Better 62 Win Season?

[VinikToWinIt]

Today, the Lightning tied the ‘96 Red Wings wins record for a single season with 62.

The Lightning accomplished this in a cap world with increased parity and a smaller difference in team skill.

The Red Wings accomplished this in an era without overtime or shootouts, so they had to win them in regulation.


Both are phenomenal accomplishments. Which is more impressive?

Click to read more...

 

[Bob Barker]

Red Wings because, like you mentioned, they had to win all their games in regulation.

 

[Brucelenok]

Today, the Lightning tied the ‘96 Red Wings wins record for a single season with 62.

The Lightning accomplished this in a cap world with increased parity and a smaller difference in team skill.

The Red Wings accomplished this in an era without overtime or shootouts, so they had to win them in regulation.


Both are phenomenal accomplishments. Which is more impressive?

With all due respect to Tampa but it has to be Wings. Those 90s teams were super stacked. New Jersey, Colorado, St Louis, Penguins etc. Not to mention what kind of era it was in - grabbing and clutching

 

[Hint1k]

If Tampa had the same opportunity Detroit had back then, Steeve Yzeman would make Tampa second unit look like this:

Ovechkin - Kuznetsov - Kucherov
Sergachev - Provorov

While having the 1st one:

Point - Stamkos - Johnson
Hedman - McDonagh

That's 82 - 0 easy

 

[EXTRAS]

Tampa did it during cap parity.

Detroit did it when you needed to win without a shootout.

Detroit probably had a better team but tampa probably had a better management team.

 

[snipes]

Red Wings

 

[Voight]

FWIW DET 96 had 2 guys in the top 20 points (9, 19), TB will have 3 - likely to be 1, 7, 12

 

[ScaredStreit]

Red Wings. Tampa had the benefit of winning games in a shootout whereas Detroit didn't. Not taking anything away from Tampa's accomplishments, they're the best team I've seen since the lockout.

 

[Deadly Dogma]

I counted 18 games Tampa went past regulation 13 they got the extra point 5 they didn't.

 

[David McConnor]

62-13-7, 325 GF, 181 GA
56-19-7, 319 GF, 221 GA

Two spectacular regular seasons. One clearly more spectacular than the other. Cool fact about that Wings team. Started off 5-5-2, then went 57-8-5.

 

[lawrence]

Detroit due due to no shoot outs and it’s 5v5 overtime and no points for over time loss or shoot out loss.

And oh, btw


NHL Team Payrolls, 1994 to 2004 - San Jose Sharks, NY Rangers, All Teams, NHL Team Payrolls

Detroit’s payroll that year was 28 million.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

The answer right now is the Red Wings since they actually, you know, won 62 games without a gimmick.

If the Lightning win the Cup, then they become the answer.

 

[ijuka]

Red Wings's is more impressive. 62 regulation wins is insane.

 

[illpucks]

I remember that Wings season. As amazing as it was there was no cap then.

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Tampa doing it in a cap world is far more impressive.

 

[M88K]

The one without 3on3 and shootouts

 

[Hoser]

The Red Wings had a 62-win season; the Lightning had 62*.

 

[SotasicA]

The Bolts only had 49 real hockey wins. The rest of them were undeserved extra points given for winning a gimmick.

I still voted for Tampa, because f*** Detroit.

 

[sr edler]

FWIW DET 96 had 2 guys in the top 20 points (9, 19), TB will have 3 - likely to be 1, 7, 12

Detroit had the Selke winner plus other great defensive guys like Lidström, Larionov, et cetera. Rock solid team, Bowman machinery.

In 12–13 Tampa had the 1st (St. Louis) and 2nd (Stamkos) best scorers in the league but finished 28th place. Mighty Ducks in the late 90s had Selänne/Kariya always finishing top 10 in scoring when healthy, but the team obviously never contended for a Presidents' Trophy.

A stand out game from the 95–96 season was when the Red Wings ran over the Canadiens 11-1 in Montreal, Patrick Roy's last game with the club. For everyone talking about parity, that Montreal team perhaps wasn't great (especially not defensively) but it still had some very good players like Turgeon, Damphousse, Recchi and a young Koivu.

The parity argument is a bit dumb because more teams can also mean more diluted rosters talent wise. I don't think the 95–96 Red Wings would be scared down to the bone facing clubs like the 18–19 version Coyotes, Oilers, Senators, Devils, Sabres, Rangers, Wild, Canucks, Ducks, Kings, or Canadiens. Seriously.

 

[Voight]

If TB had no salary cap to comply with, like the 96 DRW, they'd have Karlsson on their team giving them 2 of the top 5 d-men in the league to go along with their crazy forward depth.

 

[JoVel]

I think the accomplishment in itself is more impressive by the Red Wings as they didn't have shootout back then, but I also think it's more impressive that a team can make it to 62 wins in the salary cap era.

 

[SotasicA]

If TB had no salary cap to comply with, like the 96 DRW, they'd have Karlsson on their team giving them 2 of the top 5 d-men in the league to go along with their crazy forward depth.

With no salary cap, they wouldn't have the players they have now, because they couldn't afford them. Big market teams would have taken Karlsson too, so that's another silly point.

Rangers, Canadiens, Leafs would have no trouble giving Kucherov 20+ million per.

 

[MattMartin]

Detroit due due to no shoot outs and it’s 5v5 overtime and no points for over time loss or shoot out loss.

And oh, btw


NHL Team Payrolls, 1994 to 2004 - San Jose Sharks, NY Rangers, All Teams, NHL Team Payrolls

Detroit’s payroll that year was 28 million.

They were still #2 with only the Rangers ahead of them in payroll.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Why I find Tampa impressive is because of how they did it within the cap.

 

[The Macho King]

With no salary cap, they wouldn't have the players they have now, because they couldn't afford them. Big market teams would have taken Karlsson too, so that's another silly point.

Rangers, Canadiens, Leafs would have no trouble giving Kucherov 20+ million per.

Yeah that's probably why the Rangers, Habs, and Leafs won all of those Cups during the DPE.