Alternate Stanley Cup playoffs Winners, team compositions and Bracketts:
1953: Chicago Blackhawks over Boston Bruins in 6.
The Blackhawks beat the habs in game 2 4-3, before winning the next ones to win the series 4-1. They have the tools necessary to beat boston that year IMO.
1976 to 1979: the new york rangers don't trade Jean ratelle and brad park for Phil esposito,meaning that the rangers remain competitive for a bit longer before the 80s rebuild. Habs dynasty still happens.
1978 and 1980: Toronto Maple leafs
John Basset buys the Leafs insteqd of Harold Ballard. In turn, the Leafs keeps Bernard Parent, their scouting and coaching staff and thus becomes much more competitive from the 70s to the late 80s. Players like Daryl sittler, Lanny Mcdonald and Borje Salming stay leafs for much longer, until the eventual rebuild in the late 80s before becoming competitive again in the early 90s until Bassett's death. In turn, the leafs fare better as contenders in the modern age.
1975: Buffalo Sabres over Philadelphia flyers in 6 games.
The Sabres make the Gilles Meloche trade that almost happened IOTL. This means that the frnch connection wins a cup. Also motable is the pittsburgh penguins actually defeating the New York Islanders instead of blowing the lead. Mainly because Michel Brière doesn't die...which leads to:
1982: Vancouver Canucks defeat Quebec Nordiques in 5.
Pittsburgh actually beats the islanders in OT of game 5 (the first round was Best of 3 back then), which leads to Quebec beating them in 6. Vancouver thus wins the cup. They also keep Rick Vaive and other players, which makes their path to the cup easier.
1984: Quebec Nordiques beat Minnesota in 6 games.
So many PODs here:
-The rangers finish the job and upsets the isles in 5. Which means the isles only win 2 cups instead of 4 straight.
-Quebec beats montreal in game 3 before winning in 7 games in a hotly contested series that is seen as the peak of their rivalry. They would beat the ramgers in 5 games in the conference finals.
-Calgary Beats Edmonton in game 3, which leads to them winning in 6 games. They lose, however, against the minnesota north stars in 6 games in the conference finals.
1986 stanley cup: Hartford Whalers beat st louis blues in 7 games.
-Hartford stuns the habs in 7 Games, while st. Louis does the same to calgary. Mike Liut wins the conn smythe, while the likes of ron francis and ulf samuelsson doesn't get traded to pittsburgh in 1991.
1987: Philadelphia Flyers defeat Edmonton oilers in 6.
-Flyers win in OT in game 2, ehich leads to them having more confidence and close it out in 6. This also means that edmonton only wins 2 cups ITTL.
-Also, Quebec and Toronto makes the conference finals agaisnt the flyers and edmonton respectively.
1992: New york Rangers beat Winnipeg Jets in 6 games.
-New york shocks the world of hockey bemy beating pittsburgh in 5 games before winning the cup against an equally surprising Winnipeg Jets team in the finals. With his cup win in new york and in toronto, roger neilson is considered an iconic coach, and he stays in new york for much of the 90s.
1993: Montreal over toronto in 6 Games.
Kerry Fraser actually calls gretzky's high stick on gilmour, which leads to a dramatic goal from wendel clark. This leads to canada's wet dream: the 100th stanley cup final featuring the two original NHL franchises. The finals is the highest rated sports event in canadian television history. Oh, and Toronto doesn't make that godawful tom kurvers trade, meaning they get Eric Lindros. Quebec still gets something, though: Scott Niedermayer.
EDIT: 1994: Vancouver Canucks beat new york rangers in 7 games.
The difference here is that The rangers keep both roger neilson and their youngsters such as doug weight, tony amonte, Mark Tinordi and darren turcotte, while they still acquire stephane matteau, only earlier in 1991 in a similar deal to the calgary trade IRL. Combine with keeping sergei zubov, todd marchant, Alex Kovalev, Mike Knuble, Kim johnsson and Matthais Norstrom As well as signing pavel bure in 1998, as such, they remain top contenders for much of the 90s and early 00s.
EDIT: rangers wins the cup in 92, so the price they pay is losing the 94 cup final to vancouver. Vancouver still riots. In canada, we riot even when we win.
1995: Philadelphia Flyers over detroit red wings in 6 games.
-Since Quebec doesn't get lindros ITTL, That means that they keep talent like peter forsberg, Steve duchesne, Mike Ricci and chris simon. Since they still make the trades for Rod Brind'amour, Eric Desjardins and Peter Svoboda, this means that Philly is a really deep team, and peter forsberg becomes an overnight sensation, winning both the calder and the stanley cup in his first season, while the legion of doom he forms with Leclair and Mikael Renberg is the envy of the league.
2000: Philadelphia over Dallas in 6 games.
Philly actually acquires raymond bourque, and he brings some much needed leadership and veteran presence. That, combined with prime forsberg, allows the flyers to actually sweep the devils and win the cup.
2001: Colorado Avalanche over pittsburgh Penguins in 7 games.
2002: Detroit red wings over Toronto Maple leafs in 5 games.
-Montreal actually gets to the conference finals.
2003: Calgary Flames over Ottawa Senators in 7 games.
-The flames keep martin st. Louis, Valeri Bure, Cory stillman, marc savard and jean-sebastien Giguere. They also still acquire chris drury. Giguere wins the conn smythe, and calgary repeats the following year.
2004-2005: Ottawa senators over Vancouver Canucks in 5 games.
-The CBA negotations goes much more smoothly, and there is a 2004-2005 season, with the new rules being effective as of 2005-2006. With dominik hasek in goal and the deepest team in the league, ottawa easily beats the west coast express canucks in 5.
2006 stanley cup: edmonton wins.
2007: Buffalo Sabres. Briere and co. Deserves a cup.
2010: Chicago Blackhawks over montreal canadiens in 5 games.
2011: Vancouver canucks over montreal canadiens in 7 games.
2013: Chicago Blackhawks over toronto maple leafs.
2014: Montreal over los angeles in 7 games.
-Chris kreider gets drafted by montreal, and the habs never trade ryan mcdonaugh.
2017: Ottawa over Nashville in 6 games.
-chara stays, and the taylor hall for cody ceci deal actually happens...yes, you read that right.