Are the Penguins the Best Team of the Salary Cap Era?

The Pittsburgh Penguins did the unthinkable in 2017: repeating as Stanley Cup champions in the Salary Cap Era. With the incredible parity in the league and the spread of burgeoning superstars, winning back-to-back was nearly impossible.

The Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings each came close and won two cups in three years, but the Penguins one upped each of them with two straight years of dominance. On their way to the first of back to back cups, the Penguins beat an up and coming Tampa Bay Lightning team in seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Fast forward to 2022, and now Tampa is on the brink of the unthinkable: winning three straight Cups. They are facing an incredibly tough challenge in the Colorado Avalanche, but there's no denying how impressive their run has been. It begs the question: who is the premier team of the Salary Cap Era?

The Case for the Lightning

If the Lightning are able to complete the three-peat, they are creating a new echelon for all future teams to aspire to. No team since the great New York Islanders of the 1980's has accomplished this feat. 

The Lightning have an incredible team, led by captain Steven Stamkos. Running side by side is the great Nikita Kucherov. He is a postseason force, raising his play from his usual MVP level with two straight 30+ point efforts.  Led by this duo, along with top tier supporting players like Brayden Point and Norris Trophy winning defenseman in Victor Hedman, the Lightning have no glaring weaknesses in their lineup.

They have dispatched teams with authority over the past two postseasons. This post-season has proven the toughest test of all, and the team is finally showing signs of wear and tear. Despite this, their resiliency overshadows it all as they consistently find ways to win. And it's their best players that are coming up in the biggest moments to propel them forward.

This team is also back stopped by the best goaltender in the league: Andrei Vasilevsky. His steadiness is unparalleled. The Tampa Bay Lightning have zero Stanley Cups without him and there's no doubt he's amongst the best goalies of this era. He has won 229 of his first 355 starts, with a 2.50 goals against average (GAA) and a .919 save percentage. In the past two postseasons, he has risen to a sky high level, putting up a 1.90 GAA and an incomparable .932 save percentage.

If you need a goalie to win one playoff game, Vasilevsky is your man.  

The Case for the Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins hold the crown for most consecutive post-season appearances in the NHL, at 16 seasons. And since 2009, they have won three Stanley Cup titles with the same core of players: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang. The crown jewel of this group is their back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and 2017. 

The Penguins started the 2016 post season shot out of a cannon, and didn't look back until 2018. Guided by the generational Sidney Crosby, the Penguins were unstoppable on both ends of the ice. The Kid became "The Man" en route to back to back Conn Smythe awards. Crosby did it all- scoring 19 and 27 points respectively, winning faceoffs and controlling the defensive end of the ice, and playing over 20 minutes a night.

Evgeni Malkin followed right behind, putting up 28 points in the 2017 playoffs. Adding on to that were supporting players like Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin, who were perfect complements to the run and gun system the Penguins employed. There was never a doubt over those two postseasons the Penguins won that they were the best team in the league. 

What made this team particularly impressive was that they lacked a class "A" goaltender like Vasilevsky. With injuries to long-time goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, a young Matt Murray emerged and took the reigns on a team bound for a title run. With no disrespect to Murray and his stellar play, there's no doubting who gets the nod of having better goaltending. Despite this, the Penguins skated circles around teams, only needing a few timely saves to sustain them.

The Case for Any Other Team

Nice try, Chicago and Los Angeles, but you both have to settle for being the tier below Pittsburgh and Tampa in the Salary Cap Era. 

The Decision

It would be such a treat to watch the current Lightning play the 2016/2017 Penguins in a seven game series. But since they can't, let's declare a winner. The Penguins changed the league over the 2016 and 2017 seasons, displaying how speed and skill can be an incredibly effective way to win a Cup. Since then, the league has emulated and improved upon it, culminating in the current Lightning.

They have an incredible balance of speed, scoring, and tenacity that is redefining the league yet again. To top it off, they have shut down goaltending that a majority of the league doesn't possess. Because of this, the other 31 teams are still trying to figure out how to defeat them. Until that happens, the Lightning have dethroned the mighty Penguins as the premier team of the Salary Cap Era. 

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