alternatehistory.com

The season came and went and wayne gretzky, in his first season as a detroit red wings, put up not only amazing numbers as usual, scoring 54 goals and 115 assists for a total of 169 points, but also brought new american fans to the sport. ESPN saw a big rise in ratings following gretzky's move to the motor city and, while it would've been higher had he moved to L.A instead, there was still a big enough increase in attendance in the markets surrounding detroit that it generated talk among the NHL Board of directors about a potential future expansion...

As for the red wings as a whole, they finished top of the norris division, but not by much, recording only 88 pts. While the offense was stellar, with gretzky getting help from the likes of gerard gallant, paul maclean, steve yzerman and john ogrodnick, the defense and goaltending was less than stellar, and it would cost them in the first round of the playoffs as the chicago blackhawks, led by young jeremy roenick and denis savard, hammered on goalie glen halon to win the series in 6 games.


The early exit was a a hard fall back to earth for the red wings, as they now realise that having wayne gretzky and a bevy of offensive punch isn't enough to win the stanley cup. You need a rock solid defense and a world class goalie. Both of which the franchise lacks.


Meanwhile, in L.A, owner bruce mcnall, the day after the failed offer to acquire the great one, decided to inprovise and build the team around its young talents, sich as luc robitaille, steve duchesne and jimmy carson. The latter, free from the weight of expectations that he would've received if he was traded for gretzky, would continue where he left off in his rookie season, even going beyond that, as he would score his first ever 100 points season. His line with robitaille and john tonelli, as well as the second line of bernie nicholls, bobby carpenter and dave taylor, proving a potent 1-2 punch, while new netminder kelly hrudey finally brought some much needed stability in front of net in LA. The defense was, with the exception of undrafted young standout steve duchesne, not that talented, but they were solid and disciplined enough to get the job done.

The kings's season highlight was no doubt their stunning elimination of the reigning stanley cup champion edmonton oilers in 7 games on the back of a miraculous comeback from a 3-1 deficit to force game 7, where carson proves that he is one to watch, scoring a goal and assisting bernie nicholls and bobby Carpenter on the power play to advance the kings to the next round, where they faced the equally surprising vancouver canucks, who upset the heavily favored Calgary flames with a game 7 overtime goal by stan smyl.


The series went back and forth, the two teams trading blow for blow until game 7, where steve duchesne rips a cannonball from the point to score another winning goal in OT, and kelly hrudey holding the fort in a heroic effort to send the kings to an improbable conference final appearance, where they faced the blackhawks.


Playing two consecutive 7-game series was taxing for the young and inexperienced kings, and chicago took advantage of that, with roenick, Denis savard, al secord, steve thomas and steve larmer ripping them apart like a predator to its prey as chicago sweeps their way to the stanley cup final, where they'll easily get beat by the montreal canadiens in 5 games, the habs winning their 24th stanley cup, their second in 3 years. With young players like stephane richer, claude lemieux, guy carbonneau, shayne corson, russ courtnall, chris chelios, petr svoboda, patrick roy and a plethora of top prospects coming in, Could this be the beginning of a new dynasty in Montreal?

1988-1989: Montreal Canadiens over Chicago Blackhawks 4-1


TO BE CONTINUED...