Blaine Stoughton vs. Dennis Maruk vs. Charlie Simmer

[Ogopogo*]

All 3 had a couple of excellent seasons in the early 80s.

Which one do you think is best?

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[Bring Back Bucky]

All 3 had a couple of excellent seasons in the early 80s.

Which one do you think is best?

I'll take Simmer. All had excellent moustaches, though.

 

[Hawker14]

Simmer. had a smokin' hot wife too !!

 

[Big Phil]

Well it comes down to Simmer or Maruk. Simmer was a first team all-star in '80 and '81 and was part of the Triple Crown line. Simmer had one other good year in '84 but that was it. Maruk had a monster season in '82 with 132 points. But didnt hit anywhere near that after or even before. In fact his next highest was 97, not bad but what a difference though.

Simmer was invited to the training camp for the '81 Canada Cup but then broke his leg. As far as I know Maruk never got an invite to the Canada Cups, nor made a season end all-star. So I'll take Simmer.

 

[Ogopogo*]

Well it comes down to Simmer or Maruk. Simmer was a first team all-star in '80 and '81 and was part of the Triple Crown line. Simmer had one other good year in '84 but that was it. Maruk had a monster season in '82 with 132 points. But didnt hit anywhere near that after or even before. In fact his next highest was 97, not bad but what a difference though.

Simmer was invited to the training camp for the '81 Canada Cup but then broke his leg. As far as I know Maruk never got an invite to the Canada Cups, nor made a season end all-star. So I'll take Simmer.

Why discount Stoughton? He had 56 goals in 79-80 and also had a season of 52.

 

[Lard_Lad]

Stoughton probably had as much talent as the other two, but the effort wasn't there for a lot of his career. I remember Tiger Williams saying less than complimentary things about Stoughton's behavior when they were on the Leafs together. Simmer, once he got a chance, and Maruk were pretty steady, reliable producers. Stoughton's numbers swung all over the place. 17 points for the Leafs one year, 104 in the WHA the next, then 45, then 30, then back up to 100 in the NHL. Not exactly a sign that he was giving 100% all the time.

 

[God Bless Canada]

I'll argue for Charlie Simmer. He wasn't the most spectacular of skaters, but he had great hands and a great nose for the net. Was an intergral part of the famed Triple Crown line. Had some decent seasons in Boston, too.

WHA points are irrelevant IMO. Scoring goals were way too easy in that loop.

 

[Lowetide]

Maruk was at his best one of the top scorers of his era, a notch behind the 99's and Bossy and Stastny but a tremendous talent. He could pass the puck too, and took a beating in a lot of games. Pretty impressive player but guys his size wear down over a season and a career. His peak value was very impressive.

Stoughton was gold around the net and would be more famous if he'd stayed in Toronto. Wasn't his fault, though, Toronto didn't offer him a contract.

Simmer was slow and injury prone. His injuries usually involved phrases like "metal plate and screws" but he was a terrific player. Living in the west I saw him more than the other two and would probably favor him over the other two.

They all had peak values that far outweigh their career values, and so have been forgotten over time. The only predictable case was Maruk who could take some manhandling but wasn't very big. Simmer's size wasn't much help because of his shattered leg and the injury troubles that followed. Stoughton spent part of the heart of his career in the WHA, which hurt his final numbers.

All fun players to watch, though.

 

[Hedberg]

I think Charlie Simmer is the best of those 3

 

[Poignant Discussion*]

All 3 had a couple of excellent seasons in the early 80s.

Which one do you think is best?

Maruk played on some pretty bad Capital teams and still scored even though he was the focus not to mention he was a rather small player.

Simmer was a great complimentary player for Dionne, but Taylor was too

Stoughton had the best talent of the 3 by far but no heart

Best Talent


Stoughton > Simmer > Maruk


Best Player in the NHL

Maruk >> Simmer >> Stoughton