Who makes the salary cap era’s All-Playoff Team?

Credit: Apr 4, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) talks with Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) as repairs are made to the ice surface in the first period at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

It will be 20 years next week since the Tampa Bay Lightning lifted their first Stanley Cup. The physical, tight-checking series came down to the wire, the Bolts edging the Calgary Flames 2-1 in Game 7.

NHL hockey would not be played again for another 16 months. A lockout, a lost season, and the end of an era. But today we’re interested in what came next…

The arrival of two transcendent superstars in Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin? Yes, please. New rules to open up the action? Love it. A salary cap to tighten the gap between wealthy and unhealthy franchises? Sure, if you think it will help. That new generation brought reasons to dream again to a sport waking from a long nightmare.

To celebrate two decades of post-season brilliance, we’re naming the salary cap era’s All-Playoff Team.

From the last 18 post-seasons, we’re selecting four forward lines by position, three defense pairs, and three goaltenders. With every NHL player available, there are going to be some tough cuts. But our newly appointed general manager Jim Rutherford (one Stanley Cup in Carolina, two more in Pittsburgh) and head coach Jon Cooper (four-time Cup finalist) are up for the challenge.

The Background

Anyone can pick a bunch of great playoff players based on memory, reputation, or Stanley Cup count. But we’re stepping it up a notch. For those familiar with PPS, my Hockey Hall of Fame worthiness metric, we’re going to unleash a spinoff version today for playoff careers. We’ll call it Playoff PPS.

The biggest difference is that a player gets a maximum score of 100. Without diving too deep into the secret sauce, here’s a quick summary of the approach for skaters:

Career Value (max. 30): era adjusted playoff point total, weighing goals more heavily than assists
Pace Value (30): era adjusted playoff points per game, again valuing goals above assists
Stanley Cups (20): each Cup won is weighted based on NHL franchise count by year
Black Ink (10): points awarded for leading the playoffs in key categories
Conn Smythe (5): players score 2.5 points per Smythe trophy
Clutch Score (5): comparing a player’s adjusted playoff output vs. regular season on a 5-point scale
Bonus of +1 for each time captaining a Cup winner

The method for goaltenders is similar, subbing in wins and goals saved above average (GSAA) for Career Value and winning percentage and adjusted save percentage for Pace Value. The bonus for goalies is +1 for each instance of finishing runner-up in the Cup Finals.

What does a perfect playoff player look like? Meet Wayne Gretzky. The Great One scores 96 out of 100 to lead all skaters since expansion. Patrick Roy leads all goaltenders, also at 96.

Using Playoff PPS, it’s time to unveil our cap era playoff squad…

The Forwards

Note: Adjusted Pace in the graphic is a player’s 82-game playoff scoring rate, adjusted to a neutral scoring climate. All stats and rankings are through the 2023 playoffs.

The Obvious: Crosby, Malkin, Toews, and MacKinnon down the middle have combined for 10 Cups and four Conn Smythe Trophies. Have fun matching up against those four centers. Kucherov, Kane and five-time Cup finalist Hossa headlining the right wingers seems about right.

The Surprises: Ovechkin’s playoff legacy is complex, having played beyond the second round only once in 19 years. He’s still the best playoff left winger of the cap era, but only the #24 player in Playoff PPS among all forwards since expansion. As always, the left wing position is extremely thin. To take nothing away from Sharp or Guentzel, they rank 17th and 22nd, respectively, among cap era forwards yet secure spots on the team. Game 7 vibes aside, Williams was a steady playoff performer, sliding into the fourth line’s DMs.

The Big Omissions: No Anze Kopitar? No Patrice Bergeron? How about Brayden Point, who led the playoffs in goals in consecutive Cup-winning years? All three are centers, so who could we possibly knock off the list? If you’re thinking MacKinnon, he scores at a mind-boggling 110 era adjusted point pace in the playoffs. Yes, Kopitar led the playoffs in scoring twice (2012, 2014), but somewhat incredibly hasn’t won a round in 16 of his 19 seasons. Bergeron, the defensive maestro, earned a single ring despite a nearly two-decade competitive window in Boston.

The Defensemen

The Obvious: Four teams (Chicago, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Tampa Bay) have won multiple Cups in the salary cap era. Their #1 defensemen are fittingly represented on the all-playoff team. Makar is another deep run from taking the top spot in Playoff PPS among cap era defensemen. Through last season, he was already the #19 post-season defenseman since expansion — at age 24. That’s a spicy scoring pace.

The Surprise: Pronger may jump out at you. After all, he hasn’t played a NHL game in more than 12 years. But he made the cap era cutoff as a late playoff bloomer. Unlike contemporaries Lidstrom, Niedermayer and Rafalski — excluded since each made their biggest playoff noise before 2006 — Pronger was a post-season beast in his 30s. He led three different franchises to the Final, winning in Anaheim in 2007.

The Big Omission: Alex Pietrangelo, a key Cup-winning figure on St. Louis and Vegas, comes to mind. He’s #9 among cap era D-men, but we’ve only got room for six.

The Goaltenders

Note: Adjusted Save % in the graphic is adjusted to a neutral scoring climate where league average is .900. All stats and rankings are through the 2023 playoffs.

The Obvious: Our starting goaltender needs no introduction, the 29-year-old Big Cat having gone 48-23 over a three-season span from 2020-2022, including a Conn Smythe nod. Easy choice.

The Surprise: Tim Thomas? Yes, the 2011 Smythe winner only made 50 playoff starts and won five career rounds. But his .922 era adjusted playoff save percentage is the best ever (minimum 40 games).

The Big Omission: Thomas narrowly edged polarizing playoff performer Marc-Andre Fleury. The beloved Flower has played on five different teams that reached the Cup Final in the cap era, the only goaltender to do so. His overall body of work, however, is dicey. Fleury’s adjusted save percentage of .894 ranks 64th of the 74 goalies with 40 post-expansion playoff outings.

The Second Team

We had to release a second All-Playoff Team, right?

The second team fills in a lot of the gaps from notable playoff performers of the cap era.

Unsurprisingly, four centers are the top-ranked skaters excluded: Ryan Getzlaf (Playoff PPS of 42), Daniel Briere (41), Connor McDavid (41), and Logan Couture (41). McDavid and Draisaitl could each make a run at MacKinnon’s first-team center spot if the Oilers can lift the Cup next month.

Two goaltenders with two Cup rings — Matt Murray (42) and Corey Crawford (41) — notably fall short of second-team status. Murray owns just 29 career playoff wins and +6.3 Adjusted GSAA, while Crawford’s .899 adjusted save % was slightly below NHL average.

The only three players (four, if you count Tuukka Rask, who did not play in the 2011 playoffs) without a title to make either team are: Draisaitl (best finish: 2022 Conference Final); Burns (best finish: 2016 Cup Final); and Karlsson (2017 & 2019 Conference Final).

As we wrap up the All-Playoff Teams of the Cap era, here are the leaders by franchise among the 42 players selected:

Pittsburgh (8)
Chicago (6)
Tampa Bay, Los Angeles (5)
Boston (4)
Colorado, Washington (3)
Detroit (2)
Six others tied (1)

Follow @AdjustedHockey on X; Data from Hockey-Reference.com, NHL.com