak, a team that finished 4th overall in the conference.

I see many people claim various teams, divisions, or one of the conferences is weak and that is why Team X got through to the proceeding rounds.

If a 4th place team is weak, what is not weak? I'm especially intrigued by this given the RS standings see teams spread by 10 wins or so from 1 to 8 and 2 or 3 when we're taking about two or three seeds apart.

So I am really curious as to what renders a team weak in the eyes of those who like to throw that term around.

In LA's case I'm not sure I'd call them weak, but they had an extremely lopsided home/away record, which will be very difficult to maintain in the playoffs.

The Kings lead the entire league in 5v5 goal differential though, so that's an indicator that they should have been a strong team.

In all likelihood they just ran into a terrible matchup.

 

[BeranekAndNeck]

From what i gather from the bright minds here is that weak playoff teams lose series, especially against teams that you don’t want to see win or give credit to

Yep. Every team Edmonton has beat on the way to the SCF these past two years are allegedly “weak”!

 

[Hockey2Hockey]

Is that the series Mick Vukota attacked Jeff Bloemberg or was that '90?

That was 90

 

[Draiskull]

In playoffs you are as weak as your weakest link. You might be able to hide a couple bottom 6 forwards but rest need to be up to par.

LA's depth on D cost them the series.. Not sure what happened to guys like Kuemper, Otter, Hellybuyck etc but you need goaltending to keep you in games.

 

[PistolPete]

That was 90

I recall the analyst saying Bloemberg was religious and thus wouldn't fight.

 

[LaCarriere]

Teams like Toronto and Dallas that fold in the same spot in the playoffs every year. Not terrible teams but not contenders and very weak.

To compare Dallas to Toronto is criminal. In the last 6 years they've been to the finals, and conference finals 3 times.

 

[PistolPete]

To compare Dallas to Toronto is criminal. In the last 6 years they've been to the finals, and conference finals 3 times.

Dallas are real stars while Toronto is a bunch of make beleafs

 

[thaman8765678]

To compare Dallas to Toronto is criminal. In the last 6 years they've been to the finals, and conference finals 3 times.

And what exactly have they won? Nothing.

 

[LaCarriere]

And what exactly have they won? Nothing.

you realize only one team wins, right? At least stars fans have had some some good playoff runs to watch.

I guess Edmonton going to the cup finals in 2 straight years means nothing either? Meanwhile leaf fans have been the laughing stock of the league for being playoff choke artists for over a decade. All that regular season success and only two first round wins to show for it

 

[PistolPete]

And what exactly have they won? Nothing.

Isn't that a bit of a misdirected standard given only one team can win in any given season?

The Montreal Canadiens won 4 Cups in a row in the 70s and then the Islanders 4 in a row at the start of the 80s, does this mean all other teams weren't good (including the Canadiens during the Islanders reign?)

You can have the greatest team of all time save for 1- and that 1 just so happens to be concurrent with yours and by this standard of No Cup = weak/lousy/bad team, you're on the same pile as the teams who gigjt for last place.

 

[GlitchMarner]

From comments I've read, it seems any team that loses a series to the Edmonton Oilers is considered a weak playoff team.

 

[PistolPete]

From comments I've read, it seems any team that loses a series to the Edmonton Oilers is considered a weak playoff team.

How else to explain their success?

If I ran a network and hired an analyst and his response was ..."They won because their opponent is weak", he'd be out of a job immediately cause that's not analysis.

 

[Dirty Mind]

And what exactly have they won? Nothing.

Oilers were swept in the conference finals in 2022 but ohhhhh boy was it ever f***ing sweet to gentleman-sweep the Flames in the 2nd round.

Those are great memories whether or not they won that year.

 

[SheldonJPlankton]

And what exactly have they won? Nothing.

Campbell Bowl.

 

[Enga Olly]

Someone didn't bother reading the original post.

I rejected the op premise.

 

[Czechboy]

That's easy.. it's simple HF math.

The best team is the one the Oiilers will play next.

So in regular season it was wait till LA gets revenge. Amazing team, learned from their mistakes and kuemper is a Vezina nominee and former cup winner.

We start beating LA. The best team is Vegas and wait till they kick the shit out of us.

We start beating Vegas. Wait till Dallas burns down our village.

We start beating Dallas.. wait till Florida kicks our ass again..

If we start beating Florida.. you didn't play Colorado and Demko was hurt. You live in a house of lies.

And you'd think I'm making this shit up but this is what our gdts look like.lol. Then toss in a leaf fan letting us know Connor is coming to Toronto and you've got the full experience.lmao

 

[behemolari]

Canes until its proven wrong, unlike other teams hitting their heads into the same wall I believe they will figure it out

 

[PistolPete]

I rejected the op premise.

What's the premise that you reject?

 

[Czechboy]

And what exactly have they won? Nothing.

Playoff game after playoff game.
Series after series.
Round one after round one.

There is an HF trope that there is a Stanley Cup champ and 31 losers. So SJ and Edmonton were tied last year for instance.

I don't subscribe to that. Ive posted the top playoff teams in the 2020s and Dallas is absolutely on that list. 6 teams are well ahead of the rest .. Tampa, Edmonton, Florida, Dallas, AVS and canes.

 

[PistolPete]

Playoff game after playoff game.
Series after series.
Round one after round one.

There is an HF trope that there is a Stanley Cup champ and 31 losers. So SJ and Edmonton were tied last year for instance.

I don't subscribe to that. Ive posted the top playoff teams in the 2020s and Dallas is absolutely on that list. 6 teams are well ahead of the rest .. Tampa, Edmonton, Florida, Dallas, AVS and canes.

This is why I think the NHL needs to run the RS like the tables in European soccer and the Stanley Cup like the association Cups.

They would have to get creative to keep up the number of games but it renders the RS meaningful in its own right.

And should a team win both? Then they can earn a discltinction of being NHL Champions so that it becomes a goal of teams to win both and join an exclusive group.

And- this is going to be even more controversial- award something such as gold, silver, bronze to the 4 semi-finalists. At the time these would be meaningless but over time teams can use it as a resume of sorts of their success.

Would you rather be- in terms of level of success- a Hurricanes or Stars fan these days or a Sabres, Sharks, Flyers fan?

 

[Enga Olly]

What's the premise that you reject?

That us idiot spectators have the ability to determ8ne anything regarding strength and weakness. Too many variables within a game and a series that have little to do with strength and weakness. All we are doing is taking a result and then inventing bs to match the results. Just like the expert dummies on tv only worse.

 

[Summer Rose]

This is why I think the NHL needs to run the RS like the tables in European soccer and the Stanley Cup like the association Cups.

They would have to get creative to keep up the number of games but it renders the RS meaningful in its own right.

And should a team win both? Then they can earn a discltinction of being NHL Champions so that it becomes a goal of teams to win both and join an exclusive group.

And- this is going to be even more controversial- award something such as gold, silver, bronze to the 4 semi-finalists. At the time these would be meaningless but over time teams can use it as a resume of sorts of their success.

Would you rather be- in terms of level of success- a Hurricanes or Stars fan these days or a Sabres, Sharks, Flyers fan?

This would be impractical without a balanced schedule, which is impractical in itself because of how large the geographic footprint of the league is.

Imagine the travel involved if you had each team play 62 games (one game at home and one game away against all 31 other teams in the league).