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

[AD1066]

Pittsburgh is probably on top, but I don't see them as having exceeded expectations. A few Cups should be expected with that kind of luck, and other teams did more with less.

 

[HotDish]

I can tell you for a fact Minnesota is 15th.

 

[M88K]

Well one, you can't compare pre-cap to cap era teams because pre-lockout, you could stack up teams like they do in the MLB. Also, if the Pens were worse than all those teams than doesn't it make their 3 cups even more impressive

Didn't refute the merits of them being one of the most successful franchises in the cap era , only refuted that the 16 pens were "arguable the most dominate team in 20-30 years" its not even close to true especially when that time frame included the 02 wings, which was basically an all star team in comparison to the 16 pens roster.
I don't buy the thought process they were that dominate in comparison to their contemporaries either, yes better than quite a few but on par to worse than others

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Terrible argument. Pens won those Cups with Malkin and Crosby, but also by building the team around them through draft and trade. There are many players this team doesn’t win their Cups without, especially in the back to backs. Even then, in a thread like this, it’s more about the results than how you got the results. And you can’t argue with these results.

Also, saying a team should be devalued for having two of the greatest players of their generation is weird logic. They’re part of the team, so you can’t discount their value. If anything, their legacy builds additional value to the greatness of the franchise.

Pittsburgh was Edmonton before Edmonton when they "built" those teams. People rag on Edmonton for all their 1st overall picks, but forget the Pens went full tank-a-palooza in the early 00s.

They had 5 straight Top 5 picks, picking 5,1,2,1,2 from 02-06. They took Crosby, Malkin, Staal, MAF and Whitney with those 5 picks.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

It is widely agreed upon that the 2016 Pens team is one of the most dominant teams in recent memory. The only team that can be argued to be better are the 2010 Blackhawks.

"most dominant teams"...they lost their own division by 7 points to The Caps and twice got taken to a game 7

 

[Richard]

Pittsburgh was Edmonton before Edmonton when they "built" those teams. People rag on Edmonton for all their 1st overall picks, but forget the Pens went full tank-a-palooza in the early 00s.

They had 5 straight Top 5 picks, picking 5,1,2,1,2 from 02-06. They took Crosby, Malkin, Staal, MAF and Whitney with those 5 picks.

The Penguins traded up for MAF (on of your number 1 picks) and then won the draft lottery for a season that never occurred. The finished last in the league and "earned" the 2nd overall pick-Malkin. They lucked out that the 2nd overall pick was also a generational talent. VERY LUCKY there looking at some of the Oilers #1 overall picks...

1	1	Taylor Hall

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

1	1	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

1	1	Nail Yakupov

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

The Penguins made the conference finals in 2001, missed the playoffs in 02-03,03-04,05-6 and then returned in 06-07 making the cup the next year in 07-08.

Hardly 13/14 years like the Oilers.

Thanks for playing

 

[M88K]

"most dominant teams"...they lost their own division by 7 points to The Caps and twice got taken to a game 7

Only once, against the lightning.
But your point is still valid

 

[HarryLime]

A lot more goes into a successful franchise than high picks or even generational players. Edmonton is showing that right now.

If this was best team of 2010-15 I'd agree with you. Way too many poor seasons outside of that period for me to put chicago ahead of pittsburgh overall.

I understand that, but to get Mario-Sid-Geno is unreal

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

The Penguins traded up for MAF (on of your number 1 picks) and then won the draft lottery for a season that never occurred. The finished last in the league and "earned" the 2nd overall pick-Malkin. They lucked out that the 2nd overall pick was also a generational talent. VERY LUCKY there looking at some of the Oilers #1 overall picks...

1	1	Taylor Hall

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

1	1	Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

1	1	Nail Yakupov

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

The Penguins made the conference finals in 2001, missed the playoffs in 02-03,03-04,05-6 and then returned in 06-07 making the cup the next year in 07-08.

Hardly 13/14 years like the Oilers.

Thanks for playing

Cool story bro, doesn't make Pittsburgh any less of an all time tank job. 1,1,1,3 isn't any worse than 1,2,1,2

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Only once, against the lightning.
But your point is still valid

I assumed he meant 2016-17, they went to 7 against Ottawa and Washington.

 

[M88K]

I assumed he meant 2016-17, they went to 7 against Ottawa and Washington.

Ah.
My fault then

 

[PenguinSuitedUp]

Pittsburgh was Edmonton before Edmonton when they "built" those teams. People rag on Edmonton for all their 1st overall picks, but forget the Pens went full tank-a-palooza in the early 00s.

They had 5 straight Top 5 picks, picking 5,1,2,1,2 from 02-06. They took Crosby, Malkin, Staal, MAF and Whitney with those 5 picks.

And they built solid teams around their star players and won 3 Cups. They made the playoffs in Sid’s 2nd(?) year and went to back to back championships shortly thereafter. Edmonton still has next to nothing to show for all of the years they spent at the bottom of the league. So no, Pittsburgh was not Edmonton before Edmonton was Edmonton. Pittsburgh took their assets and turned them into parts of an annual Cup contender and probably the best franchise in the post-lockout era to this point.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Some great teams at the top. Some really bad ones at the bottom but some of those bottom teams have had some success here and there.

 

[ismelofhockey]

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.

Yes. The cap happened at the worst time for Ottawa, forcing the trade of Havlat and the loss of Chara. Stupid Muckler. But over the long run it's been a definite positive.

 

[BlueBaron]

The Op did well with his best list but his worst list makes no sense. It feels like he wants Toronto to be worse than they are, Edmonton to be better, and he never heard of Ottawa.

 

[Maestro84]

Pittsburgh was Edmonton before Edmonton when they "built" those teams. People rag on Edmonton for all their 1st overall picks, but forget the Pens went full tank-a-palooza in the early 00s.

They had 5 straight Top 5 picks, picking 5,1,2,1,2 from 02-06. They took Crosby, Malkin, Staal, MAF and Whitney with those 5 picks.

At least they did something with those picks. The Oilers have been so frustrating since they get all these high draft picks year after year and have it amount to nothing...

 

[ziggyjoe212]

"most dominant teams"...they lost their own division by 7 points to The Caps and twice got taken to a game 7

You're looking at the 16/17 season.

Yes the Pens finished 2nd in the division, but they were also out of the playoffs after 2 months and fired their HC. After Sullivan took over they dominated in the reg season and every playoff opponent other than Tampa. They were the only team to take it to 7 games.

It is by far the most dominant Pens team I've ever seen (except maybe the 1993 Pens).

 

[goldenbladz1]

There an argument there that they got the most hurt by the cap than any franchise, they had a rich owner in a big market, I imagine they keep going on with that core longer.

Chicago can go either way because they achieved the highest high, but they missed the playoff 5 times and in the list of team with the most wins during that time frame:
Most win:
Penguins
Sharks
Capitals
Bruins
Predators
Ducks
Red Wings
Rangers
Blues

They are no near the top at all.

Considering that despite not having close to the sustained success than a long list of team during the post-lockout era they do not have more cups than a team that did also won 3 and added one more trip to the final, it is really hard to find an argument to put them above the Penguins.

Crosby/Malkin are superior to the Toews/Kane OK, but they also had more success and the other pair was also gifted to Chicago.

Sid and Geno better yes but I wouldn't say they are far superior as both have had great success. It's too bad the teams didn't actually to play in a series and for what it's worth Penguins do not have a great record against Chicago (Chicago 14 wins vs Pittsburgh 5 since 2006- used that as Sid, Gino, Toews and Kane all members ). Blackhawks were also a game 7 OT against Kings that would have been their 4 cup in 6.

 

[Jen Psaki]

Cool story bro, doesn't make Pittsburgh any less of an all time tank job. 1,1,1,3 isn't any worse than 1,2,1,2

But....Pittsburgh has 3 Cups and 4 Conference Championships. Edmonton has.......1 playoff round win?

 

[BigEezyE22]

Pittsburgh is probably on top, but I don't see them as having exceeded expectations. A few Cups should be expected with that kind of luck, and other teams did more with less.

When you say team"s" are you going to list multiple?

I mean, literally nobody did more.

Most wins, most playoff wins, most cups, most finals appearances, most individual Hart Trophy winners...

 

[Waterbuf]

Best:
Chicago
Pittsburgh
Los Angeles
Tampa Bay
Boston
Washington

Worst:
Edmonton
Ottawa
Buffalo
Arizona
Florida

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

I'd flip Boston and LA for #3. The extra Cup might have some additional weight but the Bruins have longer sustained success as an elite contender and have the Cup of their own to check of the box for fans.