1. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max

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8. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Dynasty in the Making

San Francisco is certainly a team which shows that a rebuild done right can really be a great journey to the top. As good as they are now, it is easy to forget that as recently as Seasons 68-70 they were a lottery team with a dismal streak of missing the playoffs. But they were committed to growing as a young group, starting in those late S60's they really focused on drafting strong, culminating in a huge draft in S71 when they had three top 5 picks and nailed them all. Those three players are still with the team and have been huge parts of their success so that is real props to the scouting staff for targeting the right players. Along with this strong drafting, the management team made a lot of really shrewd and opportunistic trades, targeting high earning players whose peaks aligned with those of their core, often managing to get salary retention to ease the cap hit. Obviously the great Edmonton Fire Sale after they won their cup was great for the Pride as well as that is when they were able to bring in Justin Time who is arguably the greatest goaltender of his generation. Obviously the Pride are not the first time to have a successful rebuild so I wouldn't say they blazed new trails or anything, but when you see results like they have, and seeing that they will still probably continue to be strong for a few more seasons, you know that they are doing it right.

[255 words : +4 TPE]

11. Written, 50 to 200+ words. Did We Really Win

The situation in both conferences where the wildcard team from 1 division had a better record than second and third place teams seemed on paper to give the advantage to that wildcard team. However as it played out, neither wildcard team was able to take advantage of getting slotted into the 'weaker' division as Los Angeles lost in the first round and Philadelphia got ousted by Toronto in the second round. I don't know if strategically either team was deliberately trying to 'tank' into the crossover position but I don't think they were. It's a tough spot to be in because you know you will be on the road to start every series and most playoff teams are stronger at home regardless of their overall record so it's not as advantageous as you might think. Moreso it's just the nature of having conferences where one division has a lot of good teams that you will see this situation sometimes. I wouldn't change it though, it's fun to see some different playoff matchups in the first round rather than strict divisional brackets.

[181 words : +3 TPE]