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

[gwh]

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?

Why isn't edmonton number 1 in the worst post lockout? They have picked 1st half the drafts since then.

 

[BFLO]

Why isn't edmonton number 1 in the worst post lockout? They have picked 1st half the drafts since then.

They have a cup finals appearance. Compare that to toronto or florida with 0 playoff series wins.

 

[Maestro84]

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.

I was very tempted to put Toronto as the worst and if we did this 3 years ago, they'd be at the very bottom without a doubt. They do still have a compelling argument though since they've won no PO series, have no Division Titles and most years where they didn't qualify for the playoffs they weren't even close - Florida did come close a few years and have 2 Division Titles - also look at Florida's market & assets compared to Toronto's....really only the Knicks are most atrocious when it comes to the their wealth and market mixed with their lack of success

 

[Byron Bitz]

I was very tempted to put Toronto as the worst and if we did this 3 years ago, they'd be at the very bottom without a doubt. They do still have a compelling argument though since they've won no PO series, have no Division Titles and most years where they didn't qualify for the playoffs they weren't even close - Florida did come close a few years and have 2 Division Titles - also look at Florida's market & assets compared to Toronto's....really only the Knicks are most atrocious when it comes to the their wealth and market mixed with their lack of success

Toronto definately has been bad overall through the cap era but they are now looking like one of the best teams in the league with 3 of the best players in the game. Definately an exciting time to be a leafs fan.

 

[JT Kreider]

Rangers are the best that haven't won a Cup

 

[gwh]

They have a cup finals appearance. Compare that to toronto or florida with 0 playoff series wins.

At least they werent the worst team for nearly a decade in the row. There is no dethroning EDM for the king of the bottom dwelling trophy.

 

[Syckle78]

Why isn't edmonton number 1 in the worst post lockout? They have picked 1st half the drafts since then.

Math is hard.

 

[MadLuke]

Regular season in the salary cap era:

Most win:
Penguins
Sharks
Capitals
Bruins
Predators
Ducks
Red Wings
Rangers
Blues

Less wins (outside Vegas), starting by the very worst:
Oilers
Coyotes
Sabres
Panthers
Islanders
Blue Jackets
Maple Leafs


Despite the Oilers Pronger cups run, they should be in high consideration, there .474 is by a good separation the worst of that time frame (the only team below .500).

Best goal against:
Bruins
Rangers
Sharks

Worst goal against:
Leaf
Oilers
Jets

Best goal for:
Penguins
Capitals
Lighting

Worst goal for:
Devils
Coyotes
Kings

Playoff
Most Wins:
Penguins
Bruins
Sharks
Blackhawks
Ducks

Least wins (including Vegas):
Panthers
Jets
Maple Leaf
Blue Jackets
Coyotes


The only easy answer seem to the Penguins for number 1, most cups finals, tie for most cups, most RS wins, most playoff wins, missed the playoff only once (plus last season if it count).

Second place become hard has you enter the debate and have to weight continued success, absence of mediocrity spam during that time, cups wins, Regular season versus playoff success.

Same goes for the worst during that time, maybe the Oilers are the worst but one trip to the cup is worth a lot.

I would go for the Coyote being the worst, always in talk to move away, active help from the league, second worst amount of wins during that time frame, the less playoff wins, they made the playoff only 3 time all the time, Shade Doan has the biggest star of that market and by a large margin is no Sundin/McDavid

 

[CupsOverCash]

Tampa was ok after the cap was first implemented. They ramped it up later tho with an ecf in 2011 and then made the ecf 4 more times the next decade. So they would be up there for the last decade but if they had won another cup they would be top 5 but same could be said for any of those teams in top 5 now.

 

[Voight]

Explain.



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

Lemieux saved them. If he hadn't covered their debt to him into an ownership stake, they'd of been long gone.

 

[Maestro84]

At least they werent the worst team for nearly a decade in the row. There is no dethroning EDM for the king of the bottom dwelling trophy.

Tbh the Leafs were probably the worst team from 2006-2016 so basically from the lockout until the day Matthews made his debut, they were the ultimate basement dwellers. They've improved a lot in years since so that's why they are probably no longer the worst

 

[frisco]

Remember when the salary cap was supposed to help teams like Buffalo

When you hand out money like candy on Halloween to the likes of Ville Leino, Kyle Okposo, Christian Erhoff and Jeff Skinner the salary cap won't save you.

My Best-Carey

 

[HarryLime]

It's really hard for me to give credit to teams that just sucked and got lottery wins. I give the Kings organization a lot more credit for their cup wins over PIT. I know they got Doughty 2nd and Kopi pretty high but it pales in comparison to the 03-04-05-06 1-2-1-2 that PIT got.

 

[Maestro84]

It's really hard for me to give credit to teams that just sucked and got lottery wins. I give the Kings organization a lot more credit for their cup wins over PIT. I know they got Doughty 2nd and Kopi pretty high but it pales in comparison to the 03-04-05-06 1-2-1-2 that PIT got.

You still need to draft the right players and management needs to do their part in it as well. Also, winning the cup nowadays is harder than ever before given the cap and the number of teams that play in the league now - a lot has to happen for a team to win it all once let alone multiple times.

If it were as easy as you made it out to be, the Oilers over the last decade would've been in the midst of a Jordan Bulls or Gretzky Oilers-esque dynasty right now

 

[Claypool]

When you hand out money like candy on Halloween to the likes of Ville Leino, Kyle Okposo, Christian Erhoff and Jeff Skinner the salary cap won't save you.

My Best-Carey

Rangers used to hand out money like candy in the pre-cap days to free agents that ended up being useless (and much older). Didn't stop fans of small market teams from crying at the time.

 

[BFLO]

At least they werent the worst team for nearly a decade in the row. There is no dethroning EDM for the king of the bottom dwelling trophy.

Apart from their '06 cup appearance, Edmonton also has a playoff series win in the 16-17' season. Toronto's last playoff series win was during the 03-04' season.

 

[Devils090]

Rangers are the best that haven't won a Cup

Sharks >

 

[b in vancouver]

Cups are great but there's no way I'd have L.A. over Boston or Washington. Hockey doesn't only get played in the spring and early summer. Bruins and Caps have been two of the most consistently great teams in the NHL.
One miracle playoff run from Edmonton doesn't keep them out of the bottom five.

 

[b in vancouver]

Regular season in the salary cap era:

Most win:
Penguins
Sharks
Capitals
Bruins
Predators
Ducks
Red Wings
Rangers
Blues

Less wins (outside Vegas), starting by the very worst:
Oilers
Coyotes
Sabres
Panthers
Islanders
Blue Jackets
Maple Leafs


Despite the Oilers Pronger cups run, they should be in high consideration, there .474 is by a good separation the worst of that time frame (the only team below .500).

Best goal against:
Bruins
Rangers
Sharks

Worst goal against:
Leaf
Oilers
Jets

Best goal for:
Penguins
Capitals
Lighting

Worst goal for:
Devils
Coyotes
Kings

Playoff
Most Wins:
Penguins
Bruins
Sharks
Blackhawks
Ducks

Least wins (including Vegas):
Panthers
Jets
Maple Leaf
Blue Jackets
Coyotes


The only easy answer seem to the Penguins for number 1, most cups finals, tie for most cups, most RS wins, most playoff wins, missed the playoff only once (plus last season if it count).

Second place become hard has you enter the debate and have to weight continued success, absence of mediocrity spam during that time, cups wins, Regular season versus playoff success.

Same goes for the worst during that time, maybe the Oilers are the worst but one trip to the cup is worth a lot.

I would go for the Coyote being the worst, always in talk to move away, active help from the league, second worst amount of wins during that time frame, the less playoff wins, they made the playoff only 3 time all the time, Shade Doan has the biggest star of that market and by a large margin is no Sundin/McDavid

I do value regular seasons. When it's dark at 5 and freezing cold, I appreciate watching good hockey in the middle of winter. I also think that making the conference Finals or losing in the Cup is an accomplishment. Mostly just a Sharks vs. Kings debate at #5.
Pens - easily
Hawks - dominant seasons, Cups
Bruins - dominant seasons, consistency
Caps - great seasons, consistency
Sharks/Kings - great consistency vs. Cups

Bottom
Thrashers * - lost their team
Oilers - brutal
Leafs - brutal
Panthers - brutal
Sabres - are just sad
Coyotes -

 

[tarheelhockey]

The fact that the Hurricanes went an entire decade without making the playoffs and are still not on the worst-franchises list... I'm not sure whether to be proud of this or not

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

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

It has helped them. It hasn't helped some of them get better management/ownership, but it has helped them.

 

[MessierII]

You still need to draft the right players and management needs to do their part in it as well. Also, winning the cup nowadays is harder than ever before given the cap and the number of teams that play in the league now - a lot has to happen for a team to win it all once let alone multiple times.

If it were as easy as you made it out to be, the Oilers over the last decade would've been in the midst of a Jordan Bulls or Gretzky Oilers-esque dynasty right now

Yeah getting Yakupov, Nugent Hopkins and Taylor Hall isn’t the same as getting Staal, Crosby, Malkin and Fleury either. That’s not an organizational development thing that’s just timing.

 

[RedWhiteBlackGold]

The salary cap was never going to guarantee success for any team. That's a mighty big strawman. The salary cap allowed teams like Buffalo, Ottawa, and others to compete. Their failures are more about poor management than poor owners, as it should be.

Before the salary cap, teams like Detroit and the Rangers had payrolls of $80M while teams like the Sens struggled to spend $25M. Think of what would have happened to salaries if that had been left unchecked.

The irony of that is we had to choose between Chara and Redden when the team was a true contender. The cap may help the Sens today with a cheap owner, but that wasn't the case back then.

 

[Oneiro]

I put Chicago before Pittsburgh.

I'll always value the organization that drafted better, created its own depth, mastered a style of play as a team and made savvy free agent signings vs. the ones that lucked into two of the greatest players of all-time, on top of failing to surround them with the right cast. Kane and Toews are great players but they're not Crosby and Malkin. Pittsburgh should have had 5-6 cups. Maybe Chicago would have more with better cap management as well.

 

[Maestro84]

Yeah getting Yakupov, Nugent Hopkins and Taylor Hall isn’t the same as getting Staal, Crosby, Malkin and Fleury either. That’s not an organizational development thing that’s just timing.

They also got McDavid, Leon & Eberle along with Hall (former MVP), Nugent Hopkins and Nurse all through the draft and they've still won just 1 playoff series in 15 years.