The 1995-96 Red Wings and their 62 wins

c9777666

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Aug 31, 2016
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Keep in mind that season wasn’t like other years where a team put up gaudy win and point totals teamwise when you could point to a reason.

This was not an expansion season which could have made it easier to rack up wins.

Boston’s 1970-71 year (57 wins, 121 points) was an expansion year (Buffalo, Vancouver).

The NHL of 1976-77 when Montreal won 60 games (and 1977-78 when they won 59 games)

WHA had a lot of NHL caliber players, the bad teams were REALLY bad, top heavy teams, teams that weren’t at the top perhaps lacked depth in key areas not to mention Montreal’s embarrassment of riches of a roster back then).

Detroit almost cracked 60 wins again in 2005-06 (59 wins) when the new post-Dead Puck Era rules were in place, no more ties, and power plays were called like crazy.

The 1995-96 Red Wings? Like, on the surface, it seems like they were a team on a mission after the Devil sweep of 1995.

Now, one could argue the Western Conference was not as deep and stacked as it would be in future years (Only 3 teams finished above .500 in the West That year!), but think back to the Campbell Conference of the 80s. If Edmonton never got 60 wins in a less than stacked Conference...l.l (They got as high as 57 in 1983-84)

Plus, one of the rare Detroit losses that year was to Ottawa AT HOME, so you think they might have had an off night or two against the less than elites and they top out at 57-58.

Also, considering that Detroit started slowly (5-5-2) , they really had to catch fire to win that many games. What contributed was TWO separate 9 game winning streaks, a 12 game unbeaten streak in March. After the 5-5-2 start, they won 22 of their next 24 games to close out the 1995 calendar year.

At what point during that season did you think they could win 60?

I mean, if the Islanders or Oilers couldn’t do it, probably a lot of you thought they might fall short of 60.

A lot of teams historically start out blazing hot, but have that inevitable slump at some point in the season that probably keeps them from piling up gaudier win totals.

Consider these other regular season juggernauts and where their records stood at the end of February:

1995-96 Red Wings: 46-11-4
1988-89 Flames: 44-14-8
1983-84 Oilers: 47-15-5
2005-06 Red Wings: 39-14-5

Washington a few years ago had an insane year? 45-12-4 by the end of February.

It’s amazing this team was able to win that many games considering it wasn’t in an expansion year or there were major rule changes and goaltending was stronger in 1996 than the 70s/80x

(and yes, we know what happened in the playoffs, but I think their postseason struggles are probably worth its own thread)
 

streitz

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Jul 22, 2018
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There were alot of crap expansion teams to feast on in the mid 90's. Ironically one of their losses was against a last place sens team.

Despite the crap people talk about the 80's canucks and the dionne era kings they were better then alot of the crap teams in the 80's in other divisions. The Smythe was the toughest division and the Oil dominated it.

The islanders , don't know I never felt like they were as dominant as the Habs or the Oilers. They still won a few presidents trophies, including one before the divisional format took over where you had to play every team 4 times.


Frankly I don't really remember caring about Detroit's 60 wins that much, presidents trophy is nice but that year I thought for sure they were getting their cup.
 

JackSlater

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Apr 27, 2010
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I completely bought the hype of the 1996 Red Wings. Great execution of Bowman's gameplan, particularly at home when they could more easily use the Russian 5 and use centre match ups more effectively. Great puck moving defencemen. Lidstrom really emerged as an elite defenceman and not just a smart puck rusher. In the end though I think that the team burned out by pushing a bit too much in the regular season. Other teams raised their games for the playoffs and Detroit stayed the same and sort of began drifting a little. Colorado just outplayed Detroit and St. Louis wasn't far from it in the preceding series.
 

reckoning

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Jan 4, 2005
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Only 28 of Detroit's 82 games were against teams that were over .500.

They may have benefitted from playing in the weaker Western Conference. After Detroit, Chicago and Colorado, there was a huge dropoff to the rest of the West teams. Detroit was 19-7-0 against the East; 43-6-7 against the East.

If they played in the East they still would have finished 1st overall, but likely wouldn't have hit 60 wins.
 
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GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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The Red Wings only lost three games at home all season (the losses all came against Canadian teams) and one of those three losses came against OTT (who was horrid back then).

The Red Wings beat EDM 9-0, beat MTL 11-1, beat STL 8-1 and beat COL 7-0 (!) in 1995-1996. When the playoffs came around, they almost lost to STL and then did lose to COL.


Imagine if STL had won game seven against DET in the '96 playoffs. I doubt STL beats COL, but does the DET/COL rivalry ever develop into such an intense rivalry (or happen at all) without that 1996 playoff meeting?
 

GlitchMarner

Typical malevolent, devious & vile Maple Leafs fan
Jul 21, 2017
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Brampton, ON
Only 28 of Detroit's 82 games were against teams that were over .500.

They may have benefitted from playing in the weaker Western Conference. After Detroit, Chicago and Colorado, there was a huge dropoff to the rest of the West teams. Detroit was 19-7-0 against the East; 43-6-7 against the East.

If they played in the East they still would have finished 1st overall, but likely wouldn't have hit 60 wins.

As talented and great as DET was in 1996, there was a huge disparity between the East and West that season... at least after the top three teams in each Conference.

The Toronto Maple Leafs finished fourth in the WC with 80 points. The Devils had 86 points and missed the playoffs in the East.

I remember the Leafs had two horrid stretches in early 1996. IIRC, they had a 10 game winless streak and then an eight game losing streak later on. Being a young fan back then, I went on a vacation with my family during the season. When I returned, I saw on a TV at the airport that TOR had just defeated STL in a playoff game. I was genuinely surprised the Leafs were in the playoffs.
 

IslesFan2017

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May 29, 2017
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I was too young to see this team, but I really wish that I got a chance to see them. OP mentioned the Capitals crazy start a few years ago, and that's the only real comparison I can think of when it comes to really great regular season teams and their records.

Like tony d said, I have to believe they are the best regular season team not to win the Cup, similar in other sports to the 2001 Mariners, 2007 Patriots, 2015-16 Warriors etc.
 

Sentinel

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May 26, 2009
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My sophomore year in college. First year away from home, first year in a dormitory, with two [MOD EDIT] freaks for roommates.

The Wings were a joy to watch. The Russian Five on fire all season long (Fedorov winning his last major award). Norris season from Coffey, Lidstrom emerges as an elite defenseman, Bergevin and Errey make nice contributions, Primeau is ready to the take next step. Cicarelli owns the crease.

The motto was "This time we're going all the way!" The PK at one point was like 96% (it came back to earth later).

And then... my spring semester ended and the Wings season ended shortly after.
 
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danincanada

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Feb 11, 2008
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It was a fun season to be a Wings fan, I remember that part, especially the times the Russian 5 took the ice. Looking back it's strange that they won so much with so many players coming in and out of the lineup and without one goalie carrying the load. I guess one could say it was Bowman keeping everyone on their toes but obviously there were injuries involved as well.

And it was more about defense than offense so Bowman and the team probably took the loss to the Devils as a sign that they needed to really tighten up. They gave up 181 GA, which was 21 lower than the next team (Devils) but both the Pens (362) and Avs (326) scored more goals than their 325.
 

overg

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Dec 15, 2003
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Choke may be the dirtiest word in hockey's lexicon, but that really is what happened to the Wings in the '96 playoffs. And it pretty much started the second they hit playoff hockey.

They dominated the regular season with the left wing lock. A key feature of their lock was three men standing up at their blueline, preventing entry into the zone. Much like New Jersey's trap, it just completely shut down chances before they turned into threats.

But in the playoffs, the Wings three men back played tentative, and backed off the blue line. Without that hold, the Wings' defense was much more vulnerable to the oppositions' offense.

Add to this that the Wings were not used to playing tight games or from behind. Suddenly, they weren't dominating games, and they started trying to pressure the play. They seemed to grow more scared every time they didn't score on an offensive rush. They were still very much a team of "I hope we can win" instead of "we will win."

With the falling back on defense, and trying to push things too much on offense, the Wings got away from the playing the Lock the way they did during the regular season. It almost cost them against St. Louis, and did cost them against Colorado.

The good news, for Detroit, was that their loss to Colorado taught them patience. So when the '97 playoffs rolled around, they were patient in tight games, stuck to their game-plan, and always had that "we will win this" aura about them. And they just got more clutch as the playoffs went on, leading to their crushing the Flyers' souls in much the same way New Jersey and Colorado had crushed the Wings the two years prior.
 

Langdon Alger

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Apr 19, 2006
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Lighting up Patrick Roy in Montreal turned out to be the worst thing that could have happened for Detroit.
 

GMR

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Jul 27, 2013
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I always feel bad that Ciccarelli and Coffey didn't win Cups in Detroit. I know Coffey won Cups elsewhere, but he was such a great contributor to those mid 90's Red Wings teams. It would have been nice to see him get a Cup there.
 

The Panther

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Mar 25, 2014
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I always feel bad that Ciccarelli and Coffey didn't win Cups in Detroit. I know Coffey won Cups elsewhere, but he was such a great contributor to those mid 90's Red Wings teams. It would have been nice to see him get a Cup there.
I feel the same. (Though Ciccarelli I don't have as much attachment to! But he was a scrapper.) Coffey got his Cup ring in Pittsburgh, but he wasn't really a major factor by his standards, and he appeared in only 12 of 24 games.

He really was a big contributor to Detroit's rise c.1993 to 1996. But, Bowman didn't like players that he couldn't control...
 

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