What can we learn from the NHL's Conference Finalists?

Is there anything to learn about how they are built, the way they play, and what they are good at it?

Professional sports, for the most part, is a copycat business. You look at the most successful teams, you try to decipher what it is they are doing to be successful, and you try to find way to implement that into your own team.

A team wins with speed? We have to get faster.

A team wins with size and physical play? We need to get bigger and stronger.

A team wins with youth? We have to get younger.

A team wins with veterans? We need to get more experience.

The thing of it is, there is no one way to do it. There is no one way to play. There is no one way to build your roster, either through a short-term outlook or a long-term outlook. There is more than one method to this, and if you start chasing after something just because you see everybody else doing, it you’re probably already behind. That team at the top is probably already thinking about the next evolution it can make.

That brings me to the four teams that are still playing in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.

There’s really nothing about them that they have in common outside of the most obvious (and most important) factor — they simply have good players. A lot of them.

There might be things you can take from a systematic and X’s and O’s standpoint that can be implemented elsewhere. Neutral zone tactics. Power play alignments. Penalty kill strategies. But when when it comes to the type of players teams are looking for, there is no magic formula here outside of “get good players.”

If you’re dumping a player, or chasing a player, just because they fit some measurable in terms of age, height, weight or anything else along those lines you’re, probably propping up or valuing the least important elements of what makes a player useful.

Colorado is one of the oldest teams in the league. Its playoff roster has an average age of 30.1 years old. It is also one of the smallest teams in the league in terms of both average height and weight.

Vegas isn’t far behind in terms of age (also over 30 on average), but possesses a bigger roster in terms of average height and weight. They are one of the tallest and heaviest rosters in the league.

Montreal is, quite literally, the youngest team in the NHL. The Canadiens are also one of the shortest teams in the league, but a little above average in terms of weight.

Carolina is quite literally in the middle of the pack in all of these categories (age, height and weight).

The common denominator is simply good players. Old. Young. Big. Small. It’s oversimplifying it to say it this way … but just be a good player.

There might, however, be something to learn regarding how each team acquired those good players.

Let’s talk more about that, as well as some other significant potential trends ranging from what statistical areas (if any) seem to matter the most, if going into the playoffs hot actually matters, and the unpredictable, volatile nature of playoff goaltending.