Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.Com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his insight and humor with readers every Wednesday. This week compares the New York Islanders dynasty from 1980-83 with the contemporary Florida Panthers who will be aiming for a Stanley Cup trifecta this season.
Not long after the Florida Panthers defeated the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive year, right wing Matthew Tkachuk referenced the idea of a dynasty.
Maybe they are, maybe they're not. The "dynasty" question certainly is open for discussion.
Coincidentally, after the New York Islanders defeated the Minnesota North Stars in five games of the 1981 Stanley Cup Final for their second straight championship, left wing Bobby Nystrom shouted across the locker room: "Why not a dynasty? We've got a team that can't be beat."
Nystrom proved to be prescient. Coached by Al Arbour, the Islanders won two more titles, the first United States-based NHL team to reel off a quartet of championships. Now some hockey people view the Panthers as potentially the next in line.
"If the Panthers can win a third consecutive Cup," said Glenn "Chico" Resch, a goalie for the 1980 Islanders, "they would have to be considered a modern-day dynasty."
The Panthers-Islanders similarities are stunning. There are the veteran goalies who deliver in the clutch: Billy Smith on Long Island and Sergei Bobrovsky in Sunrise, Florida. The cerebral coaches, Arbour and Paul Maurice, stress across-the-lineup versatility.
"We could play any way the other team wanted to play," wrote Hockey Hall of Fame right wing Mike Bossy in his autobiography, "Boss: The Mike Bossy Story."
"If the other club wanted to play tough, fine. We had hitters like Clark Gillies and Gord Lane. And if the opposition wanted to run-and-gun, that was OK, too. Our lines could match any in the NHL."
Ditto for the Panthers. Maurice valued the fourth line of A.J. Greer, Tomas Nosek and Jonah Gadjovich as much as any unit. Significantly, Greer was the first to have a day with the Cup in his hometown of Joliette, Quebec, on July 13, ahead of Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett and other Florida stars.
"Maurice handles his players perfectly," Panthers television play-by-play announcer Steve Goldstein said. "It's evidenced by the number of Panthers who want to stay with the team and who play their best hockey under Maurice. Two examples are defenseman Niko Mikkola and forward Eetu Luostarinen. They do everything necessary to win and take no credit for it. They exemplify the selflessness on this team."
Arbour's Islanders, ably developed by general manager Bill Torrey, won 19 consecutive Stanley Cup Playoff series, a record unlikely to be broken. The Panthers have won eight in a row covering two postseasons.
Without salary cap challenges in the early 1980s, the Islanders were able to retain their winning core that included Smith and Lane; Denis Potvin, Ken Morrow, Stefan Persson and Dave Langevin on defense; and forwards Nystrom, Bossy, Gillies, Bryan Trottier, Bob Bourne, Duane Sutter, Butch Goring and John Tonelli, a unit that thrived through four title years.
When the Panthers re-signed free agents Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand after the latest championship run, they successfully kept their winning nucleus intact.
"Sam, Aaron and Brad realize that they're playing with a special group of people," general manager Bill Zito said. "They make the group better and the group makes them better. It's a very special room"
The Panthers acquiring Marchand and defenseman Seth Jones prior to the NHL Trade Deadline are reminiscent of the Islanders' arresting moves in 1979-80. Lane was acquired from the Washington Capitals on Dec. 7, 1979. Morrow, a fourth-round pick (No. 68) in the 1976 NHL Draft, joined the Islanders immediately after winning gold with the United States at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. Goring was sent to New York by the Los Angeles Kings for Billy Harris and Dave Lewis on March 10.
With Goring filling the role of No. 2 center, the Islanders went 8-0 with four ties in their final 12 regular-season games.
"Marchand, Bennett and Ekblad put the Panthers over the top," Resch said, "just as 'Butchie,' Gord and Kenny did for us 45 years ago."
Nystrom scored at 7:11 of overtime to give the Islanders a 5-4 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the 1980 Stanley Cup Final at Nassau Coliseum on May 24. The champions met that night, poolside at Torrey's Long Island home to celebrate. Some of the wounded survivors carried ice packs with them.
"All of a sudden, Bill had a message for us," defenseman Dave Langevin remembered. "He said, 'Now we've just got to win four or five of these in a row.' I looked at him and said, 'Can we just enjoy this one first?' After all, we were numb; physically beat, but it turned out -- after four years -- that Bill was right."