What is your favourite era in hockey history?

[jcs0218]

What is your favourite era in hockey history?

This could be due to the style of play, the rules in place at the time, the specific players in that era, the specific teams in that era, the competitiveness and parity of the league, the media exposure of the league, etc.

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[BraveCanadian]

80-95 for me.. that is when I was growing up and watched a lot more hockey.. and due to the baby boom, lack of electronics, and culture of the time, it was objectively the best era as well.

 

[blundluntman]

The expansion era is the most interesting time period to me because you get to see all the moments that established the pride of our game today. Nobody scored 100 points until then, Bobby Orr changed everything, the Canada Cup happened, Lafleur and Dionne went 1 and 2, Canadiens Dynasty, etc. Its the perfect example of "the best is yet to come" while still being an epic time in history.

If I'd been alive for the 80s, it'd feel more like a gift than a myth so I'd probably pick that era instead, but as someone born during a change of culture, I relate more to the expansion.

 

[Sadekuuro]

"The one I grew up watching" is inevitably going to be most people's answer, no?


Among the periods I didn't witness, I find the O6 the most interesting. To know your opponents and their tendencies so well, routinely gameplan for specific players etc. seems like it must have had more of a playoff feel all the time.

 

[JackSlater]

My favourite is the dead puck era as I am a Detroit fan and I wasn't there to enjoy the early 1950s. I fully recognize that overall the preceding era was a more fun era. The original six era is the most interesting for me to read about.

 

[hacksaw7]

I would expand it and say the last 5 years of the expansion era + the entire merger + euro invasion era. 1975-1995

Also I would categorize 80-95 (specifically 80-93 maybe) as the Go-Go 80s...maybe the Wild West of Hockey era.

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

I got into hockey during the DPE. I still get nostalgic thinking about Team Canada in Salt Lake City.

 

[The Panther]

I started watching NHL in the last game of the 1985 playoffs (Edm. 8, Philly 3), and then started watching regularly from around middle of 1986-87, though I still had to go to bed at 9:00pm and missed third periods.

Anyway, from then to today, I think the best period of hockey, all things considered, was around 1989-90 or 1990-91 to 1993-94. Those four or five seasons saw, I think, the most entertaining hockey, the best balance of offense-and-defense, more passion and creativity than systems, the best collection of elite players ever in the League at one time, and super-intense rivalries.

 

[DeysArena]

"The one I grew up watching" is inevitably going to be most people's answer, no?

The greatest era in hockey history is whichever era it was when you were 12.

 

[Overrated]

1990-04 imo

voted dead puck era

 

[jigglysquishy]

The greatest era in hockey history is whichever era it was when you were 12.

I was 12 in 2002 and hated the dead puck era with a passion.

2002-2004 were not good years for the NHL.

 

[hacksaw7]

I was 12 in 2002 and hated the dead puck era with a passion.

2002-2004 were not good years for the NHL.

I'm a Devils fan and I didn't like it

 

[Hatfield]

"The one I grew up watching" is inevitably going to be most people's answer, no?

Probably true, but 80s-early 90s are still probably the best, objectively.

 

[Bluesguru]

I’m surprised the dead puck era has more votes than salary cap era.

88-93 was the height of the 80-95 era. The stars during this time was the most plentiful of any hockey era.

 

[tabness]

Started watching during the dead puck era as a kid and my team (Wings) was like the most successful team of that era so definitely a lot of fond memories but looking back, it wasn’t the best hockey honestly, both in terms of players and especially playstyle. The start of it still had real good stars like Lindros, Jagr, Kariya, and so on but too many injuries and by the end... ugh

Actually got really interested in the NHL later in the dead puck era and into the New NHL with a more informed view of things (having had played a bit by then and just being older)

Now I look back at it and so many of the dead puck era stars were older stars of the earlier nineties and the eighties, and collecting old video, I definitely enjoy the late eighties to mid nineties the most, even though the Wings were usually chokers lol since the number (and brightness) of stars seems to be at its zenith and play wasn’t completely structured to boredom yet (early eighties hockey seems a little more related to seventies hockey with some obvious transitory changes being noticeable).

That’s just the (NHL) hockey though, the whole aesthetics and growth of actually playing hockey in America and media culture around that time is part of the reason I look back so fondly at the nineties!

 

[The Panther]

I think I'm being pretty objective when I argued for c. 199o to 1994 as the best period. It's not when I was 12, and my team mostly sucked in that period, so it's not like I'm looking back with rose-tinted glasses.

Anyway, can I ask a question:

What do people think was worse NHL hockey?:
a) c.1999 to 2004
or
b) c.2011 to 2016?

It's hard to beat the late dead-puck era for crappy hockey, but sometimes I think that the post-young Crosby / pre-McDavid ascension era was actually worse. We had Jamie Benn winning the scoring title with 37 points or whatever, and some utterly forgettable playoff hockey.

 

[GMR]

The 1990's.

 

[Habsfan18]

Voted to 80-95, but in terms of research and reading material I’ve always had a soft spot for the craziness of the 1970’s and everything that came with it. The Habs dynasty, the WHA, Slap Shot, expansion, the Summit Series, Canada Cup, the hair, the clothes. Just everything about it.

 

[Bustedprospect]

The late 80s to early to mid-90s is the best time for hockey all time.

Just look at the All-Star teams from that era. NHL All-Star Team - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Totally insane. Won't ever be replicated.

 

[MadLuke]

The late 80s to early to mid-90s is the best time for hockey all time.

Just look at the All-Star teams from that era. NHL All-Star Team - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Totally insane. Won't ever be replicated.

Look how old Yzerman and Sakic were when they achieved to crack those................ That is quite telling that those 2 where not able to make the all star teams at all before turning 30 (or 35 for Yzerman) and then those lesser version where first all team star team good in a weaker league.

 

[Ducks in a row]

Salary Cap era both because I love salary caps and also my Ducks won a Stanley Cup during this era

 

[buffalowing88]

80-95 was brimming with new talent influx from around the world. new rivalries, and a boatload of storylines that by the final years of this period led to the league legitimately competing with the other Big 4 American sports for media coverage. From 1993-1995, an argument can absolutely be made that the NHL was bigger than the MLB or NBA in the US. And obviously it was a towering influence in Canada, perhaps as much as at any time before considering the different markets all involved.

I was initially surprised that the O6 was getting a lack of votes but it's easy to forget how slanted some of those periods were in which the Canadiens, in particular, just dominated for years on end. Not quite as fun for the other fans.

 

[The Panther]

80-95 was brimming with new talent influx from around the world. new rivalries, and a boatload of storylines that by the final years of this period led to the league legitimately competing with the other Big 4 American sports for media coverage. From 1993-1995, an argument can absolutely be made that the NHL was bigger than the MLB or NBA in the US.

In summer 1994, after the Rangers won the Cup, Sports Illustrated was writing that the NHL might soon be overtaking MLB, and that it was now far sexier, more exciting, and more dynamic.

Then, the Lock Out and the Dead-Puck Era happened.

 

[Staniowski]

I don't have a favourite era....I like them all. There is lots of great hockey in every era.

 

[Melrose Munch]

1980 -1990
1905-1920