Tampa Ties Best Regular Season EVER: 62 Wins

[BeingTheThunder]

It is official. The Tampa Bay Lightning have tied what seemed like an unreachable mark: 62 wins in the regular season, first set by the 1995-1996 Detroit Red Wings.

Some will say that Tampa benefited from the loser point. That indeed is a credible argument. But the current level of parity in the NHL and the existence of a salary cap, in my opinion, makes Tampa’s feat all the more impressive. Detroit was at the very top of the league in terms of salary spent during their run, had a hall of fame coach (Bowman - THE goat), and several hall of famers (Lidstrom, Yzerman, Festisov, Larionov, Coffey, Primeau, Fedorov (edited)). I was always in awe watching that team dominate night in and out. I never imagined it was possible again, especially with a salary cap.

Tampa now has to turn its sights to the playoffs to solidify its place in history as one of the best teams of all time.

P.S. Montreal fans - yes, I know, your 1976-77 iteration only got to play 80 games. Parity did not exist back then.

What's scary is that we're likely to be even better next season.

 

[DFC]

Ties record for regular season wins

‘Its not a choke if they dont win the Cup’

Its Cup or die for Tampa, they wont be repeating that season

They probably won't win this many games, but might actually have a better team. SFY built a nice organization, and set them up for several years after he left.

 

[swiftwin]

Worst team in the league when Wings won 62 games (1995-96): Ottawa Senators
Worst team in the league when TB won 62 games: Ottawa Senators

Not sure what you're trying to get at here....

 

[jukon]

This is what happens when you have a tax free team in the league and they end up having 15% more capspace than everyone else.

I wonder what the GMs would think about a tax adjusted salary cap.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

What's scary is that we're likely to be even better next season.

They probably won't win this many games, but might actually have a better team. SFY built a nice organization, and set them up for several years after he left.

Not exactly wrong but I dont see a team breaking 60 wins again for a little while

With the money you gotta dole out to re-signings as well as likely general improvement of the Atlantic division (Florida, Buffalo, and Montreal) as well as the Metro ( NJ, Philly, Carolina)...

It still doesnt change my stance of cup or due for Tampa this year. When youre setting win records, its like Golden State - youre a super team(in hocket standards) and youre expected to win the Cup

 

[tony d]

Congrats to Tampa. They're quite the team. I think they're going to do quite well in the playoffs.

 

[CupsOverCash]

Not exactly wrong but I dont see a team breaking 60 wins again for a little while

With the money you gotta dole out to re-signings as well as likely general improvement of the Atlantic division (Florida, Buffalo, and Montreal) as well as the Metro ( NJ, Philly, Carolina)...

It still doesnt change my stance of cup or due for Tampa this year. When youre setting win records, its like Golden State - youre a super team(in hocket standards) and youre expected to win the Cup

Yea I think we all understand that. Im actually more in the Cup or Bust section because SY will be gone after this year and I want to win one while hes still here. He is the reason why we have had such deep runs since hes been here. I think that would be the disappointing thing for me if we do lose. Obviously it would suck to lose either way. I do feel that this wont be our only chance at it, as many seem to act like it will be.

 

[MikeyMike01]

Tampa is a great team but the old records are far more impressive.

Coaching, goalie, and team wins are all tainted stats since the shootout.

 

[DFC]

Not exactly wrong but I dont see a team breaking 60 wins again for a little while

With the money you gotta dole out to re-signings as well as likely general improvement of the Atlantic division (Florida, Buffalo, and Montreal) as well as the Metro ( NJ, Philly, Carolina)...

It still doesnt change my stance of cup or due for Tampa this year. When youre setting win records, its like Golden State - youre a super team(in hocket standards) and youre expected to win the Cup

Pretty sure Alex Barre Boulet is leading the AHL in rookie scoring, just for starters. We can absorb periphery losses pretty easily (Miller, Callahan, even Palat), and the emergence of Erik Cernak solidifies our top-4 going into next year, even if we can't bring Stralman back. The following year could be a step backward, but the team could be better next year than this, even if we don't get to the same amount of wins. Kind of like the '97 Wings vs. the '96 Wings. They didn't win 62 games, but they won a cup.

 

[DFC]

Tampa is a great team but the old records are far more impressive.

Coaching, goalie, and team wins are all tainted stats since the shootout.

Yes and no. Parity has made it impossible to assemble a pre-cap team via UFA, and bad teams in those days were just ridiculously bad and easy to beat up on. The margin is a lot different now because of the cap.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

It is official. The Tampa Bay Lightning have tied what seemed like an unreachable mark: 62 wins in the regular season, first set by the 1995-1996 Detroit Red Wings.

(1) Some will say that Tampa benefited from the loser point. That indeed is a credible argument. But the current level of parity in the NHL and the existence of a salary cap, in my opinion, makes Tampa’s feat all the more impressive. Detroit was at the very top of the league in terms of salary spent during their run, had a hall of fame coach (Bowman - THE goat), and several hall of famers (Lidstrom, Yzerman, Festisov, Larionov, Coffey, Primeau, Fedorov (edited)). I was always in awe watching that team dominate night in and out. I never imagined it was possible again, especially with a salary cap.

Tampa now has to turn its sights to the playoffs to solidify its place in history as one of the best teams of all time.

(2) P.S. Montreal fans - yes, I know, your 1976-77 iteration only got to play 80 games. Parity did not exist back then.

(1) What do loser points have to do with this topic ?

One important difference is that every game ends with a winner nowadays.

Detroit had OT, but no shootouts.

They won 59 in regulation time + 3 in OT.

(2) Montréal had no OT/SO.

They won 60 games in regulation time.

Tampa had 56 wins in regulation/OT + 6 wins in SO.

They won 49 games in regulation time.

Sorry to rain on your parade.

Nice achievement, but...

 

[MikeyMike01]

Yes and no. Parity has made it impossible to assemble a pre-cap team via UFA, and bad teams in those days were just ridiculously bad and easy to beat up on. The margin is a lot different now because of the cap.

Parity doesn’t exist in the NHL. Look at the standings for the past 10 years.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

I don't see how you cant give the Jack Adams to Cooper now. It took over 20 years to tie the mark by Detroit and it may be over 20 years before we see anything like this again

Kiss of death.

Look it up.

 

[T REX]

I wonder what the GMs would think about a tax adjusted salary cap.

Quick question....what does taxes have to do with Kuch taking a bridge deal? I'll hang up and wait for an answer. Thanks.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

That tie thing works both ways.

Not sure what this means ?

 

[DFC]

I wonder what the GMs would think about a tax adjusted salary cap.

Only if players are also no longer to take endorsement deals when they play for Canadian teams.

 

[Sky04]

Tampa is a great team but the old records are far more impressive.

Coaching, goalie, and team wins are all tainted stats since the shootout.

And those team had the advantage of no salary cap, assembling whatever team they wanted, how does that not inflate wins?

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Not sure what you're trying to get at here....

It's a funny "Believe it or not".

Tough crowd...

 

[LightningStrikes]

(1) What do loser points have to do with this topic ?

One important difference is that every game ends with a winner nowadays.

Detroit had OT, but no shootouts.

They won 59 in regulation time + 3 in OT.

(2) Montréal had no OT/SO.

They won 60 games in regulation time.

Tampa had 56 wins in regulation/OT + 6 wins in SO.

They won 49 games in regulation time.

Sorry to rain on your parade.

Nice achievement, but...

Tampa is the only team to do it in the salary cap and parity era so there is that.

 

[WingsFan95]

6 SO wins.

And let's see if they win the Cup because anything less is a complete failure.

 

[LawManN]

Proud of the Bolts! Great (unbelievable almost) season and it is not over yet, not by a long shot!
People may argue semantics here, about "shoot out points" or the "tax advantage" but it is all drowned out by the truth that like them or not, the Lightning had an epic year.
Congrats guys!

 

[MikeyMike01]

Kiss of death.

Look it up.

The award is given to overachievers. Overachievers regress usually.

It’s the same as the Madden curse.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

Proud of the Bolts! Great (unbelievable almost) season and it is not over yet, not by a long shot!
People may argue semantics here, about "shoot out points" or the "tax advantage" but it is all drowned out by the truth that like them or not, the Lightning had an epic year.
Congrats guys!

Just to be helpful, semantics are discussions about the meanings of words, not quibbles.

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Tampa is the only team to do it in the salary cap and parity era so there is that.

Being humble is good for the soul...

 

[Michel Beauchamp]

Just to be helpful, semantics are discussions about the meanings of words, not quibbles.

Very good retort.