Quote:
Originally Posted by mikephoen
A lot of people here have a much more liberal meaning of 'Elite' than I do, I guess...
...And then Vancouver a step below that. No cup means not Elite to me.
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I fully agree with this. I don't think winning a cup makes you elite, but I think you have to have won it (or at LEAST consistently contended for it) to be considered elite. Chicago, Boston, Pittsburgh, those are 3 elite teams. To be elite in the NHL you have to be able to get it done in the regular season and in the post season. For this reason I would say that neither LA nor Vancouver are elite. LA is close, but they haven't shown as much ability to perform during the season, while the same can be said about Vancouver regarding the playoffs.
Vancouver has made it past the 2nd round once in the last decade. So for all their regular season success, they have absolutely proven unable to finish. Elite teams can finish. Elite teams are at an entirely different level than the rest of the teams, and at no point has Vancouver been elite over the past decade.