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Where does this Tampa Bay team stack against the greatest teams of all-time?

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Where does this Tampa Bay team stack against the greatest teams of all-time?

 

I’m often asked as to which NHL teams are the best teams that I’ve seen ever seen play the game and my answers have always been as follows:


-1983/84 Oilers (Ive watched tapes)


-1995/96 Red Wings (didn’t win the cup that year but I had never seen anything like these guys.  They won 62 games that year)


-2000/01 Avalanche (Sakic, Roy, Forsberg, Lemieux, Blake, Bourque, Foote, Drury, etc!)


-2001/2002 Red Wings (Yzerman, Shanahan, Fedorov, Lidstrom, Hull, Robataille, Chelios, Hasek! etc)

 

-2009/2010 Chicago Blackhawks.


Many great Habs and Islanders teams well before my time would also make that list, but I can only comment on what I see.


Now - I’m not 100% sure if this current Tampa Bay team should be mentioned with the 2010 Hawks, 2002 Wings, 2001 Avs, 1996 Wings, and 1984 Oilers, but they are damn close in my opinion.  


I haven’t seen a team this good in a long damn time and it’s definitely reaffirmed my faith in the sport.

 

Ps - the greatest teams that I’ve ever seen play were the 2010 and 2014 Canadian Men’s Olympic team, along with the 2010 US Men’s silver medal winning team, but I want to try and keep this discussion to NHL teams if possible.

Edited by Patel Bure
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They would not rank anywhere near the best teams of all time for me, they were decent last year but they finished 8th this season, just managed to work the rules to give them an advantage when there is parity so they kinda stand out as better but not compared to all time.
 

As for pre expansion teams, it was much easier with much less teams in the league.

 

Id go with the 80’s isles and 80’s Oilers as the greatest teams of all time.

 

Post cap era, I think we had one of the best skilled teams for several years, just weren’t tough enough to get it done in the playoffs.

 

 

Edited by Dumb Nuck
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I guess I am betraying my decline into geezerhood, but the Montreal Canadiens from 1972-23 through 1978-79 won FIVE Stanley Cups in seven years. In 1976-77 they won 60 games, tied 12 and lost only 8. To me, and I am as far away from being a Montreal fan than anyone could be, but Montreal of that era was for me the greatest of all time. Second place goes to the aforementioned New York Islanders four straight Stanley Cups, and in third place, the Gretzky-era Oilers who scored millions of goals, were loaded with talent and won a few Cups. Tampa has a considerable way to go to even flirt with that territory.

Edited by Curmudgeon
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30 minutes ago, Dumb Nuck said:

They would not rank anywhere near the best teams of all time for me, they were decent last year but they finished 8th this season, just managed to work the rules to give them an advantage when there is parity so they kinda stand out as better but not compared to all time.
 

As for pre expansion teams, it was much easier with much less teams in the league.

 

Id go with the 80’s isles and 80’s Oilers as the greatest teams of all time.

 

Post cap era, I think we had one of the best skilled teams for several years, just weren’t tough enough to get it done in the playoffs.

 

 

Agree. We had the best (regular season) team in the cap era. 1st in almost all team stats in 2011. Such stats were not seen before unless you go back to the 70's Habs.

 

Unfortunately,, they didn't deliver in the playoffs. Well, the rules change in the playoffs so.

 

 

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16 minutes ago, Curmudgeon said:

I guess I am betraying my decline into geezerhood, but the Montreal Canadiens from 1972-23 through 1978-79 won FIVE Stanley Cups in seven years. In 1976-77 they won 60 games, tied 12 and lost only 8. To me, and I am as far away from being a Montreal fan than anyone could be, but Montreal of that era was for me the greatest of all time. Second place goes to the aforementioned New York Islanders four straight Stanley Cups, and in third place, the Gretzky-era Oilers who scored millions of goals, were loaded with talent and won a few Cups. Tampa has a considerable way to go to even flirt with that territory.

Thing about those Habs is there was a talent drain during that era so although they were much better than the competition they weren’t the best of all time, during the ‘80 with the Oilers and Isles, I feel they were two teams that stood head and shoulders above some serious competition. 
 

For greatest team ever I’d have to go with the Oilers, something we’ll probably never ever see again.

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The talking heads talk about Tampa "taking advantage" of the rules that are set in place.

 

The problem is that the rules that were set in place at the time assisted Vancouver in the Luongo contract, yet the team IS penalized for circumventing the cap. New Jersey also had a blatant attempt to go around the cap as well, and so did other teams.

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Ummm... not even close.  Look at the true dynasties of the past (ie. 70s Canadiens, 80s Islanders, 80s Oilers)... those teams were on the same playing field as everyone else but they were unbelievable.  This Lightning team is playing outside the rules (by circumstance and luck I guess)... but it doesn't change the fact they're on a different playing field due to LTIR.

 

Best peer on peer team ever?  Look no further than the 2005 WJHC Canada team... 6 games played, won every game... and the tournament was over before it began. 

 

Game 1:  7-3 over Slovakia

Game 2:  8-1 over Sweden

Game 3:  9-0 over Germany

Game 4:  8-1 over Finland

Game 5:  3-1 over Czech (semi-final)

Game 6:  6-1 over Russia (final ... Ovechkin was on Team Russia!)

 

Tally it up... the round robin of 4 games had Canada with 32 goals scored and 5 goals against lol

 

I've never seen a team dominate like that.  It was incredible to watch, but to be honest, it got a bit boring slaughtering the opponents over and over haha.

 

Edited by HKSR
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7 hours ago, Dumb Nuck said:

They would not rank anywhere near the best teams of all time for me, they were decent last year but they finished 8th this season, just managed to work the rules to give them an advantage when there is parity so they kinda stand out as better but not compared to all time.
 

Cmon, it's clear cap circumvention. We all know it. The league knows it. We know that they know it, and we know that they know that we know it. If it's not called out immediately following the season, it's a free for all.

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It's frankly very very hard to compete with the greatest teams of all-time due to the salary cap and parity in the league right now. Granted, the Lightning do look like possibly the best post-cap team (still need to prove it with more playoff success), but I think they still have a very long way to reach the 80s Islanders or the 70s Canadiens.

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11 hours ago, Dumb Nuck said:

They would not rank anywhere near the best teams of all time for me, they were decent last year but they finished 8th this season, just managed to work the rules to give them an advantage when there is parity so they kinda stand out as better but not compared to all time.
 

As for pre expansion teams, it was much easier with much less teams in the league.

 

Id go with the 80’s isles and 80’s Oilers as the greatest teams of all time.

 

Post cap era, I think we had one of the best skilled teams for several years, just weren’t tough enough to get it done in the playoffs.

 

 

We were ravaged with injuries during that cup run. A truly healthy team (just bumps and bruises) probably beats Boston.

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10 hours ago, Curmudgeon said:

I guess I am betraying my decline into geezerhood, but the Montreal Canadiens from 1972-23 through 1978-79 won FIVE Stanley Cups in seven years. In 1976-77 they won 60 games, tied 12 and lost only 8. To me, and I am as far away from being a Montreal fan than anyone could be, but Montreal of that era was for me the greatest of all time. Second place goes to the aforementioned New York Islanders four straight Stanley Cups, and in third place, the Gretzky-era Oilers who scored millions of goals, were loaded with talent and won a few Cups. Tampa has a considerable way to go to even flirt with that territory.

I think you are referring the Montreal Canadiens team of 1975-76 to 1978-79 that won four straight.  If this is the team you are referring to, then I would agree 100%.  Ken Dryden, Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Jacques Lemaire, Steve Shutt, Bob Gainey, Peter Maholich, Doug Risebrough, Doug Jarvis, Yvon Lambert, Mario Tremblay, and the big 3 - Serge Savard, Larry Robinson and Guy Lapointe are some of the players I remember vividly.

 

Team won the cup in 72-73, but went dormant from 1973 to 1975 when the Broad Street Bullies Flyers won the cup.  Canadiens of '73-'75 didn't even make the finals.  These were the years Ken Dryden left to get his law degree and left the Canadiens with Bunny Larocque to be the no. 1 goalie, which didn't turn out that well.

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