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Mayuu · 08-20-2023, 03:48 PM

The bounce back and how long it takes.
In this deep dive, we're going to look into trends over longer periods of time. How long does it take to get from the bottom to the top?
For a rebuilding team that's in the deepest of pits, how long does it take to get back up and compete for the number one seed going into playoffs?

Here are the parameters for the deep dive:
I'm only looking through modern-era seasons (from 53 to 72)
From the first time, the team finished last to when they won the league.

Since I play for Detroit I'm going to look into them first.
In Season 56 Detroit finished dead last in the league, coming off a league win in season 53 it was a quite fast fall to the bottom.
After season 53 they plummeted to 8th out of 10 and the following seasons were worse until they hit rock bottom.
It didn't last long though as they managed to crawl back into the top half of the standings the following three seasons only to fall back to the bottom four. Season after that they finished last again, not quite the rise to the top they had hoped for and it wasn't done yet.
The following season they finished last again and were now 9 seasons gone since their last top-table finish. They would have to wait until season 65 before they could claim the number one seed in the playoffs. 13 seasons had gone by without any top-table finishes.
It might seem like a long time and maybe it is.

Let's move on to Maine.
In season 53 Maine finished tied for last with Vancouver, only getting beat by goal difference.
Would it take Maine 13 seasons until they could claim the top spot again?
The following three seasons Maine moved up a bit but not by much, recording a mid-table finish in season 55 but it wasn't until S57 they saw much success where they finished third. It was a quick fall from grace sadly. The season after Maine found itself dead last again. The seasons went by and not much seemed to go Maine's way. But in season 63 they once again found themself almost at the top of the table finishing 2nd, but once again they didn't seem to be able to get the coveted number one seed. Maine bounced around a bunch the following seasons going from mid-table to top 4 spots quite frequently. It seems that they found their pace, but sadly not the last bit to reach the top. In season 69 however they got a top-2 finish and this time they meant business, they followed up the following season by claiming the number one seed and finally breaking the long curse. From season 53 to season 70 they had gone from the bottom of the barrel to the top, not in one go but quite many times being the gunk at the bottom. 17 Seasons, and we can easily conclude that going from the bottom to the top is no easy feat.

RETIRED

chetib · 08-23-2023, 09:38 AM

Approved +5 TPE @Mayuu

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