It's January 1993: would you rather make the playoffs or bust?

[TimGolbert]

Another difference between that team and today's: they were 17-5-2 when Roy didn't play.
17-5-2 with Red Light Racicot in net. Let that sink in.

 

[The Spaniard]

Well, seeing as 1993 led to a 22 year cup drought ... I would take Chris Pronger and run!

At least one person understood the question and answered it seriously.

Thanks

Not cool

It's sarcasm to answer this comment made in the poll for this year's team:

Therrien is a dimwit. No education, no class.

 

[MXD]

The support players were FAAARRRR better than the support players on the current team. And the D-makeup on the '93 team was completely different, too.

 

[googlymoogly]

2-14 isn't the same as 8-9-2 tho.

Also, hindsight is 20/20.

With hindsight, if you were a Sens fan, what would you prefer for your team's long term benefit for the past season? Late season surge & first round exit or let it go and tank for a top pick?

It was also easier to make playoffs, less teams and besides Quebec our division was weak at the time.

The 93 team had better grinders and better top talent and better coach and better goalies and they could smash your head in everything was better. Desjardin and Schneider were very under rated. Even Breezer looked good when he wasn't forced to played #1.

Does anybody think Demers would use DDH as his n1 center

 

[The Spaniard]

How can you compare the 2 teams?

My point is not to say current team is better or worse, just that an average team with a great goalie can make it.

That you never know what might happen: they won the cup and Daigle was a bust.

But, ok ok, since you guys insist, I'm gonna answer.

Many seem to think the Habs were a powerhouse back then but...

Look at who was playing on our 3rd and 4th line in 1993.

Benoit Brunet, DiPietro, Petrov , Turner Stevenson....

At that point Carbonneau is 33 and only had 17 points.

Look who was our best 3 forwards in 1993 amd look who's our 3 best forwards now.

Damphousse 25th in points in the league
Muller 29th
Bellows 34th

vs

Pacioretty 30th
Plekanec 40th
Gallagher (prorata), probably 35th

Not a huge difference and 2016 D has the advantage:

At defense:

Desjardins 28th amongs D
Schneider 30th
Brisebois 55th

vs

Subban 7th
Markov 25th
Petry 55th

Damphousse 97 points seem impressive but we're talking about an era were the best defenseman had 97 points and 21 players had over a 100.

I would say the 93 team was a little better then this edition.

But far from a powerhouse.

The fact is, nobody considered the Habs as contenders back then.

But, they won. With a lot of luck. Overtime wins record and the best teams being defeated before they had to face them. But they made it.

Back then, they had no real chance to have a top 3 pick. Missing the playoffs would have been hard, Hartford sucked and Ottawa was an expansion team. But let's suppose they could miss the playoffs and there is lottery and you don't know what happens next: do you try to win the cup or tank?

Well, seeing as 1993 led to a 22 year cup drought ... I would take Chris Pronger and run!

Ça se défend comme point.

But terrible trades have a huge part of the responsibility.

Wonder what Houle would have done with Pronger...

 

[The Spaniard]

Does anybody think Demers would use DDH as his n1 center

Stephan Lebeau.

 

[MXD]

Does anybody think Demers would use DDH as his n1 center

He made great use of Stephan Lebeau, and if there's a player from that team that compares well to one on the current team, it's Lebeau vs. DD.

 

[The Spaniard]

besides Quebec our division was weak at the time.

Our division was the strongest.

In the top 6 of the league, three are from habs division: Boston 2nd, Quebec 4th, and then Habs 6th. Norris had two.
Even Buffalo wasn't that bad, 86pts, LA who made it to the finals had 88.

So to make it to the finals we were supposed to fist defeat the 4th team in the league, then the second then the Penguins, best team in the league.

We were suppose to have the hardest path.

But Boston lost to Buffalo and Pittsburgh to the Islanders.
Same happened in the other conference. The two best, Chicago and Detroit, lost in the first round.

It wasn't supposed to be that easy...

 

[The Spaniard]

Btw, with the same core, that team missed the playoffs two years later.

Finished 9th in 94, lost in the first round.

So, better then the actual team? Yeah, maybe.

But far from a great team.

So, it's January 93: would you rather make the playoffs or bust?

 

[googlymoogly]

Our division was the strongest.

In the top 6 of the league, three are from habs division: Boston 2nd, Quebec 4th, and then Habs 6th. Norris had two.
Even Buffalo wasn't that bad, 86pts, LA who made it to the finals had 88.

So to make it to the finals we were supposed to fist defeat the 4th team in the league, then the second then the Penguins, best team in the league.

We were suppose to have the hardest path.

But Boston lost to Buffalo and Pittsburgh to the Islanders.
Same happened in the other conference. The two best, Chicago and Detroit, lost in the first round.

It wasn't supposed to be that easy...

We did get lucky and same in 86 when Calgary knocked out Edmonton. Better to face the Flames in the first Cup final then a seasoned Oiler team.
Still those teams were better than this one especially coaching wise. The coaches tried to get the young players more involved instead of punishing them like Therrien does.

Plus those teams had real grinders, if Montreal got a lead it was usually game over as very rarely did they give it up. Their system is what Jersey, Dallas copied to win their Cups.

Also look at Whalers and Senators, there is no way we could of tanked unless you trade Muller, Vinny, Desjardin, Roy, Schneider, LeClair, Carbonneau for garbage. The format was different it was top 4 teams out of 6 in your division. Now it's top 3 out of each division of 8 teams then two wild cards out of 16 teams in conference. In 93 2/3 of teams made it, not it is 50% in eastern conference.

 

[Kraniumm]

1993 was a good season with hope and optimism. There wasn't a nasty losing skid, nothing anywhere near what we have now. The Cup drought wasn't long, either. So many other things. I won't even get into coaching and player deployment...

Kind of a dumb thread for those of us who were avid Habs fans in '93. (and I'm not talking about being 12 years old at the time, either, haha)

 

[thewall]

Bergy will panic
. Then overpay for Drouin and the Habs will sink lower then after the Roy trade!! Yzerman knows how much bergy is desperate for a french superstar... he will want to get the maximum for him.. especially because we are in the same division!!

 

[googlymoogly]

Btw, with the same core, that team missed the playoffs two years later.

Finished 9th in 94, lost in the first round.

So, better then the actual team? Yeah, maybe.

But far from a great team.

So, it's January 93: would you rather make the playoffs or bust?

Habs could not bust they had two atrocious teams in their division Ottawa and Hartford.
Now look at the teams we have in our division, we will not make the playoffs with Therrien in charge. Price even if he comes back will need the rest of the season to get back to his high caliber style of play. Season is over too many teams are equal to us with better management and again I don't see the playoff warriors on this team that we had on the 93 team.

 

[MXD]

1993 was a good season with hope and optimism. There wasn't a nasty losing skid, nothing anywhere near what we have now. The Cup drought wasn't long, either. So many other things. I won't even get into coaching and player deployment...

Kind of a dumb thread for those of us who were avid Habs fans in '93. (and I'm not talking about being 12 years old at the time, either, haha)

They didn't register a win in something like 16 of their last 20 games.

That's a skid about as brutal as the current one.

 

[mariolemieux66]

My point is not to say current team is better or worse, just that an average team with a great goalie can make it.

That you never know what might happen: they won the cup and Daigle was a bust.

But, ok ok, since you guys insist, I'm gonna answer.

Many seem to think the Habs were a powerhouse back then but...



Benoit Brunet, DiPietro, Petrov , Turner Stevenson....

At that point Carbonneau is 33 and only had 17 points.



Damphousse 25th in points in the league
Muller 29th
Bellows 34th

vs

Pacioretty 30th
Plekanec 40th
Gallagher (prorata), probably 35th

Not a huge difference and 2016 D has the advantage:

At defense:

Desjardins 28th amongs D
Schneider 30th
Brisebois 55th

vs

Subban 7th
Markov 25th
Petry 55th

Damphousse 97 points seem impressive but we're talking about an era were the best defenseman had 97 points and 21 players had over a 100.

I would say the 93 team was a little better then this edition.

But far from a powerhouse.

The fact is, nobody considered the Habs as contenders back then.

But, they won. With a lot of luck. Overtime wins record and the best teams being defeated before they had to face them. But they made it.

Back then, they had no real chance to have a top 3 pick. Missing the playoffs would have been hard, Hartford sucked and Ottawa was an expansion team. But let's suppose they could miss the playoffs and there is lottery and you don't know what happens next: do you try to win the cup or tank?



Ça se défend comme point.

But terrible trades have a huge part of the responsibility.

Wonder what Houle would have done with Pronger...

I have not said that Montreal was a powerhouse back then. The Habs had a more complete team.

It's not always necessarily about points. We had size, grit, leadership, Stanley Cup Winners, we had players who were playoffs warriors. The best players showed up in the playoffs in 1993.

We don't have much of that now.

Stevenson and Petrov played a big total of 10 games total in 1993. Im not sure why they are even mentioned.

And how is even possible for us to tank in 1993 when you had Ottawa and San Jose at 24 points, Tampa Bay at 53, Hartford at 58 and Edmonton at 60. We most likely draft 6th that year.

 

[Kraniumm]

They didn't register a win in something like 16 of their last 20 games.

That's a skid about as brutal as the current one.

It wasn't anywhere near this brutal. I certainly wasn't nearly as upset about the Habs at that point in the season compared to right now. Not comparable in the slightest.

 

[googlymoogly]

Bergy will panic
. Then overpay for Drouin and the Habs will sink lower then after the Roy trade!! Yzerman knows how much bergy is desperate for a french superstar... he will want to get the maximum for him.. especially because we are in the same division!!

The only thing that scares me is the possibility of them trading away Galchenyuk then he explodes because he is finally away from Therrien.

 

[googlymoogly]

I have not said that Montreal was a powerhouse back then. The Habs had a more complete team.

It's not always necessarily about points. We had size, grit, leadership, Stanley Cup Winners, we had players who were playoffs warriors. The best players showed up in the playoffs in 1993.

We don't have much of that now.

Stevenson and Petrov played a big total of 10 games total in 1993. Im not sure why they are even mentioned.

And how is even possible for us to tank in 1993 when you had Ottawa and San Jose at 24 points, Tampa Bay at 53, Hartford at 58 and Edmonton at 60. We most likely draft 6th that year.

Exactly the format was different. We had Hartford and Ottawa in our division. The division was 6 teams with 4 who make it. We could not of tanked even if we tried.

A team like LA today is somewhat like that Hab team. Built for the playoffs. In close games I would take guys like Muller, Vinny, Carbo, Keane over any of our players today, they could grind and cause opponents to lose their patience. Still the rumors were real of Roy being shopped but luckily the trigger wasn't pulled at the time.