The greatest team ever assembled

Luigi Lemieux

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cup2006sensrule said:
Defence was the biggest reason why the Oilers dynasty was better than the Pens cup runs. Obviously Lemieux's many injuries and medical issues were a huge factor but an even bigger one was the Oilers ability to play good defence. The Oilers defence was very underrated. They had good defence depth and could and did play pretty good team defence in the playoffs. They had top forwards and bottom forwards who were excellent defensively.

That is the biggest reason for the difference. The Pens had a similar level of top forwards at least for 3 or 4 seasons but never had the depth and the defence the Oilers had.
i would agree with that. from 1990-96 the penguins had the offensive talent that could rival the oilers. they could only win 2 cups in that period because even when the pens were among the best in the league, they were among the worst in goals against.
 

Psycho Papa Joe

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Dark Metamorphosis said:
i would agree with that. from 1990-96 the penguins had the offensive talent that could rival the oilers. they could only win 2 cups in that period because even when the pens were among the best in the league, they were among the worst in goals against.

I think the biggest difference between the Oilers and Pens was the health of their best players and the fact Fhur/Moog/Ranford were all better in the clutch than Barasso.
 

Big Phil

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The best team ever in the NHL is the '76-77 Canadiens. This is not a discussion whatsoever. 60-8-12 for 132 points. Lafleur wins the Hart, the Art Ross, Shutt leads the NHl in goals, Robinson wins the Norris, Dryden wins the Vezina. Plus this team sweeps a very good Bruins team in the Finals.

But the best team ever assembled is the 1976 Canada Cup team for Canada. I like the '87 Team with Gretzky and Lemieux but Vachon is no worse at the time than Fuhr, and the '76 defence kills the '87 one. The '87 team has Bourque, Coffey and Murphy. Pretty damn good. But after that its Patrick, Crossman, hartsburg and Rochefort. The '76 team has Orr, Robinson, Potvin, Lapointe, Savard and a seldom used Watson.

Then up front there's Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, Gilmour, Hawerchuk, Goulet, Anderson, Propp, Sutter, Tocchet, C. Lemieux, Dineen

Compare that to '76. Lafleur, Clarke, Perreault, Sittler, Dionne, Barber, Hull, Esposito, Mahovolich, Leach, Shutt, McDonald, Martin, Gainey, Gare.

I mean the worst forward might be Gare. The guy had 50 goals that year. That says something. Gretzky and Lemieux were at or near their primes and no one on '76 is as good but Lafleur, Perreault, and Clarke were the best players in the game at the time. I'll take '76 over any team ever!
 

bakinturkey

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it allmost seems kind of bias here because the soviets don't have as many votes as they should. no doubt the soviets
 

Slitty

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Czechs of 98' weren't even the best team in the tournament and not too far ahead of the teams that they were better than.
 

XploD

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bakinturkey said:
it allmost seems kind of bias here because the soviets don't have as many votes as they should. no doubt the soviets
My thoughts exactly. I guess most people aren't old enough to have witnessed the Big Red Machine, or they just count the number of superstars from the NHL on a team instead of how dominating they actually were.
 

GKJ

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cup2006sensrule said:
What if it is Keith Gretzky, Phil Bourque and Jocelyn Lemieux? Plus Paul Coffey


Well, at least I'll make some money when I bet on them if they win.
 

Ofuzz

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76' Canada Cup Team

The greatest team assembled has to be this team. What is there, like 15 Hall of Famers, or more (not too sure). And that's not even counting Vachon, who is long over due to get into the Hall. 76'Canada Cup team is tops.

The 76-77 Habs team was dominant. The best NHL team ever assembled.

Now the greatest team assembled without hardly anything to work with? Herb Brooks put together a decent bunch in 1980.
 

Peter25

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I really don't understand how anyone can put ANY Canadian team ahead of the Soviet teams of 1979 and 1981. I'm positively sure that no Canadian team ever could beat those Soviet teams. They were that much better IMHO. The 1976 and 1987 Canadian teams were good, but not as great as the Soviet teams of 1979 and 1981.
 

canucksfan

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I really don't understand how anyone can put ANY Canadian team ahead of the Soviet teams of 1979 and 1981. I'm positively sure that no Canadian team ever could beat those Soviet teams. They were that much better IMHO. The 1976 and 1987 Canadian teams were good, but not as great as the Soviet teams of 1979 and 1981.

Well in the 1981 Canada Cup, Canada did beat the Soviets 6-3. Granted, the Soviets easily won 8-1 in the final game but Liut had a terrible game. Futhermore, Gilbert Perreault couldn't play in the final game becuase of an injury and he along with Gretzky and LaFleur were Canada's top line. In the 1980 Olympics the Soviets lost to a bunch of American college kids.
 

Nalyd Psycho

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The best team ever in the NHL is the '76-77 Canadiens. This is not a discussion whatsoever. 60-8-12 for 132 points. Lafleur wins the Hart, the Art Ross, Shutt leads the NHl in goals, Robinson wins the Norris, Dryden wins the Vezina. Plus this team sweeps a very good Bruins team in the Finals.

One could argue the 55-56 Canadiens were better...
 

Zine

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The greatest team assembled has to be this team. What is there, like 15 Hall of Famers, or more (not too sure). And that's not even counting Vachon, who is long over due to get into the Hall. 76'Canada Cup team is tops.

I don't know - maybe on paper.

However, along with this year's disaster of an olympic team, the '76 squad was the only other Canadian "A" team to ever be shut out. Frankly, I don't believe that would ever happen to a team with Gretz & Lemieux on it.
I'm not sold on the '87 defense compared to the '76 one though.

I'm going with the '79 Soviets. Dismantled the NHL's best in a 3 game series, that's enough for me.
 

Ofuzz

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Shutout??

I'm guessing you mean the 1-0 loss to the Czechs which was not only a classic duel between Vachon and Dzurilla but also a bit of a "wake-up" call to the Canadian team. Do not hold that against Team Canada '76 anymore than any other nudge the Canadian team has needed in the past. The only difference is that this was possibly one of the most talented teams the Canadians have ever played against. Novy, Hlinka, Bubla.....this was a good team.
 

Peter25

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Well in the 1981 Canada Cup, Canada did beat the Soviets 6-3. Granted

Yes, in a game that was virtually meaningless.


, the Soviets easily won 8-1 in the final game but Liut had a terrible game.

Soviets were that much better. It was not Liut's fault. Half of the Soviet goals were scored on breakaways. The only goal that was Liut's fault was the 7-1 goal scored by Vladimir Golikov.



Futhermore, Gilbert Perreault couldn't play in the final game becuase of an injury and he along with Gretzky and LaFleur were Canada's top line.

And the legendary center Alexander Maltsev was injured for the Soviets. Maltsev was the Soviets leading scorer in the 1981 World Championships and he is one of the top 10 centers in the world EVER. He was certainly a better player than Gilbert Perreault. Maltsev was replaced by the DEFENSEMAN Irek Gimayev in the line of Golikov and Nikolai Drozdetsky.


In the 1980 Olympics the Soviets lost to a bunch of American college kids.

Yes, and in the 1979 beat the NHL 6-0 and in the 1981 they beat the best Canadian team 8-1 before Canada's home crowd.

Isn't it just insane that a team of Gretzky, Lafleur, Bourque, Potvin, Robinson, Bossy, Trottier, Dionne and Gainey can be so badly annihilated in Montreal Forum?
 

canucksfan

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Yes, in a game that was virtually meaningless.

Soviets were that much better. It was not Liut's fault. Half of the Soviet goals were scored on breakaways. The only goal that was Liut's fault was the 7-1 goal scored by Vladimir Golikov.

And the legendary center Alexander Maltsev was injured for the Soviets. Maltsev was the Soviets leading scorer in the 1981 World Championships and he is one of the top 10 centers in the world EVER. He was certainly a better player than Gilbert Perreault. Maltsev was replaced by the DEFENSEMAN Irek Gimayev in the line of Golikov and Nikolai Drozdetsky.

Yes, and in the 1979 beat the NHL 6-0 and in the 1981 they beat the best Canadian team 8-1 before Canada's home crowd.

Isn't it just insane that a team of Gretzky, Lafleur, Bourque, Potvin, Robinson, Bossy, Trottier, Dionne and Gainey can be so badly annihilated in Montreal Forum?
The game wasn't meaningless. The winner of that game got to play the USA instead of the Czechs.

The 8-1 score is misleading a bit. Canada dominated the first period. The second period was even and the third period the Soviets dominated. Canada was down 3-1 after the second period. It's not like the Soviets dominated the whole game. Tretiak was outstanding. He was the main reason why the Soviets won. Liut was average and in an important game like that you can't be average. The last goal the Soviets scored he didn't even move.

Perreault was so important to Canada in that tournament. In four games he had nine points. He was playing some of his best hockey in that tournament. Gretzky, Perreault and LaFleur were the top line in the tournament. Canada needed to score in the final game and Perreault might have made a difference.

The Challenge Cup was more like an all-star game. The NHL players were playing for the NHL instead of for their country.

Like I said earlier the the Soviets didn't dominate Canada like the score says. The 1981 Team Canada wasn't Canada's best ever. The 81' team wouldn't crack the top three.
 

XploD

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The 8-1 score is misleading a bit. Canada dominated the first period. The second period was even and the third period the Soviets dominated. Canada was down 3-1 after the second period. It's not like the Soviets dominated the whole game. Tretiak was outstanding. He was the main reason why the Soviets won. Liut was average and in an important game like that you can't be average. The last goal the Soviets scored he didn't even move.

Like I said earlier the the Soviets didn't dominate Canada like the score says. The 1981 Team Canada wasn't Canada's best ever. The 81' team wouldn't crack the top three.
You still can't excuse scores like 8-1.
 

Zine

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Like I said earlier the the Soviets didn't dominate Canada like the score says. The 1981 Team Canada wasn't Canada's best ever. The 81' team wouldn't crack the top three.

:dunno:

Up until the final game, the '81 team was the most dominant a Canadian team has ever been in a Canada Cup.

Either way, the Soviet squads in the '76 & '87 CC were very sub-par.
 
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Victory Ali*

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I've always been impressed with the 2001-2002 Red Wings... not the best team of all time but I certainly think of the best teams of modern times.
 

canucksfan

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:dunno:

Up until the final game, the '81 team was the most dominant a Canadian team has ever been in a Canada Cup.

Either way, the Soviet squads in the '76 & '87 CC were very sub-par.
The 76 Team Canada was far batter than the 81 Team Canada. If you compare the teams the 76' team has better defence, offence and goaltending. The 76' team had the exact same record as the 81' team going into the final game.
 

Marcus-74

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The Challenge Cup was more like an all-star game. The NHL players were playing for the NHL instead of for their country.

Yeah, just your nice little average All-star game. Oh, c´mon! It was Team Canada in all but name (three Swedes don´t make much difference) and after the 3rd game Howie Meeker and Bobby Orr were acting like it was the funeral of Canadian/NHL hockey. So shocked they were! Actually, it is quite comical to watch how seriously they react to the loss!

Anyway, there´s no way NHL all-stars wanted to lose to the Soviets in their own rink with their best possible team and everyone (supposedly) in top condition.
 

Zine

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The 76 Team Canada was far batter than the 81 Team Canada. If you compare the teams the 76' team has better defence, offence and goaltending. The 76' team had the exact same record as the 81' team going into the final game.

The '81 team was undefeated going into the final game; the '76 squad was shut out by the Czechs in the prelims.:dunno:
 

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