Best Hockey Team Ever?
Cruz Moore
2025-05-18 16:45:53
Count answers: 4
There's really only one answer: the 1980 Soviet Union team. To be fair, it could be any of the Big Red Machine's teams between 1972 and 1984 because there was so little roster turnover, but the 1980 team melded the dominant teams of the 1970s with what would become the dominant teams of the '80s. The 1980 Soviet squad still had the Valeri Kharlamov-Vladimir Petrov-Boris Mikhailov line and other '70s stalwarts such as Helmuts Balderis and Alexander Maltsev. The team also featured Vladimir Krutov, Sergei Makarov, Slava Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov when they were in their early 20s.
In February 1979, they faced an NHL All-Star team that featured an astounding 20 future Hall of Famers in a three-game series. The Soviets won two of the matchups, including Game 3 at Madison Square Garden in a 6-0 rout. They were close to unbeatable.
They were the best team, even at the 1980 Olympics. They just happened to lose at the wrong time.
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