I've been thinking about this today, and I very very rarely post topics, but I was thinking today about all the teams since the beginning of the 90's...basically since the Wings have been successful...and which team is/was the best. Normally we sit and maybe pick apart between the 3 Cups which was the strongest team, or which was the weakest, etc.
I think most people would probably say 2002 Cup Champ team is the strongest team we've had in the last 20 years, but I actually was thinking about it and I'd say the best team was 1995-1996 roster. We didn't win a Cup that year but our team was pretty amazing, and let's face it..we SHOULD have won that year, but really were hampered by injuries by the third round and fell to the Avs. And there was the whole Kris Draper thing.
That team was amazing though, we had the Russian 5, The Grind Line, our D included Vladdy, Lidstrom and Coffey. And of course Dino Cicarelli and Steve Yzerman. I don't know how many were around for that year but it was amazing..and you never got the feeling that we'd lose. 62 wins. We should have won the Cup which was too bad we didn't, but it wasn't anything but bad luck, maybe a destined Avs team, but maybe with a few less injuries...we win that series.
A lot of people would attribute winning the Cup in 97 to acquiring Shanahan, but we could have won in 95 or 96...just wasn't meant to be...but we had the team to do it. Imagine *that* dynasty..haha. Too bad, but that year Sergei won the Selke and Ozzie/Vernon won the Jennings and Bowman won the Jack Adams. The best thing about the team was how many of our awesome players were drafted by us: Yzerman, Fedorov, Osgood, Konstantinov, Kozlov, Lidstrom, McCarty..etc.
I'm sure lots will say 2001-02, but I'm just curious if anyone agrees or thinks perhaps 1997 was better, or this current year...whatever you think, I'd be interested to see people's reactions. Though I'm sure lots of posters weren't around way back then, so it might be hard to guage.
