The NHL Days
The Whalers were never as successful in the NHL as they had been in the WHA, yet they attracted a passionate fan base over the years. They recorded three winning seasons in their eighteen years in the NHL, made the playoffs eight times, and won one playoff series, earning the nickname "Forever .500s". Whenever they did make the playoffs, they faced the near-certainty of having to get past the Boston Bruins or Montreal Canadiens to make it to the conference finals. The team developed heated rivalries with the Bruins and New York Rangers, both based two hours northeast and southwest of Hartford respectively along Interstate 95. These games usually attracted the Whalers' biggest crowds, as many Bruins and Rangers fans followed their teams to Hartford. The Whalers achieved all-time records of 37–69–12 and 23–26–6 respectively against those clubs.
The Whalers were hampered by off-the-ice factors. Hartford was the smallest American market in the league, and was located on the traditional dividing line between the home territories for Boston and New York teams. This limited the team's marketability. Additionally, for most of the Whalers' tenure as an NHL team, the Hartford Civic Center was one of the smallest arenas in the league, seating just over 15,000 fans for hockey.
Read more about this topic: Hartford Whalers
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“When a Man is in a serious Mood, and ponders upon his own Make, with a Retrospect to the Actions of his Life, and the many fatal Miscarriages in it, which he owes to ungoverned Passions, he is then apt to say to himself, That Experience has guarded him against such Errors for the future: But Nature often recurs in Spite of his best Resolutions, and it is to the very End of our Days a Struggle between our Reason and our Temper, which shall have the Empire over us.”
—Richard Steele (1672–1729)