Your favorite NHL era?

[SealsFan]

Though I initially objected to Expansion in 67/68, those teams & the players did capture my fancy so Id rank the era of 67/68 through to 1980 as my 2nd favorite.

Those first few expansions didn't bother me from a "dilution of talent" viewpoint, although the case could certainly be made. I was as enthralled with those teams as any of the big guns.

Last year in another forum section in a post about the playoffs, people were getting on my case because I said I was happy with the abundance of Original Six and Original Six Expansion teams advancing in the playoffs. I wound up clarifying that I barely follow the modern NHL and 30 teams is way too many, and someone came back and said then I should have had a problem with the expansions in 67/68, 70/71, etc.

But that was different. In 1967, major league baseball had 20 teams. Pro football had 16 NFL and 9 AFL teams. The NBA had 12 teams and the newly-formed ABA added 11 more.

The NHL only had SIX teams! So while it may have been unprecedented to suddenly add six new teams, it certainly wasn't out of step with the rest of pro sports to have a 12-team league in 1967. 16 teams is probably the maximum that I'm content with.

Sorry for getting off on a tangent.

 

[Killion]

Unfortunately I didn't discover the sport while I was still a child. I was already entering manhood when I started watching so I missed the wide-eyed wonder of having on-ice heroes and idolizing players... Blame it on the Caps I guess since they were hideous when I was a kid and got no coverage in the local media

Ya I dont think Caps' really took the market by storm per se', didnt exactly displace the Big 3 to any great shakes.... One of the major dealeo's when growing up pre-expansion during the last decade or more of the Golden Era was that player movement was almost non-existent with the cores of most of the teams. Same players year in year out, no names on the backs of the jerseys, no helmets or masks, all of them recognizable, familiar, comfortable & comforting. No rink board advertising, none of the crass commercialization that were subjected to today.

The teams played one another with obviously considerable frequency, battles & enmities carrying over from game-game. Like a long running series. When the Playoffs started, you didnt really get the feeling that "aha, now it gets real". It was "real" all season long. The age factor as well. Of course when your a kid and see someone in their 20's or 30's you consider them "Men". Adults. During the 06 era that was far more pronounced. You just didnt have the plethora of Baby Faced rosy cheeked kids out there. These players were well groomed in terms of having full tool boxes. They were finished products. There was no sense that the NHL was some sort of Developmental League, a feeling one cant help but shake really since about the mid-70's onward on so many nights.

Last year in another forum section in a post about the playoffs, people were getting on my case because I said I was happy with the abundance of Original Six and Original Six Expansion teams... I wound up clarifying that I barely follow the modern NHL and 30 teams is way too many, and someone came back and said then I should have had a problem with the expansions in 67/68, 70/71, etc.

Ya well this is the problem most of us I think have to varying degree's with what the NHL's become. Careers are short, the players all look & play the same essentially but for maybe the top lines, a handful of star players. Its impossible to keep track unless your seriously inclined & interested, and its hard to really get interested with everything & everyone homogenized the way they are. Too many teams, the season is just way too long, too many meaningless games, the commercialization with the buildings completely wallpapered with advertising an assault to ones senses & the same with a lot of broadcasts. Pixalized ad panels on your TV screen behind the net while the games in progress. The leagues seemingly total disregard for the history & traditions of the game. The Shootout. Messing with the Goal Line, Blue Lines, removing the Center Ice Red Line. Just a long long list of complaints that I know I and many other have & share.... but hey ho. What do we know?

 

[Psycho Papa Joe]

1975 to 1993

 

[ot92s]

from the arrival of gretzky until they started to expand. good times.

 

[tony d]

Late 80's to early 90's, was when I started to get into the game plus plenty of scoring in the game back then.

 

[HabsByTheBay]

1991-1995 or so. Whale, Nords, Roy with the Habs and the Habs still being titans, Sharksmania in the West Coast, Mario, Gretzky still a monster offensively, lots and lots and lots of great players. And hey, I was a kid then. San Francisco even got a glitzy minor league team, the Spiders.

 

[IMLACHnME]

Hockey coins?

.... ya that was fun. I had a mid-50's Eagle Table Top Hockey Game, Toronto vs Montreal. This was the pre-rod game whereby you couldnt move the players back & forth (stationary but rotated 360 degree's), just the Goalie left or right in his crease, tin players, and we used a marble... my first awareness or "awakening" to individual players coming from the old Sheriff NHL Player Disc's that came in pudding & gelatin packs. About the size of a Loonie or Silver Dollar. Disembodied head shot of the player on one side in full color, reverse side I cant remember. For some reason Bill Gadsby capturing my attention & imagination, likely the strong features & oversized cauliflower ears. Looked like he could fly with those things. Big grin on his face. NY Rangers.

View attachment 70243

Do you mean these? I had them too.

 

[ICM1970]

Been watching the game since about 1978-79, so I'd say my favourite era would have been my first few years watching from about 1978 to about 1984 or thereabouts. The years when there was no instigator rule and most teams had at least one or two players who did not wear helmets (along with none of the referees and linesmen) and almost no one wore visors , that was the more polite NHL.

 

[Hardyvan123]

Anytime before Bettman.

Basically this but I love the hockey of my younger years the alte 70's and the 80's when talent from Europe was entering the NHL and the game was changing.

One could only wish that a hockey guy was in charge and the goalie equipment was never allowed to balloon and coaches had less impact of the game...but it is what it is still a great game.

 

[HC Bienne]

20`s

Joe Malone
Frank Nighbor
Cy Denneny
Newsy Lalonde
Babe Dye

 

[nutbar]

80's to mid 90's. I miss the days when all the stars got 50 goals and 100 points. Now what are we supposed to get excited about? 30 goal seasons? Wooooo. Yay.

 

[HF007]

Deadpuck era, the playoffs and the star players were better.

 

[Killion]

View attachment 70243

Do you mean these? I had them too.

..... yep. Those be them. And there were wall plaques you could order as well for display which today are rarer than Hens Teeth apparently.

 

[LeBlondeDemon10]

About 78-94. The prime of Lafleur and the Habs dynasty, following the Jets in the WHA, the merger of 4 WHA clubs into the NHL, Gretzky exploding onto the scene, hoping Lafleur would rebound from his decline and then when he retired, I lost fanatical interest for a couple of years until Richer came along. Lafleur's comeback and I become fanatical again. Go to Jets games for $9-13 7-11 seats. Appreciating Gretzky and Lemieux as I was now in my early 20's and could understand the game a lot better. Then Richer gets traded and lose some interest. Rise of the Leafs and watching Gilmour was special. Then the DPE and I really got turned off the game. I'd really only watch Leafs games because Sundin was so much fun to watch. Post 04-05 lockout, the game has become a little more exciting but as Killion touched on - too many teams, too many players look/play alike, too many goal horns, the loss of the art of goaltending, players trying to kill each other. Jets games now are a minimum of a $150 night. Not in my budget. But still a fan, always will be. Love watching Karlsson, Ovechkin, Seguin, Subban minus the antics, Kovalchuk until he retired, Kadri and even the Oilers despite their misery; they have some talent there. Just waiting.

I think many fans, past and present, confuse personality with antics. Antics are not personality, they are ways to showboat, gloat, demean the other team. Perhaps its the sheer number of players in the league today, but I find many players lack an individuality about them. Perhaps I'm nostalgic, but in my days growing up, many players had personality because there was something about the way they played that defined them from others. Lafleur's rushes and shot, Perreault's skating, Cheever's mask, Cornouyer's buoyancy, Gretzky's anticipation, Lemieux's patience and magic, Clark and Clarke's ruggedness. Some have it today. Ovechkin has it. He has fun out there. Loved it when he snow-sprayed that kid in Montreal holding the flag and his gap toothed smile. Thomas and his unique style and acrobatic goaltending. Subban has personality too without the antics. He has fun out there. Even Marchand, despite the fact I'm a Montreal fan, I always know when he's on the ice. He has a presence about him. Ah well, I'm sounding old. But still a kid at heart.

 

[Morgoth Bauglir]

Perhaps I'm nostalgic, but in my days growing up, many players had personality because there was something about the way they played that defined them from others. Lafleur's rushes and shot, Perreault's skating, Cheever's mask, Cornouyer's buoyancy, Gretzky's anticipation, Lemieux's patience and magic, Clark and Clarke's ruggedness. Some have it today. Ovechkin has it. He has fun out there. Loved it when he snow-sprayed that kid in Montreal holding the flag and his gap toothed smile. Thomas and his unique style and acrobatic goaltending. Subban has personality too without the antics. He has fun out there. Even Marchand, despite the fact I'm a Montreal fan, I always know when he's on the ice. He has a presence about him. Ah well, I'm sounding old. But still a kid at heart.

It's because the disinctiveness, creativity, and TALENT gets coached out of players at an early age these days. Coaches don't want talent: The want obedient, mindless drones who can execute a pre-programmed "system".