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)
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)