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Meltzer's Musings: 6/16/11 |
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Congratulations to the Boston Bruins for bringing home the Stanley Cup. They are deserving champions, and Tim Thomas was a no-brainer choice for the Conn Smythe Trophy. Congratulations also go out not only to the players and coaching staff but to the team's scouts and other off-ice personnel.
There are few things that make me more irate than people who say, "How can you support (insert team name)? They play you for a fool every year. They haven't won a Stanley Cup in (fill in the blank) years."
The Stanley Cup, to me, is the hardest prize to win in all North American team sports. No matter how well-crafted a team's roster, how well-coached it may be or how dedicated its players, there are absolutely no guarantees of a championship. There is a lot of good fortune involved in making a run to the Final, let alone winning the whole thing.
From a Flyers standpoint, yes, it has been 36 years since the last time the club won the Cup. But they came a few breaks away from winning three Cups (1980, 1987, 2010) in the years since then, just as they had the breaks go their way in the two Cup years.
There a lot of good hockey teams in the NHL, all capable of winning the Cup given the right matchups, strong playoff goaltending and the ability to avoid critical injuries. Consider the 1975-76 and 1985-86 Flyers. The former club was missing injured Bernie Parent and Rick MacLeish when it got swept in the Final by Montreal (in three one-goal goals and a Game 4 that was tied late in the third period). The latter team -- in between two runs to the Final -- was arguably the best Flyers team of the mid-1980s but had been through emotional hell following the death of Pelle Lindbergh and was spent by the playoffs.
Have there been years where the Flyers teams were ill-constructed for playoff success in one or more key areas? Absolutely.
In and of itself, however, there is no shame in the fact that the Flyers -- the team with the second-highest winning percentage in the NHL since the 1967 expansion -- have not won a Cup since 1975 despite typically being a contender and reaching the Final six times since the second Cup win.
Last night, the Bruins (playing in their first Final in 20 years) ended a drought that spanned back to 1972. The Canucks, founded in 1970, are still looking for their first Cup.
Too small of a sample size for comparison? OK, then just look around the NHL, and see exactly how hard it is for a team to win the Cup. The truth of the matter is that every single franchise in the league has known long periods of frustration at some point in its history.
Let's start with the rest of the Original Six teams apart from Boston and work through the various NHL expansion clubs apart from the Flyers and Canucks:
The New York Rangers have won one Cup (1993-94) in the last 71 years.
Last year, Chicago ended its 50-year Cup drought. The club qualified for the playoffs this season by the skin of its teeth before nearly pulling off a comeback from an 0-3 deficit in the first round against Vancouver.
The Detroit Red Wings have had lots of success in the last decade-and-a-half. They are the NHL's most consistent franchise and a perennial Cup contender. Keep in mind, though, that the Red Wings went 42 years (1955 to 1997) without a Cup at one point before it finally broke through to the more recent period of four Cups in the last 14 years.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have not only not won a Cup since the 1967 expansion, the club has not reached the Final a single time in that 44-year time period.
For all of their glorious history, the Montreal Canadiens have won one Stanley Cup (1992-93) in the last quarter century.
The Los Angeles Kings came into the NHL the same year (1967-68) as the Flyers, and have never won a Cup. They've made a single appearance in the Final.
The St. Louis Blues are another team that has been around as long as the Flyers. They have never won a Stanley Cup and have not reached the Final since 1970, yet the team at one point qualified for the playoffs in 25 consecutive years (highlighted by four divisional titles and four 100-point seasons, including a 114-point season (1999-2000) where they ended up losing in the first round of the playoffs).
The Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars also entered the league in the 1967 expansion draft. The franchise won its lone Cup in 1999, and has made three losing appearances in the Final in its history.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have won three Cups since their 1967 creation, but also had prolonged lean periods as a league doormat leading up the assembly of their championship squads.
The woeful California Seals/Oakland Seals/California Golden Seals/Cleveland Barons team was an embarrassment to the NHL during its decade of it existence. The horrendously mismanaged franchise never came within a country mile of being a contender, let alone a champion. They mercifully folded and were merged with the North Stars in 1978.
Just like the Canucks, the Buffalo Sabres entered the NHL in the 1970 expansion and have come close a couple times buy have never won the Cup in franchise history.
The New York Islanders were the envy of the NHL in the early 1980s, winning four straight Stanley Cups and reaching the Final the next year. Ever since then, it's been nothing but frustration for the 39-year-old franchise. In the last 24 years, the Islanders have won exactly one playoff round and missed the playoffs 14 times.
The Atlanta/Calgary Flames entered the NHL in 1972, along with the Islanders. In 39 years, the franchise has won a single Cup (1988-89) and reached the Final two other times.
The Washington Capitals entered the NHL in 1974. In 37 years, the team has zero Cups and one appearance in the Final (in which the team got swept by the Red Wings).
The Kansas City Scouts/Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils were one of the NHL's weak sisters and most unstable franchises from the time of its 1974 foundation until the mid-1990s. The club has won three Stanley Cups since then but is now 8 years removed from its most recent Cup and has either lost in the first round of the playoffs or failed to qualify for the postseason in five of the last 7 seasons. The team has not reached the Conference Final since its last Cup.
The Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes entered the NHL in the 1979 merger with the WHA. They won their lone Cup in 2006, and also made a run to the Final in 2002.
The Edmonton Oilers also entered the NHL in the 1979 merger and soon established arguably the greatest dynasty in modern hockey history, winning four Cups in the Gretzky years (five Final appearances) and a fifth championship (1990) after his departure. The team also reached the Conference Final the next two years. But the last 19 years have mostly been miserable, save for a surprise run to Game 7 of the Final in 2006. The Oilers have not reached the playoffs in the last five years and also had a four-year run of missing the postseason in the mid 1990s.
The Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes are the lone team from the 1979 WHA merger that never won a Cup or reached the Final in its NHL history. The Coyotes have never won a playoff round, in fact, and the team only reached the second round twice while it was in Winnipeg. They did win three championship in the WHA prior to the merger, however.
The Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche never won a Cup or reached the Final until the franchise relocated to Colorado. Two Cups (1996 and 2001) and six runs to at least the Conference Final followed immediately thereafter. However, the team has failed to qualify for the playoffs in three of the last five seasons and the Avalanche have not advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs in the last 9 years.
The San Jose Sharks have now been in the NHL for 20 years, entering the league in 1991. They have never won a Cup or reached the Final.
The modern-day version of the Ottawa Senators entered the NHL in 1992-93. They have never won a Cup, and have reached the Final once.
The Tampa Bay Lighting entered the NHL at the same time as the Sens. The team did win a Cup in 2004 -- in a season that was almost miraculously injury-free -- and reached Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final this year. The Bolts missed the playoffs in 9 of their first 10 seasons and missed the postseason three straight years prior to 2010-11.
The Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks entered the league in 1993. They have made the playoffs just 8 times in those years, but their sporadic success includes a Stanley Cup victory in 2007 and a run to Game 7 of the Final in 2003.
The Nashville Predators joined the NHL in 1998. Frequently a regular season overachiever, the team finally won a playoff series for the first time this season.
The Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg as-yet-unnameds came into the NHL one year after Nashville. The team reached the playoffs just once in 11 seasons and got swept by the Rangers in their lone postseason appearance (2010-11).
*****
Why did I go through this long, drawn out exercise? Because it serves as a reminder of two things:
1) If your team wins the Cup or even comes close, savor every moment of it because it may take a long time to happen again, and
2) No matter what team you root for, never kick another one when its down, because things eventually come around. Every single franchise in the NHL has known periods of a decade or longer where winning the Stanley Cup -- in some cases, simply making the playoffs -- is an extremely elusive goal.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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