1993...Most Talented NHL Roster Ever?

[Rorschach]

It was by far the most fun I’ve had as a fan. All the way through the playoffs, amazing performances by a ridiculous wealth of talent. We haven’t seen anything like it since and it’s hard to imagine it happening again.

Defense hadn’t caught up to the overload of offensive talent. The Russian invasion played a part for sure. Feds, Bure, Mogilny, Zhamnov, Kovalev….

Euros in general with Jagr, Selanne, Bondra, Sundin…etc.

Yes there were so many talented offensive talents and many of them are considered GOATs for their countries... Many times over the decades, the Euro countries have put out premium offensive talents.

But what made it truly crazy is how many defensive talents both defensemen, centers and goaltenders.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Probably

 

[JianYang]

Yes for the reasons stated above.

Also, each team carried two or three enforcers who were immensely popular with the fans. The PIM totals from those years are hard to fathom today.

True. Say what you want about fighting but no doubt that the enforcers were strong antagonists/protagonists back then who really connected with the fans.

A guy like Bob probert coming to town used to be a big deal in itself.

 

[Profet]

Beezer getting no love in this thread is sad.

 

[BraveCanadian]

Pretty sure that the early to mid-90s was the peak of hockey talent playing in the NHL.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Good times

 

[Amorgus]

As a kid I always wondered why players didn't just keep going from side to side behind the net in a continuously-reversing wrap around until the goalie got stuck outside of the crease.

That's too much work. You just skated diagonally full speed at the corner of the goal without even shooting and it automatically jammed it in. We had to create a No Jamming rule after a while. It worked pretty much every time.

 

[JPT]

That's too much work. You just skated diagonally full speed at the corner of the goal without even shooting and it automatically jammed it in. We had to create a No Jamming rule after a while. It worked pretty much every time.

It's funny how even now there are glitches that almost always result in goals. I swear in NHL 24 if I'm able to skate horizontally through the slot and rip a shot across my body top shelf it'll go in 95% of the time.

 

[Rorschach]

Probably yes, though you do have to bear in mind that not all of those guys were actively playing like superstars at the time.

1993 represents the overlap of:

- late-peak athleticism of the late Baby Boomers (guys born in ‘63 were now 30)

- early-peak athleticism of the early X’ers (guys born in 1971 were now 22)

- the full opening up of the league to former Soviets and other Europeans

- during a period when the former eastern European pro leagues had largely imploded (so no KHL-style competition for talent)

- and this all took place just as the NHL was starting to expand for the first time in a generation so that the talent was mostly stacked onto 21 rosters which got to pad their stats on terrible expansion teams.

It was an absolutely perfect storm and yes, it was probably the NHL’s high water mark for pure concentrated talent on the ice every night.

It's interesting. This argument sounds good on paper. However, doing the actual research, it doesn't seem to ring true in 1993.


I did the research using the materials I have...luckily I collect hockey cards so it's easy to look up every single significant player using my Upper Deck series 1 and 2 sets. (I have this set and many others in 9 pockets in a binder. I'm using the 93-94 set that depicts the 1992-93 NHL season for the regular base cards.


Checking the players who had rookie cards in the early to mid 80s (Back then, Topps/OPC usually gave rookie cards or RCs to players who already played a few seasons so usually their actual NHL rookie season is a couple seasons before, FYI.):

(##-##) is their rookie card, cutting it off at 87-88; the explanation afterward is what they did in 92-93 season or future notable accomplishments, meaning the player is not washed up or in decline

Gretzky (79-80) and Lemieux (85-86) already stated above

John Vanbiesbrouck - Rangers (86-87)
just acquired by Florida, about to be the franchise player there

Russ Courtnall - Dallas (86-87)
Scored 79 points in 92-93, about to go to Vancouver on the first line

Tom Barasso - Penguins (84-85)
43-14-5 3.01 GAA, coming off back to back SC wins 91, 92, 2nd in Vezina voting that year

Patrick Roy - Montreal (86-87)
Won Stanley Cup that year and Conn Smythe with more to come with Avs

Bernie Nicholls - doesn't matter (83-84)
Washed up - notorious for not taking care of his body

Ray Bourque - Bruins (80-81)
79 GP 19 G 63 A 82 PT +33 +-, 2nd in Norris Trophy voting

Scott Stevens - Devils (83-84)
Just entering his prime as the most fearsome defenseman in the NHL with multiple Cups ahead as captain

Pat Lafontaine - Sabres (84-85)
84 GP 53 G 95 A 148 PT 3rd in Hart Trophy voting

Dino Ciccarelli - Red Wings (81-82)
82 GP 41 G 56 A 97 PT, still going strong after years of playing a strong style down low

Kevin Hatcher - Capitals (87-88)
83 GP 34 G 45 A 79 PT 114 PIM +11 +- franchise two-way defenseman who played a strong game, 4th in Norris voting

Kirk Muller - Canadiens (85-86)
80 GP 37 G 57 A 94 PT, won Stanley Cup as a top C for Montreal, career season, points-wise

Grant Fuhr - Sabres (82-83)
illegal substance abuse issues, trying to make a comeback

Mike Vernon - Flames (87-88)
Average stats on a declining Flames team but landed his 5th All Star team so, still well respected

Rick Tocchet - Penguins (87-88)
80 GP 48 G 61 A 109 PT 252 PIM +28 +-, career year as one of the best tough guy seasons of all time...109 pts and 252 PIM

Paul Coffey - Red Wings (81-82)
80 GP 12 G 75 A 87 PT, Traded halfway in the season, would help Detroit to President's Trophy and SCF, and win Norris two years later

Adam Oates - Bruins (87-88)
84 GP 45 G 97A 142 PT, no Brett Hull, almost no Cam Neely, 4th in Hart voting, 2nd Lady Byng, first time scoring 40g

Jari Kurri - Kings (81-82)
82 GP 27 G 60 A 87 PT +19 +-, playing as an excellent 2-way center for LA, helped Kings to first SCF ever

Pat Verbeek - Whalers (84-85)
84 GP 39 G 43 A 82 PT, just Pat Verbeek continuing to do Pat Verbeek things

Ron Francis - Penguins (82-83)
84 GP 24 G 76 A 100 PT, 100 points as 2nd line center, excellent faceoff man, 91, 92 SC champ, future Selke winner and Lady Bing winner

Gary Suter - Flames (86-87)
81 GP 23 G 58 A 81 PT, excellent defenseman on a now bad team, tied for 7th in Norris voting, so still respected

Cam Neely - Bruins (84-85)
injuries, injuries, injuries, the Sandy Koufax of hockey

Larry Murphy - Penguins (81-82)
83 GP 22 G 63 A 85 PT +45 +-, huge career season as no longer just an offensive defenseman, 3rd in Norris

Vincent Damphousse - Montreal (87-88)
84 GP 39 G 58 A 97 PT, excellent offensive season on the first line of the SC Champs

Doug Gilmour - Maple Leafs (84-85)
83 GP 32 G 95 A 127 PT +32 +-, considered a top 3 player in the league this year, 2nd in Hart, Selke winner, excellent playoff run

Steve Yzerman - Red Wings (84-85)
84 GP 58 G 79 A 137 PT +33 +-, his most well-rounded season yet, imagine these numbers w/only being 8th in Hart voting and 0 Selke votes...

Dale Hawerchuk - Jets (82-83)
81 GP 16 G 80 A 96 PT, Hawerchuk still being the offensive force he always has

Luc Robitaille - Kings (87-88)
84 GP 63 G 62 A 125 PT +18 +-, basically having a career season as captain of the Kings, SCF

Al MacInnis - Flames (85-86)
Injury issues but still has a Norris win in the future with many great years in St. Louis

Phil Housley - Jets (83-84)
80 GP 18 G 79 A 97 PT, career year offensively for this offensive defenseman, probably something to do with Selanne, 5th in Norris voting


Also by this time, most of the old guard standouts from like Lanny MacDonald, Larry Robinson or Bryan Trottier were gone in previous seasons.

So either way, the nearly all of the 80s players were excelling or still had great years ahead; and, the 70s standout players were pretty much all retired. Conclusion? It was really the prime players still in their prime with a huge infusion of new talent at all positions coming from every direction/country.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It's interesting. This argument sounds good on paper. However, doing the actual research, it doesn't seem to ring true in 1993.


I did the research using the materials I have...luckily I collect hockey cards so it's easy to look up every single significant player using my Upper Deck series 1 and 2 sets. (I have this set and many others in 9 pockets in a binder. I'm using the 93-94 set that depicts the 1992-93 NHL season for the regular base cards.


Checking the players who had rookie cards in the early to mid 80s (Back then, Topps/OPC usually gave rookie cards or RCs to players who already played a few seasons so usually their actual NHL rookie season is a couple seasons before, FYI.):

(##-##) is their rookie card, cutting it off at 87-88; the explanation afterward is what they did in 92-93 season or future notable accomplishments, meaning the player is not washed up or in decline

Gretzky (79-80) and Lemieux (85-86) already stated above

John Vanbiesbrouck - Rangers (86-87)
just acquired by Florida, about to be the franchise player there

Russ Courtnall - Dallas (86-87)
Scored 79 points in 92-93, about to go to Vancouver on the first line

Tom Barasso - Penguins (84-85)
43-14-5 3.01 GAA, coming off back to back SC wins 91, 92, 2nd in Vezina voting that year

Patrick Roy - Montreal (86-87)
Won Stanley Cup that year and Conn Smythe with more to come with Avs

Bernie Nicholls - doesn't matter (83-84)
Washed up - notorious for not taking care of his body

Ray Bourque - Bruins (80-81)
79 GP 19 G 63 A 82 PT +33 +-, 2nd in Norris Trophy voting

Scott Stevens - Devils (83-84)
Just entering his prime as the most fearsome defenseman in the NHL with multiple Cups ahead as captain

Pat Lafontaine - Sabres (84-85)
84 GP 53 G 95 A 148 PT 3rd in Hart Trophy voting

Dino Ciccarelli - Red Wings (81-82)
82 GP 41 G 56 A 97 PT, still going strong after years of playing a strong style down low

Kevin Hatcher - Capitals (87-88)
83 GP 34 G 45 A 79 PT 114 PIM +11 +- franchise two-way defenseman who played a strong game, 4th in Norris voting

Kirk Muller - Canadiens (85-86)
80 GP 37 G 57 A 94 PT, won Stanley Cup as a top C for Montreal, career season, points-wise

Grant Fuhr - Sabres (82-83)
illegal substance abuse issues, trying to make a comeback

Mike Vernon - Flames (87-88)
Average stats on a declining Flames team but landed his 5th All Star team so, still well respected

Rick Tocchet - Penguins (87-88)
80 GP 48 G 61 A 109 PT 252 PIM +28 +-, career year as one of the best tough guy seasons of all time...109 pts and 252 PIM

Paul Coffey - Red Wings (81-82)
80 GP 12 G 75 A 87 PT, Traded halfway in the season, would help Detroit to President's Trophy and SCF, and win Norris two years later

Adam Oates - Bruins (87-88)
84 GP 45 G 97A 142 PT, no Brett Hull, almost no Cam Neely, 4th in Hart voting, 2nd Lady Byng, first time scoring 40g

Jari Kurri - Kings (81-82)
82 GP 27 G 60 A 87 PT +19 +-, playing as an excellent 2-way center for LA, helped Kings to first SCF ever

Pat Verbeek - Whalers (84-85)
84 GP 39 G 43 A 82 PT, just Pat Verbeek continuing to do Pat Verbeek things

Ron Francis - Penguins (82-83)
84 GP 24 G 76 A 100 PT, 100 points as 2nd line center, excellent faceoff man, 91, 92 SC champ, future Selke winner and Lady Bing winner

Gary Suter - Flames (86-87)
81 GP 23 G 58 A 81 PT, excellent defenseman on a now bad team, tied for 7th in Norris voting, so still respected

Cam Neely - Bruins (84-85)
injuries, injuries, injuries, the Sandy Koufax of hockey

Larry Murphy - Penguins (81-82)
83 GP 22 G 63 A 85 PT +45 +-, huge career season as no longer just an offensive defenseman, 3rd in Norris

Vincent Damphousse - Montreal (87-88)
84 GP 39 G 58 A 97 PT, excellent offensive season on the first line of the SC Champs

Doug Gilmour - Maple Leafs (84-85)
83 GP 32 G 95 A 127 PT +32 +-, considered a top 3 player in the league this year, 2nd in Hart, Selke winner, excellent playoff run

Steve Yzerman - Red Wings (84-85)
84 GP 58 G 79 A 137 PT +33 +-, his most well-rounded season yet, imagine these numbers w/only being 8th in Hart voting and 0 Selke votes...

Dale Hawerchuk - Jets (82-83)
81 GP 16 G 80 A 96 PT, Hawerchuk still being the offensive force he always has

Luc Robitaille - Kings (87-88)
84 GP 63 G 62 A 125 PT +18 +-, basically having a career season as captain of the Kings, SCF

Al MacInnis - Flames (85-86)
Injury issues but still has a Norris win in the future with many great years in St. Louis

Phil Housley - Jets (83-84)
80 GP 18 G 79 A 97 PT, career year offensively for this offensive defenseman, probably something to do with Selanne, 5th in Norris voting


Also by this time, most of the old guard standouts from like Lanny MacDonald, Larry Robinson or Bryan Trottier were gone in previous seasons.

So either way, the nearly all of the 80s players were excelling or still had great years ahead; and, the 70s standout players were pretty much all retired. Conclusion? It was really the prime players still in their prime with a huge infusion of new talent at all positions coming from every direction/country.

Good post but I’m not sure what part is in conflict with the one you responded to?

 

[Rorschach]

Good post but I’m not sure what part is in conflict with the one you responded to?

Maybe I just wrote a very long post to reply to someone I misunderstood?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Maybe I just wrote a very long post to reply to someone I misunderstood?

 

[HabsQC]

And who won the cup that year ? VS the goat on top of it ?

Say it

 

[ClarkSittler]

Is the time of around 1993 the most elite talent in a single NHL roster in the history of the NHL?


1) Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux playing and still highly effective
Gretzky with his Conn Smythe worthy 1993 playoffs and Lemieux with a ridiculous GP 60, G 69, A 91, P 160, +/- +55

1a) So many teams with two #1 caliber centers on the same team...Lemieux/Francis, Yzerman/Federov, Sakic/Forsberg, Modano/Nieuwendyk, etc.


2) Goaltenders, all three GOATs in or heading into their primes: Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek

2a) Many other memorable goalies like Ed Belfour, Nikolai Khabibulin, Olaf Kolzig, Curtis Joseph, Mike Richter, Felix Potvin plus 80s holdovers


3) So much young, elite offensive talent coming into the league such as Eric Lindros, Jaromir Jagr, Pavel Bure, Teemu Selanne, Peter Forsberg, Sergei Federov, Brett Hull, Mats Sundin, Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, etc.


4) Defensemen, oh boy, the insane amount of HOF and franchise defensemen in the NHL, especially the Americans (Leetch, Chelios, Hatcher bros, Gary Suter), Canadians (Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Al MacInnis, Gary Roberts, Chris Pronger, Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Rob Blake, etc.) and Vladimir Kostantinov, Sergei Zubov and some nobody named Nicklas Lidstrom


And I'm just going to mention the 5 Central Red Army elite veterans...Igor Larionov, Sergei Makarov, Vladisav Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov, and Vladimir Krutov although he was on his last legs


I'm sure I've left out several HOFer players...
Maybe the one player who wasn't in the NHL yet but would be there soon was Paul Kariya...

Good post! Gary Roberts wasn't a defenceman though

Good point, there were still some amazing tough guys with talent. Rick Tocchet comes to mind but there are others.

Brendan Shanahan, Cam Neely and Wendel Clark come to mind.

 

[Brodeur]

I was still a new/young fan at that point, so I don't have the best barometer for the late 80s/early 90s guys. But from anecdotes, it seemed like the level of goaltending around the league wasn't great in 1993 which was one of the reasons that season in particular had a spike in offense. Ottawa/Tampa had unfavorable Expansion Draft rules in 1992 which forced to them to basically choose from only a pool of veteran #3 goalies. The rules were changed for the 1993 Expansion Draft for Anaheim/Florida which was kinda why the Ducks/Panthers were more competitive in their early years.

Just to expand on a previous post, the talent was definitely more concentrated in a 26 team league especially with 5 recent expansion clubs. Unrestricted free agency wasn't a thing until the 1995 CBA, so there wasn't as much player movement as we'd have today.

 

[Rorschach]

I was still a new/young fan at that point, so I don't have the best barometer for the late 80s/early 90s guys. But from anecdotes, it seemed like the level of goaltending around the league wasn't great in 1993 which was one of the reasons that season in particular had a spike in offense. Ottawa/Tampa had unfavorable Expansion Draft rules in 1992 which forced to them to basically choose from only a pool of veteran #3 goalies. The rules were changed for the 1993 Expansion Draft for Anaheim/Florida which was kinda why the Ducks/Panthers were more competitive in their early years.

Just to expand on a previous post, the talent was definitely more concentrated in a 26 team league especially with 5 recent expansion clubs. Unrestricted free agency wasn't a thing until the 1995 CBA, so there wasn't as much player movement as we'd have today.

The goaltending was better than ever but the teams had more focus on offense. The expansion of three teams in two years certainly helped, and then another two teams.

Good post! Gary Roberts wasn't a defenceman though

Yeah you're right, I get him and Suter mixed up sometimes.

Unfortunately Neely and Clark were shadows of themselves by that year.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

As a kid I always wondered why players didn't just keep going from side to side behind the net in a continuously-reversing wrap around until the goalie got stuck outside of the crease.

Gretzky did

 

[Bank Shot]

I know some people will say it’s nostalgia and focus on population numbers today but I think @tarheelhockey and @The Panther make some great points that I agree with. There’s a lot more factors to consider than just population and I think the specialization and cost of the sport has made it less accessible. I think those early 90s years were pretty much a peak level of talent.

I think it just seemed like peak talent because the league was still diluted which meant a larger gap between stars and roster fillers than you see today, and also the shift caused by money towards super teams.

 

[ClarkSittler]

Unfortunately Neely and Clark were shadows of themselves by that year.

Clark actually had a good playoffs in 93 but you're right was an off season for both. Next year would be better, Cam would get 50 goals in the 93-94 season and Clark would end up with 46.

 

[Stephen]

I was still a new/young fan at that point, so I don't have the best barometer for the late 80s/early 90s guys. But from anecdotes, it seemed like the level of goaltending around the league wasn't great in 1993 which was one of the reasons that season in particular had a spike in offense. Ottawa/Tampa had unfavorable Expansion Draft rules in 1992 which forced to them to basically choose from only a pool of veteran #3 goalies. The rules were changed for the 1993 Expansion Draft for Anaheim/Florida which was kinda why the Ducks/Panthers were more competitive in their early years.

Just to expand on a previous post, the talent was definitely more concentrated in a 26 team league especially with 5 recent expansion clubs. Unrestricted free agency wasn't a thing until the 1995 CBA, so there wasn't as much player movement as we'd have today.

1993 missed two crucial things in net. A Dominik Hasek breakout which happened in 1994, and the arrival of Martin Brodeur, who won the Calder in 1994.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I was still a new/young fan at that point, so I don't have the best barometer for the late 80s/early 90s guys. But from anecdotes, it seemed like the level of goaltending around the league wasn't great in 1993 which was one of the reasons that season in particular had a spike in offense.

A charitable view is that most goalies old enough to be in the NHL in 1993 had been trained in a very different environment with respect to technique and equipment. They were good athletes with a lot of skill, but most of them never thrived in the butterfly style. Guys like Jon Casey and Darren Puppa went from solid #1s to mediocre backups seemingly overnight.

Your point about the expansion teams is important. The league’s top defensive team, Chicago, allowed 230 goals. Ottawa allowed 395 and San Jose allowed 414. That’s a lot of stat padding for their opponents.

 

[TheStatican]

Might be surprising to hear this from a Pens fan considering the way that season ended for my team, but I still think it was the greatest season of all time, at least from an excitment perspective.

Here's my long-ass write up of the year;

Revisiting the greatest point and goal scoring races in NHL history; The 1992-93 season.

With a new season on the horizon and considering we are coming up to the 30th anniversary of the 1992-93 season I figured now might be a good time to revisit what I firmly believe to be was the greatest goal and point scoring race in NHL history. Last year's scoring race was undoubtedly one of...

forums.hfboards.com

 

[Albatros]

Guys like Jon Casey and Darren Puppa went from solid #1s to mediocre backups seemingly overnight.

Puppa had a great 1995/96 season as a starter in Tampa, briefly re-entered the conversation as one of the best in the league. I think he might have aged surprisingly well despite his style if his back hadn't failed him.

 

[MakeTheGoalsLarger]

If you like the collection of names from 93 that's your thing. When you single out a player from 93 (eg ; Lemieux, Gretzky) you can say he was the best for his time, or maybe ever. But to say the overall level of talent was better back then, that I don't agree. Players learn from past generations and the overall level of skill keeps improving. Players skate way better than they used to and it's not just because of better equipment.

 

[Albatros]

If you like the collection of names from 93 that's your thing. When you single out a player from 93 (eg ; Lemieux, Gretzky) you can say he was the best for his time, or maybe ever. But to say the overall level of talent was better back then, that I don't agree. Players learn from past generations and the overall level of skill keeps improving. Players skate way better than they used to and it's not just because of better equipment.

The talent pool is now a lot smaller though as hockey has become a lot more exclusive.