Your favorite NHL94 underdogs

[RedWingDevil]

I'm making this poll to determine which is your favorite underdog team in the NHL. I may not be stat-savvy as some of the guys here, but I'll do my best to please your hockey palates.

An underdog is basically someone or a team that has the odds stacked against them. People normally pick the powerhouse to win a playoff series and even though the underdog has a certain something, the fans and experts go with what they see is great. It's up to the underdog to prove them wrong and show them that they can win against the best. And yes, they can be the ones that use the classic 'No one believed in us other than the men in our locker room!'.

The first 3 entries I made the copypasta operation from angryjay in the best NHL94 team poll. The others I have included them myself.

Montreal:

Pros: The 2nd best rated goalie and arguably the best goalie due to his perfect glove side ratings. The defense runs 3-4 deep with Brisebois and Daigneault being lightweights with various offensive skills. Schneider provides all around ability while still being defensively competent. The forwards run 6 deep, any combination of Bellows, Muller, Damphousse, Lebeau, Leeman, and Savard will give a diversified line with strengths all along the board.

Cons: No gamebreaker to speak of aside from Roy, more team concept as opposed to one man army.

Calgary

Pros: Have a top tier sniper in Roberts, solid passers in Reichel and Makarov, and Fleury rounds out the line with his speed and dominant checking ability. Macinnis owns a booming shot and Suter is a solid option on the back line who can distribute the puck with the best of them. A total powerhouse of an offensive machine.

Cons: Team Defensive awareness always seems to be an issue which leaves a lot of odd man chances for Vernon to face, and hes not good enough to sustain many of them and keep a team in the game for long. Also lack a bone crushing d-man.

Quebec

Pros: Blessed with immense offensive talent, Sakics all around excellence, Sundings sniping, Kamenskys booming shot, Kovalenko is a beast, Nolan is as steady as they come, Ricci can snipe almost as well as Sundin and theres even more options after that still. Duchesne can help kick start the offense, Gusarov is a steady calming presence and Leschyshyn can provide solid blue line skating.

Cons: A lack of team speed, average goaltending, and the lack of a true shutdown defender just barely keep the Nords out of the top tier, because after all, you can only ice 3 of those amazing forwards at once.

Philadelphia:

Pros: Good things can be said about the Crazy Eights line. Lindros can score and hit, Brind'Amour can bring it on at anytime on the ice and Mark Recchi is as tough as they come. They have good depth in forwards with Andrei Lomakin, Kevin Dineen and Brett Fedyk and can be used at any time. Yushkevich and Galley aren't fast, but they're functional as d-men, although they're a little close to 200 lbs.

Cons: Galley and Yushkevich aren't very good when it comes to shot power and accuracy; they're better off on defense. Brind'Amour and Lindros (ESPECIALLY Lindros) are pretty heavy with Recchi being the only light forward on the best line. Tommy Soderstrom is good enough, but not spectacular.

Pittsburgh

Pros: Anything I could say about Super Mario comes up short when we compare to his greatness. Jagr may not be a burner like Bure or R. Courtnall, but he gets the job done and Kevin Stevens has good shot and pass accuracy to go up with Lemieux. Ulf Sammuelson is a people cruncher and though he can get penalty minutes, he can take anybody out and Larry Murphy has a strong slapshot and good passing skills to go up to the opponents attack zone. Ron Francis and Rick Tocchet can be interchangable, but Francis along with Troy Loney can come up with the hits up front. Joe Mullen can pass and shoot, but I don't know why he's on the checking line. =P Barraso is underrated because he's a very good goalie and he'll make the stops when the game's on the line.

Cons: The Penguins got shafted when it came to the weight bug because a lot of the players are heavy, but as smozoma said, with that fixed Super Mario and the crew will make you rue the day you stepped on the ice.

New York Rangers

Pros: They got a nice pair of d-men in James Patrick and Brian Leetch as they're capable on both sides of the ice. Mark Messier may not have the gaudiest stats when it comes to shots, but you can't question his great passing ability and puck handling and when you get hit by him, you'll know it. Same with Esa Tikkanen, but he has better shooting and Mike Gartner is the Speedy Gonzales of the Rangers because he can be a nightmare on opposing d-men when he gets rolling. They have depth on goalies with Mike Ritcher and John Vanbiesbruk.

Cons: Some guys tend to change Messier for Adam Graves because of his large weight and low shot stats (Being on the 50-60 range doesn't sit well with them, I guess) or with Tony Amonte, but they're either on the level or lower than Messier. The depth's good and it's there but not great.

Ney Jersey

Pros: With Alexander Semak and Stephane Richer, the Devils got a good 1-2 punch on the forward line that make them interchangeable; Fetisov and Scott Stevens can hit ya hard when you think you're safe and Claude Lemieux may not be the best shooter, but he's mustarded and may surprise you. Valeri Zelepukin or Peter Statsny can be brought in at any time if you think Lemeiux isn't good enough if you want offense.

Cons: Despite having good offense, Semak and Richer aren't speedsters and I know some guys would want that. Bobby Holik is decent, but I think his stats can make him underapreciated. Chris Terreri works as a goalie but his stick and glove work is on the 50s and you'd want to have better stats on that.

Boston:

Pros: Adam Oates can shoot goals and serve for more as he's one of the better centers of the league. Cam Neely is a sniper and Joe Juneau is a very good wingman. Ruzicka, Donato and Kvartalnov bring good depth to an otherwise nice offensive line. Don Sweeney and Glen Wesley are interchangable; one's a tough defender, the other has good offense. Ray Bourque.... what can I say about Ray? He shoots, he passes and hits people as though it's all going out of style. He's the complete package and few defensemen can come close to his shoes.

Cons: Andy Moog's stats make him look like he's past his prime, but he can surprise people with great saves. Boston, along with Pittsburgh, got shafted with the weight bug in this game, especially concerning players like Bourque. However, it's not impossible to win with this team.

I'm taking into account the classic ROM and the bug-fixed ROM, along with the SNES version. If you guys want to correct things or include another underdog, feel free to ask.

[TubaHero]

gotta go with the nords here. throwing ricci, sundin and sakic up front is just pure win on offence, and duchesne and leschyshyn (sic?) on D provide solid coverage, and some extra offensive threats. if only we could send hextall an intervention, this team would be domination on ice.

[clockwise]

I guess you can consider Pittsburgh a underdog.. Be it a cybernetic "Man's Best Friend" Rottweiler with steel trap mandibles. kgman surprised me with Penguins featherweight Martin Straka in the 07 Classic playoffs - exploiting the (old) weight bug.

[The Russian Rocket]

I don't think we can consider Quebec underdog, they're arguably the best team with Kovalenko Sakic and Sundin with Gusarov and Dushene back there. Hextall is pretty decent 2

[xdeathsbloodx]

I have to be a homer and pick the Flyers

But for future reference the "Crazy Eights" Line was Lindros (#88), Recchi (#8), and Fedyk (#18) not Lindros, Recchi, and Brind'Amour (tho Brind'Amour is clearly the superior player out of those 2)

Oh and you can't forget about the good (and light) Pelle Eklund

Edited May 22, 2009 by xdeathsbloodx

[smozoma]

No way is montreal an underdog

Roy, best goalie in the league (arguably), and a forward cast of decent weight-buggers (lebeau, savard, damphousse/bellows) who can put up at least average numbers -- which is more than enough with Roy. Respectable defense, too.

Check it! #2!

http://mcapewell.servehttp.com/nhl94/teamstandings.asp

My favourite underdog team is the Islanders. Their goalie is terrible; their defense, average; but they can steal a surprising number of games with Turgeon, Hogue, and Thomas up front. However, if those guys aren't clicking, they are in big big trouble

[Sebe_The_Legend]

Boston. Hands down biggest underdog team. Close second Calgary, i always manage to lose with them somehow, they are a good team tho.

[donnybrook]

boston is defentilly the best team on that list, second would probably be montreal just cuz of roy. but bostons got neely,bourque and oates. Hands down boston, they probably shouldnt even be considered as an "underdog" team

[Flames4LifeFLA]

Deleted

Edited April 5, 2018 by Flames4LifeFLA

[smozoma]

Dude. No.

Edited May 23, 2009 by smozoma

[IQ25]

Quebec because of sundin, ricci, and sakic.

Dude. No.

seconded.

Edited May 23, 2009 by IQ25

[donnybrook]

Dude. No.

no respect for fat mike

[HABS]

are any of these really dogs?

Id say NJ is maybe the only real dog in this poll and possibly pitt.

Wheres the islanders? noway mtl, bos, nyr or calgary belong on this list.

Nice writeups though, I commend your effort.

[nationals1]

i think your missing the biggest underdog of all!!!!

winnipeg they have housley on d and selane playin on the wing

[smozoma]

I think the concept of "underdog" is pretty poorly defined here

Everyone is saying decent teams are underdogs. Underdogs against Chicago, sure, but otherwise pretty competitive teams.

iceguy said "An underdog is basically someone or a team that has the odds stacked against them. "

This to me says teams like NJ (fat/slow), NYI (no goalie), HFD (fat/slow), EDM (slow, no offence), WSH (fat D, no goalie), and maybe DAL (relatively poor goalie and D)

Edited May 26, 2009 by smozoma