Your team's favorite season as a fan?

[sharkbyte]

Which season do you consider to be your favorite to have watched/experienced for the team you follow? Which season makes you the most nostalgic? For any reasons.

For me, it'll always be the 2005-2006 season. There was something really special about seeing Jumbo traded over in November after we were floundering with 10 straight losses and then he and Cheechoo proceeded to just run over the league. I was 12 years old and it was a real joy to settle in every other night seeing those two light up other teams and take us to the 5th seed. Sadly the fun ended with a 2nd round loss to the Oilers where we blew a 2-0 series lead, but that shiny new toy magic of the Jumbo-Cheechoo connection was so fun to watch in hindsight.

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[Big Phil]

I'm a Leaf fan so obviously in the past there are plenty of Stanley Cup wins. But not in a long time as we know. So for me personally, if I had to pick a season that was fun I would say the 1993 season. It was just special in a way that it sort of brought many Leaf fans out of the closet. Not that Toronto never had a strong fan base even when they were losing, but it was just a running joke for such a long time to be a Leaf fan, to the point where it still is in many ways. But 1993, just made things fun again. It had been, what, 15 years since anything remotely labelled as "fun" could be described in Leafland.

 

[MS]

1992-93 Canucks.

Everything was magic until Gary f'n Shuchuk.

 

[The Panther]

It's mostly gonna be when we were 10 to 12 years old, right?

I guess mine would be the Oilers in 1987-88. It was the second season I followed them closely, but the first when I was allowed to stay up and watch the third periods. The regular season was okay, but then the playoffs...! Can't beat a 16-2 record vs. several of the NHL's top teams. And 11-0 on home ice.

 

[NyQuil]

The 2007 run to the Cup final was enjoyable, as was Karlsson’s playoff in 2017, and the 2003 President's Trophy winning team was a juggernaut that never surrendered a lead through the entire regular season.

But the most fun was the 2005-2006 season which was just after the lockout.

The Pizza Line was born, and Hasek was playing lights out in net. Martin Havlat was put on the PK and would just cherry pick for shorthanded breakaways. Chara was still on the team and entering his prime (before he injured his wrist that year).

They played a highly offensive style of hockey where they tried to outscore their problems and often succeeded.

Unfortunately, that lack of focus and Hasek tearing up his groin ended their playoff run prematurely, but it was probably the most fun as a fan taken as a whole.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

The 2007 run to the Cup final was enjoyable, as was Karlsson’s playoff in 2017, and the 2003 President Trophy winning team was a juggernaut that never surrendered a lead through the entire regular season.

But the most fun was the 2005-2006 season which was just after the lockout.

The Pizza Line was born, and Hasek was playing lights out in net. Martin Havlat was put on the PK and would just cherry pick for shorthanded breakaways. Chara was still on the team and entering his prime (before he injured his wrist that year).

They played a highly offensive style of hockey where they tried to outscore their problems and often succeeded.

Unfortunately, that lack of focus and Hasek tearing up his groin ended their playoff run prematurely, but it was probably the most fun as a fan taken as a whole.

2005-2006 was just such a fun season in general. I think it was my favorite NHL season since 1993-94.

 

[rnhaas]

It was the '93 Leafs for me - I was 11 - but I also have irrational love for the '99 Leafs, who got me back into hockey.

 

[NyQuil]

2005-2006 was just such a fun season in general. I think it was my favorite NHL season since 1993-94.

Interestingly, I think I read on here that even strength offence was basically the same post-lockout but the sheer number of powerplays due to the obstruction crackdown had league scoring skyrocketing again.

Skilled players feasted with the man advantage.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Interestingly, I think I read on here that even strength offence was basically the same post-lockout but the sheer number of powerplays due to the obstruction crackdown had league scoring skyrocketing again.

Skilled players feasted with the man advantage.

That was a part of the offensive outburst that season, but also guys like Ovechkin and Crosby broke into the league. Then several others (like the Sens stars, Datsyuk and Zetterberg, Erik Staal, etc.) were finally able to show off their stuff.

The game just SEEMED better. 2002-03 and 03-04 were seasons where it just felt like teams were skating through sludge. After the lockout the game seemed to be more free wheeling and fast again.

 

[quietbruinfan]

2011. They won the cup despite Jeremy Jacobs and probably being only the third or fourth best team. I will go with third.

 

[VanIslander]

My favorite postseason was clearly the 1982 Towrl Power Stanley Cup Finals run as a fan of my hometown Canucks. I was born in Burnaby (in metro Vancouver). I was there. (I was entering junior high/middle school.)

But my personal favorite regular season in terms of enjoying the journey not only the destination, is certainly one of the young Linden-led Canucks (with Gelinas as a wing man), Hasek-amazing Peca-captained years, Marleau, Thornton, Burns hopeful seasons, or must-watch-tv OV's rookie season: (staggering)

 

[jigglysquishy]

11-12 season will always reign supreme as a Jets fan. Lost the team as a little kid and kind of bounced around the league looking for a replacement. The whole process of getting a team back, the anticipation of team name, and just the joy of having hockey back in Winnipeg was so much fun.

I got to go to a few games in Winnipeg that year and the crowd was absolutely electric.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

1992-93 Canucks.

Everything was magic until Gary f'n Shuchuk.

mine was 1991-'92

coming off scaring the bejeezus out of gretzky and the kings for three games in the playoffs with the brand new life line (courtnall/ronning/linden, for those who weren't there) combining for 13 goals in the series

starting off the season 8-1-1

linden 6th in scoring after ten games, 4th after twenty, 5th after thirty, still 12th at the halfway mark (linden peaked at end in the scoring race at the end of november)

kirk mclean playing legit MVP hockey, just happening to be up against a top three season of patrick roy's career

finishing first in our division (4th in the league) for the first time... ever i'm pretty sure?

starting the year with a four line deep forward corps of

adams nedved linden​

momesso ronning sandlak​

courtnall larionov kron​

odjick walter valk​

and then fifteen games in adding some little rookie

filling out the team with babych and fergus and rolling into the playoffs with still probably the deepest canucks team i've ever seen other than the few days between the 2011 trade deadline and malhotra losing an eye —

courtnall ronning linden​

adams larionov bure​

sandlak nedved fergus​

momesso walter valk​

​

lumme murzyn​

diduck babych​

lidster dirk​

​

vezina mclean​

going down 3-1 to the jets and then absolutely murdering housley and rick tabaracci

i mean this game —



and then cap it off with the first canuck to ever be named a postseason all-star, and the first canuck to win an award

absolutely none of that felt remotely possible in the summer of 1991, going from a perennial sad sack and bottom five team in the league to having one hall of famer putting up 31 assists and 39 pts in the last 34 games, and another hall of famer scoring 22 goals and 32 pts in the last 23. the omg is this reality was such a ride for me as a young kid. i can only imagine what it must have felt like for people who actually suffered through the yellow uniform tony tanti and petri skriko years.

 

[Prsut18]

2002 for me.. My hometow hero Hasek joined my favorite Red Wings and it ended with the Cup.. what a time to be a hockey nerd kid!

 

[JianYang]

Probably 92-93. The habs win the cup, and it was just an excellent season to be a fan of the league. The stars just seemed to be even bigger stars at this point.

Honorable mention to the 01/02 habs for how inspirational they were. Koivu misses the year to cancer. Somehow, they make the playoffs, Theodore has an MVP season, while saku comes back and has a very good playoff leading the team in points along with the aging Gilmour who had had one foot in retirement before the Habs came calling due to koivu's plight.

07/08 Habs as well for just being consistently entertaining all year. It's must watch television when kovalev is engaged for the entire season.

 

[Moose Head]

For the Habs, 70-71 (Beliveau’s last ride and Dryden coming out of nowhere), 76-77 (sheer dominance), 85-86 (Robinson’s last cup and a rookie Patrick Roy), and 92-93 ( the last cup and an enormously entertaining season for the NHL).

Can’t pick one over the others.

 

[GMR]

2002 easily.

That roster was insane. The offseason felt like being a rich kid who just got more presents. The prior playoff disappointments stung from 1999-2001. Beating the hated Blues and Avalanche in the 2002 playoffs felt almost better than winning the Cup. They won another Cup in 2008 but the roster turned over too much. It was more fun seeing Yzerman, Fedorov, Shanahan, etc than the players who came later.

 

[LightningStorm]

Each of the Lightning's 3 cup wins has a uniqueness to it. I was 13 in 2004, and 30 in both 2020 and 2021 (the 2020 SCF were in September, and I turned 30 right as the series started). Both were like reflections of childhood fantasy vs adult reality.

2004 was the first year we realistically had a shot, and we won it. The core was young and didn't even have to pay their dues with a heartbreaking playoff loss before that. The big urgency was Andreychuk was in his 22nd season, so it was now or never for him when it came to the cup. But all in all it was fun with how that young St. Louis/Lecavalier/Richards core won a cup the very first chance they had, and there wasn't a lot of pressure since we probably weren't even in people's top 5 of teams they picked to win it at the start of the playoffs. There's also an inherent joy to the first ever franchise cup win.

2020 had more of those adult realities leading up to it with all the heartbreaking losses that preceded it. 3 ECF (along with a SCF) appearances in the 5 seasons before it, but no cups. And the historic first round upset the year before. This one was even sweeter than 2004 because of those heartbreaking losses the core had prior. It was also the least stressful playoffs, as they dominated everyone on their way to the cup.

The only bummer about 2020 was that it happened in the bubble with no fans, This was what made 2021 special, in addition to going B2B. Loved winning it on home ice, and Stamkos playing too was great after missing the playoffs the year before. With his playoff struggles, it was nice seeing him play a full postseason that ended in a cup.

Edit: 2015 was my favorite non cup winning season. Seeing our present day core come together that season and make it all the way to the finals was exciting. Looking back, it was fortunately a sign of what they'd eventually accomplish.

 

[LightningStorm]

I'm a Leaf fan so obviously in the past there are plenty of Stanley Cup wins. But not in a long time as we know. So for me personally, if I had to pick a season that was fun I would say the 1993 season. It was just special in a way that it sort of brought many Leaf fans out of the closet. Not that Toronto never had a strong fan base even when they were losing, but it was just a running joke for such a long time to be a Leaf fan, to the point where it still is in many ways. But 1993, just made things fun again. It had been, what, 15 years since anything remotely labelled as "fun" could be described in Leafland.

This sums up Seattle with the Mariners right now. 21 years without the playoffs and the town is rocking right now. Heck, today the talk of town is more about them finally hosting a home playoff game rather than them facing elimination.

11-12 season will always reign supreme as a Jets fan. Lost the team as a little kid and kind of bounced around the league looking for a replacement. The whole process of getting a team back, the anticipation of team name, and just the joy of having hockey back in Winnipeg was so much fun.

I got to go to a few games in Winnipeg that year and the crowd was absolutely electric.

This pretty much sums of how I feel about the Sonics inevitably returning to Seattle. There's no doubt Sonics would be the team name again. Though since you mention the anticipation of the team name, was it not always set in stone that the Jets name would be revived?

 

[jigglysquishy]

This sums up Seattle with the Mariners right now. 21 years without the playoffs and the town is rocking right now. Heck, today the talk of town is more about them finally hosting a home playoff game rather than them facing elimination.

This pretty much sums of how I feel about the Sonics inevitably returning to Seattle. There's no doubt Sonics would be the team name again. Though since you mention the anticipation of the team name, was it not always set in stone that the Jets name would be revived?

There was about a month between the team returning and the name announcement at the draft. They were officially known as Winnipeg NHL team in the mean time.

There were lots of rumours about taking the name Manitoba Moose or something else. It was far from certain and a few powerful people within the Jets ownership group wanted a new identity.

 

[JackSlater]

2002 Detroit for me. Felt like potentially the last and definitely the best chance to see all of my favourite players along with other legends thrown in, and of course it went almost perfectly. Ultimately as you get older you're never going to like players more than you did when you were younger, even if those players are better or even win more. That team felt very memorably before the season even started and ended up living up to the legend. Other than that 1997 and honestly 1996 I guess, even with the ending.

For football the Colts 2006 season, culminating in the 2007 AFC championship game, with the super bowl as a nice cherry on top. Basketball the 2019 season, but only narrowly ahead of 2001.

 

[MS]

mine was 1991-'92

coming off scaring the bejeezus out of gretzky and the kings for three games in the playoffs with the brand new life line (courtnall/ronning/linden, for those who weren't there) combining for 13 goals in the series

starting off the season 8-1-1

linden 6th in scoring after ten games, 4th after twenty, 5th after thirty, still 12th at the halfway mark (linden peaked at end in the scoring race at the end of november)

kirk mclean playing legit MVP hockey, just happening to be up against a top three season of patrick roy's career

finishing first in our division (4th in the league) for the first time... ever i'm pretty sure?

starting the year with a four line deep forward corps of

adams nedved linden​

momesso ronning sandlak​

courtnall larionov kron​

odjick walter valk​

and then fifteen games in adding some little rookie

filling out the team with babych and fergus and rolling into the playoffs with still probably the deepest canucks team i've ever seen other than the few days between the 2011 trade deadline and malhotra losing an eye —

courtnall ronning linden​

adams larionov bure​

sandlak nedved fergus​

momesso walter valk​

​

lumme murzyn​

diduck babych​

lidster dirk​

​

vezina mclean​

going down 3-1 to the jets and then absolutely murdering housley and rick tabaracci

i mean this game —



and then cap it off with the first canuck to ever be named a postseason all-star, and the first canuck to win an award

absolutely none of that felt remotely possible in the summer of 1991, going from a perennial sad sack and bottom five team in the league to having one hall of famer putting up 31 assists and 39 pts in the last 34 games, and another hall of famer scoring 22 goals and 32 pts in the last 23. the omg is this reality was such a ride for me as a young kid. i can only imagine what it must have felt like for people who actually suffered through the yellow uniform tony tanti and petri skriko years.

In my head I consider 1991-93 almost one long season. The two teams were virtually identical.

1991-92 was more of a WHOA WE'RE ACTUALLY GOOD?!? year. And it was incredibly fun, especially with the arrival of Bure. But when it ended, it was like 'fair enough'.

1992-93 felt to me like a WOW THIS IS GONNA BE OUR YEAR sort of year. Record home unbeaten streak. Nedved smashes the team scoring streak record. Bure smashes every seasonal record. First 100 point season for the team back when that really meant something. And then the playoffs were shaping up absolutely perfectly ... and then Gary f'ing Shuchuk scores a dirty OT winner and that's the end of it. I was as upset at the end of that season as I was in 1994 and 2011.

Then, weirdly, all kinds of stuff went wrong in 1993-94 and that almost ended up being our year.

 

[Miro4Norris]

2015-16 by far. One of my favorite players Kessel being traded to the 'Burgh. Horrible fall, my high school friends were teasing me because they thought Crosby was washed(7yrs ago lol dude's still elite). Few games after Sullivan coming in I remember texting my brother that Pens will win the cup and I was sold about that since January. HBK started dominating and Pens played most entertaining hockey I've ever seen. I was hyped of Murray before he came to NHL and it was awesome to see him playing great. Sullivan bringing all his AHL guys Rusty, Sheary and Kuhn to deliver in the show was fun too.

 

[adsfan]

The 2017 run to the SCF. It was unexpected by the vast majority of Nashville fans. The injuries piled up!

Then the 2018 President's Cup. Time to hanger a banner!

 

[Professor What]

I've gotta go with 2016-17. It wasn't as deep as 06-07 since the Sens didn't make the Finals, but it was so unexpected. We saw Karlson at his absolute best and came one double OT goal away from beating the eventual champs.