The weakest cup finals roster ever?

[Hockey_Ninja]

I was just wondering has there ever been a weaker roster in the cup finals than our 04 squad? Look at our roster:

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/l...000432004.html

Outside of Iggy, Kipper and Regehr...yikes. Makes what we did that year even more impressive. I guess you could add Conroy in that group of players to but he was a 2nd line center at best. Has any other team iced a weaker cup finals roster?

[Yakbutter]

96 panthers

[moon]

2006 Oilers and not just saying that because they are our rivals.

Outside of Pronger that roster is a pile of garbage. So much luck for them to get there.

[calgaryred]

82 Canucks

[Rubicant]

2002 hurricanes.

[cowtown75]

That's what good coaching can do- thank you Darryl

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Hockey_Ninja

I was just wondering has there ever been a weaker roster in the cup finals than our 04 squad? Look at our roster:

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/l...000432004.html

Outside of Iggy, Kipper and Regehr...yikes. Makes what we did that year even more impressive. I guess you could add Conroy in that group of players to but he was a 2nd line center at best. Has any other team iced a weaker cup finals roster?

Man was that a young team....especially on defense.

Regehr 23
Leopold 23
Warrener 27
Lydman 25
Ference 24
Gauthier 26
Montador 23

[Canada 02]

the 93 Hab's was full of grinders and Patrick Roy

[cowtown75]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Man was that a young team....especially on defense.

Regehr 23
Leopold 23
Warrener 27
Lydman 25
Ference 24
Gauthier 26
Montador 23

Man I would love Regehr again at 23

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Other than the first few years after expansion when the Blues were able to make the finals by little more than default, the 1982 Canucks had an awful roster for a team in the finals. The 1996 Florida Panthers and the 1998 Buffalo Sabers both played a trapping game that was able to bore the opposition to death in combination with great goaltending.

The 2004 Flames were not a great team on paper but they played a very energetic game and were bailed out more times than not by Kiprusoff.

[sharkov]

They certainly played better than the sum of their parts

[Bourque's Twin]

2004 Flames were so bad on paper. In the reg season Iggy had 41 goals. Next best was Donovan with 18...

[Weiser Wonder]

It wasn't a talented team but it was a well built team. It was strong down the middle, good defensively, tough, young, fast along with two franchise players in their prime.

Craig Conroy was not just a second line center. He was elite defensively, good offensively, fast and big. He was a very valuable player. As was Stephane Yelle, who didn't add much scoring but was also elite defensively.

The reason the Flames did so poorly this year is because they didn't bother with role players, and settled with just stacking the team with secondary scoring.

[jeffman]

2003 ducks

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

It wasn't a talented team but it was a well built team. It was strong down the middle, good defensively, tough, young, fast along with two franchise players in their prime.

Craig Conroy was not just a second line center. He was elite defensively, good offensively, fast and big. He was a very valuable player. As was Stephane Yelle, who didn't add much scoring but was also elite defensively.

The reason the Flames did so poorly this year is because they didn't bother with role players, and settled with just stacking the team with secondary scoring.

Conroy was at his best a second line center. That isn't a bad thing but he wasn't a first line player on the majority of NHL teams at any point during his career. Very good defensively, okay offensively, good in the room... but not a first line player.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

Conroy was at his best a second line center. That isn't a bad thing but he wasn't a first line player on the majority of NHL teams at any point during his career. Very good defensively, okay offensively, good in the room... but not a first line player.

In 01-02, Conroy had 75 points. The league leading centre had 80 points.

75 points in what will probably be the lowest scoring season league wide EVER, isn't too bad.

[Haplo]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Man was that a young team....especially on defense.

Regehr 23
Leopold 23
Warrener 27
Lydman 25
Ference 24
Gauthier 26
Montador 23

And Lydman and Gauthier even missed most of the playoffs due to injuries.

Regehr
Leopold
Warrener
Ference
Montador
Commodore

Those were what the Flames iced for most games. Sure did look weak on paper.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

It wasn't a talented team but it was a well built team. It was strong down the middle, good defensively, tough, young, fast along with two franchise players in their prime.

Craig Conroy was not just a second line center. He was elite defensively, good offensively, fast and big. He was a very valuable player. As was Stephane Yelle, who didn't add much scoring but was also elite defensively.

The reason the Flames did so poorly this year is because they didn't bother with role players, and settled with just stacking the team with secondary scoring.

I agree.
The 2004 version of the Flames was not a weak team. It was a young team that got stronger as the season progressed, with more toughness added around the trade deadline. It gets called a weak team by people who just look at goal scorers. They were a hard checking team, great at cycling and control of the boards. The defense was young and as a group was starting to be considered one of the best in the league. There were several analysts who said at the start of the playoffs that nobody wanted to play against them in the first round. The remnants of that team were good enough to win their division 2 years later. Contrast that with what happened to the 2007 Oilers or the Panthers. As Ville Niemenen said in his interview last week, that was areally good team that was really hurt by the lockout the next year. If they had been able to play in the locked out season, I think they would have been near the top of the league.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

In 01-02, Conroy had 75 points. The league leading centre had 80 points.

75 points in what will probably be the lowest scoring season league wide EVER, isn't too bad.

He is like Brendan Morrison, a good second line player who played with an elite linemate (or linemates) which helped his offensive production.

[Ped]

Originally Posted by Canada 02

the 93 Hab's was full of grinders and Patrick Roy

I don't know if I agree with that.

Damohousse, Muller, Bellows, Desjardins, Schneider, Brisebois, Savard (although he didn't play much in the finals, if at all), Leclair...

Lot of talent on that team.