Before I get started, I’d like to point out how ridiculous the whole dynasty debate is and that we should all just shut the hell up and enjoy that we are alive to witnesses the greatest team of the early 2000s.
That said, the Chicago Blackhawks are definitvely a dynasty in the salary cap era. And this isn’t even up for debate; furthermore, any one who says otherwise is a stupid human and I want nothing to do with them. Their argument goes like this: Sorry, but the Blackhawks aren’t the Montreal Canadiens of the 70s or the Oilers and Islanders of the 80s, or going even further back, some of the Original 6 dynasties that existed. Ironically, most of the people saying this weren’t alive during that era, so you have to consider that. It’s basically like me saying the 60s was a way better decade than the 90s.
Apparently only three or four Stanley Cups in a row can quantify a team as a dynasty, which is ridiculous. I never thought math would help me in anything worthwhile in my life, but here it is: in the 70s, if you weren’t aware, there was 18 teams in the league near the end of the decade, so teams then had a 1/18 chance to win the Stanley Cup, mathematically speaking. Being that there is 30 teams in the league right now, yup, you guessed it – teams have a 1/30 chance of winning the Cup. Not to mention, the Montreal Canadiens essentially had a monopoly on French Canadians, and back then Quebec was actually pumping out world-class talent and not first-round picks like Angelo Esposito. And while that changed in the 70s, the Canadiens dynasty during that decade still had Jacques Lemaire, Yvan Cournoyer, Guy Lapointe and Serge Savard who were all with the team JUST BECAUSE! Sure, they picked Guy Lafleur first overall in an actual draft, but then-GM Sam Pollock basically took advantage of an inexperienced California Golden Seals owner to get that pick; in today’s salary-cap era and teams actually tanking to get the first overall pick, there’s no way Lafleur ends up in Montreal, a team that had actually won the Cup the year prior to pick him.
Meanwhile, the Blackhawks DYNASTY of this era had to actually ship off half of their damn team after winning its first cup. Key pieces like Dustin Byfuglien, Kris Versteeg and Troy Brower, to name a few, had to be traded because the rules of the league didn’t allow them to keep those players. They were punished for drafting and developing so well.
The Oilers and Islanders simply didn’t have to deal with this issue, either. If you had a good team back then, you could maintain that team and beat the other 8-10 teams in your conference. Now, talent is watered down obviously, but emerging out of a conference with 15 teams four out of six years is pretty impressive, and unlikely to be replicated very often in this salary-cap era.
It was a completely different league 30-40 years ago. And in the same way that rules of who is or isn’t allowed in public bathrooms or on buses or in schools has loosened considerably, so has the definition of dynasty and its use in the NHL.
Ridin' The Pine 