The weakest cup finals roster ever?

[Bootsy]

Originally Posted by Dion

I'm looking at the roster through the eyes a fan watching the playoffs and players that year and not some 27 years later when you know how the careers of players developed into.

I think you are saying they were the most depleted team due to injury , but that far from makes them the weakest roster to reach the final.
Looking back in this case is a better representative of which finalists were a good talented teams and which teams just had a good run on that certain year.
I think looking back proves what a solid team the '86 Flames were.
Weak rosters that just had a single long playoff run are teams like the '82 Canucks or '96 Panthers, Nothing to due with injuries.

[Vinny01]

The flames in 04 benefited from having the best goalie in the game who came out of nowhere and Iggy in his physical prime coming off a rocket Richard win. The rest of the team was a mix of vets and young guys that played a great style that could wear any team down. Certainly not the worst finalist of all-time. This was proven by winning the division 2 years later

[the-rasta-masta]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

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.

Missing 04/05 really did hurt that team. Also worth noting that we would have had a great backup in Roman Turek that year. Maybe we would have never gotten to the point of Kipper playing 70+ games per year if he had didn't decide to stay home after the lockout;.

[the-rasta-masta]

Also, we were missing Reinprecht and McCammond in the playoffs, then Lombardi for the third round and finals.

[bubbsy]

Flames 2004 Playoff success can be attributed to:
1) Elite goaltending that was capable of stealing games/series

2) Iginla going into beast mode

3) Most important, a coach who has a playoff game plan down to a science, with a roster, regardless of skillset/injuries that bought in.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by Bootsy

I think you are saying they were the most depleted team due to injury , but that far from makes them the weakest roster to reach the final.
Looking back in this case is a better representative of which finalists were a good talented teams and which teams just had a good run on that certain year.
I think looking back proves what a solid team the '86 Flames were.
Weak rosters that just had a single long playoff run are teams like the '82 Canucks or '96 Panthers, Nothing to due with injuries.

Agree. The best measure of how "weak" a team was in the SCFs is to look at their performance the next year. After 1986, the Flames were a power in the western conference.
In addition to being depleted by injuries, IIRC, during the SC finals against Montreal, the '86 Flames also had the 'flu going through the dressing room and one player might even have been hospitalized.

[FlamesAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

Flames 2004 Playoff success can be attributed to:
1) Elite goaltending that was capable of stealing games/series

2) Iginla going into beast mode

3) Most important, a coach who has a playoff game plan down to a science, with a roster, regardless of skillset/injuries that bought in.

I would also add having a roster that was more capable of playing the clutch and grab style that was still predominant at the time. Lots of speedy and/or physically tough grinder type players on our team it seemed.

But ya, largely Kipper, Iginla and Sutter that got us to where we were. And some luck perhaps

Agree with 96 Panthers as the weakest though.