Greatest single season team of the Original Six era?

[c9777666]

From 1942-43 to 1966-67, there were some impressive standout editions of wonderful teams. But which one would you consider the best of the best?

There's the '44 Habs (6 losses all year, 1 home loss, peak Punch Line).

1956 Habs won a then-record 45 games, Beliveau at his most dominant (47 goals, 88 points, 1st team All-Star, Hart). Rocket Richard's last standout scoring season (38 goals, 71 points). The arrival of the Pocket Rocket. Bert Olmstead leads in assists. HOF-caliber depth begins to arrive, establish Habs as an absurdly deep team.

Jacques Plante beginning his amazing stretch of Vezina goaltending (42 wins, 1.85 GAA, 7 shutouts.

45 wins and 100 points, which was insane in a 70-game schedule (equivalent of if TB won 64 games this year).

Their dominant power play led to rules changes (i.e. if a goal is scored, you leave the box)

Henri Richard however has stated he thinks the '60 Habs were the best of this batch.

Detroit had the sensational 1952 team (4 First team All Stars, a rare 100 point season in a 70 game schedule, 8-0 in the playoffs against defending and future Cup champs TOR/MON, Sawchuk famously allowed 0 goals on home ice)

Toronto had three standout teams:

1948 (1st overall, the famous Max Bentley trade to give them ridiculous center strength, 32 wins in 50 games, Broda Vezina)

1951 (41 wins in 95 points in a 70 game schedule, 2 30-goal scorers in an era when goal scoring was tougher, Al Rollins showing he can fill Turk Broda's skates, the all-OT Cup Finals wins, Barilko's iconic goal)

1963 (1st place overall, ended Montreal's streak of 7 straight first place finishes, seen as the best of the Punch Imlach Cup teams)

Now, considering these 3 teams had a Cup stranglehold save for the '61 Blackhawks, you can include non-Cup winning great teams to be fair to the others (i.e. 1967 Chicago, 1951 and 1953 Detroit, other Hab teams, some standout Ranger/Bruin squads, etc.)

Click to read more...

 

[Fenway]

Let's toss out the 1944 Habs because of World War II

Montreal won 5 Cups in a row between 1956-1960 and that is an impressive resume. I think the answer is one of those five teams.

 

[The Panther]

I think we need a little love for the Motor-City Wings of 1951-52.

44-14-12 (100 points) record, 1st place by 22 points over les Habs.

Most goals scored by 20. Fewest goals allowed by 24.

Finished the season with only 3 losses in the last 23 games, then went 8 - 0 to win the Cup. That is, they went 25-3-3 from the end of January to lifting the Cup on April 15th.

In 4 playoff home-ice games at the Olympia, Terry Sawchuk had a GAA of 0.00. And he allowed only 5 goals in 4 games on the road, for a total 0.62 GAA in the playoffs.

Gordie Howe won the Art Ross trophy and the Hart trophy. Terry Sawchuk won the Vezina.

The Wings had two (Howe; Lindsay) of the top-4 goal scorers, three of the top-5 assist earners, and the top-2 scorers overall (and three of the top seven).

Anyway, in 78 total games they went 52-14-12.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

FWIW, output trying to answer this question from the scrap project, given that answering questions like this was why I created the project:

python teamStatRanker.py nhl originalSix desc False CPQI

[ 2.000 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1944', True]
1.712 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1945', True]
1.143 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1959', True]
1.109 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1951', True]
1.074 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1967', True]
1.063 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1962', True]
1.051 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1958', True]
1.040 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1956', True]
1.017 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1953', True]
0.937 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1952', True]
0.912 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1945', True]
0.880 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1960', True]
0.846 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1951', True]
0.811 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1955', True]
0.800 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1955', True]
0.754 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1966', True]
0.754 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1961', True]
0.743 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1950', True]
0.720 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1943', True]
0.680 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1947', True]
0.674 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1954', True]
0.667 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1949', True]
0.663 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1961', True]
0.640 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1944', True]
0.629 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1957', True]
0.624 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1943', True]
0.617 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1954', True]
0.608 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1946', True]
0.606 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1966', True]
0.594 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1962', True]
0.592 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1944', True]
0.560 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1965', True]
0.560 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1964', True]
0.549 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1965', True]
0.520 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1948', True]
0.520 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1948', True]
0.493 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1947', True]
0.480 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1963', True]
0.480 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1964', True]
0.469 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1963', True]
0.469 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1957', True]
0.400 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1956', True]
0.354 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1952', True]
0.354 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1962', True]
0.354 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1965', True]
0.352 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1946', True]
0.352 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1945', True]
0.347 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1949', True]
0.309 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1966', True]
0.304 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1943', True]
0.297 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1965', True]
0.251 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1950', True]
0.240 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1957', True]
0.240 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1966', True]
0.240 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1954', True]
0.229 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1964', True]
0.206 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1961', True]
0.200 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1949', True]
0.200 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1947', True]
0.183 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1963', True]
0.176 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1946', True]
0.160 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1967', True]
0.137 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1955', True]
0.126 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1952', True]
0.126 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1960', True]
0.080 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1958', True]
0.080 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1953', True]
0.069 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1963', True]
0.057 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1958', True]
0.046 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1960', True]
0.034 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1950', True]
0.011 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1956', True]
-0.011 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1967', True]
-0.013 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1948', True]
-0.016 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1943', False]
-0.040 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1947', True]
-0.046 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1954', True]
-0.069 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1953', True]
-0.080 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1967', True]
-0.114 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1959', True]
-0.126 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1951', True]
-0.126 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1959', True]
-0.126 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1953', False]
-0.126 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1960', True]
-0.137 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1962', True]
-0.137 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1959', True]
-0.144 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1944', True]
-0.149 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1964', True]
-0.160 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1943', True]
-0.160 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1952', True]
-0.176 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1946', False]
-0.183 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1959', False]
-0.187 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1949', True]
-0.206 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1957', False]
-0.208 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1946', True]
-0.217 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1950', True]
-0.217 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1951', True]
-0.217 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1955', True]
-0.229 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1961', True]
-0.229 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1953', True]
-0.240 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1960', False]
-0.240 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1954', False]
-0.251 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1963', False]
-0.253 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1947', False]
-0.293 ['MTL', 'Montreal Canadiens', '1948', False]
-0.309 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1952', False]
-0.320 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1956', True]
-0.331 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1967', False]
-0.333 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1948', True]
-0.343 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1950', False]
-0.354 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1958', True]
-0.366 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1951', False]
-0.389 ['TOR', 'Toronto Maple Leafs', '1958', False]
-0.400 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1962', False]
-0.400 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1948', False]
-0.434 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1956', False]
-0.446 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1958', False]
-0.469 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1950', False]
-0.480 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1964', False]
-0.491 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1957', True]
-0.503 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1961', False]
-0.507 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1949', False]
-0.520 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1949', False]
-0.583 ['DET', 'Detroit Red Wings', '1959', False]
-0.640 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1964', False]
-0.640 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1945', True]
-0.640 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1957', False]
-0.674 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1953', False]
-0.686 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1960', False]
-0.686 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1955', False]
-0.697 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1956', False]
-0.720 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1944', False]
-0.752 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1946', False]
-0.754 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1966', False]
-0.766 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1965', False]
-0.811 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1967', False]
-0.846 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1955', False]
-0.848 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1945', False]
-0.891 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1961', False]
-0.949 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1963', False]
-0.949 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1952', False]
-0.994 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1965', False]
-1.080 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1947', False]
-1.154 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1966', False]
-1.246 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1951', False]
-1.246 ['CBH', 'Chicago Black Hawks', '1954', False]
-1.472 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1943', False]
-1.474 ['BOS', 'Boston Bruins', '1962', False]
-1.488 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1945', False]
-2.368 ['NYR', 'New York Rangers', '1944', False]
]

Depends on how much you trust CPQI as a stat, given that it adjusts team goal differential for opponent strength on a game by game basis, and it does not factor in playoffs performance yet.

IMO regarding the war years issue, Id say I consider 1944 and 1945 as non-valid seasons when making all time comparisons. Im on the fence as to whether 1943 should be ignored as well.

More info on the scrap project is available here:

Scrap Project: Looking for Feedback

 

[MXD]

...Actually, the '44 Habs were a crazy good team, but it felt a bit like the kid who's stronger than everyone in Elementary school because he's been in Grade 5 since 3 years, in that it just wasn't fair, at all. Allowing 65 less goals than the second best team is indecent enough in a 82-games season... let alone in a 50 games season.

 

[WingsFan95]

52 Wings but......yeah biased much.....