Worst team in NHL history?

[bigbuffalo313]

The Capitals defeated:
Chicago (7-4)
California (6-4)
Toronto (3-1)
Detroit (6-3)
NY Rangers (7-4)
Kansas City (3-0)
California (5-3)
Pittsburgh (8-4)

I say it would suck, and than the Rangers re one of them. Even back than you could count on them to lose to terrible teams

 

[garnetpalmetto]

03-04 Penguins are infinitely worse.

I remember well that 18-game winless streak they had January-February.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

I still think the Flyers should be in the running at least in terms of goals in a season. 22 in 15 games.

 

[nutbar]

I say it would suck, and than the Rangers re one of them. Even back than you could count on them to lose to terrible teams

The Caps actually had former Rangers great Rod Seiling that season, but for only one game.

 

[Mandar]

The cap floor is basically going to ensure that no team is as bad as those teams again any time soon.

Cant say I agree...unfortunately, the cap floor will ensure that players that dont deserve big contracts will get them due to having to reach the floor.

You still have the potential for historically bad teams every year despite the cap.

 

[RedWingsForPresident]

The Atlanta Thrashers would have to be my pick for worst franchise in NHL history. Only a franchise from 1999-2011 making the playoffs only once and never winning a playoff game (swept by the Rangers in 07).

They were never really competitive either, when they missed the playoffs it always by a lot. They were responsible for maybe the biggest draft bust in NHL history Patrik Stefan.

Just a bad franchise

 

[Sentinel]

If you go by "accomplishments to payroll," then it's 98-04 Rangers. Hideous record with all that cash.

 

[ManofSteel55]

The worst I've ever seen was the 89-90 Quebec Nordiques. Only 12 wins, and not only were they bad, they continually made their team worse throughout the year by trading Peter Stastny, Michel Goulet, Jeff Brown, and others for junk.

 

[Big Phil]

Are the 2014 Sabres going to be far off from this list? They won't be the worst, but in the last 20 years I can definitely see them being the worst when all is said and done.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Are the 2014 Sabres going to be far off from this list? They won't be the worst, but in the last 20 years I can definitely see them being the worst when all is said and done.

I was almost thinking they might have prompted this thread.

They are definitely tracking towards one of the worst seasons ever by an established franchise. Currently their pace is 38 points, which would be the lowest in the shootout era by a massive margin (I believe 2007 Philly with about 57 points is the worst at the moment).

Less than 40 points is truly awful, a total usually reserved for expansion teams. Factor in the extra points available via shootout wins and OT losses, and that 38 point pace is probably more like 32 points. The 1990 Nordiques had 31 points, in an 80 game schedule, and that's the worst ever for a team that wasn't in their first two seasons. (Haven't look at pre-expansion projections, so this is since 1967).

Then you have to factor in that the East has been much worse than the West so far, so Buffalo has in theory been playing a softer schedule (I haven't checked though, maybe they'd played a bunch of West teams).

It's pretty amazing to think that in this era of so-called parity, we could be witnessing one of the worst seasons of all time.

 

[patnyrnyg]

89-90 Nordiques are up there

This is who I was thinking. I wasn't alive for the Isles or Caps first season and certainly wasn't around for the Philadelphia Quakers.

What sticks out for me is the Nords were bad in 87-88 and 88-89, then a 31-point season in 89-90 followed by 46 points and 52 in 90-91 and 91-92, respectively. Then had a great year in 93, down in 94 and then became great from 95 on. But, that 5-year stretch for them was absolutely brutal.

Isles were terrible in 72-73, but were in the play-offs in 74-75.