All-Time Team: Hartford Whalers (1979-97)

   It's time for another all-time hockey team, this time of the Hartford Whalers. The Whalers were another WHA team that moved to the NHL after the merger (see last week's article for an abbreviated history on the WHA). After a so-so inaugural season which saw the team earning a playoff birth, Hartford spent the next few years as just another mediocre team thanks in part to some lousy trades.      But by the mid-1980's, the team was competitive once again. Their return to the playoffs in 1985-86 saw them sweep the division champions Quebec Nordiques in the first round – the team's only playoff series win. The following regular season would turn out to be their most successful with 93 points, resulting in the team's only division title. Unfortunately, the Nordiques got their revenge by defeating the Whalers in the first round of the 1987 playoffs. The Hartford Whalers were a pretty good team in the late-80's and early-90's – even developing a sweet rivalry with their top-tier neighbours, the Boston Bruins – and make the playoffs in the next five years in a row. However, just like the Jets the Whalers had the misfortune of going up against much better teams in the first round of the playoffs: the Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens.

   After the 1992 playoffs, the team tried to rebuild (all of its good players from the 80's had been traded away), adding a bunch of young future-stars. Despite some decent individual performances, Hartford failed to make a return to the postseason. Ticket sales weren't doing so well, exacerbated by the fact that Hartford was a pretty small market for professional sports. In 1996, the team's owner, Peter Karmanos, announced that the team would have to move if they didn't sell 11 000 season tickets for the following season, a rather unfair demand given that (A) the Hartford Civic Center could barely hold 14 000 people and (B) Whalers season tickets were only sold in 41-game full season packages, making them rather pricey. Unable to secure a deal for a new arena, the franchise left Hartford after one last mediocre season.

   The team relocated south to become the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997. They've been up-and-down since, making the playoffs five times in the past 19 seasons and winning three division championships. However, they have advanced to the Stanley Cup finals twice, winning it in 2006. Respect.

   The last remaining former Whaler in the NHL was Jean-Sebastien Giguere and he retired at the end of the 2013-14 season. Today the Whalers are remembered for their rivalry with the Bruins, the colour green, their cool logo (Doesn't it look cool?), and, of course, their individual stars who I'm in here to celebrate today.

   Here's my picks for the all-time Hartford Whalers. As before, I've tried to limit it to players who've played at least 200 games with the team. And again, only these players' NHL performances as members of the Whalers (not the Hurricanes) will be considered: the reason why Paul Coffey, Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, Chris Pronger, and Brendan Shanahan aren't here.

Forwards

L-R: Ron Francis, Kevin Dineen, Geoff Sanderson

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Blaine Stoughten (1979-84)	Ron Francis (1981-91)	Kevin Dineen (1984-91, 1995-97)
Sylvain Turgeon (1983-89)	Andrew Cassels (1991-97)	Pat Verbeek (1989-95)
Geoff Sanderson (1990-97)	Ray Ferraro (1984-91)	Ray Neufeld (1979-86)
Dave Tippett (1983-90)	Robert Kron (1992-97)	Stewart Gavin (1985-88)

The scoring line's centre was a pretty obvious choice. Ron Francis: thrice team scoring leader, captain of six years, three-time all-star, career points leader. The best Whaler ever. Surrounding him are two-time 50 goal scorer Blaine Stoughten and fan-favourite power forward Kevin Dineen. The second line features a wealth of both goal-scoring and playmaking talent from all three players with a healthy dose of enforcing from Verbeek. The third line features forwards with fine setup ability as well as some scrappiness from the likes of Ferraro and Neufeld. Since the first three lines have enough aggression, I figured I might as well load up the fourth line with players who excel at both defence – Gavin and Tippett – and special teams – Gavin and Kron. To me, this forward lineup feels complete. Some good scoring talent combined with some toughness capable of holding the line and grinding down opponents.

Honourable mentions: Mark Janssens, Paul MacDermid, Torrie Robertson

Defencemen

L-R: Zarley Zalapski, Ulf Samuelsson

Mark Howe (1979-82)	Zarley Zalapski (1990-94)
Adam Burt (1988-97)	Dave Babych (1985-91)
Ulf Samuelsson (1984-91)	Joel Quenneville (1983-90)

The first defensive pair here specializes in moving up the puck, with Zalapski's speed and Howe's powerplay value. The second pair gives a more positional style of play, with a fair bit of playmaking from Babych (previously selected for Winnipeg's all-time team), one of the great underrated defencemen of his time. And of course, how could you have a fantasy Whalers team and not include Ulf Samuelsson, the hard-hitting Swedish brute that made life miserable for his opponents? With him is the venerable Joel Quenneville. Overall, I'd say this is a defensive corps that is versatile, has a little bit of everything.

Honourable mentions: Brad McCrimmon, Glen Wesley

Goaltenders

Mike Liut

Mike Liut (1984-90)

Sean Burke (1992-97)

When it comes to Whalers goaltenders, these two guys are all you really need to know about. And Liut was easily the better of the two, compiling three 20-win seasons (including one season of 31 wins), a spot on the Second All-Star Team (1987), and a decent goals against average in a time where goals were a dime-a-dozen.