[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

2007 Anaheim Ducks
2008 Detroit Red Wings
2009 Pittsburgh Penguins
2010 Chicago Blackhawks
2011 Boston Bruins
2012 Los Angeles Kings
2013 Chicago Blackhawks

Those are your elite teams of the last decade. Elite teams win Cups, good teams win games.

The Canucks while good, were only truly great in one season (2011). Then the playoff debacles the following two seasons prevented them from ever taking the step to being truly elite.

If you say the Canucks are elite, then you would also have to build a similar argument for the Ottawa Senators, San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals, and Buffalo Sabres as elite. All have had decent playoff runs, Conference titles, and no cups since the lockout.

Those were definitely the elite teams from May-June each year...while one can argue that's all that matters, had the Kings lost a few more points from Oct-April, they are nowhere near the list.

It all comes down to the timespan we are talking about, and definition of "elite" (to me it is the very top echelon of teams - generally 2-4 of them in the league).

If we are talking 2010-2012, then you'd have to be blind to dispute the Nucks in that group.

If it is since the lockout, it's a different story...for one thing, it isn't the 60s, 70s or 80s anymore...It's hard to say that any teams are truly elite for more than a 1-3 year span.

Chicago has won two cups, but they only started making the playoffs in 2009...
Penguins were in the basement until 2008. There is only 1 team at the top of the list since the lockout (Red Wings), but I don't think elite is an appropriate adjective for that wide a time span. The Penguins, Blackhawks, Canucks, Bruins, Capitals, Sharks and Flyers are all similar over that period, with varying peaks and valleys.