Ranking the Cup winners - Honourable Mentions

[Victor 10,940]

The next few editions of Historical Significance in the mag will be dedicated to ranking all the cup-winners/dynasties in VHL history. Here is the full list of those ranked: http://www.vhlforum.com/index.php?/topic/31090-ranking-the-cup-winners/

 

 

Before that happens though, a moment of silence for those who just missed out.

 

S40-S44 Quebec City Meute  

1 Finals Appearance

2 Victory Cups

15 Individual Awards

4 Hall of Famers (1 season for Bentley)

 

A cup is all they needed. 15 individual awards is remarkable and though they mainly came at the height of the Thomassen-Wolf bromance, there were also contributions from Jake Wylde later on. Only eight teams on the actual list boast more awards, and 4 Hall of Famers is also an impressive figure. These were great teams on paper, boosted by unsung heroes like Travis Boychuk and Milos Denis, but probably relying too long on Brock Waldron in net. Being demolished by underdogs from Seattle (S43) and Calgary (S44) was disappointing though, and the league's villains will only be a footnote in history.

 

S42-S48 Stockholm Vikings  

1 Finals Appearance

1 Victory Cup

9 Individual Awards

2 Hall of Famers (1 season for Wahl) with Karnage pretty much set as well

 

Per GM boubabi, S44 Stockholm was better than S44 Quebec. Perhaps, but the infamous deal with Toronto probably ended up being an overpayment and the franchise failed to move on from the retirement of Tom Slaughter, who was only supposed to start their cup run. Instead they missed the playoffs right after, lost their starting goaltender Blake Campbell and ended up losing to him in their only final in S47. Stockholm really looked like they could shed their Vasteras past in S42 but now in S49 it looks like a false dawn, with Lord Karnage the brightest light from a wasted decade.

 

S16-S17 Toronto Legion  

1 Finals Appearance

1 Victory Cup

7 Individual Awards

3 Hall of Famers + Retired Number for Henman

 

Before Quebec and Stockholm, the highest profile near-miss of the cup was this Toronto team. Perhaps my fondness to them is the result of my predicting them to win the cup in S17. They were only a Game 7 overtime loss away to be fair, and while that was to Seattle in the North American final, the was the real final given that Seattle swept a mediocre Riga in the last round. In S16, Toronto lost a Game 7 to Riga in the final. So close yet so far for a star-studded team featuring David Henman, Carl Jacobs, Brandon Rush, Zak Rawlyk, Alexander Sauve, and many more.

 

S48-present Toronto Legion  

1 Continental Cup

1 Finals Appearance

1 Victory Cup

1 Individual Award

No Hall of Famers or Retired Numbers... yet

 

Unlike the old Toronto, the current Toronto will definitely be on the list by S50, but it's impossible to rank them yet. If I had to put S48 Toronto on the list right now, assuming Wingate and Molholt get into the Hall of Fame, they'd still likely be in the bottom 5-6, i.e. the list to be revealed in the upcoming mag. That doesn't seem fair though – the Legion are overwhelming favourite to repeat as both playoff and regular season champions and in all likelihood will have another go in S50. I will put them on the list in the end but where exactly depends on how they perform in the coming months.