[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

There seems to be other attributes of cup-winning teams that are more strongly correlated with success than simply drafting high.

You can also question the causation, but these traits are common on cup-winning teams:

-Having a goalie that was acquired via trade or draft, or signed with no prior NHL experience (every cup-winning team in the past 50 years)
-Having a defenseman who is top 8 or so in the world (every cup-winning team in the past 50 years)
-Having a player who was a top 4 draft pick (29 of the past 30 cups)
-Having a coach with a career win percentage of at least 57% (21 of the past 23 cups)
-A strong penalty kill, in the top half of the league (9 of the past 10 cup winners)
-Being in the top half of the league in goals against (24 of the past 30 cup wins)
Sadly, the Flames don't have any of these attributes except a good PK (Flames are currently 6th).

Comparatively, there are traits that have almost no correlation with winning cups:
-Only 2 of the past 10 cup winners have been ranked among the five tallest in the league. Six of them ranked in the bottom third in height
-Weight matters much more: 5 of the past 10 winners have ranked among the 5 heaviest in the league
-Only 5 of the past 10 cup winners had one or more players who were top 10 in scoring
-The average powerplay ranking for cup winning teams in the past 10 years is only 14th

I’ve always argued that having an elite dman is more valuable than the top center. Most seem to disagree but almost every cup team has 1. Elite dman can play half the game in the playoffs and often can contain to centers vs top centers dominating a series against an elite dman.

Huberdeau is a top 3 pick. How often do cup winning teams draft their top 4 picks vs trade for them. I bet most draft them. Not all though

I’ve consistently told my buddies who cheer for the oilers that Pk and 5 on 5 are way more important that a good pp in the playoffs. Interesting seeing the results though.