Habs 70's dynasty vs. Islanders 80's dynasty

[Oowatanite]

I would put the Islanders dynasty as the best dynasty of all time.

 

[WingsFan95]

The Islanders rosters rock my mind.

Trottier, Bossy, Potvin....I don't even need to go on.

 

[BenchBrawl]

nevermind I already anwsered to this thread a while back didnt realized it.

 

[BenchBrawl]

The Islanders rosters rock my mind.

Trottier, Bossy, Potvin....I don't even need to go on.

Lafleur , Robinson , Dryden , Savard , Lapointe , Gainey , Lemaire , Shutt , Bowman... I don't even need to go on , but I could.

 

[Kimota]

Denis Potvin was great as D but take a look the D squad of the Habs, they had 3 Potvin on the blueline with Robinson, Savard and Lapointe, all three as good as Potvin.

 

[ashenhigh]

70s Habs.

Just flat out dominance.

Must see more classic Habs games......

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

Perhaps a homer vote, but for me it's the 70s Habs - easily. Only 4 years with win% under .700 in the entire decade for starters (lowest being 0.605 if you count '69/70, 0.622 if you don't). Best single season record ever on top of that. Pretty sure it's almost 2-to-1 in terms of HOF members, but I guess there's an extra decade of eligibility years in the difference. And for every line or defense pairing that people bring up from those Islanders, the 70s Habs had TWO that were arguably as good or better. More Stanley Cups, etc, etc, etc.

Basically, as good as those Islanders were, it's a credit to those Habs teams that they make this comparison, well, not much of a comparison at all, imo.

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

Habs dynasty:

Total Points: 503 (78.6%)
Goals: 1420 4.44 GPG
Against: 732 2.29 GAPG
Goal Differential: +688
Playoff Record: 48-10 (82.8%)

Isles Dynasty

Total Points: 415 (64.8%)
Goals: 1323 4.13 GPG
Against: 983 3.07 GAPG
Goal Differential: +340
Playoff Record: 60-18 (76.9%)

Habs beat them in every way to measure level of dominance.

 

[Kant Think]

Would you have the numbers for the 50s Habs dynasty?

 

[saskganesh]

The Islanders definitely had the best beards.

Just to muddy the waters some more, in '81 the baby Oil swept the greying, Dryden-less, Bowman-deprived, Canadians 3-0 in the first round. In Round two, they met the Isles and took them to 6 games, New York's biggest challenge that year.

In 1981, the Canadians were only two years removed from their last cup and the Oilers were 3 years from their first. The Islanders were going for 2 out of 4. Dominance or "dynasties" sure don't last long.

I think all three teams were pretty close

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

Would you have the numbers for the 50s Habs dynasty?

Habs 50's dynasty:

Total Points: 461 (65.8%)
Goals: 1195 3.41GPG
Against: 780 2.23 GAPG
Goal Differential: +415
Playoff Record: 40-9 (81.6%)

 

[Kant Think]

Habs 50's dynasty:

Total Points: 461 (65.8%)
Goals: 1195 3.41GPG
Against: 780 2.23 GAPG
Goal Differential: +415
Playoff Record: 40-9 (81.6%)

Thank you.

This is very interesting since these stats are closer to the 80e Isles than the 70s Habs (although their playoff record is closer to the 70s Habs) event though the 50s Habs dynasty is often considered the best one.

It could be because in the Original Six period there were no real bottom feeders like in the 70s and the 80s, although Chicago and to a lesser extent New York did went through some pretty rough times.

Stats don't tell the whole story but in the proper context I think that the ones you provided clearly states that the 50s and 70s Habs are a step ahead of the 80s Isles.

 

[vaspa]

I'm a bit too young to have seen the teams in question play in their day. So no opinion or arguing from me. But I stumbled upon a great documentary about the Isles dynasty, you should check it out:

The Islanders dynasty

It'd be interesting to see similar type of documentaries about other great teams as well, post links if you know some!

 

[dan1el]

the 85-86 Oilers:
9 players over 40 points, 4 over 100 (Gretzky 215, Coffey 138, Kurri 131, Anderson 102)

the 81-82 Isles:
12 players over 40 points, 2 over 100 (Bossy 147, Trottier 129)

the 76-77 Habs:
12 players over 40 points, 2 over 100 (Lafleur 136, Shutt 105)

the 92-93 Pens:
8 players over 40 points, 4 over 100 (Lemieux 160, Stevens 111, Tocchet 109, Francis 100)

four greatest teams ever.

 

[norrisnick]

the 85-86 Oilers:
9 players over 40 points, 4 over 100 (Gretzky 215, Coffey 138, Kurri 131, Anderson 102)

the 81-82 Isles:
12 players over 40 points, 2 over 100 (Bossy 147, Trottier 129)

the 76-77 Habs:
12 players over 40 points, 2 over 100 (Lafleur 136, Shutt 105)

the 92-93 Pens:
8 players over 40 points, 4 over 100 (Lemieux 160, Stevens 111, Tocchet 109, Francis 100)

four greatest teams ever.

The '71 Bruins had 7 of the top 9 point getters that season. If you're going by pure offensive dominance, that's it. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. And coincidentally enough they were upset in the playoffs just like the '93 Pens...

 

[redbull]

I'd take the NYI dynasty. That team was great from '78 to '84. That's a long time. The team made the finals 5 years in a row and in '83, beat the team that many could argue was also the best of all time. I think they won 19 straight playoff series as well - unheard of.

Another point. The Islanders were known for coasting in the regular season. Even Billy Smith often spoke about how the regular season didn't matter, the real season started in April.

That team seemed to be able to flip a switch and become unbeatable.

I can't believe how ordinary 99 looked in the 83 finals, after he destroyed in the first three rounds. Look up the stats, truly unbelievable.

That team faded fast after 84 and all the players faded away far too young. The playoff wars wore them down.

 

[double5son10]

The Islanders definitely had the best beards.

Just to muddy the waters some more, in '81 the baby Oil swept the greying, Dryden-less, Bowman-deprived, Canadians 3-0 in the first round. In Round two, they met the Isles and took them to 6 games, New York's biggest challenge that year.

In 1981, the Canadians were only two years removed from their last cup and the Oilers were 3 years from their first. The Islanders were going for 2 out of 4. Dominance or "dynasties" sure don't last long.

I think all three teams were pretty close

Sorry, but that's equivalent to saying the '85 or '86 Islanders should be compared to the up and coming Flames, or the Oilers in '92/93 be compared to those years Pens. Yes, the Canadiens sucked in those '81 playoffs. Their goaltending those years ('81-83) was atrocious. But remember in '80 the Habs under Claude Ruel, from his appointment on, dominated Central Red Army and had the best regular season mark after the half-way point. And that's without their HoF goaltender, HoF top-line center, and HoF coach from the previous year. If Lafleur doesn't have his knee wrecked in the opening round, they're probably in the conference finals against Philly. Minnesota beats the Habs in 7 because of a last minute brain cramp by Herron, but they're also playing that game 7 w/out all of those mentioned above, as well as Savard, LaPointe, Risebrough, and Mondou, due to injury. 1980 "Drive for Five" Montreal is a skeleton team, that only got thinner the following season.
Do you really want to compare dynasty's power from what-ifs? Without the WHA 1970s Montreal has a Big Four, with JC Tremblay(WHAs top D in '73 and '75), Frank Mahovlich retires a Hab, Marc Tardiff doesn't become the WHAs all-time leading goal-scorer, Rejean Houle's superlative checking and opportune scoring is there for another four seasons, and HoF Rod Langway starts his NHL career a year sooner. Sorry, but Montreal's organizational depth throughout the 70s was jaw-droppingly good, and the fact that they could dump a guy like Jimmy Roberts, a Bowman favorite, who'd appeared in 9 Stanley Cup Finals, a winner perhaps analogous to Mike Keane, as superfluous, and win another two Cups, is testament to their greatness.
I'd also note that as awesome as the Big Three were, it also undervalues how good the other Habs D-men were. Nyrop, Engblom and Langway were all top 2-4 D-men on probably any other teams in the league, outside the Elite (Boston, Buffalo, Islanders, MAYBE Philly) and Bouchard was a wonderful hard-rock, stay-at-home, defenseman that any coach would've loved to have that whole decade.
People can ***** about that Habs team playing to lesser teams due to the WHA, but they found a way to make Don Cherry a commentator, look better than Central Red Army both times they played ('76 and '80), swept the Bullies, and made just about every other team, with the possible exception of Buffalo, look like after-rans (see Toronto '78 and '79), bespeaks their dominance.

 

[double5son10]

I'd take the NYI dynasty. That team was great from '78 to '84. That's a long time. The team made the finals 5 years in a row and in '83, beat the team that many could argue was also the best of all time. I think they won 19 straight playoff series as well - unheard of.

Another point. The Islanders were known for coasting in the regular season. Even Billy Smith often spoke about how the regular season didn't matter, the real season started in April.

That team seemed to be able to flip a switch and become unbeatable.

I can't believe how ordinary 99 looked in the 83 finals, after he destroyed in the first three rounds. Look up the stats, truly unbelievable.

That team faded fast after 84 and all the players faded away far too young. The playoff wars wore them down.

Sorry, gonna make points against this argument on behalf of the Habs as well. "Coasting"??? How about regular season dominance AND superlative playoff performances? Great, it's also nice to meet the Stars and Canucks in the Finals as well. Try besting the two-time Cup winning Flyers and Cherry's Lunch-Bucket A.C. twice in the Finals, as well as a grapple to the death in the semi's w/ Boston. Twice beat 100+ point Islanders teams in playoffs. Sorry, Habs had better competition come playoff time. Islanders fans can talk about how "money" Billy Smith was all they want. Dryden smokes him. And I'm not even including '71 and '73. No comparison.

 

[ted2019]

Habs