1993 Cup team

[Tyson]

I just watched game 5 Habs vs Kings. Man that 93 Habs team was put together well! Scoring, grit, defense and goaltending.
The two young players who really impressed me in those playoffs were Gilbert Dionne and Paul Dipietro. Amazing to me to see these kids play so well, showed so much promise, yet they fizzled out quickly. Dionne had 60 goals in his first three seasons and Dipietro was a beast in the 93 cup run, especially in game 5 with 2 goals.
Anyways NHL Vault on NHL Game Center has over 800 old, classic games available to watch, cool feature!

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[thewall]

Kirk Muller and Carbo's leadership.. Leclair scoring huge goals... Bellows a 40 scorer... a local boy being a top player in Damphousse... Desjardins slowly started his status as Elite Defenseman... Schneider with a booming shot from the Point... Odelein, Ewen, Roberge (last 2 ones didn't play much in Playoffs) with the grit and toughness.

and the ultimate goalie in Patrick Roy.

yep this team was fun to watch! and our coach was passionate.

heck we had a former 50 goals scorer on our 4th line in Leeman and guys like Keane and Lebeau had 60 and 80 pts respectively if I remember correctly.

 

[BLNY]

It was a team built to play the game before the clutch and grab era really took. There was a good mix, but many of the secondary guys who were such key contributors were gone shortly after. Guys like Lebeau and Dipietro were small speedy, shifty, players. Good for up tempo play. Bad for grinding, and where the league was going.

They led the Adams for most of the year, until a late season slide put them in third. I think the Adams was the best division in the league that year - Boston, Quebec, and Montreal all had more than 100pts. If not for the last ten games of the season, they're playing Buffalo in the first round imo.

There were some glaring mistakes made in the short term that followed. Knee jerk reactions with the firing of Demers and Savard for what some considered to be too much of a country club atmosphere in the locker room. Letting Ronald Corey decide the replacements. Bringing in guys with no GM or NHL coaching experience simply because they wore the uniform. Poor scouting at the amateur and pro levels. Forcing Leclair to play center. Being every bit as stubborn and pig headed as Roy and not letting cooler heads prevail.

Leclair, Desjardins, and Roy should have been the present and future. No trade of Roy should have included a goalie in return - way too much pressure for that goalie to live up to. Koivu should have had a chance to play with Leclair. etc etc.

 

[Tyson]

Another guy that fizzled out was another smallish player, Stephan Lebeau, 80 points that year and out of NHL hockey a few years later. BLNY makes an interesting point, around 1995 the clutch and grab era pretty much started.

 

[Stoneburg]

It was an exciting run, a lot of things came together to make it happen. Remember afterwards that an article ran asking whether that team was the worst ever to win the Cup (was that The Hockey News)?

Also, didn't we trade for Rob Ramage at the trade deadline only to discover the guy couldn't even play anymore (as in, he sucked)?

Good times.

 

[Luigi Habs]

This team had passion, but Roy was the real leader of that group.

To this day, I don't understand how the Canadiens 94-95 shortened season missed the playoffs that year. Guys like Belows and Muller were past their prime, but we still had too many good players.

 

[Kojo]

Another guy that fizzled out was another smallish player, Stephan Lebeau, 80 points that year and out of NHL hockey a few years later. BLNY makes an interesting point, around 1995 the clutch and grab era pretty much started.

Lemieux had 160 points that year. Not to diminish what Lebeau did, but getting 80 points back then was like getting 50 points nowadays. Even DD can get 50 points.

 

[MrDontGive]

Lemieux had 160 points that year. Not to diminish what Lebeau did, but getting 80 points back then was like getting 50 points nowadays. Even DD can get 50 points.

Really? Seven posts into a 1993 thread for no reason you bring him up?

Roy was just too much that year.

 

[Kojo]

Really? Seven posts into a 1993 thread for no reason you bring him up?

Roy was just too much that year.

No reasons? I will be forever thankful to the Islanders for eliminating Lemieux and his team. I agree that Roy was on a higher plane that year though.

Oh I get it. I mentioned DD, aren't all threads about him?

 

[beowulf]

I remember it well. I was 17 and was lucky enough to attend almost all the games at the Forum that year. Was one hell of a ride!

 

[Canadiens93]

Lemieux had 160 points that year. Not to diminish what Lebeau did, but getting 80 points back then was like getting 50 points nowadays. Even DD can get 50 points.

Fair enough but Lebeau wasn't our first line center. Him putting up 80 represented the depth on that team. I guess if your point was how him fizzling out wasn't a huge deal considering what 80 points was back then I do get what you're saying.

 

[Video Coach]

I see Lebeau as a good example of how DD could be part of a SC winning team...as a 3rd line centre providing secondary scoring.

That team had great depth down the middle, though no elite centres, they had 2 90pt centres that year (though as pointed out, that season was a bit of a statistical anomaly all around).

Muller
Damphousse
Lebeau
Carbonneau

Plus guys like Leeman, Denis Savard, Bellows, Leclair, and the young guns Dionne and DiPeitro. Solid D with Schneider and Desjardins, JJ, Odelein. Brisebois played the 2nd wave PP. And Roy, despite a subpar regular season, was unreal that playoffs.

It was a different sort of team though, 3 lines of offense and 1 checking line was more common, though most lines still played a capable 2 way game.