Denis Potvin skating/puckhandling?

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Hughes J Laffy

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Mar 22, 2002
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I know Denis potvin was a skillfull and physical player. But I was wondering, what about his skating and stickhandling?

Was he a great skater a la Coffey/Nierdemeyer or more like a Jovanovski/Lidstrom?

And what kind of a stickhandler was he? was he very skillfull at stickhandling?
 

#66

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Dec 30, 2003
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IMO he was a great skater like Ray Bourque. More about mobility, power and balance than about speed. His shots were all awsome including one of the most lethal wrist shots that I've ever seen on a D-man. His stickhandling was also good but not in the elite class of Orr. From reading books and seeing alot of the oldtimers interviewed I've heard that Potvin plays alot like Doug Harvey. After watching some classic game I've seen the comparison and I also think that Ray Bourque in comparable too. IMO Potvin plays with more of an edge than both of them and comes in at #2 on my all time defenseman lists. With all due respect to Shore, who gets the shaft because I haven't seen him play.
 

chooch*

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#66 said:
IMO he was a great skater like Ray Bourque. More about mobility, power and balance than about speed. His shots were all awsome including one of the most lethal wrist shots that I've ever seen on a D-man. His stickhandling was also good but not in the elite class of Orr. From reading books and seeing alot of the oldtimers interviewed I've heard that Potvin plays alot like Doug Harvey. After watching some classic game I've seen the comparison and I also think that Ray Bourque in comparable too. IMO Potvin plays with more of an edge than both of them and comes in at #2 on my all time defenseman lists. With all due respect to Shore, who gets the shaft because I haven't seen him play.

agreed; as for speed he would take a few strides in from the blueline at very high speed and then unleash a sweep wrist shot to score. This was the prototypical Potvin play.
Would crush wingers along the right boards at knee level. Gretzky would shy away from his side.Ended Sheppards career - wonder what other ex players really think of him.
 

Heat McManus

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Nov 27, 2003
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chooch said:
agreed; as for speed he would take a few strides in from the blueline at very high speed and then unleash a sweep wrist shot to score. This was the prototypical Potvin play.
Would crush wingers along the right boards at knee level. Gretzky would shy away from his side.Ended Sheppards career - wonder what other ex players really think of him.


A friend of a friend had him as his No 1 D-man in his Florida men's league. Also on that team was Ray Sheppard. From what I know he was well respected by most players as far as talent goes.
 

Trottier

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He was one supremely confident, mean and talented SOB.

Second best backliner I've ever witnessed.

As far as styles, hard to compare, but among today's players, a younger Stevens or Chelios in his own end, and somewhat similar to Bourque offensively. Whereas Orr and Coffey, to a lesser extent, could/would essentially outskate an entire team with high-octane skating speed and acceleration, Potvin's game with the puck was much more cerebral.

And no one spearheaded a PP more efficiently. If one wants evidence of his aforementioned wrist-shot, see his OT winner in Game One of the '80 Cup Finals.
 
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Peter25

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Why is it that Denis Potvin sucked in both games I have seen him play (The 1979 Challence Cup final game and the 1981 Canada Cup final)? He looked really bad in both games.
 
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