Cale Makar’s playoff run was one for the ages, Edmonton’s scoring duo managed to lead the scoring race despite not making the final and Florida joins a small group they’d rather not be part of. Let’s look back at the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs:
Florida becomes the second Presidents’ Trophy team to be swept in salary cap era
It has been well over a decade since the NHL introduced the salary cap in time for the 2005-06 campaign.
Three years after the Tampa Bay Lightning became the first Presidents’ Trophy winners to get swept in the playoffs that season, the Bolts managed to do the same to the Florida Panthers in the second round this year.
Tampa Bay became the trophy’s first salary cap era winner to endure a sweep when the Columbus Blue Jackets sent them home in 2019 in shocking fashion. So it was fitting, in a sense, when Florida’s elimination came at the hands of Tampa.
But, hey: things worked out quite well for the Lightning after their shocking loss, right?
Connor McDavid And Leon Draisaitl’s Scoring Totals Were Outrageous
When you look back on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl’s post-season numbers without games played as context, you’d have to assume they played for the Cup. The 1-2 scoring punch of the Oilers rolled with McDavid leading the league with 33 points, and Draisaitl sitting second with 32. Even though the Oilers would fall in four games in the Western Conference final to the Avalanche, the bar was set so high by the duo that even after Edmonton’s elimination, passing their marks proved impossible.
On a point-per-game basis, McDavid averaged 2.06 points per game while Draisaitl had 2.00. The last time any player hit the two-point per game mark while playing in at least 10 games came back in the 1992 post-season when Mario Lemieux accomplished the feat.
Imagine what the totals could have been if Edmonton had made it to the final.
Cale Makar joins elite group
It’s safe to say that Cale Makar’s will be discussed for quite a while. Colorado’s star defenseman led all blueliners in scoring with 29 points, including seven in the Cup final, to win the Conn Smythe trophy as the best playoff performer.
Makar became the youngest defender since Bobby Orr in 1970 to win the Conn Smythe Trophy and became just the third player in NHL history to win both the Conn Smythe and Norris in the same season. Only Orr and Nicklas Lidstrom preceded Makar in that regard.
Makar is now the only player to win the Hobey Baker Award, Calder Memorial Trophy, Norris Trophy, Stanley Cup, and Conn Smythe. And he’s only 23.
At 23, and following a stellar regular season that saw him score 28 times and total 86 points, the reputation of Makar as one of the best players in the league, regardless of position, continues to grow.
