Counterfactual reasoning is a tool of History: what if...?

[buffalowing88]

What if Dany Heatley doesn't crash his car in 2003? Do Heatley and Kovalchuk tear it up the rest of the 2000s in Atlanta, what happens to the Thrashers? Does Hossa still get traded from Ottawa, what happens to the mid-late 2000s & beyond Senators? Hossa almost certainly doesn't go to Pittsburgh, Detroit, and then Chicago if Heatley doesn't crash. The Heatley crash effects the whole league standings/transactions in such a way, that if he didn't crash, the Blackhawks don't win 3 Cups and the Oilers don't get McDavid, amongst other possibilities.

Oh man, this was my entire concern from the time they were drafted, til the accident and trade.

I'm always Sabres-first as that's where I'm from but I lived in NC starting around high school but the Canes were boring and Atlanta had this new team that was getting the front page of ESPN The Magazine.

I'm fairly certain that the Thrashers had an upset first round in them if they stayed together.

More importantly, I think that the Sabres get to the SCF in 07 and...lose.

But that would have been cool. Heatley put those Sens over the top that year and I'm still a bit surprised how easily they were finished.

Hossa was a mercenary and would have left regardless. I say this as a big fan of him. I think he may end up on Detroit, regardless. Ottawa isn't going to otherwise give up an asset to a conference rival.

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Oh man, this was my entire concern from the time they were drafted, til the accident and trade.

I'm always Sabres-first as that's where I'm from but I lived in NC starting around high school but the Canes were boring and Atlanta had this new team that was getting the front page of ESPN The Magazine.

I'm fairly certain that the Thrashers had an upset first round in them if they stayed together.

More importantly, I think that the Sabres get to the SCF in 07 and...lose.

But that would have been cool. Heatley put those Sens over the top that year and I'm still a bit surprised how easily they were finished.

Hossa was a mercenary and would have left regardless. I say this as a big fan of him. I think he may end up on Detroit, regardless. Ottawa isn't going to otherwise give up an asset to a conference rival.

Hossa was supposed to get traded in 2005 regardless due to not being able to agree to a contract with Ottawa (those Senators were the first to get really hammered by the hard salary cap). But if there's no Heatley on the market, wonder if the Senators trade Hossa out west to a team like San Jose, Colorado, Anaheim.

It's crazy to think of all the new possibilities that could have affected every single thing in the league had one man just not been speeding in 2003.

 

[VanIslander]

Agreed. Hossa went for the coin.

The sad part was teams not paying to keep him.

Was it dollars or willingness?

He was so good.

 

[Crosby2010]

1959.

Pumpsie Green.

Ah, I knew I was close

 

[Mike C]

The Rangers KNEW Gordie Howe was a great talent, but they chose to offer him a Catholic boarding home deal at Notre Dame. If they had asked/met what he wanted,... the entire course of hockey history may have shifted. The Stanley Cup in NY in the 50s? Gasoline!

They KNEW MIke Bossy wasn't tough enough in the corners too

Lucien DeBlois says hi

 

[Dale53130]

What if the Canadians traded for Luc Robitaille instead of Mark Recchi?

I'm not sure this was even a rumor, never mind if was even discussed internally, but I was thinking about the timeline (it's close), and that Robitaille seems like as good of a fit in Montreal as Mark Recchi was in and around that same period. If Recchi's value is higher at that point in time (likely), Robitaille was only a year removed from his own monster season (1992-93), he's French-Canadian, and he's still only about 28 or 29 years old at this point in time.

Rather than focus on what the Habs could have done with Robitaille, more importantly, what would Gilbert Dionne, Eric Desjardins, and John LeClair have done for the Kings going forward? Dionne is a little more interesting in this scenario (than his going to the Flyers), seeing how his brother was their franchise cornerstone for all of those years. Maybe his career takes a turn for the better here.

Perhaps LeClair makes a similar jump playing with Gretzky, that he did with Lindros. Desjardins would have been a great addition to the Kings, and suddenly, the team has much better depth spread out.

Maybe Gretzky wants to stay with the Kings after this move, and the team is in position to be a player in the West again; though I still think there would have been plenty of work to be done in that department but they're on a better trajectory in this scenario.

 

[Dale53130]

What if Eric Lindros simply stays with the Nordiques?

I've been revisiting Lindros in recent weeks, and I keep thinking that he was in the best position simply staying with the Nordiques (or the potential Detroit trade). In this scenario, they can move one of their other centers, Sakic or Sundin, and trade for a top end defenseman.

I highly doubt it, but maybe the Blues trade Scott Stevens for Sundin rather than sign Shanahan as a free agent. Though that's unlikely, there should still be someone available when you're shopping one of these two centers. I thought Duchesne and Hextall (to a much lesser extent) had good seasons in 1992-93, but they weren't long term solutions either.

Owen Nolan makes perfect sense being paired with Lindros, as a finisher and for also being willing to drop the gloves. They can also grow together which is key. He also gets to play behind Sakic or Sundin (perhaps), with the team possibly easing him into the league, as opposed to making him the face of the team from the get go.

The younger players on the team, are also more aligned with the Lindros' timeline (Foote, Nolan, maybe Sundin if they kept him over Sakic), than what he didn't have while he was with the Flyers.

He also doesn't have to play for a franchise that (IMO) hinders offensive players, from maximizing their potential greatest outputs. I have a very hard time thinking that Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Stastny, etc, could have put up similar point totals that they had with their respective teams/franchises, if they had played with the Flyers (or the Devils) instead. Does Gretzky even get to 180 points in a season with the '80s Flyers? Every season that Clarke eclipsed the 100-point barrier, he really earned his Hart trophies. No one was able to do this in the '80s for the Flyers!

Though Lindros would still have a target on his back, based off the hype (stemming from 1990-91), I doubt that it's anywhere as big as it was by the time 1992 rolled around. I don't think the city of Quebec is demanding that he takes a run at everyone, to mimic the days of The Broadstreet Bullies (which carried over through to the 1990s to some degree).

 

[Moose Head]

What if the habs listen to Claude Ruel and draft Bossy and D Savard instead of Napier and Wickenheiser?

 

[Moose Head]

The Rangers KNEW Gordie Howe was a great talent, but they chose to offer him a Catholic boarding home deal at Notre Dame. If they had asked/met what he wanted,... the entire course of hockey history may have shifted. The Stanley Cup in NY in the 50s? Gasoline!

They also had an opportunity to acquire Maurice Richard in the early 40’s before he broke out.

 

[Professor What]

They also had an opportunity to acquire Maurice Richard in the early 40’s before he broke out.

Imagine that 1-2 punch at right wing. There's no 54-year drought if that happens.