Top NHL Teams In Each Decade

It is an on-going argument which NHL teams are the best of all-time. It is hard to compare the 1930 Boston Bruins with the 1977 Montreal Canadiens when the rules, conditions, equipment, training and number of teams have changed drastically through the years.

 We go Vulcan with this article, showing the best NHL team from each decade since the 1920’s based entirely on single season winning percentage. The number of games played in a season has gone from 24 to 82 in just a short 80 years and winning percentage is the only true measure of a team’s success during the regular season. Just to be clear, this is based on the top single season performance by a team during the decade and not the collective winning percentage over the ten years.

1919-20 Ottawa Senators

The 1919-20 Ottawa Senators played in a young NHL with only 3 other teams and with only a 24 game schedule. The team won 19 of the 24 games and had no ties for a winning percentage of .792. The Senators won the Stanley Cup that season which is, from what we will find out, somewhat of a rarity among teams who excel to extreme levels of success during the regular season.

Ottawa was led offensively by Frank Nighbor and in net by Clint Benedict. Nighbor, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame since 1947, played for Ottawa from 1915-16 to 1929-30. Benedict is also enshrined in the HHOF but entered in 1965. He played with the Senators from 1912-13 to 1923-24 before finishing his career with the Montreal Maroons.

1929-30 Boston Bruins

The 1929-30 Boston Bruins had the highest single season winning percentage of all-time. In the 44 games schedule, the Bruins had 38 wins and 1 tie to go along with their 5 losses for a winning percentage of .875. This was the era before the ‘Original 6’ and the NHL consisted of two divisions of 5 teams. The Bruins were easily the top team in the American Division. However, the Montreal Canadiens from the Canadian Division would be the eventual winners of the Stanley Cup that season.

Art Ross coached the Bruins, and was Boston’s first ever head coach. He would lead the team to a Stanley Cup championship at the end of the decade in 1938-39. In 1929-30, Cooney Weiland of the Bruins led the NHL in goals and points. Other greats playing with Boston that year were Dit Clapper, Eddie Shore and goaltender Tiny Thompson.

1943-44 Montreal Canadiens

The 1943-44 Montreal Canadiens would achieve a winning percentage of .830 with 38 wins, 5 losses and 7 ties over a 50 game season. The league consisted of 6 teams and the Canadiens were crowned Stanley Cup Champions. The Dick Irvin coached team had a healthy 25 point lead over the second place Detroit Red Wings.

Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard was just in his first full season in the NHL after appearing in just 16 games with the Canadiens the year before. His 32 goals led the Canadiens and tied him for 6^th in the league with Bill Mosienko of the Chicago Blackhawks and Syd Howe of the Red Wings. Playing all 50 games in net for the Habs was Bill Durnan.

1950-51 Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings had a winning percentage of .721 in 1950-51 on 44 wins, 13 losses and 13 ties over 70 games. The league still consisted of the original 6 teams. Despite Detroit’s success, the Toronto Maple Leafs would steal the Stanley Cup away. The Red Wings fell to the Montreal Canadiens in the opening round, four games to two. Montreal finished the regular season in third place, 36 points behind the Red Wings. It was a close battle with the Habs outscoring Detroit over the series by just one goal and two of the six games going into overtime.

Detroit’s Gordie Howe led the NHL in both goals and assists. He won the Art Ross Trophy with a commanding 20 point lead over Rocket Richard. Only one man stood between the pipes for Detroit during the 1950-51 NHL season, Terry Sawchuk.

1961-62 Montreal Canadiens

The 1961-62 Montreal Canadiens had a winning percentage of .700 on 42 wins, 14 losses and 14 ties over 70 games. The league was in its final decade of just 6 teams with expansion arriving in 1967-68. Once again, the Toronto Maple Leafs snatched the Stanley Cup away from the regular season league leader.

The Toe Blake coached Canadiens were led offensively by Ralph Backstrom and Claude Provost. Jacques Plante played every single game in goal for the team. Montreal was knocked out in the first round by the third place Chicago Blackhawks.

1976-77 Montreal Canadiens

The team that is considered by many to be the best of all-time put in a winning percentage of .825 in 1976-77. The Montreal Canadiens lost just 8 games while winning 60 and tying 12 over 80 games in the 18 team league. The Canadiens would breeze to a Stanley Cup win that season, losing just two playoff games. Montreal dropped two to the New York Islanders in the semi-finals while sweeping the St. Louis Blues in the opening round and the Boston Bruins in the finals.

Offensively, Steve Shutt led the league with 60 goals while Guy Lafleur led the NHL with 80 assists and 136 points. Of course, the Scotty Bowman coached Habs were led in goal by Ken Dryden with Michel Larocque doing an admirable job as backup.

1983-84 Edmonton Oilers

Wayne Gretzky and his Edmonton Oilers controlled the 1983-84 season with a winning percentage of .744 on 57 wins, 18 losses and 5 ties over 80 games. Not only would the Oilers top the 21-team league over the regular season but would take the Stanley Cup, as well. The Oilers took out the defending champion New York Islanders in five games in the finals. New York had won the Stanley Cup for the past four seasons. Edmonton’s toughest challenge came in the quarter-finals when the Calgary Flames took them to the seven game limit.

Gretzky led the league with 87 goals, 118 assists and 205 points. He was a whopping 79 points ahead of second place Paul Coffey, also of the Oilers. Gretzky, Coffey, Jari Kurri and Mark Messier all topped the 100 point plateau. Andy Moog and Grant Fuhr shared the goaltending duties with what would have been lacklustre numbers on any other team.

1995-96 Detroit Red Wings

In 1995-96, the Detroit Red Wings set the record for most wins in a single season with 62, a record that stands today. The Wings posted a winning percentage of .799 over the 82 game schedule, losing 13 and tying 7. The league had expanded to 26 teams at this point. Despite the record number of wins, Detroit would fall to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup semi-finals. Colorado then swept the Florida Panthers to win the championship.

The Scotty Bowman coached Red Wings were led offensively by Sergei Fedorov and Steve Yzerman. Sharing the goaltending duties were Chris Osgood and Mike Vernon.

2005-06 Detroit Red Wings

Ten years after their record performance, the Detroit Red Wings posted the best record of the decade with a .756 winning percentage in 2005-06. The feat was accomplished on a record of 58 wins, 16 losses and 8 ties. At this point, the league was up to 30 teams and remains at that number today. Once again, the Wings would not take home the Stanley Cup as the Carolina Hurricanes would win their first. In fact, Detroit was upset in the opening round by the Edmonton Oilers in six games.

It was Mike Babcock’s first year as head coach of the Red Wings and just two years later, he would have his first Stanley Cup championship. 2005-06 marked the start of the Pavel Datsyuk era and the end of the incredible career of Steve Yzerman. Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg led the team offensively while Manny Legace played the bulk of games in net.

 

NHL Hockey Trivia: New York Islanders

The New York Islanders are a National Hockey League that began play in 1972-73 along with their expansion partners, the Atlanta Flames. The Islanders reached their pinnacle less than a decade later when they ruled the NHL with four consecutive Stanley Cup championships. Since, the organization has fallen into disarray but a move to Brooklyn may change the fortunes of the franchise.

Test and expand your knowledge of the NHL’s New York Islanders with these four hockey trivia questions.

Q. Which player is the New York Islanders all-time leader in regular season points?

A. Bryan Trottier contributed 1,353 points over his fifteen seasons in an Islanders jersey. Trottier was an essential part of the formula during the Stanley Cup streak of the 1980’s. Mike Bossy comes in second with 1,126 points. However, Bossy played just 752 games for the Islanders, compared to 1,123 for Trottier. Denis Potvin is the only other player in NYI history to top 1,000 points with 1,052 over 1,060 games.

Q. Who was the first team captain of the New York Islanders?

A. Ed Westfall was taken away from the Boston Bruins in the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft. Westfall had played eleven seasons with the Bruins before coming to New York. He served as captain until the end of the 1976-77 season. At the point, the ‘C’ was transferred to Clark Gillies. Westfall remained with the team for two more seasons and retired after the 1978-79 season, missing the New York’s first Stanley Cup victory by one year.

Q. What New York Islander holds the team record for the most goals in a single regular season?

A. Mike Bossy scored 69 goals in 1978-79. Bossy surpassed the 60 goal plateau on five occasions and scored less than 50 in only one season during his career, his last. Bossy is one of just four players in Islanders history to top the 50 goal plateau. Bryan Trottier scored 50 in 1981-82, Pat Lafontaine scored 54 in 1989-90 and Pierre Turgeon netted 58 in 1992-93.

Q. The number 9 is retired by the New York Islanders in honour of what player?

A. Clark Gillies was the fifth of six players to have their number retired by the Islanders.  Clark was a fourth overall pick of the Islanders at the 1974 NHL Entry Draft. Gillies played twelve seasons with the Islanders and two additional seasons with the Buffalo Sabres before retiring.

As metioned, he took over the captaincy of the Islanders from Ed Westfall for the 1977-78 season. That responsibility was transferred to Denis Potvin two years later. Gillies sits fourth all-time for the Islanders in goals, assists and points behind Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy and Denis Potvin. Clark was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002.

10 NHL Stars That Shunned The WHA

The World Hockey Association was a rebel hockey league that existed from 1972 to 1979 to compete against the National Hockey League. In the inaugural WHA draft, many NHL stars were selected by the original 12 WHA teams and many of these players were in their prime as stars in hockey.

The original World Hockey Association General Player Draft was held on February 12 and 13 of 1972. Although the draft lasted 123 rounds, the first round or preliminary round played the most important role in attempting to secure superstar talent away from the National Hockey League. In that preliminary round, each of the twelve proposed franchises wrote down four players, secret ballot style, and submitted them.

Of the names selected in that preliminary round, few would play a single game in the WHA. The following players that declined and stayed in the NHL would have changed the history of professional hockey if they’d made a different decision.

Stan Mikita – Chicago Cougars

Stan Mikita was selected by the Chicago Cougars. Chicago Black Hawks legend and Hockey Hall of Famer played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League, all with the Blackhawks. The year he retired from the NHL was the year the WHA and NHL merged, 1979-80.  Stan was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.

Bobby Clarke – Alberta Oilers

In February of 1972, Bobby Clarke was just coming into his own with the Philadelphia Flyers. Two years later, Clarke captained the Flyers to their first of two consecutive Stanley Cup victories. Clarke was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987 and might well have been a member of the Alberta Oilers if the offer was right in 1972. Would that one move have had the butterfly effect enough to keep both the Flyers and Oilers from Stanley Cup championships over the next decade and a half?

Ken Dryden – Los Angeles Sharks

Ken Dryden already had one Stanley Cup and the Calder Trophy under his belt when he was drafted by the Los Angeles Sharks of the WHA. In what could have been his first season with Los Angeles, Dryden won his second of six Stanley Cup championships he would win with the Montreal Canadiens. Dryden entered the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983.

Gilbert Perreault – Los Angeles Sharks

Gilbert Perreault was in his second season of his Hall of Fame career with the Buffalo Sabres when the Los Angeles Sharks selected him in the preliminary round. Perreault played seventeen seasons in the NHL, all with the Sabres. The closest Gilbert came to a Stanley Cup ring was when Buffalo fell to the Flyers in the 1974-75 final. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1990.

Peter Mahovlich – Minnesota Fighting Saints

With his size, toughness and scoring ability, Peter Mahovlich would have been the leader of the Minnesota Fighting Saints. Mahovlich remained with the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens where he was part of four Stanley Cup winning teams. In all, Peter played nearly 900 NHL regular season games with the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins. If he had jumped to the WHA, he wouldn’t have been able to play in the historic 1972 Summit Series for Team Canada. However, his brother Frank Mahovlich did choose the WHA route, playing 237 regular season games between 1974-75 and 1977-78 with the Toronto Toros and Birmingham Bulls.

Steve Shutt – New York Raiders

Steve Shutt was drafted by the WHA’s New York Raiders right out of the OHA’s Toronto Marlboros. Shutt chose to take his chances with the powerful Montreal Canadiens and despite the odds, he played in 50 games with the Habs in his rookie NHL season, 1972-73. The following year, he was a regular with the club. A 60 goal scorer in 1976-77, Shutt was a part of five Stanley Cup winning teams with Montreal and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993. He appeared in 930 regular season games in the NHL between 1972-73 and 1984-85 with the Canadiens and Los Angeles Kings.

Brad Park – Ottawa Nationals

Already established as one of the NHL’s top defenseman, Brad Park chose to stay with the New York Rangers instead of jumping ship to the WHA’s Ottawa Nationals. Park enjoyed a long NHL career with the Rangers, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings before his induction to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988. Considering Ottawa’s instability and short-lived stay in the WHA, it was a good move on Brad’s part.

Eddie Shack – Ottawa Nationals

Eddie Shack was nearing the end of his interesting NHL career when the Ottawa Nationals selected him. One has to wonder what Eddie Shack would have become in the WHA. Perhaps, Shack would have finally been able to showcase his offensive talents. A veteran of 1,047 regular season games in the National Hockey League, Shack played for the New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins between 1958-59 and 1974-75.

Jacques Lemaire – Quebec Nordiques

Jacques Lemaire finished his NHL career with his name engraved on the Stanley Cup eight times as a player, all with the Montreal Canadiens. When the Quebec Nordiques selected him in the WHA draft, Lemaire already had three of those Stanley Cups under his belt. Despite having a 1974-75 hockey card depicting him as a member of the Buffalo Sabres, Lemaire played his entire NHL career with the Habs, appearing in 853 regular season games between 1967-68 and 1978-79. Jacques was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984. He won another Stanley Cup in 1995 as the head coach of the New Jersey Devils.

Guy Lapointe – Quebec Nordiques

Guy Lapointe won six Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993. Lapointe, like his long time teammate Jacques Lemaire, was selected by the Quebec Nordiques but never played in the World Hockey Association. Guy appeared in 894 regular season NHL games between 1968-69 and 1983-84 with the Canadiens, St. Louis Blues and Boston Bruins.

What would have happened if even half of these players had joined Bobby Hull, Bernie Parent, Norm Ullman and Derek Sanderson in pioneering hockey history in the WHA? The league certainly would have competed better with the NHL from the beginning. Perhaps, earlier merger plans that the WHA had with the NHL would have gone through with the Houston Aeros and Cincinnati Stingers surviving extinction and becoming NHL clubs along with the Edmonton Oilers, New England Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets. Or, perhaps, the WHA would still be in existence, living in conjunction with a smaller, weaker NHL.