I'd rather have a team that consistently gets into the playoffs but doesn't win it all than a team that manages to be successful for a few seasons here and there, and gets lucky and wins it all at some point. Teams that are routinely getting into the playoffs will eventually probably win big, and in the meantime it means I consistently get more hockey to watch. Teams like the Flames come to mind here: they have had some really good teams, and then really dismal seasons to follow, but hey, they won a cup...once.
Even original six teams like the Red Wings and Blackhawks and Rangers have historically had long stretches where they must have been pretty dismal to watch from a fan's perspective. The Red Wings sucked pretty bad back in the 70s I believe (wasn't alive then, so can't really recall...), the Hawks have had multiple bad stretches with the most recent being the late 90s into the early 2000s, and the Rangers - for as long as I've been watching hockey - have had multiple teams with very high payrolls and little to no playoff clout to show for it since they last won the Cup.
This is one of the main things that I DON'T like about the StL Cardinals - I love to watch them, and next to the Yankees they've had the most postseason success, but it seems like for every good couple of seasons there is going to undoubtedly be a couple of disappointing seasons to follow. I guess that's just sports in general though...
EDIT: And I think saying that the Blues "have" the longest playoff streak is correct...regardless of the fact that the streak ended, no other team has equaled it, so I believe you could still say they "have" the record as of right now.
Last edited by -CARNIFEX-[LOC] (2009-03-29 11:03:30)
