Your personal historical hockey convictions/headcanons??

[Moose Head]

Owen Nolan would be in the Hall of Fame if the Avs hadn't traded him to San Jose

What a kick in the teeth that must've been for him. Drafted 1st overall in '90, he's one of the first foundational pieces of their rebuild, goes through the growing pains that rebuilding teams experience, and just as the team is ready to emerge from that rebuild as one of the league's top contenders, BOOM! He's traded 9 games into the '95 season to the goddamn San Jose Sharks, a team that will win just 20 games

8 months after being dealt, his former teammates were hoisting the Cup

Could be worse. You could be Dave Lewis or Billy Harris

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

1 fact thats escaped me is if the Bruins do indeed win in 14 that means no Pasternak unless they trade up to get him somehow that would have meant the Islanders who owned the Rangers pick which became Tampa's pick after the MSL deal would have drafted him. If you have a 1-2 punch with Tavares and Pasternak I wonder if Tavares ever leaves. Or I wonder if Tampa makes the trade with NYI at all knowing Pasternak is there for the taking.

Actually im wrong he would have went to Vancouver who had Pittsburgh's pick

 

[McGarnagle]

Actually im wrong he would have went to Vancouver who had Pittsburgh's pick

The other thing is that the Bruins don't get Pastrnak if New Jersey doesn't commit cap circumvention with Ilya Kovalchuk's contract. They should've picked between 10 and 12 on standings, but because they'd been stripped of a first rounder and deferred that until 2014, everyone else got bumped up one spot as a result (Gary eventually relented and let them pick at #30). If they don't get caught manipulating the cap with Kovy's contract, there's a good chance Pastrnak is a Canuck.

 

[Slats432]

If the 80s Oilers would have been kept together they would have won between 8 and 10 cups.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

If the 80s Oilers would have been kept together they would have won between 8 and 10 cups.

Id say 8. They would have still been a force till around 96

 

[JackSlater]

If the 80s Oilers would have been kept together they would have won between 8 and 10 cups.

I remember The Hockey News did a big "what if" special edition and one was what if the Oilers never had economic issues/Pocklington. They had them winning Stanley Cups through 1994 at least, which honestly isn't so far fetched given New York's 1994 roster.

 

[Reverend Mayhem]

If the Canucks hadn’t given up Martin Havlat’s tying goal to the Hawks in game 4 of the 2009 playoffs, they win that series. That year I actually felt like the Canucks were better than Chicago, but imploded in game 5 & 6 after the crushing OT loss in game 4.

I'm not so sure. Going in, I felt most people were prematurely calling the Canucks to win the series because of the Hawks' lack of experience - a dubious knock on a team in my opinion.

That Hawks team just had no quit. Honestly. I've never felt so queasy watching a game where my team is up 2 or 3 goals because you know they are going to come back in waves, and they often did. I think they would have relished the opportunity to come back from 1-3 in a series and the Canucks were getting exposed. Our D couldn't keep up with the speed of Toews and Kane, they couldn't compete in front of the net with Byfuglien, and Luongo wasn't stopping absolute darts from the point from Keith and Sharp. The Hawks could attack in so many unique ways. I was actually at game 5 and I remember in the dying moments of the 3rd looking up and down the Chicago bench and knowing that team was going to win the next season. Since then, I've never been so sure that a team would do that.

I would have loved to have seen a game 7 in that series though.

 

[Gambitman]

Fuhr is such an interesting case. In ways I get he is not much more than an above average goalie for the 80’s. But there was something about him and his unique personality that fit with the oilers. He was ok letting in 6 goals and more importantly his teammates believed in him and were not afraid to play their style leaving Fuhr completely exposed. Were there better technical goalies? Yes. Vanbiesbrouck, Smith, Liut, Roy maybe even Moog and Barrasso but I don’t think any had the personality that would have worked as well with the 80’s Oilers. He was the perfect fit.

 

[Boxscore]

Before Bobby Clarke was relived as Flyers GM (1st time), he had Jaromir Jagr as his number one draft board target with the Flyers. I've always wondered how the Flyers would have turned out if they drafted Jagr instead of Ricci and kept Forsberg+ instead of trading for Lindros.

Could you imagine and duo of Forsberg and Jagr during their primes on the Flyers?

Philly would have had other good players as well in Recchi, Brind'Amour, Renberg, Duchesne, Simon, Yushkevich, Galley, etc. Not to mention, the way the Flyers and Ed Snider used to love throwing money around in a pre-cap world... the Flyers could have ended up a powerhouse.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

I remember The Hockey News did a big "what if" special edition and one was what if the Oilers never had economic issues/Pocklington. They had them winning Stanley Cups through 1994 at least, which honestly isn't so far fetched given New York's 1994 roster.

My biggest what if is 89 tbh. Would they have won 3 in a row or would Calgary still have taken care of buisiness. I think they definitely win in 90 and do better in the rs, I think 91 they win too. I think you can definitely make a case for 94 as well. It's that 92 and 93 area where it gets sketchy. Maybe they grab 1 of the 2.

 

[JackSlater]

My biggest what if is 89 tbh. Would they have won 3 in a row or would Calgary still have taken care of buisiness. I think they definitely win in 90 and do better in the rs, I think 91 they win too. I think you can definitely make a case for 94 as well. It's that 92 and 93 area where it gets sketchy. Maybe they grab 1 of the 2.

It's hard to guess what would happen. The Edmonton core from 1987 would still be highly competitive by 1994, but the team was drafting so poorly that there would not be many reinforcements as the team got into the 90s. Even picks that were decent like Gelinas and Rucinsky came via trades, and Graves came through Edmonton trading Carson, who wouldn't have been there without the Gretzky trade. Perhaps Edmonton has better draft results or swings a big trade anyway in this scenario but after 1990 that's a core with a lot of miles on it and not so many good young legs to help carry the load.

I see 1993 or 1994 as the best chances to pick up an extra cup since Gretzky and friends made the Stanley Cup finals anyway in 1993 while Messier and friends won the Stanley Cup in 1994.