Who are the 5 best and 5 worst franchises in the post-lockout/salary cap era?

[Maestro84]

As crazy as it may sound, we're now a little more than 15 years removed from the lockout season and intro to the salary cap. Hence, I think we're more than far enough into this era to evaluate who the best and worst franchises have been during this stretch. In my opinion:

5 Best

1. Pittsburgh (3 cups, 4 finals, b2b titles, 14 straight PO appearances & most PO series won)
2. Chicago (3 cups in 6 years)
3. Los Angeles (2 cups in 3 years)
4. Boston (1 cup, 3 finals, 2 President's Trophies and 5 Division Titles)
5. Washington (1 cup, 3 President's Trophies, and 10 Division Titles)

HM: Tampa Bay, Detroit, and Anaheim

5 Worst

1. Florida (zero PO series won, 3 PO appearances, only one 100+ point season and 2 Division Titles)
2. Toronto (zero PO series won, 5 PO appearances and two 100+ point seasons)
3. Columbus (2 PO series won, 6 PO appearances and only one 100+ point season)
4. Arizona (3 PO series won, 4 PO appearances, one 100+ point season and one Division Title)
5. Winnipeg/Atlanta (2 PO series won, 5 PO appearances, one 100+ point season, and one Division Title)

HM: Edmonton, Buffalo, and Minnesota

I didn't include teams like the Vegas Golden Knights simply because they weren't around for the entire or almost the entirety of this 15-16 year stretch. Edmonton is lucky asf to have made the 06 finals or else they would've easily been on the worst five list given what they've achieved (or haven't achieved) in years since.

Edit 2.0: One poster suggested putting Winnipeg/Atlanta as one which makes sense given all they did was switch cities so I guess Edmonton is off the hook once again
What are your lists?

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[nbwingsfan]

Pretty much agree with your list. Detroit and Washington could be swapped for that last spot but that's about it

 

[DJJones]

How is Edmonton not on the bottom 5. Fluking out with McDavid doesn't save them from being the worst managed team in sports for a decade.

 

[Maestro84]

How is Edmonton not on the bottom 5. Fluking out with McDavid doesn't save them from being the worst managed team in sports for a decade.

They made the finals in 2006 so that's why I had to omit them from the bottom 5 otherwise they'd probably be the worst or second worst on the list.

Edit: You know what, I'm putting Edmonton as the 5th worst lol at least Buffalo was a good team for 6 seasons between 2006-2011, whereas the Oilers were atrocious for 95% of the era

 

[Rich Nixon]

They made the finals in 2006 so that's why I had to omit them from the bottom 5 otherwise they'd probably be the worst or second worst on the list

I think they still qualify. I mean you have the Sabres on there and they won the President's Trophy what, the same year as the Oilers' Finals appearance? Season after? I'd say those are equivalent achievements.

 

[Claypool]

Remember when the salary cap was supposed to help teams like Buffalo, Arizona, Florida and Columbus?

 

[Maestro84]

I think they still qualify. I mean you have the Sabres on there and they won the President's Trophy what, the same year as the Oilers' Finals appearance? Season after? I'd say those are equivalent achievements.

Yeah I ended up changing it lol the Oilers have just been too terrible post-2006 so I slotted them in the 5th spot. At least the Sabres were consistently a good team for about 5-6 years before joining the Oils at the basement ever since.

 

[DJJones]

They made the finals in 2006 so that's why I had to omit them from the bottom 5 otherwise they'd probably be the worst or second worst on the list.

Edit: You know what, I'm putting Edmonton as the 5th worst lol at least Buffalo was a good team for 6 seasons between 2006-2011, whereas the Oilers were atrocious for 95% of the era

I thought the salary cap came the year after. Guess that's legit then

 

[Maestro84]

Remember when the salary cap was supposed to help teams like Buffalo, Arizona, Florida and Columbus?

Tbh this makes the Leafs an even bigger disappointment imo. Every team surrounding them on the "worst" list is either a small market team (Buffalo, Winnipeg, Columbus & Edmonton) and/or are based in a non-traditional hockey region (Arizona, Atlanta & Florida) - the Leafs are obviously the polar opposite of both but yet every team has won a playoff series besides them and Florida; who have at least won a couple division titles, which the Leafs haven't managed either rip

 

[Caps8112]

Lol, was about to say IN before you found a very creative way to point out the leafs misfortunes in the last 15 years

 

[Maestro84]

Lol, was about to say IN before you found a very creative way to point out the leafs misfortunes in the last 15 years

Am I wrong tho

 

[Maestro84]

On the flip side, Tampa Bay's rise to success was quite impressive given how much their market has struggled to support pro sports teams (i.e. Rays and Bucs) but yet when it comes to the Lightning, Amalie Arena is usually quite full and they've been one of the best teams in the league since 2003/04

 

[ziggyjoe212]

Remember when the salary cap was supposed to help teams like Buffalo, Arizona, Florida and Columbus?

Instead it helped small market teams like Pittsburgh and Tampa and Nashville

 

[Claypool]

Instead it helped small market teams like Pittsburgh and Tampa and Nashville

Pittsburgh won cups pre-salary cap. Tampa, too. Nashville was already putting together a strong team, and would have been better off because they would have been able to keep both Suter and Weber.

 

[BoltSTH]

On the flip side, Tampa Bay's rise to success was quite impressive given how much their market has struggled to support pro sports teams (i.e. Rays and Bucs) but yet when it comes to the Lightning, Amalie Arena is usually quite full and they've been one of the best teams in the league since 2003/04

Bolts were very bad 2006-2009 ( The Cowboys era), but at least it got them Stamkos, and Hedman.

 

[kaiser matias]

I didn't include teams like the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights simply because they weren't around for the entire or almost the entirety of this 15-16 year stretch. Edmonton is lucky asf to have made the 06 finals or else they would've easily been on the worst five list given what they've achieved (or haven't achieved) in years since. Edit: I ended up putting Edmonton there anyways lol
What are your lists?

Seeing how Winnipeg is the same as Atlanta, they would arguably be one of the worst teams: 15 years, 5 playoff appearances and 2 series wins.

 

[KingsFan7824]

Pittsburgh won cups pre-salary cap. Tampa, too. Nashville was already putting together a strong team, and would have been better off because they would have been able to keep both Suter and Weber.

Pittsburgh won Cups in the pre-free agency/money as a huge thing era. As did Montreal.

I know Cups are the thing, but I think the Kings are too high on that list. They should be somewhere in there, because they did burn bright for a time, but they also burned out very quickly. Some of the things they did on the way to 2 Cups, no team has ever done, but they also struggled at times during those seasons. They have nothing but the Cups, and it's just the 3 out of 15 years where they were truly part of any conversation. No Presidents trophy. No division title. No big individual trophy winner every year.

That you don't even mention SJ, I think is a slight. They had too many good years, played in too many playoff games, won too many playoff games, to not be at least mentioned. Year to year, top to bottom, best franchises of the cap era? The Sharks are really the Bruins or Caps, just yes, without the Cup.

 

[Soundgarden]

Pittsburgh won cups pre-salary cap. Tampa, too. Nashville was already putting together a strong team, and would have been better off because they would have been able to keep both Suter and Weber.

The Preds move if there is no salary cap, end of discussion.

 

[Maestro84]

Seeing how Winnipeg is the same as Atlanta, they would arguably be one of the worst teams: 15 years, 5 playoff appearances and 2 series wins.

Hmm good observation...I never thought of it that way. Maybe I'll do some re-shuffling then since the combination of both performances equate to some very poor results

 

[Maestro84]

Instead it helped small market teams like Pittsburgh and Tampa and Nashville

Pittsburgh is a small market but they certainly weren't affected by the lack of a salary cap. Look at those Mario/Jagr rosters in the 90s, those were straight up super teams at times

Nashville probably would've got screwed big time without the cap though

 

[Dustin]

Seems good to me. As a Leafs fan it's hard to believe that there was a team worse than us over that period of time but Florida has been god awful.

 

[tuozzi]

Pittsburgh won Cups in the pre-free agency/money as a huge thing era. As did Montreal.

I know Cups are the thing, but I think the Kings are too high on that list. They should be somewhere in there, because they did burn bright for a time, but they also burned out very quickly. Some of the things they did on the way to 2 Cups, no team has ever done, but they also struggled at times during those seasons. They have nothing but the Cups, and it's just the 3 out of 15 years where they were truly part of any conversation. No Presidents trophy. No division title. No big individual trophy winner every year.

That you don't even mention SJ, I think is a slight. They had too many good years, played in too many playoff games, won too many playoff games, to not be at least mentioned. Year to year, top to bottom, best franchises of the cap era? The Sharks are really the Bruins or Caps, just yes, without the Cup.

What I was about to write. I would at least have Boston ahead of them. Good list overall, though.

Edit. Fixed autocorrect.

 

[Wayward Son]

OP's analysis is great but you have to have Edmonton in that 5 worst list IMO.

Consider the fact that the league literally had to change the draft format because of how much they sucked. Only for them to continue to suck and win the lottery anyway.

 

[Maestro84]

Pittsburgh won Cups in the pre-free agency/money as a huge thing era. As did Montreal.

I know Cups are the thing, but I think the Kings are too high on that list. They should be somewhere in there, because they did burn bright for a time, but they also burned out very quickly. Some of the things they did on the way to 2 Cups, no team has ever done, but they also struggled at times during those seasons. They have nothing but the Cups, and it's just the 3 out of 15 years where they were truly part of any conversation. No Presidents trophy. No division title. No big individual trophy winner every year.

That you don't even mention SJ, I think is a slight. They had too many good years, played in too many playoff games, won too many playoff games, to not be at least mentioned. Year to year, top to bottom, best franchises of the cap era? The Sharks are really the Bruins or Caps, just yes, without the Cup.

Yeah it was a tough choice in terms of where to put the Kings but they also had a 3 year stretch only matched by PIT and CHI in these 15 years. If the Bruins had won in 2019, which they were the favourites in, they would have taken the #3 spot with ease. In a top 10 list, I would probably put San Jose at the 10th spot as they're easily the best franchise to have never won a cup in the cap era:

1. Pittsburgh
2. Chicago
3. Los Angeles
4. Boston
5. Washington
6. Tampa Bay
7. Detroit
8. Anaheim
9. St. Louis
10. San Jose

 

[Claypool]

The Preds move if there is no salary cap, end of discussion.

Explain.

Pittsburgh is a small market but they certainly weren't affected by the lack of a salary cap. Look at those Mario/Jagr rosters in the 90s, those were straight up super teams at times

Nashville probably would've got screwed big time without the cap though

Pittsburgh had ownership and arena issues. Crosby saved the franchise in Pittsburgh, not the salary cap.