Quote:
Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers
4 times in 18 years. 2 being the Wings dynasty.
How many times has sutter missed the playoffs in that time?
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Sutter is a great coach but the game isn't the same. Not even to what it was last time he won the Cup which feels like only yesterday. There are many reasons for this but I would point to the league simply evolving in its use of analytics - Sutter was a forward thinker in that department but people have caught up and tweaked the ideas.
This year of the sixteen teams that made the playoffs, only two were in the bottom half of the league in goal scoring and they were respectively 17th and 18th. None of the bottom twelve teams in goal scoring made the playoffs.
In 2013-14, of the sixteen teams that made the playoffs, only eleven were in the bottom half of the league in goal scoring, and three were bottom ten in goal scoring. The Kings had the worst goals per game of any playoff team, sitting 25th in the NHL. They won the cup.
It's a subtle shift, and there are factors like variance involved - but it shouldn't be hand-waved. Offense matters more now than it did five years ago, because any edge you had five years ago, the offensive teams now also utilize.