88-92 Bruins

[Thenameless]

Nothing about Gretzky (who was superb in '88) or even the Oilers; I just make my point as a compliment to the Canadiens, who were a really good team then. They finished the season 15-2-3. They beat the Oilers three out of three games that season. They'd have a 115-point season the next year. I think it would have been a great series! I call Edmonton in 6 or 7.

I see it more like the '92 Stanley Cup between the Penguins and the Blackhawks. The Lemieux Penguins were an all time offensive juggernaut like your Oilers, and the Blackhawks were a great defensive team with the likes of Roenick, a Selke winning Dirk Graham, Chelios, Steve Larmer, Noonan, Steve Smith, and Belfour in net - with Mike Keenan coaching. The Blackhawks had one of the best goals against numbers in the league that year. They got swept by the Penguins. Yes, they could have won one or two games in that series, like the Habs could have won one or two in '88, but there would never have been any doubt.

 

[vadnais1972]

Their best shot was in 1990. Sinden (and Jacobs) was unwilling to pull the trigger on trade to bring in an impact player, whether to help Bourque on defense or to add quality scoring up front. It was all about the $$$. And lets not forget how that triple OT loss in game 1 took the wind out right out of them. They were never able to recover.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Their best shot was in 1990. Sinden (and Jacobs) was unwilling to pull the trigger on trade to bring in an impact player, whether to help Bourque on defense or to add quality scoring up front. It was all about the $$$. And lets not forget how that triple OT loss in game 1 took the wind out right out of them. They were never able to recover.

And what trade would that be?

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

And what trade would that be?

the following were traded that season:

Adam Oates (this is the big one. should've had him a year sooner)
Mike Gartner
Pat Verbeek
Peter Stastny
Bernie Nicholls
Bernie Federko
Adam Graves

and fwiw, Brett Hull, Paul Coffey and Dale Hunter were all traded in the 88 season...the other blown opportunity.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

the following were traded that season:

Adam Oates (this is the big one. should've had him a year sooner)
Mike Gartner
Pat Verbeek
Peter Stastny
Bernie Nicholls
Bernie Federko
Adam Graves

and fwiw, Brett Hull, Paul Coffey and Dale Hunter were all traded in the 88 season...the other blown opportunity.

It's not like those guys were traded for nothing. Could Boston have reasonably acquired any of them without giving up a significant piece the other way?

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

the following were traded that season:

Adam Oates (this is the big one. should've had him a year sooner)
Mike Gartner
Pat Verbeek
Peter Stastny
Bernie Nicholls
Bernie Federko
Adam Graves

and fwiw, Brett Hull, Paul Coffey and Dale Hunter were all traded in the 88 season...the other blown opportunity.

the Bs picked up still impactful veterans propp (a near point per game guy), poulin (one of the best defensive centers in the league), and christian (30 goal scorer) for the 1990 playoff run. the season before, they also got carpenter.

so they got basically the equivalent of an aging stastny and more (and much better than an about to retire federko).

without trading bourque or neely, i don’t see how they could have loaded up more than they did.

 

[patnyrnyg]

It's not like those guys were traded for nothing. Could Boston have reasonably acquired any of them without giving up a significant piece the other way?

Rangers got Nicholls for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato. They got Gartner for Ulf Dahlen. Not sure what the Bruins would have had to give up to match those.

 

[Moose Head]

In 88 the Bruins finally beat Montreal on their way to the Finals. They got swept by Edmonton. But nobody had a chance in hell of beating the Oilers that season.

Between 90 and 92, they made the Finals and Conference Finals twice. They never won the cup. 91 was the Samuellson cheap shot on Neely. They never recovered, and lost the series.

What was the main reason they could never get over the " hump" so to speak?

Legal hip checks that result in injury because the manner in which a player tries to avoid it, is a cheap shot? Samuellson did some dirty things, I saw them, but Neely getting injured is either on Neely or an unfortunate accident. Nothing dirty or illegal on the part of Samuellson.

 

[c9777666]

The 1993 team was also really good, 109 points, top of the Adams division, and I still can't make sense of what the hell happened to them in the first round against Buffalo.

They went from being the 3rd best team in Goals Against all season long to giving up 19 goals in 4 games. That was the last playoff run that Neely was actually healthy for and productive in with 4 goals, Oates with 9 points in 4 games, Juneau collected 6 points. It seems Moog and/or the defense completely failed them.

And go figure a much weaker 1992 team coached by Rick freaking Bowness (which had the 6th best record in their own conference but benefitted from the divisional playoff format) got to the conference finals with a roster that, outside of Bourque/Moog, up until the Adam Oates trade and with Neely playing limited games had little to offer other than a career year by Vladimir Rucizka.

Buffalo probably could and should have beaten Boston in 1992. They had arguably a better roster than the Bruins (Andreychuk was there with LaFontaine/Hawerchuk/Mogilny and 30+ goal rookie Donald Audette).

That was despite the presence of the mighty Tom Draper in goal, but 3 one goal wins and 2 OT wins were crucial (one of them a strange goal by Oates).

But then they swept Montreal so decisively only to have Pittsburgh turn the tables on them in a decisive sweep that was basically a formality after BOS couldn’t steal a winnable game 1 OT game (Jagr scored a dazzling goal that amazingly wasn’t his best goal of the 1992 playoffs nor even the best Penguins goal in that series) which had you wondering how much better Buffalo/Montreal might have fared.

That said..... Bowness not getting another year baffles me. Like, how do you coach one year, get to the Wales Finals with a less than imposing team, and not even get a chance to build on that?

The Bruins IMHO might have been better off keeping Bowness than the Brian Sutter experiment.

 

[McFlash97]

Gretzky
Messier
Kurri
Anderson
Simpson
Tikkanen
Krushelnyski
Courtnall

Ya no. Montreal in 88 would get swept aside like a ragdoll.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Gretzky
Messier
Kurri
Anderson
Simpson
Tikkanen
Krushelnyski
Courtnall

Ya no. Montreal in 88 would get swept aside like a ragdoll.

i love playoff geoff courtnall, but if i’m the habs in 1988 i’m not super scared of his 3 assists that spring (all in the first round series against the jets).

that oilers team might have been unstoppable, mind you, i don’t contest that. but if anyone that year had a chance it was those habs, who led the league in goals against by more than 1/10th of a goal per game.

 

[quoipourquoi]

That glove save by Fuhr is just the best.

 

[double5son10]

Nothing about Gretzky (who was superb in '88) or even the Oilers; I just make my point as a compliment to the Canadiens, who were a really good team then. They finished the season 15-2-3. They beat the Oilers three out of three games that season. They'd have a 115-point season the next year. I think it would have been a great series! I call Edmonton in 6 or 7.

Two problems with your scenario, a) The Habs weren't healthy. Naslund and Corson both went down with knee injuries in the Hartford series, and Richer had a broken thumb from Thelven's infamous slash. While Naslund returned at the end of the Boston series he was skating on one leg. Same with Gainey, who had taken a puck off his foot, suffered a deep bruise and could barely get his skate on and off. So even if they had managed to eek out a series win over Boston they'd have been facing the Oilers without Richer & Corson, and an ineffective Naslund & Gainey. b) Perron's constant meddling with his lineup, particularly his goalies. The man just seemed incapable of understanding he had a young thoroughbred in Roy. Whatever criticisms one might have of Pat Burns, at least he understood this. Perron did not, and it's a big reason why Savard didn't renew his contract. Well, that and all the vets on the team hated him.
Yea, I would've loved to see the Habs face the Oilers too, but I don't think they'd have been any more competitive than the Bruins were.