Best defensive pairings ever
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Jason MacIsaac
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John Flyers Fan
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Jason MacIsaac
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Its hard to say. They mixed it up quite a bit over the 90's but when Stevens and Daneyko were out it was to shut down the opposing teams top line. Niedermayer played with Stevens, Daneyko, White and Martin over the years. Maybe even Driver.John Flyers Fan said:
waffledave
waffledave, from hf
Hedberg16 said:
Jean-Guy Talbot, I think. I might be wrong.
Guy Lapointe is seriously underrated on these boards.
Hedberg16 said:
In the beginning of his career Harvey was paired with Butch Bouchard after the 1955-56 season his primary defensive partners were either Tom Johnson, Jean-Guy Talbot or Dollard St.Laurent. Bernie Geoffrion played with Harvey on the Power-Play only.
Other Defensive pairings of the "Golden" era:
Red Wings: Red Kelly and Benny Woit,
Marcel Pronovost and Bob Goldham
Chicago: Pierre Pilote and Moose Vasko
Jack Evans and Reg Fleming
Toronto: Jim Thomson and Gus Mortson
Tim Horton and Allan Stanley
Boston: Bill Quackenbush and Leo Boivin
Fern Flanan and Jim Morrison
Montreal: Butch Bouchard and Doug Harvey
Tom Johnson and Dollard St.Laurent
New York: Bill Gadsby and Ivan Irwin (Bathgate on the PP)
Harry Howell and Lou Fontianto
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mcphee
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I think most realize how good Lapointe was. He was usually paired with the #4 guy though, be it Nyrop,Engblom,Chartraw,Langway depending on the year. Always one of my favorites. At their best, Lapointe/Nyrop was an exceptional pairing, it's just that the other one was better.waffledave said:
doc5hole
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I wish I had tapes of the late-70's Boston-Montreal finals because I thought 19 was with 2, and 18 and 5 were together. The play is under review.
Meantime: Orr and Park for 10 games in Nov., 1975, was an incredible stretch. Park's arrival in the Esposito trade coincided exactly with Orr's return from knee surgery. They lost the first game at Vancouver, 4-2, after giving up a pair of breakaway goals to Ron "Twilight" Sedlbauer, then went unbeaten in the next nine (6-0-3) before Orr's left knee gave out for the final time, leading to his escort to Chicago by the Eagle. The Bruins hit 50 percent on the powerplay, and Orr went 5-13-18 and plus-10 in 10 GP. Then the team was Park's.
Honorable mention goes to Ray Bourque and Gord Kluzak, circa. 87-88, the reason Boston finally got over the Montreal hurdle and made the finals that year. Kluzak's quick feet and imaginative play off the left point gave the Bruins an added dimension that made coping with Bourque in his prime almost impossible.
Meantime: Orr and Park for 10 games in Nov., 1975, was an incredible stretch. Park's arrival in the Esposito trade coincided exactly with Orr's return from knee surgery. They lost the first game at Vancouver, 4-2, after giving up a pair of breakaway goals to Ron "Twilight" Sedlbauer, then went unbeaten in the next nine (6-0-3) before Orr's left knee gave out for the final time, leading to his escort to Chicago by the Eagle. The Bruins hit 50 percent on the powerplay, and Orr went 5-13-18 and plus-10 in 10 GP. Then the team was Park's.
Honorable mention goes to Ray Bourque and Gord Kluzak, circa. 87-88, the reason Boston finally got over the Montreal hurdle and made the finals that year. Kluzak's quick feet and imaginative play off the left point gave the Bruins an added dimension that made coping with Bourque in his prime almost impossible.
mcphee
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Doc, that may have happened, but Bowman would change things up often. For the majority though, it was 18/19. Sometimes he'd shorten the bench and rotate 3 guys. If you don't want to go by my quickly becoming unstable memory, check out Robinson For The Defense and he speaks of the pleasure of playing with Savard and little plays they'd work out. Doc, how can you remember the late 70's anyways, you must have been drinking to dull the pain. Kidding Doc,really.doc5hole said:
NYR94
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I'll list some recent pairings...
Lidstrom-Murphy
Leetch-Beukeboom
Stevens-Rafalski
Bourque-Foote
Hatcher-Matvichuk
Lidstrom-Murphy
Leetch-Beukeboom
Stevens-Rafalski
Bourque-Foote
Hatcher-Matvichuk
Wisent
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brianscot
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Everone seems to remember Bourque and Adam Foote, but when Bourque was in his prime, he had a terrific year (87-88) teamed up with Gord Kluzak.
Kluzak had monster size for his time, good offensive skills, and despite his knee problems, didnt lack for mobility.
For pure defensive prowess, the Rod Langway/Brian Engblom pairing was very strong for a few years in Montreal and their early seasons in Washington before Engblom was traded.
Kluzak had monster size for his time, good offensive skills, and despite his knee problems, didnt lack for mobility.
For pure defensive prowess, the Rod Langway/Brian Engblom pairing was very strong for a few years in Montreal and their early seasons in Washington before Engblom was traded.
Leetch and Zubov did play together on even strength too as I recall, but I could be wrong. This was Keenan coaching after all, so I doubt they had that strict pairings anyway.
(Short off topic Keenan story. Cristian Ruutu (center, Sabres, Hawks, famous for being traded for Dominik Hasek) told that while with Hawks, he had a bad shift but when his next shift came up, Keenan yelled the names of players for next shift as usual. So he got up when he heard "Christian" and sat down when Iron Mike continued "DAVE Christian, DAVE!")
I'd also like to point that Hatcher - Matvichuk was pretty impressive at times.
(Short off topic Keenan story. Cristian Ruutu (center, Sabres, Hawks, famous for being traded for Dominik Hasek) told that while with Hawks, he had a bad shift but when his next shift came up, Keenan yelled the names of players for next shift as usual. So he got up when he heard "Christian" and sat down when Iron Mike continued "DAVE Christian, DAVE!")
I'd also like to point that Hatcher - Matvichuk was pretty impressive at times.
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