Hartford Whalers post-1992 on the ice

[c9777666]

After making the playoffs 7 straight years, the Whalers never made the playoffs again in Hartford (although they came close in 1995 and 1997, finishing only 4 and 2 points out, respectively).

But why did they regress so mightily on the ice?

These were ironically the Sean Burke years, when he seemed to be the only thing keeping them from Ottawa territory in the standings, this after they had routinely made the playoffs with the likes of Whitmore/Sidorkiewicz/Pietrangelo in the net.

They still had the likes of Verbeek/Sanderson, Murray Craven, Cassels, a young Keith Primeau, the Shanahan rental, yet they never got close.

One reason I think people will mention was Quebec improving and that the Nordiques were not longer a 5th place lock (as we saw in 1992-93 and 1995, but that doesn’t explain 1993-94 when both teams missed out.

Or even when Quebec moved to Colorado, that should have freed up a potential spot for a team that no longer had to deal with a team that had gotten better. It didn’t in 1996 and 1997.

And in ‘97, one could argue that the announcement of the move hurt, but Winnipeg the year prior still made one last playoff hurrah despite their impending departure.

Click to read more...

 

[NyQuil]

They only made the playoffs the immediate season after Ron Francis was traded.

 

[GlitchMarner]

One hole was that their top centre after the 1992 season was Andrew Cassels. He was a good player but was basically a Brendan Morrison class of C. Would have been better suited for a 2C role.

 

[HisIceness]

They only made the playoffs the immediate season after Ron Francis was traded.

This.

The franchise was bound to have a couple of lean years following that trade but since it turned out to be more of a disaster for the Whalers than initially expected well, they ended up not making it again until 1999 and by that point they were no longer in Hartford.

I actually didn't realize it until recently, but they made the 1992 playoffs with a record of 26-41-13. 65 points in 80 games and they qualified for the playoffs. Thats insane. And they still pushed Montreal to 7 games and lost in OT.

 

[tony d]

It's to bad Hartford and the Whalers didn't have a better fate. They had some talented players go through there and their logo always gets good reviews.

 

[blood gin]

This.

The franchise was bound to have a couple of lean years following that trade but since it turned out to be more of a disaster for the Whalers than initially expected well, they ended up not making it again until 1999 and by that point they were no longer in Hartford.

I actually didn't realize it until recently, but they made the 1992 playoffs with a record of 26-41-13. 65 points in 80 games and they qualified for the playoffs. Thats insane. And they still pushed Montreal to 7 games and lost in OT.

Stuff like that happened often in the 80's.

fwiw the Habs really stumbled down the stretch in 92

 

[MarkusKetterer]

Because they changed their jersey to this far superior one...

 

[streitz]

Well they never won enough games to make the playoffs after 1992.

 

[frontsfan2005]

Dealing Francis, Samuelsson and Jennings to PIT for Cullen, Zalapski and Parker was a huge blow for the franchise. All of Francis, Samuelsson and Jennings were on the Penguins (and winning two cups) longer than any of the players Hartford received. Cullen sat out the start of the 91-92 season with a contract dispute and was sent packing to Toronto in 92-93 for a draft pick. He was supposed to be Francis' replacement and he didn't even spend two years in Hartford.

The 91-92 team actually got off to a hot start (5-1-1) before underperforming for the rest of the season, only making the playoffs due to being in the same division as the rebuilding Nordiques. They nearly upset the Canadiens, losing game seven in OT. On paper, they had a decent team that lacked depth, and goaltending was an issue with Sidorkiewicz and Whitmore.

The 92-93 team was supposed to be an improvement, as the Whalers acquired Sean Burke to solidify their goaltending situation, however, the team was horrible. Cullen of course was shipped out early in the season and was replaced internally by Andrew Cassels. Geoff Sanderson had a great year (46G-89Pts) but the Whalers defense was very poor. Burke didn't have a great season, but other than Zalapski, Weinrich and Burt, the Whalers defense was AHL calibre at best. Burke was left to fend for himself on a lot of nights.

The 93-94 had a modest improvement of five points, and while the goaltending and defense was solidified (Pronger, Patrick, Marchment, McCrimmon) the offense outside of Sanderson and Verbeek struggled. Cassels was showing he wasn't a first line centre and struggled after his PPG season in 92-93. Zalapski saw his offense drop before being shipped out to Calgary.

From 94-95 through 96-97, the team was more competitive, but still failed to qualify for the post-season. Glen Wesley was acquired from Boston after Hartford sent three first rounders to the Bruins after a 58 point season in 93-94. His highest point total as a Whaler/Hurricane was 32 pts. Pronger was shipped out in 95-96 for Shanahan, who had a great season despite hating his time in Hartford. He was then traded to Detroit for Keith Primeau, who was expected to be the top centre, and Paul Coffey, who was another unhappy Whaler for 20 games, before being dealt to Philly. Team chemistry during this time frame was poor and I'm not sure how well a 28 year old Paul Maurice meshed with the veterans of the team.

When the team moved to North Carolina, they missed the playoffs in 97-98, however, once they reacquired Ron Francis as a free agent in 1998, they won the Southeast Division in 98-99. Of course, the team went on to the 2002 Stanley Cup finals before winning it all in 2006.

 

[agentblack]

Ha i remember Primeau taking it all in stride while Coffey HATED every moment

 

[Jets4Life]

Whalers 1992-97:

1992-93 Adams 26-52-6 (58 points) last place
1993-94 Northeast 27-48-9 (63 points) last place
1994-95 Northeast 19-24-5 (43 points) 5th place
1995-96 Northeast 34-39-9 (77 points) 4th place
1996-97 Northeast 32-39-11 (75 points) 5th place

The Francis trade in 1991 was the final dagger in the heart, for the franchise. The beginning of the end.

 

[GlitchMarner]

Dealing Francis, Samuelsson and Jennings to PIT for Cullen, Zalapski and Parker was a huge blow for the franchise. All of Francis, Samuelsson and Jennings were on the Penguins (and winning two cups) longer than any of the players Hartford received. Cullen sat out the start of the 91-92 season with a contract dispute and was sent packing to Toronto in 92-93 for a draft pick. He was supposed to be Francis' replacement and he didn't even spend two years in Hartford.

Do you know why Cullen struggled so badly in 1992-1993 with Hartford?

He had nine points in 19 games (with a -15 rating) before being traded.

 

[McGarnagle]

Ha i remember Primeau taking it all in stride while Coffey HATED every moment

It seems to have been a common theme in the string of major trades they made in the 90s that the players they got weren't bad at all, but they didn't want to be there and sandbagged things until they got traded.

I wonder what prompted that. Hartford isn't the most exciting city in the world, but you're a couple hours from New York and Boston either way. If you're a young single man, you'd rather be there than Winnipeg or somewhere isolated. It has to go further, to either a bad team culture or an unstable ownership outlook.

The Francis trade was a loss but wouldn't have been so massively disastrous if Cullen would've cooperated for more than a year.

Pronger for Shanahan was an impact trade, Shanahan could've been their new franchise cornerstone at the peak of his career, but he was just a dick about it the whole time and refused to stay there. Then he forces his way out and gets dealt for Primeau and Coffey, the latter of whom pulls the same stunt (not that he was still an elite player at that point).

 

[Killion]

Do you know why Cullen struggled so badly in 1992-1993 with Hartford?

He had nine points in 19 games (with a -15 rating) before being traded.

I think you have to go back to the trade that brought him (along with Zarley Zalapski & Jeff Parker) there, Pittsburgh to Hartford for Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson & Grant Jennings... Ron Francis the "heart & soul" of that club (to a lesser extent but none the less an extremely useful player in terms of agitation in Samuelsson) with John Cullen thrust into replacement mode, something that wasnt a terribly fair role for Cullen nor for anyone to be thrust into given Ron's importance to that club & popularity with the media, fans.

Cullen, from a long line of hockey players who's father Barry & Uncle Brian back in my day & before had been excellent little players in their own right, John, born in 64 or so I believe like his Dad not exactly King Sized and as a result, despite winning all kinds of Silverware playing for Boston U in the NCAA wasnt even Drafted because of his size though Buffalo did grab him in the 86 Supplemental Draft. After BU, walk on with Flint of the IHL, lit that league up, eventually offered a Contract by Pittsburgh playing with some talent, the kind of support & talent he never received in Hartford while simultaneously expected to replace Ron Francis.... well, you get the picture?

"Failed to live up to expectations" is essentially what that was all about & having made one of the worst trades in NHL History wanted all traces of it extinguished.... giving Johnny away (outta site outta mind) for next to nothing; 2nd Round Pick. Not to mention the fact that he'd signed a 2yr $4M Contract uh? Francis & Ulfy' there going on to win Cups while Hartford twists in the wind, gutted by their stupidity & then double's down with a big fat contract & unrealistic expectations that no one could live up to given the shadow Ron Francis had cast. So between 89/92 with Eddie Johnston at the helm some real dumb moves (EJ of course eventually joining the Pens himself & something that raised a few eyebrows given "The Trade" between the Whalers & Penguins), and what followed after his being replaced & off ice.... pretty much Zombie Franchise.

 

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

This.

The franchise was bound to have a couple of lean years following that trade but since it turned out to be more of a disaster for the Whalers than initially expected well, they ended up not making it again until 1999 and by that point they were no longer in Hartford.

I actually didn't realize it until recently, but they made the 1992 playoffs with a record of 26-41-13. 65 points in 80 games and they qualified for the playoffs. Thats insane. And they still pushed Montreal to 7 games and lost in OT.

And they even had a breakaway in OT of game 7 at the forum, but missed.

The Hockey Gods really, really hated the Whalers for some reason...

It seems to have been a common theme in the string of major trades they made in the 90s that the players they got weren't bad at all, but they didn't want to be there and sandbagged things until they got traded.

I wonder what prompted that. Hartford isn't the most exciting city in the world, but you're a couple hours from New York and Boston either way. If you're a young single man, you'd rather be there than Winnipeg or somewhere isolated. It has to go further, to either a bad team culture or an unstable ownership outlook.

The Francis trade was a loss but wouldn't have been so massively disastrous if Cullen would've cooperated for more than a year.

Pronger for Shanahan was an impact trade, Shanahan could've been their new franchise cornerstone at the peak of his career, but he was just a dick about it the whole time and refused to stay there. Then he forces his way out and gets dealt for Primeau and Coffey, the latter of whom pulls the same stunt (not that he was still an elite player at that point).

You’re right, that does seem really odd, youd think it would have at least been a better draw for players than playing in Quebec or Minnesota or Winnipeg. Only guess I can come up with would be that Hartford may have had the same smallish town vibe that the modern NHL hates about Edmonton, too many rumours about players private lives, nothing to do nightlife wise, not many pretty girls to hook up with...

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

an eventful month for the whale

March 24, 1994 -- Verbeek, Pronger, Mark Janssens, Marc Potvin, Geoff Sanderson, Todd Harkins and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy are arrested at 4 a.m. after an altercation at Network nightclub in Buffalo, N.Y. They plead guilty to reduced charges of trespassing in Buffalo City Court and each is sentenced to 20 hours' community service.

March 31, 1994 -- Holmgren arrested in Simsbury for driving under the influence and evading responsibility after hitting mailboxes, a newspaper tube and a utility pole.

April 1, 1994 -- Holmgren enters Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

April 8, 1994 -- Defenseman Bryan Marchment arrested for driving under the influence in Farmington at 3 a.m.

April 8, 1994 -- Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. says the state will step forward if necessary to buy the Whalers, but says the state is vigorously trying to find private ownership.

April 14, 1994 -- Whalers finish 27-48-9, miss the playoffs for the second year in a row.

April 17, 1994 -- Pronger arrested for driving under the influence, prohibitive alcohol content and erratic driving in the Bowling Green, Ohio, area.

April 27, 1994 -- Holmgren returns to work as GM after being released from the Betty Ford Center April 26.

The Hartford Whalers Historical Timeline

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

a couple of weird strings of trades too.

pronger for shanahan, who didn't want to be there so he was traded for primeau and coffey, who also didn't want to be there; eventually, after the team moved to carolina, primeau didn't want to be there either so he was traded for brind'amour.

then there are the two three-way trades, with hartford as the go-between both times:

November 2, 1993: Traded to Hartford by Chicago with Bryan Marchment for Eric Weinrich and Patrick Poulin.

November 2, 1993: Traded to NY Rangers by Hartford with Nick Kypreos, Barry Richter and Hartford's 6th round choice (Yuri Litvinov) in 1994 Entry Draft for Darren Turcotte and James Patrick.

March 10, 1994: Traded to Hartford by Calgary with Paul Ranheim and Ted Drury for James Patrick, Zarley Zalapski and Michael Nylander.

March 11, 1994: Traded to Chicago by Hartford with Randy Cunneyworth and Hartford's 3rd round choice (later traded to Vancouver - Vancouver selected Larry Courville) in 1995 Entry Draft for Frantisek Kucera and Jocelyn Lemieux.

weinrich and poulin for turcotte and patrick seems okay, but turning around a year later and sending patrick with zalapski, nylander, and a 3rd for frank kucera, jocelyn lemieux, paul ranheim, and ted drury makes no sense.

 

[sr edler]

Pierre McGuire was also an assistant coach/assistant GM and brief head coach in Hartford during the 92–94 span. He can be seen in this Marchment/Gartner clip.

 

[Tarantula]

Hartford had no airport, I imagine travel must have included a extra bus ride to a suitable airport and back. They flew commercial back then, no?

 

[tarheelhockey]

an eventful month for the whale

March 24, 1994 -- Verbeek, Pronger, Mark Janssens, Marc Potvin, Geoff Sanderson, Todd Harkins and assistant coach Kevin McCarthy are arrested at 4 a.m. after an altercation at Network nightclub in Buffalo, N.Y. They plead guilty to reduced charges of trespassing in Buffalo City Court and each is sentenced to 20 hours' community service.

March 31, 1994 -- Holmgren arrested in Simsbury for driving under the influence and evading responsibility after hitting mailboxes, a newspaper tube and a utility pole.

April 1, 1994 -- Holmgren enters Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

April 8, 1994 -- Defenseman Bryan Marchment arrested for driving under the influence in Farmington at 3 a.m.

April 8, 1994 -- Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. says the state will step forward if necessary to buy the Whalers, but says the state is vigorously trying to find private ownership.

April 14, 1994 -- Whalers finish 27-48-9, miss the playoffs for the second year in a row.

April 17, 1994 -- Pronger arrested for driving under the influence, prohibitive alcohol content and erratic driving in the Bowling Green, Ohio, area.

April 27, 1994 -- Holmgren returns to work as GM after being released from the Betty Ford Center April 26.

The Hartford Whalers Historical Timeline

That's a completely insane sequence of events for any organization. Out of 21 guys on the roster, 7 arrested in the span of a month. Plus two coaches. Three of these being DUIs and the rest obviously involving public intoxication.

Something was seriously wrong in the culture of the organization for that to have happened. You'd think after the first incident that it would have been "nobody does **** to make this worse" mode for everyone. But nope, they go and make it even worse. I doubt we'll ever know the full story of everything that went down behind the scenes.

Within the next month McGuire was fired as coach and the Karmanos/Thewes/Rutherford group began the process of buying the team.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

That's a completely insane sequence of events for any organization. Out of 21 guys on the roster, 7 arrested in the span of a month. Plus two coaches. Three of these being DUIs and the rest obviously involving public intoxication.

Something was seriously wrong in the culture of the organization for that to have happened. You'd think after the first incident that it would have been "nobody does **** to make this worse" mode for everyone. But nope, they go and make it even worse. I doubt we'll ever know the full story of everything that went down behind the scenes.

Within the next month McGuire was fired as coach and the Karmanos/Thewes/Rutherford group began the process of buying the team.

you would know the organizational culture and post-move continuity better than me—is this related to chiasson, who did play on the whale at the very end, and his sad fate when a hurricane?

 

[tarheelhockey]

you would know the organizational culture and post-move continuity better than me—is this related to chiasson, who did play on the whale at the very end, and his sad fate when a hurricane?

I was actually thinking about this earlier when I wrote that post. My guess is no, not related.

From the string of 1994 arrests to Chiasson's accident in 1999, the only common players were Robert Kron and Paul Ranheim (who was a March '94 trade acquisition, and probably stunned by what he was seeing that April). The entire rest of the roster turned over... including all 3 captain positions, the head coach and assistant coaches, the GM, the ownership group, and the city in which they played. I can't imagine there was anything culturally in common across all of that change.

There definitely were some notable parallels and ironies, though. Marchment driving home from a casino-themed charity event, Chiasson driving home from a post-season party at Gary Roberts' home, both of them drunk at a team-oriented event and allowed to get behind the wheel. Paul Holmgren was an assistant coach on the Flyers when Pelle Lindburgh died, then ends up flipping his own car with his son inside while driving drunk (that was the first of his DUIs, not the one in April). Holmgren went on to spend time in rehab with Darryl Strawberry, who of course had a longer road to recovery. Kevin McCarthy, arrested in the barroom brawl, left the organization the following year to coach in the AHL... he returned as an assistant coach to Paul Maurice very soon after Chiasson's death.

Looking back over the media reports of the two time periods, the '94 Whalers articles definitely spend a lot of time lingering on the idea of "they're no worse than any other team in the NHL, they just got caught", and "hockey players have drinking problems just like the rest of society". I'm not sure if that's evidence of a society not taking the issue seriously enough, or evidence that the issue had completely overrun society to the point that it just wasn't a surprise any more. In any case, there was definitely a widespread feeling that alcohol was just part of the hockey culture and that the Whalers were an ordinary group that just happened to have some bad luck. Whereas in Chiasson's case it was portayed as "gee, this guy really made a tragic decision, let that be a lesson to us all".

 

[Roboturner913]

Somebody asked about Cullen's issues. I do believe he was still roughly a PPG player in Hartford and even after the trade to Toronto but he was playing with a pretty bad neck or back problem. Slipped disc or something like that. IIRC he really was a shadow of himself even before the cancer diagnosis.

In hindsight the trade looks bad but Cullen really was a great player in his early career. He was a little younger and more dynamic of a player than Francis at that point. It was actually Cullen and Recchi that were the driving forces on that Penguins team that year until the trade; Lemieux missed most of the season with his back and Jagr wasn't quite Jagr yet.

Also the Whalers had stripped Francis of the captaincy for some odd reason, I've heard it said that Rick Ley wanted to be "grittier" but you don't get grittier by trading Ulf Samuelsson. It may have been that since Ron and Ulf were buds they thought there would be too much bad blood.

 

[Terry Yake]

the organization was a mess from top to bottom and the hiring of mcguire as HC was just another move that proved the whalers were a complete laughingstock

mcguire was simply not fit to coach at the NHL level. he took the job and was way over his head from the start. here are some golden quotes from an article that appeared in the hartford courant shortly after he was let go in may of 94

Mcguire's Tenure A Bad Situation

At 32, McGuire was the youngest head coach in the NHL. He never had been a head coach at any level. And it showed. He is book smart and X's and O's smart, but often not people smart.
When a young man is so headstrong, so emotional, so calculating, such a control freak, so full of ambition and so full of himself, he will either rocket to the top or crash.

Verbeek on pierre

In a blistering post-mortem, captain Pat Verbeek called McGuire's firing the best thing that could have happened to the Whalers. He said other teams mocked their coach. He said his own teammates had no respect for McGuire. He said a number of players wouldn't have wanted to play in Hartford anymore.

lols

When the hallway curtain opened after a loss in Boston, McGuire was found by the media wildly smashing sticks against the wall. When the door opened after a loss in Pittsburgh, McGuire was seen knocking furniture around the coach's room.
We said he was full of himself.
Many times he privately said after a game how he outcoached the other guy. But it was something never really made public until May 3, when McGuire proclaimed that no coach in the NHL ``can outwit me.'' That quote ran in The Hockey News and raised eyebrows all over the NHL.

it was just a toxic environment in hartford those years and it started from the top. its no wonder guys like coffey and shanahan had no desire to play there and i don't blame them

 

[streitz]

the organization was a mess from top to bottom and the hiring of mcguire as HC was just another move that proved the whalers were a complete laughingstock

mcguire was simply not fit to coach at the NHL level. he took the job and was way over his head from the start. here are some golden quotes from an article that appeared in the hartford courant shortly after he was let go in may of 94

Mcguire's Tenure A Bad Situation



Verbeek on pierre


lols


it was just a toxic environment in hartford those years and it started from the top. its no wonder guys like coffey and shanahan had no desire to play there and i don't blame them

Makes it more sad that it looked like the whalers were on the up and up during the mid 80's.