For the 2023-24 season, the NHL salary cap was fixed at $83.5 million. The question every general manager faced was: how much should I allocate to each player I have to sign a new contract with? Because that’s what it all comes down to: GMs nowadays better be good at mathematics to ensure their roster fits under the salary cap. What is the best way to build a team? How much should be invested in the offense? And in the defense? What is sustainable? What is not?
A Different Way to Build a Contender
In an interview with TVA Sports on Jan. 15, 2024, Montreal Canadiens’ general manager Kent Hughes explained how his best option to build a contending version of the Canadiens was based on scoring by committee.
The former player agent explained how in 2011, the Boston Bruins had won the Stanley Cup without having a single point-per-game player. That season, Milan Lucic and David Krejci were Boston’s scoring leaders with 62 points, while Patrice Bergeron had 57 points and Nathan Horton completed the top three with 53. None of them had missed signifying time due to injury and all played at least 75 games.
Hughes mentioned since Boston’s last Stanley Cup, six other teams had won the Cup without a point-per-game player. I’ve looked into the Cup Champions since then, and I’ve identified five that won the big prize without a point-per-game player.
The Los Angeles Kings followed suit in 2012 with Anze Kopitar being their top scorer with 76 points, Justin Williams in second with 59 and Dustin Brown completing the top three with 54 . The Kings did it again in 2014, with Kopitar still being their points leader with 70 in 82 games. Jeff Carter was second with 50 points and Williams rounded out the top three with 43 points.
The St. Louis Blues were the next team to accomplish the feat in 2019 with Ryan O’Reilly leading them in points with 77, followed by Vladimir Tarasenko with 68, and Brayden Schenn with 54.
The Tampa Bay Lighting had no point-per-game player when they won the Cup in the shortened 2021 season. Their top three scorers were Brayden Point with 48 points in 56 games, Ondrej Palat with 46 points in 55 games and Victor Hedman with 45 points in 54 games. Of course, Nikita Kucherov didn’t play in the regular season, and he might have been a point-per-game player had he played, so we’ll put an asterisk on that one (it won’t be the first one).
Finally, the defending champions, the Vegas Golden Knights did it as well, they came close to having a…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Hockey Writers…