What is your favourite era in hockey history?

[DannyGallivan]

I have to give the era when I first fell in love with the game the top choice. I first became a hockey addict in '74. The 70's were special for me as well because after first being a Phil Esposito/Boston Bruins fan, I gave into family pressure and became a Lafleur/Habs fan for the last half of the 70's. After a very disappointing semi-final loss to Buffalo in '75, I couldn't have had a better second half of the decade.

The only reason I don't put the 80's to early 90's ahead of it is because I was a Jets fan during that time, and there was a lot of heart ache. But c'mon, when you look at the NHL from the 70's to the early 90's, it had absolutely everything that makes fans get out of their seats. It had the most exciting players of all time, the most wide-open action, fights galore... you even got a sample of the cool 70's era goalie masks and helmetless players for an aesthetic point or two. I'd say the NHL between 1970 (Orr's first Cup) to 1993 (two 76 goal scorers in one season and the dominance of Mario, and Patrick Roy in the playoffs) is unmatched for a variety of reasons.

 

[The Macho King]

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.

This is a very good question, but I still think it's the DPE. The biggest problem with the DPE wasn't that scoring was low - that was just the symptom of the bigger disease of obstruction taking all the offense out of the game, paired with stuff like the two line pass rule. Yes scoring was low in the latter era, but part of that is goaltending is just objectively better.

The easiest way to show the difference isn't the goal scoring rates, but rather the shot rates during that period. From 98 to 04, you get between 27 and 28 shots per game per team per season. From 11-16, you get 29 to 30. Obviously not a seismic shift, but enough to make a difference. 2011-16 ended up being so low scoring due to penalties just... not being called. Before 10-11, you have to go back to 1983 to find a season where fewer than 4 Power Plays a game were handed out, and that season was an outlier at the time. Since 09-10, *every* season has seen lower than 4 PPs per team per game, with the last three seasons dipping under 3 for the first time I think ever?

source for these numbers: NHL League Averages | Hockey-Reference.com

 

[Melrose Munch]

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

lol come on.

 

[jigglysquishy]

It's wild how much the two DPE overlap.

The former best player in the world is on the Capitals and has a massive drop in quality of play (Jagr 2001-02, Ovechkin 2010-11).

The supposed player in the world is on the Penguins and can't stay healthy (Lemieux, Crosby).

Probably the next best forward in the world only puts together one healthy season the entire era while being a machine in the playoffs (Forsberg 2002-03, Malkin 2012-12).

Martin St. Louis wins an unimpressive Art Ross (2003-04, 2012-13)

An unexpected player wins the Art Ross (Iginla and each Sedin).

 

[The Macho King]

It's wild how much the two DPE overlap.

The former best player in the world is on the Capitals and has a massive drop in quality of play (Jagr 2001-02, Ovechkin 2010-11).

The supposed player in the world is on the Penguins and can't stay healthy (Lemieux, Crosby).

Probably the next best forward in the world only puts together one healthy season the entire era while being a machine in the playoffs (Forsberg 2002-03, Malkin 2012-12).

Martin St. Louis wins an unimpressive Art Ross (2003-04, 2012-13)

An unexpected player wins the Art Ross (Iginla and each Sedin).

6o points in 48 games isn't a bad pace. Would've been around 100 points.

The Benn Art Ross is the one that really stinks it up.

 

[jigglysquishy]

6o points in 48 games isn't a bad pace. Would've been around 100 points.

The Benn Art Ross is the one that really stinks it up.

No disagreement on the Benn Art Ross. St. Louis in 12-13 has the unusual situation where he only had 4 more points than Crosby, despite playing 12 more games. Stamkos was coming off a 60 goal season and Ovechkin won the Hart, so the Art Ross winner was arguably only the fourth best forward that season.

 

[SealsFan]

My favorite is what I grew up with -- 1969-70 until my Seals/Barons dissolved. I readily admit the gap between top tier teams and bottom dwellers was wider than any other era but I'm a fan of bad teams and wacky rival leagues like the WHA.

Had a brief bit of interest with the four WHA teams joining but couldn't stomach the Islanders dynasty and the high scoring that followed. Got interested again around 90-91 and liked the Sharks the following season. I think the era of late 80's through mid-90's was the best hockey in terms of showcasing all aspects of the sport.

 

[82Ninety42011]

Run and gun of the '80s for me growing up watching that doesn't hurt. Just seemed more exciting then but goals goals goals and the physical play to a teen is alluring. Watching 99 in his prime was a joy to watch but there were so many other stars back then as well.

 

[Kitty Hawk]

The 70s, when I went to practically every Hawks home game. I was just out of high school and had a blast.

 

[MadLuke]

What would be interesting is, anyone has a favorite era that happen to not be before they turned 34 ?

Study: New Music Discovery Stops at Age 33 | The Takeaway | WNYC Studios
After analyzing playlists and listening data, the study found that people stop discovering new music at age 33

I would imagine, that like for music, it would be rare for someone favorite era to be one they lived when they were 35+ if they followed hockey unstop since they can remember.

It would require a massive change (a fan in a city that got a team after they turned a certain age, going from not able to watch many game to all of them because of nhl network, etc...) I would imagine.

 

[The Panther]

What would be interesting is, anyone has a favorite era that happen to not be before they turned 34 ?

Study: New Music Discovery Stops at Age 33 | The Takeaway | WNYC Studios
After analyzing playlists and listening data, the study found that people stop discovering new music at age 33

I would imagine, that like for music, it would be rare for someone favorite era to be one they lived when they were 35+ if they followed hockey unstop since they can remember.

It would require a massive change (a fan in a city that got a team after they turned a certain age, going from not able to watch many game to all of them because of nhl network, etc...) I would imagine.

Interesting question.

I personally stopped being "in" contemporary popular music when I was 22. Since then, I mainly listen to historical stuff. There days, I'm into fifties music a lot. My "era", I guess, was the early/mid-90s (I'm a bit young for Gen-X and a bit old to be a millennial).

As to sports... well, I enjoy the NHL of today a lot more than the NHL of 6-10 years ago, or the NHL of 20 years ago, so there's that.

My Grandma was indifferent to sports her whole life, and then around age 70-75 she got seriously into MLB, and attended games at SkyDome, etc. She never missed a Blue-Jays game on TV.

 

[PensandCaps]

Definitely 2007-2012.

Hockey peaked for me with the Back to back Wings/Pens Cup finals. Hockey at its best those two years.

 

[CrosbyIsKing87]

For me the best stretch was between 1988 and 1996. You had: Lots of dominant players in their prime - Gretzky, Lemieux, Coffey, Messier, Bourque, Roy, Kurri, Bure, Sakic, Forsberg, Jagr, Lindros, Fedorov, Mogilny, Lafontaine, Hawerchuk, Hasek, Stevens, Hull, MacInnis, Gilmour. These were players that stayed with their teams longer term and came to be the identity of their team. Great rivalries - Boston-Montreal, Pittsburgh-Philly, Edmonton-Calgary, Detroit-Stl, Chicago-Stl, Edmonton-LA after the Gretzky trade. They met in the playoffs a ton and that was great TV. Old arenas with much more character - Montreal Forum, Chicago Stadium, MLG, Boston Garden. Good uniforms before the godawful ugly 90's era designs. Higher scoring games before the Dead Puck Era put people to sleep. Players who actually scored 50, 60 goals and 150 points or maybe more. The drawbacks were there too: officiating even worse than now, goons, bad TV deals so you couldn't always see games. But I miss those days.

 

[cupcrazyman]

Mid 70's to late 80's

 

[hacksaw7]

Interesting question.

I personally stopped being "in" contemporary popular music when I was 22. Since then, I mainly listen to historical stuff. There days, I'm into fifties music a lot. My "era", I guess, was the early/mid-90s (I'm a bit young for Gen-X and a bit old to be a millennial).

As to sports... well, I enjoy the NHL of today a lot more than the NHL of 6-10 years ago, or the NHL of 20 years ago, so there's that.

My Grandma was indifferent to sports her whole life, and then around age 70-75 she got seriously into MLB, and attended games at SkyDome, etc. She never missed a Blue-Jays game on TV.

There is actually a recognized subset for the too young to be Gen X...too old to be milennial crowd. It's the Cold Y generation. Or Xennials

Xennials - Wikipedia

To me it was always kind of silly lumping people who were born in the early to mid 80s...some of which can actually remember dribs and drabs of the 80s, had a pre internet childhood etc with milennials

 

[Meloun]

At first, I suggest your title may be changed to favorite era in NHL history. As it stands, it is not consistent with the poll and sounds arrogant /ignorant. I know that is not your intention, but there is and pretty much always was hockey beyond NHL.
In Europe, we usually related our favorite hockey era to the success of our national teams.
For me, as I am Czech, the era with most success would be the 1995-2006, we were 6 times in the final of World Championships and 5 times won. Than gold and bronze from Olympics. Those were great times, we had a great generation of players and played a nice team hockey.
However, it could have been better. If the best players of the era stayed at home and we had Czechoslovakian hockey league with all the talented players like Jagr, Hasek, Elias, Hemsky, Havlat, Hejduk, Prospal, Sykora, Straka, Lang, Rucinsky, Hossa, Bondra, Palffy, Satan, Demitra, Gaborik, Chara and many others. It would be amazing to watch them play on daily bases. I wouldn’t even mind, if the best Canadians joined in to play in the best league in the world. I am sure they would be welcomed, if they learned to celebrate the goals and leave Don Cherry and his collection of suits back in Canada

 

[Boxscore]

80-95 without question.

 

[MadLuke]

You had: Lots of dominant players in their prime - Gretzky, Lemieux, Coffey, Messier, Bourque, Roy, Kurri, Bure, Sakic, Forsberg, Jagr, Lindros, Fedorov, Mogilny, Lafontaine, Hawerchuk, Hasek, Stevens, Hull, MacInnis, Gilmour. These were players that stayed with their teams longer term and came to be the identity of their team

Most of players moved before 1996 on that list (Roy, Gretzky, Coffey, Messier, Kurri, Mogilny, Lafontaine, Stevens, Hull, Gilmour, MacInnis) I think, if we compare that with the cap era where almost everyone stay put until their decline (Kane-Toews, Stamkos, Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, Kucherov, Draisailt, Matthews, McDavid, MacKinnon, Bergeron, Backstrom, the Sedins, Datsyuk-Zetteberg. Giroux, Kopitar-Dougthy, Marchand-Bergeron, Lidstrom, Price, Lundqvist, Rask) many the biggest name of the 2005+ played all their career for their drafted team unlike all the above minus Sakic-Lemieux and the Getzlaf, Thornton, Alfresson, Keith, Chara did not move much during their relevant time.

I feel that impression could be that the perception of time has we grow old do change a lot, has for me the time between 1990 and 1996 felt way longer than 2015 to 2021, mixed with the team identity being bigger in the past, for example Lindros was a Flyers for less years than Tavares was an Islanders or Burns a shark.

I would need to check, but I feel the cap era was particularly rich in term of people not moving around, specially versus that windows of 90-96 when totally free agent became a thing and trade like Turgeon for Lafontaine was not that uncommon.

 

[Kranix]

I guess I'll say dead puck era. I started actually watching hockey in 1992 as a kid. My nostalgia era. For one thing, Jags heyday, even though he stayed elite long after that,

 

[The Panther]

Not my favorite era, but this is a great short video of very early to-mid-1980s hockey, with appropriate soundtrack by Michael Jackson 1979 (added bonus of Messier with shaggy hair and the Milbury-incident):