Which are the top NHL teams of all time? There have been a lot of great NHL teams, so picking the top five is difficult. These are one-year rankings. There have been a lot of dynasties in the NHL, but they do not count. Every year, an NHL team wins the President’s trophy, which means that team had the most points in the NHL that season.
One could focus on hockey teams with great players, but there have been a lot of great players on bad teams. Also, there have been quite a few NHL teams that won the Stanley Cup in three, four, or five years. But that doesn’t count either. Would your list of the top five NHL teams be by points or some other metric?
5. 1982-83 New York Islanders (96 points)
The New York Islanders won their fourth straight Stanley Cup. They became just the second team in NHL history to win that many in a row. The Montreal Canadiens had five consecutive Stanley Cups from 1956-60 and won four in a row from 1976-79. Since this Stanley Cup streak by the Islanders, no NHL team has won more than two consecutive titles. The Islanders occupied Ft. Neverlose, the nickname for the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum where they played. They went on to win 19 consecutive playoff series. The team had 10 Hall of Famers on it.
4. 1987-88 Edmonton Oilers (99 points)
The Edmonton Oilers won their fourth Stanley Cup title in five years with a 4-0 series victory against the Boston Bruins, who were making their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in 10 years. This Edmonton Oilers team had Wayne Gretzky, the consensus greatest player of all time. The Oilers had eight other Hall of Famers on them. After finishing second in the Smythe Division in the regular season behind the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers went 16-2 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
3. 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens (132 points)
The Montreal Canadiens went 60-8-12 in the regular season and 12-2 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They had nine Hall of Famers on the team that went on to win 4 Stanley Cups. The Canadians played the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup final. The Canadians swept the best-of-7 series to win their second consecutive championship. It was Montreal’s sixth straight series victory against Boston in the Final. They were dominant all season and in the playoffs.
2. 1991-92 Pittsburgh Penguins (87 points)
The Pittsburgh Penguins won their second consecutive Stanley Cup championship by sweeping the Chicago Blackhawks. The Chicago Blackhawks were making their first appearance in the Final since 1973. The Penguins and Blackhawks each had an 11-game winning streak in the 1992 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Pittsburgh Penguins have Mario Lemieux and six other Hall of Famers.
1. 1984-85 Edmonton Oilers (109 points)
These run-and-gun Edmonton Oilers cruised past the competition to win a second consecutive championship in 1985, going 15-3 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, including a five-game win against the Philadelphia Flyers in the Final. Wayne Gretzky set NHL records for assists (30) and points (47) in a single postseason, and he scored 7 goals in the Final to tie the modern record shared by Jean Beliveau of the Montreal Canadiens (1956) and Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders (1982). Gretzky was simply amazing.
Conclusion
It is hard to rank the top five NHL teams of all time. There have been many great teams in professional hockey. What these five teams have in common is they all had great players on them. Mike Bossy led the Islanders, Wayne Gretzky led the Edmonton Oilers, Mario Lemieux led the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Wayne Gretzky led the Edmonton Oilers.
