Quote:
Originally Posted by Flashpoint
Well, lets be honest though - the Det, NJ, Col teams had a lot of their success pre 2005, and pre salary cap. They weren't managed by geniuses, they just had the best teams money could buy.
It wasn't like Calgary WANTED to trade Al MacInnis and Theo Fleury. They were trying to operate like a business instead of an Illich pizza empire toy.
Success since then? Well, it helps to draft Zetterburg and Datsuyk out of nowhere, have one of the best NHL defensemen in history.
Colorado has floundered since they couldn't buy championships anymore. Ditto for Dallas.
The "20 year view" (which is great BTW) has to take into account the different landscape once we got financial parity. It's not like all these teams were head and shoulders smarter than everyone else.
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It's tempting to generalize things in this kind of fashion - but anomalies pop up everywhere.
There's Carolina, Anaheim, TB, and Calgary showing up in the last three finals pre-cap. Carolina, Edmonton, and LA show up in the finals in the post-cap world. Anaheim shows up as the underdog pre-cap, and more like the powerhouse they're considered to be post cap. Philly shows up only twice in 20 years, once pre and once post cap. Nashville and Minnesota have been the most consistent performers since expansion, yet haven't been deep in the pre or post cap league.
There's some patterns for sure, but there's some randomness as well. In both financial landscapes.