Your team's favorite season as a fan?

[Hobnobs]

As wings fan. 95-98 was just incredible seasons to watch and I cant decide between them

As a Jets fan its probably 93 since I didnt really experience 87

As a Thrashers fan:

 

[markymarc1215]

Was actually in Pittsburgh that November and saw them play the Sharks. The attitude around the arena was doom and glom.

Ive always said they win that Game 4 the curse is over 2 years earlier

I would say honorable mention as a Ranger fan was the 05-06 season. Expected to be awful yet we had a team that brought so much life and excitement back into our lives. Jagr had the best season in Ranger history. That Straka-Nylander-Jagr line was outstanding. The emergence of a little known, smallish prospect named Petr Prucha, who would score 30 goals and become a fan favorite. A 4th line of Ortmeyer-Betts-Hollweg who lacked skill but gave it every night. Surprisingly good seasons from Marcel Hossa, Jason Ward, and Martin Rucinsky v3. And of course, Lundqvist cashing in on that hype we had for him immediately. Even our trade pickups of Petr Sykora and Sandis Ozolinsh worked out that year.

Our achilles heel was a mediocre defense that overachieved in the first 70 plus games. You can only go so far with Michael Rozsival as your #1 d. Beyond him and Tyutin, it was mostly a bunch of 6th and 7th defenseman.

The only disappointments from that season, aside from the playoff collapse, was Steve Rucchin. I thought he would put up much better numbers as a 2C. Taking away Selanne and Kariya really showed he was mostly a 3rd line caliber player. The other disappointment was the reality that all the prospects we got in the purge week of 03-04 were not good. Liffiton, Balej, Grenier, Umberger, we hardly or never knew ya. Realizing Kondratiev and Immonen were not going to have long careers made the Leetch trade hurt even more. Sauer, who knows what he would have become. And Korpikoski was a decent 4th liner who could move up a line and be competent if needed.

 

[quietbruinfan]

Fwiw, my second favorite Bruin's season is 82-83. They unexpectedly had an excellent young team. Ironically coach Cheevers, a successful gambler and horseman, was right when he said very early nobody was beating the Islanders.

 

[IceColdOx]

Rangers fan so It has to be 1994. However, their last cup final appearance is also up there.

 

[hacksaw7]

Devils fan. Weird one but...1993-1994. That was the season I followed the closest, the first year I really truly knew they were elite and had arrived and were going to compete for a good long while

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.

People forget that Canucks team of 91-92 looked damn good PRE Bure. Wasn't a large sample but they looked plenty solid

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Hard to pick from 2002, 2006 and 2008.

2002 because of the super team.
2006 because of Yzerman's last year.
2008 because cup win.

07 and 09 were also pretty good years despite falling short.

 

[Midnight Judges]

For Capitals fans it's probably going to be '17-18 for just about all of them. Franchise wins first Stanley cup, Ovie wins Conn Smythe. That was a fun ride.

 

[The Macho King]

2020 was probably the best timing because Covid was happening, I got laid off earlier that year and it was a welcome distraction and it had some super iconic moments (5OT game, Stamkos' goal in his one game). Season was kind of a bust because of the interruption but it rebounded well.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

I would say honorable mention as a Ranger fan was the 05-06 season. Expected to be awful yet we had a team that brought so much life and excitement back into our lives. Jagr had the best season in Ranger history. That Straka-Nylander-Jagr line was outstanding. The emergence of a little known, smallish prospect named Petr Prucha, who would score 30 goals and become a fan favorite. A 4th line of Ortmeyer-Betts-Hollweg who lacked skill but gave it every night. Surprisingly good seasons from Marcel Hossa, Jason Ward, and Martin Rucinsky v3. And of course, Lundqvist cashing in on that hype we had for him immediately. Even our trade pickups of Petr Sykora and Sandis Ozolinsh worked out that year.

Our achilles heel was a mediocre defense that overachieved in the first 70 plus games. You can only go so far with Michael Rozsival as your #1 d. Beyond him and Tyutin, it was mostly a bunch of 6th and 7th defenseman.

The only disappointments from that season, aside from the playoff collapse, was Steve Rucchin. I thought he would put up much better numbers as a 2C. Taking away Selanne and Kariya really showed he was mostly a 3rd line caliber player. The other disappointment was the reality that all the prospects we got in the purge week of 03-04 were not good. Liffiton, Balej, Grenier, Umberger, we hardly or never knew ya. Realizing Kondratiev and Immonen were not going to have long careers made the Leetch trade hurt even more. Sauer, who knows what he would have become. And Korpikoski was a decent 4th liner who could move up a line and be competent if needed.

That was definitely a fun year. After the purge of 04 and the miss on Crosby there were 0 expectations that year. The thought was we have this kid from Sweden in net who noone has ever heard of, we have a washed up star in Jagr up top, and not really much else to be cheerfull about. It was a great year up until after the Olympics. That's when the wheels really fell off and while blowing the division/ being swept by the Devils hurt, it was still the best season they had in almost 10 years

 

[McGarnagle]

I'm starting to think it's this one.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

The only disappointments from that season, aside from the playoff collapse, was Steve Rucchin. I thought he would put up much better numbers as a 2C.

At the time I never thought about that until I recently heard an interview with Ryan Getzlaf claiming the rangers told him he was their pick in the 03 draft. I do wonder how Getzlaf would have done on that team with guys like Prucha, Sykora and Rucinsky and how it would have worked with Shanahan the following year. I also forgpot to mention the draft in 06 was yet another 1they missed on ughh they could have taken Giroux.

 

[TheDevilMadeMe]

Devils - easily 1999-00. Won the Cup in dramatic fashion, fairly young and exciting team. Plus I had been a fan for years then, so I was really emotionally invested. In 1995, I had only been a fan of hockey for a couple of years and was still fairly casual.

 

[markymarc1215]

At the time I never thought about that until I recently heard an interview with Ryan Getzlaf claiming the rangers told him he was their pick in the 03 draft. I do wonder how Getzlaf would have done on that team with guys like Prucha, Sykora and Rucinsky and how it would have worked with Shanahan the following year. I also forgpot to mention the draft in 06 was yet another 1they missed on ughh they could have taken Giroux.

Good thing we took Hugh Jessiman, one year after taking Lee Falardeau. Awful. Getzlaf would change the entire complexity of the team. We likely never sign Scott.Gomez, but also likely never get Ryan McDonagh in that trade for Gomez.

Another underrated season, my 1st full year of watching hockey was 89-90. The Rangers won the Patrick Division that year and crushed the Isles in 5 games. We had a rookie tender in Mike Richter, 2nd year defenseman stud Brian Leetch, and a bunch of heart and soul players. The Gartner trade was amazing. Ogrodnick-Kisio-Mullen and Erixon-Nicholls-Gartner were strong lines. Throw in Turcotte, Jansenns, King, Mallette, Broten, and Carey Wilson, and we had a team that could skate and score! Shoddy defense inevitably did us in. Also losing Leetch before the playoffs killed us. With Leetch, I think we go deeper that year.

 

[CharlestownChiefsESC]

Good thing we took Hugh Jessiman, one year after taking Lee Falardeau. Awful. Getzlaf would change the entire complexity of the team. We likely never sign Scott.Gomez, but also likely never get Ryan McDonagh in that trade for Gomez.

Im not 100% sure on that. I think that maybe they do indeed sign Gomez but they dont go after Drury and maybe sign a dman with the money. I just think they knew Nylander and Jagr were getting older and Nylander wanted a long term on his next contract which im not sure they wanted. I figure in 08 you could have had Getzlaf with Jagr and Gomez with Shanahan, maybe at that point they dont need to trade Cullen either. Only problem was in 07 the best dman available was Souray who really went nowhere after that year

 

[IslesFan2017]

Sorry to bump this but I wanted to add the 2011-12 season not as an Islanders fan but the Devils. That was senior year of high school in New Jersey (I was the only Islanders fan in school, everyone else was either Rangers or Devils) and our hockey team made it to the state championship game which took place at the Prudential Center. I didn't expect to go since I didn't have a car but a friend offered a ride and I was able to attend the game. We had a blast even though our team lost.

Secondly, the conference finals was fun since it was Rangers-Devils. There were a couple of Rangers fans in my calculus class who were pretty confident in the Rangers but we all know the Devils ended up winning the series and going to the finals.

The final reason I loved that season was it was one of the last seasons that the Devils used the Rock and Roll part 2 goal song. At this point, I understand why teams don't use that song but I miss hearing it so that will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

[SealsFan]

1975-76, the Seals' last season, sadly. Their second-highest wins and points total in their 9-year history and their best ratio of goals scored to goals allowed. It felt like the team was gaining momentum and improving and then the rug was pulled out.

1993-94 for the Sharks great playoff upset over Detroit in only their third season.

 

[weaponomega]

2011 hands down. I think that's a pretty easy one for Bruins fans. But some of my other favorites after that season

92-93 - Just a fun season all around with tons of scoring and Lemieux
08-09 - Bruins surprised a lot of people and were an exciting team to watch, tough and high scoring
22-23 - Great swan song season for Bergeron and Krejci