Say Something that You Like About Every NHL Team

[Dale53130]

I have my favorite team (home team), and favorites, but what's one thing that you like or liked about each franchise over the years (player, jersey, coach, GM, the city itself, etc)?

I'll kick things off, but I'm going with 26 teams (1993-94), and it can include any part of their history even if they relocated at some point. You can use any franchise, newer ones (Seattle), it's up to you.

1. Anaheim Ducks - Teemu Selanne winning a cup, resurrecting his career a couple of years earlier, and that Randy Carlyle was the coach (Winnipeg connection).
2. Boston Bruins - 1982-83 Bruins, Barry Pederson, Pete Peters, Raymond Bourque, Rick Middleton, lots of depth, a good mix of young and old players. Nice run in the playoffs, especially for Pederson and Middleton.
3. Buffalo Sabres - 1993-94 squad, down Lafontaine, Hasek emerges, Hawerchuk's last strong season.
4. Calgary Flames - I retroactively like the 1988-89 squad, also wonder how they didn't run off 3 straight Conference Finals with this line-up.
5. Chicago Blackhawks - Troy Murray's Selke, 45 G, 99 PTS, + 32 season.
6. Dallas Stars - The 1990-91 Minnesota team that went to the Finals, and I'm specifically interested in their defensive corps getting them that far (because it had a lot to do with them).
7. Detroit Red Wings - John Ogrodnick's 1984-85 season. 55 goals, 105 PTS, 1st Team AS at LW.
8. Edmonton Oilers - 1983-84 Oilers, 446 Goals for, but I'm most fascinated in how they lost to the Whalers 0-11 at the tail end of a 5-game losing streak where they kicked things off losing to the Capitals 2-9. They scored 9 goals and surrendered 33 over that stretch! They went 57-18-5 that year.
9. Florida Panthers - The fact that the went 33-34-17 in their inaugural season, which at the time seemed wrong to me, and that they'd be in the Finals just two years later.
10. Hartford Whalers - 1982-83 and them wearing Cooperalls. I thought they looked great! It's also fascinating looking at every player's +/- that year, and that the team gave up 403 goals that season (4th most all time).
11. Los Angeles Kings - Bernie Nicholls 70/150.
12. Montreal Canadiens - The 1992-93 team, which I incorrectly thought at the time wasn't particularly (that) good nor deep, but the depth was there, they had a great goalie, and they still had the last of the defensive pieces that they used to produce.
13. New Jersey Devils - Similar to the Stars, going after Montreal alumni. Smart. Why did the Habs change what was working?
14. New York Rangers - The '80s. Middle of the pack team, most of the time, and knocking off some great teams in the early rounds of the playoffs.
15. New York Islanders - The lighting at Nassau Coliseum in the early '80s, I loved it, and hated the lighting at the Forum in Los Angeles by contrast. The games out of Long Island were darkly lit, yet I was never tired, and whatever they were doing in Los Angeles made my sleepy.
16. Ottawa Senators - The excitement going into the 1993-94 season, with Daigle and Yashin, even if things didn't pan out.
17. Philadelphia Flyers - I also like them with Cooperalls, and Bobby Clarke looked younger wearing them (at least to me). But what I really love, is Mark Howe's +87 to go along Brad McCrimmon's +86 in 1985-86. Naturally they lost to the Rangers in the 1st round that year...
18. Pittsburgh Penguins - Rob Brown in 1988-89.
19. Quebec Nordiques - Their 1979 draft, specifically the Dale Hunter pick, which would be flipped for Joe Sakic (and lots of losing which helped them rack up 1st overall draft picks).
20. St. Louis Blues - The fact that Scotty Bowman coached the team to three straight Finals, and that Al Arbour was on those teams.
21. San Jose Sharks - Selecting Pat Falloon's Spokane Chiefs' teammate Ray Whitney, which at the time, could have been seen as a similar move to Scott Arniel going in the 2nd round, after the Jets selected Dale Hawerchuk 1st overall in '81. Whitney was obviously a great pick.
22. Tampa Bay Lightning - Brian Bradley in 1995-96. It was a nice story (sort of) in 1992-93, but I would have thought (then) that as the years go on, he'll be on the 3rd line sure enough, or on another team, or out of the league by that point. His 79 points in 75 games was a nice surprise, and the team made the playoffs for the first time that season.
23. Toronto Maple Leafs - Doug Gilmour (covered recently), but mostly Cliff Fletcher's moves that he made to turn the franchise around starting in 1991-92. They're not all great trades, but that team needed a number vets (even on the wrong side of 30) to help move the team in a different direction.
24. Vancouver Canucks - Their black away jersey's from the '80s. Tony Tanti's 5-year run at scoring roughly 40 goals per season, for a guy listed at 5'9".
25. Washington Capitals - It's a toss up between them having three 20 goal scorers on defense (Hatcher/Iafrate/Côté) in 1992-93, or the fact that at one time, they had Scott Stevens, Larry Murphy, Kevin Hatcher, (even) Gary Galley, and Rod Langway on the same team.
26. Winnipeg Jets - Having six 30 goal scorers in 1984-85.

 

[tabness]

Wings fan

1. Anaheim: original Mighty Ducks logo and colors top notch
2. Arizona/Phoenix: Krys Kolanos penalty shot making Patrick Roy cry like a little baby
3. Atlanta: really cool original logos
4. Boston: was a big fan of Joe Thornton on the early 2000s Bruins
5. Buffalo: early nineties team with Pat LaFontaine
6. Calgary: can't think of much really lol, I guess Brett Hull's OPC rookie card
7. Carolina: happy they beat Edmonton in 2006 to avenge the Wings I guess
8. Chicago: eighties and nineties teams with Savard and then Roenick, great battles with the Wings, kinda wished Daze would have carried that into the 2000s pre lockout, post lockout with Toews/Kane never did much for me
9. Colorado: team I love to hate, amazing rivalry, had the best announcer ever in Mike Haynes, original logo was pretty cool everything was so deliciously hateful about Colorado during the rivalry years, and as a postscript Avs fans were like the nicest and least obnoxious on the main boards during the 2022 cup run lol
10. Columbus: Rick Nash was cool, original logo is decent
11. Dallas: beating Colorado in 1999 and 2000 (BLESS YOU GUYS), liked a lot of their players like Hull, Modano, Hatcher, and so on
12. Edmonton: watching Paul Coffey skate and play at his zenith
13. Florida: sunburst alternate logo absolutely top tier (original main logo pretty nice too)
14. Hartford: decent logo I guess
15. Los Angeles Kings: always liked Luc Robitaille, really liked some of the old school logos and colors, the purple and gold, the black and grey, even the Burger King ones lol
16. Minnesota (North Stars): nice logo, 1991 run was cool, Tinordi was a beast for a brief period, good Norris battles with Detroit
17. Minnesota (Wild): not much I can think of lol
18. Montreal: brief stint Robert Lang did there caught my attention because he had some notable moments like nailing Chara or the hatrick effort lol
19. Nashville: remember David Legwand originally, always seemed to like Barry Trotz, they got Stamkos now (shame he sucking so badly lol)
20. New Jersey: nothing really lol, Probert Crowder fights I guess, still mad Wings didn't get a chance to face them for revenge in the finals for 1995
21. New York (Rangers): have kinda been my go to playoff bandwagon team recently since the Wings suck and don't make the playoffs
22. New York (Islanders): followed Janne Niinimaa a bit while he was there in the early 2000s and even bought a Islanders hat (first fitted hat lol), interested a bit due to their dynasty years (still need to watch more of them), liked the fishstick logo actually lol
23. Ottawa: I picked Daniel Alfredsson in some Yahoo fantasy hockey online league and he did real good for me in 2006-2007, the Heatley Ottawa Gh0st videos were funny in college
24. Philadelphia: Lindros in his prime playing "best I've ever seen" type hockey never before or since seen a guy like him
25. Pittsburgh: watching Paul Coffey skate and play just a bit past his zenith
26. Quebec: nice logo and colors, Stastny brothers line is super cool
27. San Jose: liked the original logo and teal color and some of the OG Sharks like Friesen, Falloon were cool (just for their names I guess)
28. Seattle: Climate Pledge Arena has a wack name but is really nice, also enjoy the Seattle Mets banner in the building lol
29. St Louis: just really enjoyed Brett Hull and the team from his era, wonderful logo and color (nineties) and team name, later Pronger/MacInnis era was pretty cool too, great battles with the Wings even though they usually lost (maybe why I look more fondly upon them than other rivals lol)
30. Tampa Bay: really liked Lecavalier ever since like the 2004 World Cup which was the last international hockey I really enjoyed or cared for and then having him on NHL 06 which I played so much of, Stamkos later on as well
31. Toronto: fun Norris division eighties and early nineties battles, GUCCY Matthews fashion
32. Utah: the name is so sad it's amusing
33. Vancouver: had a Smallworld (anyone remember this?) team called the Nutty Canucks in 2002-2003 and spent all my money on Naslund and Bertuzzi who did real well for me lol
34. Vegas: cheered for Fleury during the first season and cup run (sad the wheels really fell off in the finals lol)
35. Washington: that late nineties team with those players is what I most associate with the Caps, even liked their goalie Kolzig, HANTA YO BABY
36. Winnipeg: liked the iteration of the logos, really liked Hawerchuk and he also had the funny french song about him, Vitamin J ad
37. Winnipeg (2.0): nothing much honestly, Byfuglien was fun to watch and follow around maybe

 

[The Panther]

1. Calgary Flames - I retroactively like the 1988-89 squad, also wonder how they didn't run off 3 straight Conference Finals with this line-up.

As someone once put it, there was no defeat which the late-80s / early-90s' Flames could not pull from the jaws of victory. (They did win their one Cup, though... thanks to the Gretzky trade...)

1. Dallas Stars - The 1990-91 Minnesota team that went to the Finals, and I'm specifically interested in their defensive corps getting them that far (because it had a lot to do with them).

Yes, it was defense and their power-play, which inexplicably looked like that of the early-80s' Islanders overnight as the playoffs began... (it helped when the Keenan-Blackhawks took, like 80 penalties a game in round one).

1. Detroit Red Wings - John Ogrodnick's 1984-85 season. 55 goals, 105 PTS, 1st Team AS at LW.

That's always jumped out at me as weird one-off, too.

1. Edmonton Oilers - 1983-84 Oilers, 446 Goals for, but I'm most fascinated in how they lost to the Whalers 0-11 at the tail end of a 5-game losing streak where they kicked things off losing to the Capitals 2-9. They scored 9 goals and surrendered 33 over that stretch! They went 57-18-5 that year.

Gretzky missed 6 games. They clobbered Calgary in the first one, but then dropped 5 straight as you say. Another couple of factors leading up to the 11-0 game would be:
1) Not only Gretzky but Kurri also missed those 5 losses (meaning the whole first line was gone).
2) The Hartford game was played, I think, on a Sunday afternoon, following a Saturday night game at Boston Garden. This is a scheduling thing that the NHL doesn't allow nowadays, I'm sure.

1. Hartford Whalers - 1982-83 and them wearing Cooperalls. I thought they looked great! It's also fascinating looking at every player's +/- that year, and that the team gave up 403 goals that season (4th most all time).

Ugh. The Cooperalls. I remember kids at school talking about them when I was, like, 7.

1. New York Rangers - The '80s. Middle of the pack team, most of the time, and knocking off some great teams in the early rounds of the playoffs.

Seemed really middling in the 1980s. Never bad enough to be terrible, never good enough to be notable.

1. New York Islanders - The lighting at Nassau Coliseum in the early '80s, I loved it, and hated the lighting at the Forum in Los Angeles by contrast. The games out of Long Island were darkly lit, yet I was never tired, and whatever they were doing in Los Angeles made my sleepy.

Oh God, yes. The lighting at LA Kings' games back in the Dionne & Gretzky eras was abysmally awful. Like, if you watch those clips now, it looks like each game is being played outside in the dark.

 

[The Panther]

1. Anaheim Ducks - I kind of dislike this franchise because of (a) the Oilers' endless losses to them during their "decade of darkness" and the 2017 playoff collapse, and (b) their butt-ugly uniforms.
2. Boston Bruins - Jack Michaels kind of turned me off this franchise in more recent years, but back in the late 80s I quite liked them, and the history is great. I have affection for the strong c.1986-87 through 1989-90 team. I think we tend to remember teams from when we were 12, so to me the Bruins will always be Bourque & Neely.
3. Buffalo Sabres - I liked them in 1989-90 when they had a surprisingly great season. Lafontaine-era was super fun but not really successful. Hasek-era was more successful but kind of boring to watch.
4. Calgary Flames - I liked the mature-Iginla era club. But my main point of love for this franchise is... The Saddledome itself! I have happy memories of being aged 7 and my young aunt taking me to the Saddledome that was just about built but hadn't opened yet. Jari Kurri scored the first NHL goal there. So many games I've watched broadcast from it. I attended several NHL games and pre-season games there in my student days (the late-Theo Fleury / young-Iginla era). When I flew into Calgary last September (from Tokyo), I saw the Saddledome from the window and thought, "Ah! I'm back."
5. Chicago Blackhawks - Not a lot of strong feelings for the 'Hawks. Here's a weird one: In the short 1995 season, Bernie Nicholls (who led the club in scoring) had not one, but TWO 4-goal games in February 1995.
6. Dallas Stars - I'm all about the NorthStars. Whenever I see clips of the 80s' NorthStars, I think: I wonder if Prince ever dropped in to see a game at the Met Center?
7. Detroit Red Wings - Great memories of the '87 and '88 playoff Red Wings. Yzerman, Probert, Klima, Gallant.... fun players to watch.
8. Edmonton Oilers - My team.
9. Florida Panthers - Meh. Like Anaheim, terrible jerseys.
10. Hartford Whalers - The Whale was always an also-ran franchise. (I do remember -- barely -- when they suddenly finished 1st in the Adams Division in 1987, though.) I was never a big fan of the 'Whale' logo that everyone loves. The most politically incorrect team name ever?
11. Los Angeles Kings - My first strong impression of this club was (as with several others) the 1987-88 season, when I followed them a bit. I remember the 1988 playoff series against Calgary quite well -- Jimmy Carson was on fire. The first three years of the Gretzky-era were not only the last three great seasons of Gretzky but were THE three great seasons of the Kings' jerseys. (They changed them in summer '91 and they were never quite as good.)
12. Montreal Canadiens - The other greatest-jersey team of all time... and also, Quebec's. (Any game between the Habs and Kings in 1988-89, 1989-90, or 1990-91 features the two best jerseys in NHL history facing one another.) I also have a romantic affection for the Canadiens of the mid-1940s. And I enjoyed the late-80s / early-90s team a lot (but I'd kind of gone off them by the time they won the Cup in '93.)
13. New Jersey Devils - Totally 'meh' for me.
14. New York Rangers - I remember Leetch's first month in the NHL (I think his 2nd goal was scored vs. Edmonton in Gretzky's last season there). I went to a game once, in 2008, at MSG. "Let's go Ran-guhs!"
15. New York Islanders - I heard about them a lot when I was 6, 7, 8 years old, at school. One kid (in Alberta, no less) wore their T-shirt all the time. Kind of 'meh' about them, too, but the Milbury-era is fun for comedy value.
16. Ottawa Senators - Canadian 'meh'. The choke in 2007 or whenever that was seemed to kill off the franchise's lustre.
17. Philadelphia Flyers - Good memories of the Oilers-Flyers rivalry from 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988... The Flyers almost always won in Philly, damn them. But the Oil won when it counted. (I still rate 1987 game 7 as maybe the greatest hockey game ever.)
18. Pittsburgh Penguins - One of the worst team-name and team-logos ever, over the decades they've improbably managed to make the uniform look half-decent.
19. Quebec Nordiques - Such beautiful uniforms from mid-1980s to 1995! I don't really remember the 80s' Nords much, but I do remember cheering for Joe Sakic when he was a rookie in 1988-89.
20. St. Louis Blues - 'Meh' franchise for me. I do feel the c.1998 to 2001 club was WAY better than the 2019 club that inexplicably won the big prize.
21. San Jose Sharks - I liked them when they were horrible in the early-90s. Otherwise, I'm not really interested.
22. Tampa Bay Lightning - I like this franchise. I like the way (recently, anyway) they've drafted and developed players, how they reward ones they want to keep and how they dispense of vets at the right time.
23. Toronto Maple Leafs - I miss when they were bottom-feeders in the 1980s and 10 years ago. At this point, it's just getting pathetic, so I do hope they win it all before my uncle (fan since 1960) dies.
24. Vancouver Canucks - I go back and forth. There are times when I've cheered for this club and times when I've really disliked them. I also lived in Van on-and-off for much for my mid-twenties to mid-thirties, so they were in the culture. I was working downtown the day of the 2011 riot, and that kind of ended my period of residency there -- rather a bitter way to go out. I do find the fans sort of fickle and sometimes a bit out of touch with reality (see: Messier as a Canuck), but of course half the Oilers' fans are nutjobs, too.
25. Washington Capitals - Meh. I have affection for the 1974-75 team (way before my time) who won 1 of 40 road games (vs. the California Golden Seals) and then hoisted the metal garbage can around the dressing room as if it were the Cup.
26. Winnipeg Jets - Version 1 was cannon-fodder for Edmonton. Version 2 is fine. It'd be great to see a "small market" Canadian team win the Cup soon.

 

[Salsa Shark]

(NY Rangers fan)

1. Anaheim: Not much - Liked Paul Kariya when I was small
2. Arizona/Phoenix: Enjoyed their surprise 2012 WCF run
3. Atlanta: The 4-0 sweep they took from the Rangers in the 2007 playoffs and the marty straka hattrick in the clincher
4. Boston: The bear they wore on their shoulders in the 80s/90s
5. Buffalo: Rick Jeanerette
6. Calgary: Iginla was awesome. 2004 cup finals
7. Carolina: very very little. Liked Irbe and later Matt Cullen
8. Chicago: Played them a lot as a kid in Gretzky 3-D Hockey. Amonte, Daze & Zhamnov
9. Colorado: Loved the late 90s/2000s squad. Sakic and Hejduk were my guys during the NYR dark age
10. Columbus: Fun place to see a game?
11. Dallas: Their original star patterned jerseys were unique and looked great
12. Edmonton: 2006 cup run was fun
13. Florida: The red leaper cat jersey with the triangle shoulders
14. Hartford: Soft spot for teams who play in derelict arenas on shoestring budgets
15. Los Angeles Kings: They beat Jersey in the finals in 2012
16. Minnesota (North Stars): Great colors
17. Minnesota (Wild): Gaborik was the man
18. Montreal: Kovalev playing well for them and eventually being embraced.
19. Nashville: The Paul Kariya era
20. New Jersey: Nice jerseys (3rd is horrid, however)
21. New York (Rangers): My team
22. New York (Islanders): The greatness of the islanders dynasty
23. Ottawa: The pizza line
24. Philadelphia: Always had a soft spot for Primeau
25. Pittsburgh: Kessel performing well en route to cup
26. Quebec: I liked how they had light blue bottom section of the boards at Le Colisse
27. San Jose: Teal colors appealed to me as a 90s kid
28. Seattle: Not much
29. St Louis: Pronger on the cover of NHL Hitz
30. Tampa Bay: Nothing comes to mind.
31. Toronto: Maple Leaf Gardens
32. Utah: I like Logan Cooley
33. Vancouver: Alex Burrows story amused me. From ball hockey to NHL
34. Vegas: Like Eichel. Wish Rangers traded for him years ago
35. Washington: The classic 74-1995 jersey. Liked Bondra as a kid for some reason too
36. Winnipeg: The WHA era logo and sweater
37. Winnipeg (2.0): Liked the 17-18 squad, wished them better.

 

[VaporTrail]

Can someone give a list of the NHL cities to copy and paste ?? Lol