Were 84-85 Oilers the greatest team ever???

[Sabre fan]

Apparently in some poll this team, the Oilers from 84-95, were picked as the greatest NHL team ever. Any arguments or are you in agreement with this?

 

Regular season

The Oilers once again scored over 400 goals in a season. The Oilers also let in 298 goals, their fewest since the 1981–82 season. The Oilers would start the season with an NHL record 15 game unbeaten streak (12–0–3).

Wayne Gretzky would earn 208 points, breaking the 200 point mark for the third time in his career, and win his fifth straight Art Ross Trophy, and his sixth straight Hart Trophy. Jari Kurri would score a career high 71 goals and 135 points, and win the Lady Byng Trophy. Paul Coffey had 121 points (37 goals-84 assists) en route to the first Norris Trophy of his career. On October 26, 1984, Coffey would be the last defenceman in the 20th Century to score four goals in one game. It occurred in a game versus the Detroit Red Wings.^[1]

 

The full story is here...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984%E2%80%9385_Edmonton_Oilers_season

[North Buffalo]

Still think one of the 70s Isle teams are in this conversation... but nothing wrong with the oil from that era. Hard to just judge 1 year. For me its over a number of years with same group of players

[Sabre fan]

yeah loved those Islander teams...Montreal from 76-77 was rather silly...their record was only 60-8-12. Yep, just 8 losses all year! Crazy. Then a easy 4 game sweep of Boston for the Cup.

[I-90 W]

1980 Team USA are in this conversation as well. But yeah I saw a documentary on that Edmonton team they were awesome.

[dudacek]

That Oilers team was deadly offensive, but I Can't see any measure how that 76 Habs team isn't it.

Didn't watch them obviously, but the late '50s Canadiens with the Richard brothers, Beliveau, Harvey, Geoffrion, Dickie Moore, Plante is littered with hall of farmers.

[Taro T]

'76-'77 Habs.

[Eleven]

^ ditto

[Sabre1974]

1980 Team USA are in this conversation as well. But yeah I saw a documentary on that Edmonton team they were awesome.

I never tire watching or reading about that team or anything about herb brooks, a very special achievement in sporting history.

[I-90 W]

I never tire watching or reading about that team or anything about herb brooks, a very special achievement in sporting history.

Absolutely! ????

[Formerly Allan in MD]

Old timers may recall that they weren't the greatest team ever and they weren't even in the NHL, but a mid-50s Bison team (possibly '54-'55), a farm team of the Canadians, had EIGHT 20+ goal scorers and defensemen such as Frankie Eddolls and Pierre Pilote.  That may have also been the team Jacques Plante played on.

[Randall Flagg]

Are we talking great as in strictly their ability to play hockey, or great in terms of achievement/intangible/whatever? Because the Miracle team is obviously legendary in terms of the second thing, but would have gotten beat by a team of American professionals assembled that same year 95 times out of 100, no? Much less Canadians/NHL teams/the Soviet team any other day/etc. 

 

The greatest team I've ever seen, I think, is 2010 Canadian Men's Olympic team or in the NHL the 2010/13 Hawks, the 2008 Red Wings, the 2005/06 Red Wings. (2005 is when I began watching hockey.) This is defining great as their ability to play hockey and beat other hockey teams.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Randall Flagg

[GoPre]

I never tire watching or reading about that team or anything about herb brooks, a very special achievement in sporting history.

 

In my opinion, Team USA upsetting the Soviets and moving on to the Gold Medal game to win it all is the greatest moment in sports.  Too bad I wasn't born yet.  lol 

[3putt]

Are we talking great as in strictly their ability to play hockey, or great in terms of achievement/intangible/whatever? Because the Miracle team is obviously legendary in terms of the second thing, but would have gotten beat by a team of American professionals assembled that same year 95 times out of 100, no? Much less Canadians/NHL teams/the Soviet team any other day/etc. 

 

The greatest team I've ever seen, I think, is 2010 Canadian Men's Olympic team or in the NHL the 2010/13 Hawks, the 2008 Red Wings, the 2005/06 Red Wings. (2005 is when I began watching hockey.) This is defining great as their ability to play hockey and beat other hockey teams.

The Miracle team was just that a miracle, lightening in a bottle if you will. The 76-77 canadiens were surreal. But i agree that the oil were simply loaded. The Isles were a close second and the pre cancer Lemieux Pens with Jagr, Francis et al were a joy to watch as well.

[nucci]

'76-'77 Habs.

I concur

[matter2003]

It's impossible to say...different styles, different eras...what rules are we playing by?

 

Like in basketball...does the 72 win Bulls team beat this year's Warriors team? Well how can you say for sure? Different era, different rules..are we allowing hand checking like they did back then? The extremely physical play that occurred back then? What rules are we playing by?...likely Warriors would win under today's rules and Bulls would win under their rules...the teams are built to compete and win under the rules they are playing by at the time...

Edited June 7, 2017 by matter2003

[bob_sauve28]

It's impossible to say...different styles, different eras...what rules are we playing by?

 

Like in basketball...does the 72 win Bulls team beat this year's Warriors team? Well how can you say for sure? Different era, different rules..are we allowing hand checking like they did back then? The extremely physical play that occurred back then? What rules are we playing by?...likely Warriors would win under today's rules and Bulls would win under their rules...the teams are built to compete and win under the rules they are playing by at the time...

I wonder how that Oilers team would do in this NHL? Gretzky wouldn't have a 200 point season 

[French Collection]

If you guys are talking National teams etc... my choice was Team Canada '87. Heart of those great Oiler teams plus Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque, Dale Hawerchuk and more. Gretzky and Lemieux on the same line was amazing.

[Taro T]

If you guys are talking National teams etc... my choice was Team Canada '87. Heart of those great Oiler teams plus Mario Lemieux, Ray Bourque, Dale Hawerchuk and more. Gretzky and Lemieux on the same line was amazing.

For a short tourney that was definitely the best. But that truly was an AS team on steroids. The best team over an 80 games schedule was the one that went 60-8-12 & only lost once at home all year.

 

And the best hockey to watch ever was the '87 CC Final. Awesome games.

[Neo]

I've written before on the topic of my age and my self awareness of being born a boy and becoming a man in relation to sports. I am grateful for the different lenses that filter my view. Certainly, the concept applies more broadly than to sport, alone. To life!

 

 

I was 20 in 1981 when the Sabres traded Schoenfeld and Gare, heroes of my youth. Sports were never the same. Not better, not worse, but different. Ten years later, with my own children, I was leaving cookies and milk for Santa Clause. It made me happy, but not the way it did when I was 7.

 

The 1976 - 1977 Habs were the NHL's greatest team. I watched them with the simple wide eyed amazement of an older boy.

 

The 1984 - 1985 Oilers were 1A. I watched them with the more rigorous sophistication of a younger man.

 

The 1972 Summit Series was the number 1 greatest hockey tournament. Two different approaches to what it meant to be a human being were being debated. The souls of two nations, the two approaches to organizing people, faced off. Canada came to a stop to watch, its national pride at risk. The Soviet Union came to a stop, its national pride about to be born, again. The drama exceeded the skill, which was, itself, extraordinary.

 

The 1987 Canada Cup was the number 1A greatest tournament. Time and distance de-emphasized the drama while nutrition and training allowed skill at even greater heights. Drama and skill lived in each series, of course.

 

Because I'm an American and a hopeless romantic, The Miracle on Ice is hockey's greatest game. Were I a non-American, or less romantically prone to teary eyes, game two of the 1987 Canada Cup would be hockey's greatest game.

 

Note One: Rick Tocchet played for team Canada in 1987.

 

Note Two: All of sport's greatest event occurred 44 years ago, tomorrow. "He is moving like a tremendous machine!" 31/2:24. I was a boy. I am a man. Different lenses matter not.

Edited June 7, 2017 by Neo

[Sabre fan]

things have sure changed...one cannot help but wonder how Gretzky and Co. would fare in today's game with goalies that look so friggin' big. If you see highlights of many of the goals scored the goalies look small and not very effective at times to say the least. Remember Rick Martin or Vaive blasting down the wing and letting a slapper go and the goalie kinda falling and stumbling and not even coming close to stopping it! One never sees goals like that anymore...mostly in tight or screened shots now...