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| Rank the last 11 Stanley Cup Champions | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Wed Jun 4, 2008 11:07 pm (46 Views) | |
| CHILL | Wed Jun 4, 2008 11:07 pm Post #1 |
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ESPN has this on their website http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/rank?versionId=1&listId=137. The reason I say 11 is to include all the Red Wings' 4. Here are the Stanley Cup Champions: 1996-1997 Detroit Red Wings 1997-1998 Detroit Red Wings 1998-1999 Dallas Stars 1999-2000 New Jersey Devils 2000-2001 Avalanche 2001-2002 Detroit Red Wings 2002-2003 New Jersey Devils 2003-2004 Tampa Bay Lightning 2005-2006 Carolina Hurricanes 2006-2007 Anaheim Mighty Ducks 2007-2008 Detroit Red Wings I'll post my rankings and explain why after I get a bite to eat. |
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| Infallable | Thu Jun 5, 2008 1:11 am Post #2 |
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I don't break character until after the DVD commentary
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2000-2001 Avalanche: Maybe a little biased, but this team was stacked. They went through an also loaded Detroit team and the defending champion Devils to win the cup. The highlight of this season was Ray Bourque finally hoisting the cup. 1996-1997 Detroit Red Wings: This was the year I started watching hockey and Detroit seemed unstoppable. They dominated everyone, although when I reflect, I don't recall them playing anyone who didn't seem like they were going to be dominated. 1997-1998 Detroit Red Wings: Not as good as the previous team, but they won it anyway. 1999-2000 New Jersey Devils: Scot Stevens getting away with at least one cheap shot every period is one of the more memorable part of New Jersey's cup runs for me. This first team stifled everybody, whether it was the defense or just Martin Brodeur. 1998-1999 Dallas Stars: Really cool season and a thrilling finish. Would be first or second if this were a list based on theatrics. A lot of veteran players and domination by Ed Belfour are the legacy of this team. 2002-2003 New Jersey Devils: Knocked off the red hot Giguere and the Ducks in the finals. Pretty much the same setup as their other cup team. 2006-2007 Anaheim Mighty Ducks: Great defensive team in front of the two goaltenders that they went through in the playoffs. Probably the only team on this list with checking line forwards being two of the most notable players: Rob Neidermeyer for winning his first cup alongside his brother and Sami Pahlsson for playing Conn Smythe worthy during the playoffs. 2005-2006 Carolina Hurricanes: Four years after falling short of the cup, the Hurricanes returned to the upstart role. A little anticlimactic that they ended up against the even more upstart Oilers. Exciting team that represented the "new" NHL very well. 2007-2008 Detroit Red Wings: Dominated all season by ignoring the NHL's rule changes and not getting called for it. Points for getting by with two old, banged up goaltenders. 2001-2002 Detroit Red Wings: I really don't remember this team at all. They trounced the upstart Hurricanes in 5, just like they were supposed to. Practically won the cup by default. 2003-2004 Tampa Bay Lightning: Only team on the list that shouldn't have won the cup and the only time winning the cup turned out to be a bad thing for the franchise. Whole season was overshadowed by the impending lockout. |
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| CHILL | Thu Jun 5, 2008 5:17 am Post #3 |
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1. 2000-2001 Avalanche I had them #1 on my list too, and I don't consider Infallable a homer at all with this pick. The Avalanche amazingly lost only 16 regulation games all season and had only 4 Overtime losses. They acheived this with 2 of their top 3 Defensemen out for most of the season. With Blake and Foote returning in the Postseason, the Avalanche had by far the top Defense in the NHL. They had a top flight Goaltender in Patrick Roy. The Offense was 3 lines deep. You know your team is good when Chris Drury is the 3rd line Center. The Avalanche were an untouchable #1 in my eyes. Hands down one of the most loaded teams of all-time. Under today's points system, they would have reached 125 points by winning 7 of the 10 shootouts (ties). Interesting Factoid: Isn't amazing that Ray Bourque played NHL in the 70's? 2. 1998-1999 Dallas Stars When you are 16 points ahead of the next best team in your conference, that should be a clear indicator the team is damn good. The Stars were in cruise control the whole season and it should show measures how they were never able to lose focus or their competitive throughout the season or Playoffs. The core of this team was a legitimate contender for the Stanley Cup a few years. Ed Belfour had one of his more fabulous seasons keeping his GAA sub 2.00. A lot of that had to do with the stud Defense though. Modano was at the top of his game this year and Brett Hull was able to keep his ego in check. Not only was the Offense deep in scoring, but the Forwards were built with a nag for the Defensive zone. This Offense was the best "Defense" the NHL has seen in the past 10 years in my opinoin(Ducks only team close). And they still had elite scorers that could carry them to the Stanley Cup obviously. 3. 2001-2002 Detroit Red Wings These Red Wings won the President's Trophy by 15 points and their Conference by 17. This team had the most offensive firepower on this list by a snitch over the Avalanche team with Shanahan, Federov, Brett Hull winning another Cup, Lidstrom, Yzerman, & Luc Robitaille finally won his Cup. I just cannot put them above the top 2 because they were far worse Defensively in all facets than the '00-'01 Avalanche and '98-'99 Stars. 4. 2007-2008 Detroit Red Wings I do not consider this team an all-time great. This team still lacks mental toughness in my mind, but was able to get over that hump to win the Stanley Cup. I fully think their Head Coach Mike Babcock carries them to this spot. Babcock is arguably the best coach in the NHL in my opinoin. The way he uses his players and makes in-game adjustments is second to none. Very few understand the game better than Babcock. He executes the puck possession and neutral zone game better than anyone I have seen. He understands the importance of puck possession and never caves in. He did not have all the weapons to feel comfortable winning a Stanley Cup and his personnel had Playoff vulnerabilities. Without Babcock, there is no way the Red Wings would have won this year's Stanley Cup. 5. 2006-2007 Anaheim Mighty Ducks The writing was on the wall with this team with major acquisitions in the Offseason by General Manager Brian Burke. The Ducks did not disappoint starting off the season undefeated in their first 16 games, 20-2-6, & 25-3-6. This team had the veterans and depth to win the Cup. The MIghty Ducks were really only given a series once their whole run. Definitely the most dominant in the Playoffs. 6. 1997-1998 Detroit Red Wings The Red Wings had the 2nd most goals in the NHL this season trailing only St. Louis. Overcame injuries to still grab the 2nd best record. This team made history and revolutionized the NHL. This team was the first to win the Cup with as many Europeans as they had. Aside that, they were also famous for the "Russian Five". This team changed the mindset of NHL Scouting forever. Team now knew they had to scout globally to keep up with Mike Illitch's Red Wings. 7. 1996-1997 Detroit Red Wings These Red Wings surprisingly had only moderate success in the Regular Season. They won only 38 games and built their point total through a far and away league leading 18 ties. This was also probably the weakest the Western Conference ever was since the Wales & Campbell Conference names were replaced. For whatever reason, the NHL was down this year. Like Infallable, this was also the first season I ever watched hockey, and I remember many games I watched this year. But that is only as far back as my Hockey memory goes. 8. 1999-2000 New Jersey Devils This was a very exciting year to watch for Hockey. The Eastern Conference was very balanced and up for grabs. To this day, I still remember picture-perfect Scott Stevens taking off Lindros' head in the Eastern Conference Finals. What goes around, came around for Lindros. This team rode the Defense and more importanly Martin Brodeur's back all the way to the Stanley Cup. The best Goaltender in the game knew he was capable of winning the competitive yet up for grabs Conference. 9. 2002-2003 New Jersey Devils Brodeur was incredible once again for this team in both the Regular Season and Playoffs. This team was very well coached and applied the neutral zone trap perfect. The Devils had the most grittiness of any team. Did have to put their fans' hearts to the limit by letting the Senators and Mighty Ducks take them all the way to Game 7 in the final 2 rounds. This was one of the most memorable Postseasons. 10. 2003-2004 Tampa Bay Lightning Winning the Stanley Cup is great and everything, but it was the epitome of foolproof for its fans, ownership, and front office for the upcoming 5 years which would haunt them. Many forwards had either a career year or were just 1-year wonders. Same goes for Khabibulan. The Defense was average at best. The good thing is winning this Stanley Cup upgraded the city of Tampa Bay to Hockey City status that still stands and will stand for a long time. The Canadian Curse struck this series, and Gelinas' no-goal shines a dark spot on the NHL. Many will argue the Flames were screwed out of this Cup. John Tortorella did a terrific job with his system, adjustments, & motivation getting a Stanley Cup out of a team that was not Stanley Cup material. 11. 2005-2006 Carolina Hurricanes Every team needs luck to win the Stanley Cup, but this was the most unbuilt team to win the Cup I have seen. They had a young Goaltender that just caught lightning in a bottle in the Playoffs. The Defense didn't even have a #1 Defenseman. They are still the only Stanley Cup winner I have ever seen deprived of a #1 Defenseman. Staal and Cole were elite Forwards for Carolina, and of course Cole had the memorable, unimaginable comeback in Games 6 & 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Rod Brind'Amour is the type of player every Stanley Cup winner needs, and there is no way they win without him. If Rolosson had not gotten injured, the Edmonton Oilers would have won the Stanley Cup. The Hurricanes also were down 2-0 in Game 3 on the Road in Montreal down 2 games to 0 when Koivu had a series-ending eye injury that turned the whole series around. Otherwise, the Hurricanes would have been one and done in the Postseason. The Hurricanes were luckiest team in terms of winning games they should not have won, catching all these crazy breaks in 1-goal games, and catching opponents with unfortunate injuries. I wish everyone could watch a video of the 2006 Playoffs, so you guys can see what I am talking about in regards to how f'n lucky this team was. This was the most lucky Pro Sports Championship team since the 2003 Miami Marlins. |
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| thefreak985 | Thu Jun 5, 2008 9:38 am Post #4 |
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Excellence in Broadcasting
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The wings got rattled by the weak predators in the first round. It showed that Detroit had talent, but werent motivated. Not an all time great Its hard to decide which won wass best because time has flwon by the 01-02 Red wings were the best I can remember. The 00-01 are not far behind, both were the best in my memory. but in this new age of NHL, will a true all time great team ever happen? |
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| Spear | Thu Jun 5, 2008 12:45 pm Post #5 |
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HIGH LIFE!!!!!!!!!
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This reply isn't going to be nearly as in depth as Chill's post, and probably will be more debateable than others considering I didn't start REALLY watching hockey until a few years ago. 1) 2001-2002 Detroit Red Wings I think that this team is the greatest assembled team ever. I'm probably a little biased here, but this was just a fantastic team. 2) 2000-2001 Avalanche Pains me to rank this team so high, but you can't argue how great this team was. Like Infallable said, the highlight of this team's season was Ray Bourque hoisting the cup over his head. 3) 1998-1999 Dallas Stars This is the team that made me a Mike Modono fan. 4) 1997-1998 Detroit Red Wings I slightly remember this team. The Russian five were fantastic, and this team would've been even better had they still had Konstantinov. This team gets bias points though since it was the year we got my favorite player for a long time, Brendan Shanahan. 5) 2006-2007 Anaheim Mighty Ducks I said this team was going to win a cup as soon as they signed Pronger. Their defense was absolutely stacked. 6) 2007-2008 Detroit Red Wings For a stretch, this team was playing the best hockey anybody had ever seen. They couldn't keep it going however, and showed a lack of mental toughness by letting Nashville, Dallas, and Pittsburgh all back into their respected series. 7) 1999-2000 New Jersey Devils I don't remember much about this team except Brodeur. 8) 1996-1997 Detroit Red Wings So many people around here have championship stuff from this team, however they weren't all that great of a team in my opinion. Their highlight was their brawl with the Avs. 9) 2002-2003 New Jersey Devils I'll be honest, I don't know much about this team either. (is it showing that I'm not a Devils fan?) I put them here mostly because I couldn't bring myself to put them lower than Tampa and Carolina. 10) 2003-2004 Tampa Bay Lightning This team had a great front three with Vinny L (not spelling his last name), St. Louis, and Richards. However, they really weren't a cup team. You do have to hand it to them for turning Tampa Bay into a hockey fanatic town. 11) 2005-2006 Carolina Hurricanes This team flippin blew, and the only good thing they did was get Doug Weight a cup. It was also a joke how Detroit put up a massive banner saying..."WE CONGRATULATE THE CAROLINA HURRICANES FOR WINNING THE STANLEY CUP!". No. We didn't. We were still pissed about Irbe keeping us up in game 3. |
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9:13 AM Jul 11