Your favorite "What if?" contemplation?

[Rabid Ranger]

What if Brendan Shanahan didn't sleep with Craig Janney's wife?

 

[octopi]

What if Calgary's 1989 game 7 OT winner against Vancouver in the first round was called "kicked in?"

What would have happened if Hasek hadn't retired after his first Cup?

What if Steve Moore hadn't been injured in the Bertuzzi hit?

Would the Canadiens have made the playoffs in 2002 if Koivu hadn't come back with 3 games left in the season?(Remember there were 2 teams trying to get into 3 spots, the Habs had to win all 3 games, Koivu had points in all three I believe, and opposing teams they played, who had all secured playoff spots, seemed to lay off him)

 

[octopi]

Would the Flames have won the Cup last year if their goal in game 6 to give them the lead wasn't disallowed?

Just how much better would Yzerman have become if he'd never gotten a serious knee injury?

Did Larionov really need to retire because of age?(Seriously, I think if he'd stuck with the Wings, and there was still hockey, he'd have been fine)

 

[Snap Wilson]

What if Scotty Bowman had been givin the GM job for the Habs back in '79 instead of horrific Irv Grundman? Would the Habs have stayed strong through the 80s?

No, or at least not much better. They were done. Dryden and Lemaire were gone regardless of whether or not Scotty had stayed. Read Dryden's "The Game" which is a diary of the 1978-79 season. The Habs players at that point were bored with their dominance and were actually looking to an eventual playoff matchup with the Islanders as their motivation. I remember looking forward to that showdown as well. Shame it never came off.

 

[#66]

What if the Habs had chosen Marcel Dionne instead of Guy Lafleur?

Would he have been a top 5 all time player? Could he have been a record setter for points at that time?

 

[Archijerej]

What if Bobby Hull and Bobby Orr had been able to play...?

What if the series were played one year earlier and Anatolyi Firsov and Vitalyi Davydov were able to play?

 

[IdiotsPickedMyName*]

What if Daigle had been handled properly?

What if the Sens could beat the leafs?

What if Hossa's 2 posts in Game 7 against the Devils in the ECF had been goals?

 

[Hasbro]

What if Tommy Salo doesn't let the goal of his head in? Does Canada get to the gold medal game?

 

[adurn]

What if the Flyers drafted Jagr instead of Ricci.
What if Andrei Nikolishin had never jumped on Bertuzzi's back.

 

[Hasbro]

What if the Flyers drafted Jagr instead of Ricci.

And what if they traded Jagr and Forsberg for Lindros?

What if Andrei Nikolishin had never jumped on Bertuzzi's back.

Bertuzzi would have kept punching Moore.

 

[Anksun]

What if Kerry Fraiser never worked in a habs playoffs game... ?
And
What if Kerry Fraser had been ask by his wife to shave his head?

 

[SingnBluesOnBroadway]

What if the Rangers never traded Doug Weight and Tony Amonte? Would they have still won the Cup in '94? Would they have won multiple Cups?

 

[chooch*]

What if the Rangers never traded Doug Weight and Tony Amonte? Would they have still won the Cup in '94? Would they have won multiple Cups?

What if Dennis Sobchuk plays with Semenko; does he rack up 900 goals?

 

[Malefic74]

I have to agree. I think it'd be fun to debate some of these scenarios, but it's next to impossible when people are only posting one line example. Let's have some more elaboration. This could be really great thread.

Very well then I will expand on mine. Had the Rocket only been suspended the rest of the season by Clarence Campbell then two big things change.

1) Needless to say there is no Richard Riot. Which by itself is reason enough to wish it hadn't happened.

2) The Habs beat Detroit for the Stanley Cup and instead of 5 Cups in a row it's 6!

 

[davemess]

What if the Penguins beat the Devils in the 2001 playoffs? Would the NHL have taken a shift towards a more Offensive based game?

Imagine a Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk, Tanguay, Drury, Blake, Bourque vs Mario, Jagr, Kovalev, Straka, Lang, Hrdina Stanley Cup Finals.




What if the Penguins didnt lose Bob Johnson?
What if the Penguins had hired Herb Brooks and not Ed Johnson in 93?

 

[Snap Wilson]

Here's a fun one.

Prior to Bruce McNall swooping in, Nelson Skalbania (former owner of the Oilers) knew about the Oilers financial troubles and was working on initiating a trade that would have sent The Great One to Winnipeg in the summer of '88. Now there was probably never a chance in hell of this coming off, as Winnipeg didn't have the raw cash that Pocklington needed, but what if it had? Gretzky was traded for Jimmy Carson and L.A.'s first round pick, Martin Gelinas. What if he was traded for a package that included Hawerchuk and Winnipeg's first round pick... Teemu Selanne?

 

[red devil]

What if Quebec doesn't move to Colorado in the '95/96 season, what team does Roy get traded to?

 

[Rather Gingerly 1*]

What if Montreal had drafted Denis Savard instead of Doug Wickenheiser?

 

[Hasbro]

What if Herb Brooks was coach of the 1998 Olympic team?

One set of Herbies would have put an end to all of that partying.

 

[wilka91*]

What if a new CBA had been signed on September 16, 2004?

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

What if the Nordiques draft Jagr over Nolan?
What if the Avalanche draft Havlat over Kuleshov?
What if the Flames chose Skoula over Regehr?

and lastly, What if Bryan Fogarty didn't have a mental disease that eventually led to drugs/alcohol and his downfall?

 

[GravityGrave]

My biggest "What ifs?":

1)What if one night in November, 1995, Pavel Bure does not get taken out behind the Blackhawks net by Steve Smith, does not catch his skate in a rut between the boards and ice, and does not turn his right knee into mush?

2)-This one was already mentioned-What if a Gretzky doesn't get ticked off by the Canucks managment/negotiations, and signs as a free-agent in Vancouver before the 96-97 season?

3) What if the Canucks' management wasn't so inept during the mid-late 90's, and decides to open the pocketbook??

Bure stays injury-free. He ends up clicking with Alex Mogilny and goes on a scoring tear during the 95-96 season. The team has a good season but loses to the eventual Cup Champ Avalanche in the playoffs.

However the next season the Canucks retool, adding the Great One in the off-season, as well as group II restricted free agent Dimitri Yushkevich for a little more compensation than Canucks fans feel is worthwhile. The team also signs Free Agent Pat Verbeek from the Rangers, as a hard-working role player.

Top Defensive prospect, 1994 draftee Mattias Ohlund is also brought over to north america one year earlier than projected. The canucks Also decide to retain the services of centreman Cliff Ronning, fresh off a 67 point season playing with Mogilny.

Canucks lines to start 96-97:

Tikkanen-Gretzky-Bure
Gelinas-Ronning-Mogilny
Naslund-Linden-Verbeek/Courtnall
Sillinger-Walker-Dowd/Odjick/Scatchard

Lumme-Yuskevich
Hedican-Aucoin
Murzyn-Ohlund/Babych/Cullimore

The Canucks go on to win the 96-97 Stanley Cup, Stomping the Flyers after a hard fought conference finals with the equally strong Detroit Red Wings.

Oh, I'm living in the past. Yes I am.

 

[xtra]

My biggest "What ifs?":

1)What if one night in November, 1995, Pavel Bure does not get taken out behind the Blackhawks net by Steve Smith, does not catch his skate in a rut between the boards and ice, and does not turn his right knee into mush?

2)-This one was already mentioned-What if a Gretzky doesn't get ticked off by the Canucks managment/negotiations, and signs as a free-agent in Vancouver before the 96-97 season?

3) What if the Canucks' management wasn't so inept during the mid-late 90's, and decides to open the pocketbook??

Bure stays injury-free. He ends up clicking with Alex Mogilny and goes on a scoring tear during the 95-96 season. The team has a good season but loses to the eventual Cup Champ Avalanche in the playoffs.

However the next season the Canucks retool, adding the Great One in the off-season, as well as group II restricted free agent Dimitri Yushkevich for a little more compensation than Canucks fans feel is worthwhile. The team also signs Free Agent Pat Verbeek from the Rangers, as a hard-working role player.

Top Defensive prospect, 1994 draftee Mattias Ohlund is also brought over to north america one year earlier than projected. The canucks Also decide to retain the services of centreman Cliff Ronning, fresh off a 67 point season playing with Mogilny.

Canucks lines to start 96-97:

Tikkanen-Gretzky-Bure
Gelinas-Ronning-Mogilny
Naslund-Linden-Verbeek/Courtnall
Sillinger-Walker-Dowd/Odjick/Scatchard

Lumme-Yuskevich
Hedican-Aucoin
Murzyn-Ohlund/Babych/Cullimore

The Canucks go on to win the 96-97 Stanley Cup, Stomping the Flyers after a hard fought conference finals with the equally strong Detroit Red Wings.

Oh, I'm living in the past. Yes I am.

If only this had happend i think that the East would have more cups because the west would have been such a [MOD] to get out of. That team the canucks could have iced woudl have been great if McLean was still adequate in net.

 

[Hasbro]

If only this had happend i think that the East would have more cups because the west would have been such a B!@tch to get out of. That team the canucks could have iced woudl have been great if McLean was still adequate in net.

Of course that was the line of reasoning every year in the Western conference, the big four would beat up on eachother and the east would walk over a weak western team, never really materialized.

 

[kingpest19]

What if Daigle had been handled properly?

What if the Sens could beat the leafs?

What if Hossa's 2 posts in Game 7 against the Devils in the ECF had been goals?

What if Daigle had actually wanted to play hockey is a better way of saying it