What makes a Championship team?
Some say you NEED a good goaltender, others say defence wins rings. Some say that the ability to put the puck in the net is the most essential quality.
Realistically, it’s a mixture of all of the above. Balance is an important part of a squad as the playoffs get deeper and deeper. Still, it’s kind of surprising that of the Top 20 regular season scorers, there are only three (3!!!) remaining in the postseason.
With 8 teams left, and supposedly the ones most deserving of a Cup, you would think there would be a few more representatives. Alas, here we are. Brad Marchand, Nathan MacKinnon, Artemi Panarin, and Mikko Rantanen are the only ones to crack the Top 20 while still being alive in the second round.
This is due to the unbelievable amount of upsets so far this year. If you look at the rest of the list, there are a fair number of spots taken up by players that were members of an upset team.
Still, four of the top 20?! Only two of the Top 16?! Those seem like pretty paltry numbers to be shown among the remaining eight rosters that have earned their spot in the 2nd round.
Well, at least some of them are still performing in other facets…
We’ll see how much longer these remaining four last. What a strange playoffs it has been so far.
(H/T FOX Sports)
