On this day 25 years ago, the Hartford Whalers played their last game at the Hartford Civic Center. After 18 seasons in the NHL, the state's only big time professional sports franchise left for the greener pastures of that hockey hot bed...Raleigh, NC.
In there last season, 1996-97, the Whale started off strong (5-1 to start the season) but gradually started to stink more and more (15-26-5 from January til end of season) and would eventually miss this playoffs for the 5th straight year. Some of the low lights included trading a disgruntled Brendan Shannahan, 2 games into the season, to the Red Wings for Keith Primeau (who enjoyed a solid year in Hartford with 26 goals, 51 points & 161 PIM) and the legendary Paul Coffey (whose best days were far behind him). Of course Coffey would get traded after 20 games of less than mediocre play with the Whalers. From December 29th to January 15th, the Whale went 0-7-1 and the swoon had begun (the Whale would only manage 3 wins in all of January and an anemic 7 points). They had a winless streak (they managed a tie against the Caps on January 4th) of 9 games from 12/29-1/15. They also had a 6 game losing streak from 3/13-3/25. After a 3 game win streak from December 5th-11th, they never won more than 2 games in a row. The Whalers existence was more or less summed up in a game against the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum on April 11th. I remember watching this game at home on TV and the backbreaker was that the Whale gave up an unheard of 2 short-handed goals on the SAME powerplay! Inconceivable.
In their time in Hartford, the Whalers made the playoffs 8 times and Never got out of the second round of the playoffs. BTW, the Whalers made the playoffs 7 times in a row from 1986-1992 but the NHL had only 21 teams and 16 of them went to the playoffs. So a team didn't have to be that good to get in. In 1992 the Whale made the playoffs 15 games under 0.500 and had only 2 winning seasons during that period. They did win 1 Adams Division in 1987 but got bounced in the first round of the Divisional Playoffs by the Quebec Nordiques. The city of Hartford threw the Whalers a ticker-tape parade after LOSING to the Montreal Canadiens in the 1986 Adams Division Final 4 games to 3 (a classic series BTW). Not too many other franchises have that distinction.
I saw several Whalers games during their "glory years" in the 80's when I was in high school. After the Rangers won the Cup in 1994 I started getting back into hockey again. I went to a few scattered games in 1995, got a 10 game ticket package in 1996 then went all in with season tickets in what was to be their last season in Hartford. I made the 40 minute drive from Hadlyme to downtown Hartford. It was a lot of fun despite the Whalers losing most of the time. My seats were in section 111 (I could be mistaken about the section number but it was near the east end of the rink and not quite center ice) and I think we were in the 18th row. Those were really good seats and they cost $41 each. Now those are probably $75 or more depending on the arena. The Whale did manage to win their final game in Hartford against the Lightning. As the players skated around after the game to say goodbye to the fans (it was a sellout crowd that day) I managed to catch a puck thrown into the stands by Kevin Dineen. So I got that going for me, which is nice.
I will say this about the whole Brendan Shannahan trade. After the 1995 season the Whalers traded 20 y/o Defenseman and future hall of famer Chris Pronger straight up for Shannahan. Shannahan had a decent season in 1996 with a team best 44 goasl and 78 points. After that one season he'd had enough and wanted out. Chris Pronger made the all-rookie team in 1994 but was probably best known for being arrested for his drunken involvement in a bar room brawl in Buffalo at 4am with other teammates in March of 1994. Of course once he got to St. Louis under the tutelage of Coach Mike Keenan he would go on to become the Blues Captain and win the Norris and Hart trophies (league MVP & Top Defenseman respectively) during the 1999-2000 season. To sum up, the Blues got the anchor of some of their best teams for nearly 10 years and the Whalers got nothing. Just another bad front office move (the worst being the trade of fan favorite Ron Francis to the Penguins in 1991).
For more tidbits about Whaler history (WHA & NHL) check out The Blowhole. It's really funny and it has a detailed account of how the Whalers left the city. Thanks for your time.
In there last season, 1996-97, the Whale started off strong (5-1 to start the season) but gradually started to stink more and more (15-26-5 from January til end of season) and would eventually miss this playoffs for the 5th straight year. Some of the low lights included trading a disgruntled Brendan Shannahan, 2 games into the season, to the Red Wings for Keith Primeau (who enjoyed a solid year in Hartford with 26 goals, 51 points & 161 PIM) and the legendary Paul Coffey (whose best days were far behind him). Of course Coffey would get traded after 20 games of less than mediocre play with the Whalers. From December 29th to January 15th, the Whale went 0-7-1 and the swoon had begun (the Whale would only manage 3 wins in all of January and an anemic 7 points). They had a winless streak (they managed a tie against the Caps on January 4th) of 9 games from 12/29-1/15. They also had a 6 game losing streak from 3/13-3/25. After a 3 game win streak from December 5th-11th, they never won more than 2 games in a row. The Whalers existence was more or less summed up in a game against the Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum on April 11th. I remember watching this game at home on TV and the backbreaker was that the Whale gave up an unheard of 2 short-handed goals on the SAME powerplay! Inconceivable.
In their time in Hartford, the Whalers made the playoffs 8 times and Never got out of the second round of the playoffs. BTW, the Whalers made the playoffs 7 times in a row from 1986-1992 but the NHL had only 21 teams and 16 of them went to the playoffs. So a team didn't have to be that good to get in. In 1992 the Whale made the playoffs 15 games under 0.500 and had only 2 winning seasons during that period. They did win 1 Adams Division in 1987 but got bounced in the first round of the Divisional Playoffs by the Quebec Nordiques. The city of Hartford threw the Whalers a ticker-tape parade after LOSING to the Montreal Canadiens in the 1986 Adams Division Final 4 games to 3 (a classic series BTW). Not too many other franchises have that distinction.
I saw several Whalers games during their "glory years" in the 80's when I was in high school. After the Rangers won the Cup in 1994 I started getting back into hockey again. I went to a few scattered games in 1995, got a 10 game ticket package in 1996 then went all in with season tickets in what was to be their last season in Hartford. I made the 40 minute drive from Hadlyme to downtown Hartford. It was a lot of fun despite the Whalers losing most of the time. My seats were in section 111 (I could be mistaken about the section number but it was near the east end of the rink and not quite center ice) and I think we were in the 18th row. Those were really good seats and they cost $41 each. Now those are probably $75 or more depending on the arena. The Whale did manage to win their final game in Hartford against the Lightning. As the players skated around after the game to say goodbye to the fans (it was a sellout crowd that day) I managed to catch a puck thrown into the stands by Kevin Dineen. So I got that going for me, which is nice.
I will say this about the whole Brendan Shannahan trade. After the 1995 season the Whalers traded 20 y/o Defenseman and future hall of famer Chris Pronger straight up for Shannahan. Shannahan had a decent season in 1996 with a team best 44 goasl and 78 points. After that one season he'd had enough and wanted out. Chris Pronger made the all-rookie team in 1994 but was probably best known for being arrested for his drunken involvement in a bar room brawl in Buffalo at 4am with other teammates in March of 1994. Of course once he got to St. Louis under the tutelage of Coach Mike Keenan he would go on to become the Blues Captain and win the Norris and Hart trophies (league MVP & Top Defenseman respectively) during the 1999-2000 season. To sum up, the Blues got the anchor of some of their best teams for nearly 10 years and the Whalers got nothing. Just another bad front office move (the worst being the trade of fan favorite Ron Francis to the Penguins in 1991).
For more tidbits about Whaler history (WHA & NHL) check out The Blowhole. It's really funny and it has a detailed account of how the Whalers left the city. Thanks for your time.
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