Greatest NHL Dynasty

[Mr. TM]

Who is it? There are no clear definitions of a Sports Dynasty, but there are usually some things each possess. A key player or set of players. Consecutive Championships. Usually the same coach. There might be other characteristics, but I want the teams to possess a couple of these to qualify.

1983-1988 Edmonton Oilers- Four championships in 5 years under Glen Sather coaching the Wayne Gretzky led Edmonton Oilers. There was a gap in between the wins, but this was still the team or the end of the 80s. To cap it off, they won another cup in 1990, however, the team was no longer the same dynasty in my opinion.

1979-1983 New York Islanders- Four straight cups under Al Arbour while being lead by Mike Bossy. They would become the only team that was not a Canadiens team in the NHL that would win more than three Stanley Cups in a row

1975-1979 Montreal Canadiens- This is my pick of the greatest dynasty. Scotty Bowman has coached two sets of great teams, the Detroit Red Wings during their graet runs, and this set of dream teams. Hard to pick one player being key, when you have Guy Lafleur and Jaques Lemaire playing for your team. They would win four straight cups.

1955-1960 Montreal Canadiens- Five Time, five time, five time, five time, five time champions. The most storied dynasty in my opinion was Toe Blake's Canadiens, with possessed The Richards. From riots, to french nationalism, to some of the greatest goal scoring of all time.

 

[Showtime]

I agree with your choice. If there's on person who's knows how to lead dynasties and win championships it is Scotty Bowman. The man led the 70's Montreal Dynasty like you said winning four straight plus 1 three years earlier. He also won 3 with the Detroit Red Wings and 1 with Pittsburgh. It's interesting how those first three dynasties you mentioned all happened one after the other from each other. With the amount of teams in most sports, dynasties like these of four or more championships are very rare to come by, especially in hockey.

All being said, I'm still going to go with my original choice when I clicked this thread and say the Edmonton Oilers. One need only say the names of the great players who lead these teams: Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe, Grant Fuhr, Andy Moog. Gretzky smashed records and the group collected ridiculous amounts of awards and stats in their careers. They were first in their division for 6 straight seasons from 81-82 to 86-87, also leading the league in scoring in each of those seasons and winning 3 Presidents Trophies. The year before they won the cup they went to the Stanley Cup finals losing to the Islanders who were at the end of their dynasty. A year later they beat the Islanders and won four of the next 5 Stanley Cups, dropping out in the playoffs in the 2nd round of the 85-86 playoffs to the eventual cup winning Calgary Flames, so from 82-83 to 87-88 they either won or lost to the winning team. They then won what could be their greatest Stanely Cup in 89-90 only 2 years from trading Gretzky. Showing that it was more than just Gretzxy that made them, Messier, Kurri, and Anderson continued to light up the score sheet and Conn Smyth winner and year ago backup Bill Ranford provided stellar goaltending during the playoffs and Craig Simpson provided some extra plug to help win the Cup, their most hard fought one.

Count it or not as apart of the dynasty, the records and stats show hat Edmonton was the most dominant and high scoring team, they had the Great One and a cast of many other HOF's and greats, they are quite possibly the most influential thing in Hockey next to the what the Canadians had to french Canadian hockey players, and the Trade was the biggest turning point for the sport of hockey and the growth of hockey in the USA. Edmonton greatest dynasty.