Quote:
Originally Posted by Enoch Root
Because their best players - Gaudreau, Monahan, Lindholm, Brodie and Tkachuk to an extent - are in their prime. And other key players - Giordano and Backlund - are going to decline going forward.
Just because they haven't had success yet, doesn't mean they can't next year (see St Louis last year)
When your core is in their prime, pretty much every organization will look to add to it, not tear it apart and start over again.
the difference between winning and losing is razor-thin.
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All that should tell you is that it's a poorly structured team. Also, St. Louis made HUGE additions to their rosters in the two summer preceding their Cup win - they added a #2 and #1 centre, and it still took a breakout (nearly) Conn Smyth quality run from a random goalie that didn't have a history of being an absolutely mediocre NHL goalie (...like all of Tree's goalie's acquisitions)
But let's look at their playoff successes before winning it all:
18/19: Stanley Cup
Summer of 18: Added a #1 centre
17/18: Missed playoffs
Summer of 17: Added a #2 centre
16/17: Won 6 playoff games
15/16: Won 10 playoff games
14/15: Won 2 playoff games
34 playoff wins in the last 5 seasons, and 18 playoff wins in the 4 season preceding their Stanley Cup season - and they STILL added two top six centres before getting over the hump.
This team has 3 playoff wins in 5 seasons and hasn't improved the roster in over two full seasons.
