Strongest World Championships team ever?

[canuck2010]

We cannot directly compare teams from 1981 and 2008 for example. Different eras, different players.

My criteria for the best team ever is how good that team was against its competitors at the time. By that criteria the Soviets blow everyone away and it is a no contest. The Soviet style dominance in international hockey will likely not be replicated in our lifetimes.

True but artificially produced. I could say the same about my pee wee team but we never played the best either.

Not really a true representation of the situation.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

in the past 20 years : Russia 2012

9-0, 44-14, 6-2 wins in both the semifinal and final, including a 7-3 win against a strong Swedish team.

 

[begbeee]

OK, here is my list.

1. Soviet Union 1979
- Most dominant performance ever in any a modern era international tournament. Won all its games and usually with at least 6-10 goals, even against Czechs, Sweden and Canada. 11-1 against Czechoslovakia!

2. Soviet Union 1973
Almost as dominant as in 1979. This was trojka Petrova's show. Again the Soviets won all of their games.


3. Soviet Union 1981
Just a great team. On paper this may be the best team ever, but those two ties against Canada and Czechs put a minor dent in their performance.


4. Soviet Union 1983
The true incoming of the KLM line. This tournament was all about KLM line and Fetisov and Kasatonov on defense.


5. Soviet Union 1970
Another great team on paper: Kharlamov, Maltsev, Firsov, Petrov, Mikhailov, Starshinov, Ragulin etc. Was not as dominant in the rink as those late 1970's/early 1980's teams though.


6. Soviet Union 1982
One of those great Soviet teams of that era. Won all of their games except last meaningless game against the Czechs which was a 0-0 tie.


7. Soviet Union 1986
Soviets again won all of their games. The dominance of early 1980's was gone though. But a convincing victory.



8. Soviet Union 1978
Soviet comeback after two consecutive losses to Czechs in 1976 and 1977. This was Fetisov's breakthrough tournament. He was the best defenseman of the tournament by a wide margin, as a 20-year old.


9. Czechoslovakia 1976
The best Czech team ever.

10. Soviet Union 1990
Mainly the way they played in the medal round. The KLM line was gone but this team played convincingly the whole tournament and was unbeaten in the medal round.

Your lack of Czechoslovakia teams is disturbing. CSSR 1976 has to be certainly ranked higher (for god's sake it's the same team which beat Canada full of pro's in Montreal's Forum - there ya go with comparision how good that team was) and 1985 should make TOP 10 list IMO.
CSSR 1972 is HM.

 

[Swipes]

Your lack of Czechoslovakia teams is disturbing. CSSR 1976 has to be certainly ranked higher (for god's sake it's the same team which beat Canada full of pro's in Montreal's Forum - there ya go with comparision how good that team was) and 1985 should make TOP 10 list IMO.
CSSR 1972 is HM.

Where does CR 2005 rank? That was a pretty damn strong team!

 

[Novak Djokovic]

In the last decade, 2008 comes to mind:

Offense consisting of: Rick Nash, Dany Heatley (when he was a 50 goal scorer), Ryan Getzlaf, Shane Doan, Patrick Sharp, Eric Staal, Martin St. Louis, Jason Spezza (4th line center), Derek Roy (he was good back then), Jonathan Toews, Chris Kunitz

Defense consisting of: Duncan Keith, Jay Bouwmeester, Mark Giordano, Brent Burns, Mike Green, Ed Jovanovksi, Dan Hamhuis, Steve Staois

Heatley had 20 points in 9 games.

Too bad, Cam Ward didn't play that well.

I'm guessing 2005 is pretty good too because of the lockout.

 

[Rekin]

The early 1990's were pretty interesting years in the lower divisions when a bunch of newly independent states had their teams start from the very bottom. 1993 you had matches like Slovakia versus Bulgaria (20:0) in the Group C1 and players like Peter Å ťastný or Miroslav Å atan. Of course also the former Soviet republics fielded good teams, even Kazakhstan had Evgeni Nabokov guarding their goal.

 

[Canuckistani]

1979 USSR:

Poland 7-0, West Germany 3-2 (!), Sweden 9-3, Canada 5-2, Czech 11-1, Sweden 11-3, Canada 9-2, Czech 6-1

Weird that the most dominant team of the past 30-35 years had their closest game vs Germany.

 

[Rekin]

And that year their only world-class forward Kühnhackl wasn't even in the team.