When the Penguins won their second Stanley cup in a row, the first time a repeat had occurred in the salary cap era, a question arose. Are they the greatest NHL dynasty of the 2010s? They would of course have two compete with the other two large looming dynasty’s of modern hockey. The Chicago Blackhawks and LA Kings. Today through stats and more importantly cups, we discuss who is the current dynasty of the NHL.
We start with the stats.
Chicago Black Hawks: 2010- 52-22-8 won Stanley Cup
2011-44-29-9 Lost in conference quarter finals
2012-45-26-11 Lost in conference quarter finals
2013(lockout year) 36-7-5 Won Stanley Cup
2014-46-21-15 Lost in conference finals
2015-48-28-6 Won Stanley Cup
2016-47-26-9 Lost in first round
2017-50-23-9 Lost in first round
In conclusion 3 Stanley Cups 4 conference finals appearances and 368 wins over 7 years.
Pittsburgh Penguins: 2010-47-28-7 Lost in conference semi finals
2011-49-25-8 Lost in conference quarter finals
2012-51-25-6 Lost in quarter finals
2013-36-12-0 Lost in conference finals
2014-51-24-7 Lost in second round
2015-43-27-12 Lost in first round
2016-48-26-8 Won Stanley Cup
2017-50-21-11 Won Stanley Cup
In conclusion 2 Stanley Cups 3 conference finals appearances and 375 wins over 7 years.
Los Angeles Kings: 2010-46-27-9 Lost in first round
2011-46-30-6 Lost in first round
2012-40-27-15 Won Stanley Cup
2013-27-16-5 Lost in conference finals
2014-46-28-8 Won Stanley Cup
2015-40-27-15 Missed playoffs
2016-48-28-6 Lost in first round
2017-39-35-8 Missed playoffs
In conclusion 2 Stanley Cups 3 conference finals and 332 wins over 7 years.
The arguments
For the Blackhawks, it’s obvious four conference finals appearances and 3 cups in 7 years is evidence enough. Not to mention they had to deal with severe roster turnover. More change with results like that is impressive and something the other two of these teams had to deal with including the Kings. The fact LA is still in this discussion among-st some pundits is a little laughable to me sure they had a good four years run but that doesn’t constitute a dynasty. A dynasty is a team that consists in excellence over at least 6 years. For the Pens the success has come more recently through a new coaching staff that has a fascinating system. Focus around two rock solid franchise players in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and bring up young pieces around them that will shine in the brightest moments. Though in the back to back years the Pens won cups there was not much roster turnover the team still went back to back. That is extremely impressive especially if you compare this team to the Blackhawks. Chi town had to take a year to recover to get back to the cup the Pens just basically mashed two identical seasons and playoffs together. That is a major accomplishment. The NHL is not like the NBA (and better in my opinion) because of the fact it is so hard to repeat you have to have things fall into place perfectly. You can’t just have one perennial all-star take a team to the cup year after year and it is very hard to build a super team. So who’s the greatest dynasty? It all depends do you value the long haul? Or is back to back just so rare that it boosts a team to immortality? In my eyes the Blackhawks are clearly the more superior team but the history books remember records and the record book has put Pittsburgh into Immortality.
