Quote:
Originally Posted by SofaProfessor
I hate the term "cup contender." We've seen it over many seasons where every team in the playoffs has a pretty legitimate chance of going all the way. I mean, if we were having this conversation generally about all teams back in November it would have been hard to call Pittsburgh a cup contender with the way they were playing and sitting in the standings.
As far as I see it, any team that makes the playoffs is a cup contender because anything can happen in a playoff series that completely changes your perspective of teams and their place in the picture. The Flames should be right on the edge of becoming a regular playoff team. The goalie situation has improved. Hopefully we see some improvement on special teams and a little more consistency on defence. If all of that happens I don't see how the Flames miss the playoffs and by my thinking, that makes you a cup contender. If you want to group them with teams like the Hawks then I think you need several seasons of sustained playoff appearances and success but that's a very narrow definition of cup contender that doesn't take into account the unpredictability we know and love in playoff series.
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It's happened twice in the last 20 years where a seed lower than 4 went all the way. And it was the same team with the same core both times.
I wouldn't exactly consider this a great example of seeing it over many seasons.