[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

Remember, players are not paid to play in the playoffs. They play for pride (and future considerations, of course). And each and every player plays better than normal for him during playoffs in a hope to get to the SC final. When everyone plays hard, at the end of the day, bigger teams have better chances to win SC. I can't think of an exception to this rule in the recent history. Most former NHL players confirm this when asked. Every GM confirms this when asked. Burke said it straight out on the CBC panel last year, when evaluating Washington chances against Vegas.

This assertion employs an excluded middle. The same statement can essentially be made of any variety or combination of hockey attributes:

"When everyone plays hard, at the end of the day, faster teams have better chances to win SC."
"When everyone plays hard, at the end of the day, higher skilled teams have better chances to win SC."
"When everyone plays hard, at the end of the day, better forechecking teams have better chances to win SC."
"When everyone plays hard, at the end of the day, strong defensive teams have better chances to win SC."

And so on, and so forth.