First, here is the Maple Leafs' chart:
And here is the chart showing the regular season stats for the Stanley Cup winning teams those seasons:
I will let all of you sports analysts pick through the more subtle trends that may appear here---I just want to point out that over those 5 seasons, the Leafs never won more games than the lowest amount of wins attributed in one season to a Stanley Cup winning team (the 2008-09 Penguins, who had only 45 wins and changed coaches mid season).
Also remember something historic about the Maple Leafs's franchise...back in the early 80's, owner at the the time, Harold Ballard moved the team into the same divsion as Detroit & Chicago because he believed his team had a better chance of making the playoffs each season if in the "weaker" Western Conference each year (Leafs were moved back to the Eastern Conference back in the early 2000's).
Of the five teams who have won the Stanley Cup in the last 5 seasons, four are from the Western Conference including Detroit & Chicago!
Have fun with these numbers...and you can leave some comments if you want about what you think about the Leafs' troubles in making the playoffs the last 5 seasons (and maybe this season) and if the numbers tell you something!
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