Today's time-killer is simple: What is the greatest team of all time that doesn't have a single Hall of Fame player?
A few of you guys have sent me variations of this question over the years, and it's a good question. It's simple and nice. I'm not even sure you need the ground rules for traditional bullet points.
We will do this going back roughly every 10 years from the first expansion. For more recent teams, we will of course have to use some judgment and common sense about teams that may be future Hall of Famers. The 2017-18 Capitals don't have a single Hall of Famer so far, but I have a feeling Ovechkin will be in the Hall of Fame at some point, so I won't count him. This task will probably get easier as we go back, but it will never go away completely, as the committee will sometimes just throw decades-old selections at us out of nowhere. But we will do our best, and if necessary, we may check with our old friend Paul Pidutti and his Adjusted Hockey model to check validity.
With that in mind, let's give it a try: Let's start with the 2010s and work our way back.
2010s
Most of the great teams of the decade came from the Penguins, Lightning and Capitals, all of which had players who would eventually become absolute dunkers. The Kings had Drew Douty and the Bruins had Patrice Bergeron, so it doesn't work. The 2010-11 Canucks were dominant, but they had the Sedin brothers and Roberto Luongo. And some of the great teams from the Rangers, Ducks and Sharks were beaten by Martin St. Louis, Teemu Selanne and Joe Thornton.
This isn't easy, of course, and that's the whole point.
There are a few teams that jump out as contenders. The obvious one is the 2018-19 Blues. They weren't a particularly great team during the season, but they did win the Stanley Cup. At first glance, they seemed like the ideal team for this kind of exercise. They're more than the sum of their parts, and they're not led by a legendary superstar. I don't think Ryan O'Reilly is on track for the HHOF, Vladimir Tarasenko would need a ridiculous finishing kick to become a candidate, and young players like Robert Thomas and Jourdan Caillou aren't on pace yet.
The guy who could potentially derail our plans here is Alex Pietrangelo. He doesn't have the athlete that Norris does, but he is a three-time All-Star and two-time Cup winner, with a similar list that includes Scott Niedermayer, Doug Wilson, and Larry Murphy. I checked Adjusted Hockey, and they use a points system that uses a standard HHOF cutoff of 269 for defensemen. Pietrangelo scores… 269, and right on the money. Awesome. We don't know for sure, but he's on pace to at least be a strong contender, so we'll keep an eye on him.
Two other teams have emerged as strong contenders. The first is the 2015-16 Stars, who won 50 games while winning the Central Division. Their leading scorers were Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza, and Benn still has a shot at the HHOF, but he's the underdog at this point. The other is the 2016-17 Wild, who won 49 games and had 106 points under coach Bruce Boudreau. Eric Staal and Ryan Suter are the two strong contenders, but neither will win.
Overall, I think the Blues will be the best team of the decade unless Pietrangelo screws things up. Let's go back a bit and see what we can find.
Chris Drury and Danny Briere were co-captains for the Buffalo Sabres during the 2006-07 season. (Bill Wippert/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
2000s
The top seasons of the decade have been dominated by teams like Detroit and San Jose, and those teams aren't going to help us out, but at the end of the day, you don't have to look too far down the list to get to teams that will definitely help us.
That was the 2006-07 Sabres, who won 53 games, earned 113 points and won the franchise's only Presidents Trophy. They made it to the conference finals, losing to Ottawa, but none of the skaters stood out as Hall of Fame candidates. The best of this group were co-captains Chris Drury and Danny Briere, who both famously left the team as UFAs this summer. Neither of them will be in the Hall of Fame, and neither will Thomas Vanek or Brian Campbell. The one guy who could potentially block our induction is Ryan Miller, who was eligible for the Hall of Fame for the first time this year but didn't make it. The Hall of Fame has a weird take on goalies, and Miller is next in line to Curtis Joseph, but is on par with names like Pekka Rinne and Tuukka Rask. I think he probably won't make it, but we might not know for a while.
The 2007 Senators beat the Sabres and made it to the Finals with a talented but not legendary roster that included 2022 Hall of Famer Daniel Alfredsson, but lost just short. The 2006 Hurricanes you probably remember had Mark Recce.
The Sabres are my pick here, but if I wanted a Miller-related backup, I'd go with the 2009-10 Coyotes. That team managed to win 50 games with Shane Doan as the overwhelming favorite on the roster. Honestly, the next best option might be 40-year-old Matthew Schneider, who had eight games in his Coyotes career. That team was a real hodgepodge. Would you be surprised to know that head coach Dave Tippett won the Jack Adams Award that year?
Take note, kids. You are about to experience a time in NHL history where there were no points for losing. Can you spot a good team without a cheesy standings page that doesn't promote them? Let's find out…
1990s
Hmm, maybe that was a bad idea.
It certainly gets harder in the 1990s. I didn't think much of it at first, but it makes sense. Today's NHL is a youth league, but back then it wasn't uncommon for stars to still be in their prime well into their 30s. If you were a good team, you probably had a few of those guys. If you didn't, you tried to get them. And because they were still active, they naturally drifted to the championship contenders. It's a kind of cycle in hockey, and our job on this question today is a lot harder.
How good? The best team I could find had only 92 points. A 92 point season was pretty good back then, and roughly equivalent to a 100 point season today. This team at least had a strong regular season followed by a strong playoff run, all the way to the Finals. I'm sure some of you can guess who that was.
Yes, it's our old friends, the 1995-96 Florida Panthers, the team we specifically pointed to as responsible for the Dead Cap era that ruined hockey. Not only do they have no Hall of Famers on their roster, they don't even have anyone close. Unless the committee goes completely crazy with 300-win goalies and ends up inducting John Vanbiesbrouck, this selection is the safest.
By the way, the 1993-94 Capitals deserve a special mention, too, because I felt like I had to feature the '90s Capitals here. Before Ovechkin came along, the Capitals were Mike Ridley the leading scorer, a trio of 30-year-old goalies, all the goals were scored by defensemen, and Craig Berube was in a fight to be with or against the team. We scored 88 points and finished third in the Patrick before being eliminated in the second round. We were a united team once.
If the 90s were tough, it’s not hard to imagine the challenges we’ll face next.
1980s
The Islanders and Oilers dominated the decade but obviously didn't do us any favors. Neither did the Flames, Bruins or Habs. I had some excitement for the Flyers in the mid to late 80's but Mark Howe ruined it. So start scrolling.
The 1980-81 Blues scored 107 points and came close to losing to a really good team, but Bernie Federko, who was borderline HHOF, prevented it. The North Stars of the early 80s had some really good teams that got beaten by Dino Ciccarelli. I'd like to use the 86-87 Whalers, but that was before they let Ron Francis go.
In the end, the only teams I can find with 90+ points are the 1981-82 and 1983-84 Rangers. With 92 and 93 points, respectively, the 1982 team even won a round. Both were eliminated by the Islanders dynasty, but the 1982 team went to six games and the 1984 team took the Islanders to the brink of elimination in the first round, something only one other team managed to accomplish during the Islanders' 19 series winning streak. These Rangers teams actually had a lot of player turnover, but they had tough defenseman Barry Beck leading the team and some fun players like Ron Duguay and Anders Hedberg. However, they don't have any Hall of Famers. Vanbiesbrouck makes an appearance again, but otherwise these picks are safe. We're going with the 1981-82 team, which won at least one round and featured Mike Rogers, who scored 103 points.
I have 10 (and a little) more years left before the day is over.
1967–1979
It goes back this far because there's no point in trying this in a 6 team league, I suppose we'll have expansion teams eventually, but we'll see how it goes.
The 1974-75 Kings came close: despite everyone breaking 80 points at the time and no skater ever breaking 80, the Kings managed to score 105 points. Unfortunately, that record was shattered when Rosie Vachon was unexpectedly selected after 30 years of eligibility.
The expansion teams of the late 60s weren't as useful as hoped because most were terrible and the Blues had Glenn Hall. Some of the expansion teams of the 1970s offer options like the 1974-75 Canucks, who were led by Andre Boudrias and won the Smythe Division. Then there was the 1978-79 Atlanta Flames, led by the dynamic duo of Bob McMillan and Guy Chouinard, who won 41 games and had a 100-point season. And then there were the 1974-75 Penguins, led by Ron Schock and Sill Ups, who were fun with 89 points, but they weren't Sill Ups.
But I think the winner here is the 1979-80 North Stars. I don't want to get into a philosophical debate about whether they're now a 70s or 80s team. They won 36, lost 28 and drew 16, were 4th in goals scored and 6th in goals allowed. Their offensive leaders were Al MacAdam and Steve Payne, their goalie was Gilles Meloche and their best defenseman was Craig Hartsberg. They made the playoffs, swept the Leafs in the qualifying round, then went down in history as the team that ended the Canadiens dynasty and became the first team in five years to beat Montreal in a playoff game in a 7-game upset.
88 points may not be a lot, but we get a few bonus points for beating a giant. The North Star is our team.
And the winner is …
We'll have to get there. And of the teams we found, I think the 2006-07 Sabres are the safest bet. Sure, the Blues won a Cup, but I think it's probably too early to count Pietrangelo out and get comfortable. On the other hand, the Sabres were wicked good, were Cup contenders, and would have certainly won it if things had gone a little differently in the postseason. I'm a little worried that Miller will go into the Hall of Fame and ruin our standing, but if that happens, I hope he makes the right decision and declines our help.
Now it's your turn: let me know if there are any teams you think I've missed. I'm also open to nominations for current or recent teams that you think might make the list one day.
(And yes, knowing you all well enough to guess, you’re all now wanting to know the worst team with the most Hall of Fame players. We’ll talk about that someday.)
(Photo of Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko by Brian Babineaux/NHLI via Getty Images)
