If you could turn back the clock and make ONE of these happen...

[Boxscore]

Which would you like to see, for any reason:

1. Wayne Gretzky enter the NHL and play his impact years for the Toronto Maple Leafs

2. Mario Lemieux play his entire career for the Montreal Canadiens

3. Bobby Orr have a healthy, full career and play until he was 37

4. Eric Lindros play his entire career for the Quebec Nordiques / Colorado Avalanche

5. Evgeni Malkin go #1 to Caps in 2014 and Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby spend their careers together on the Penguins

Click to read more...

 

[pbgoalie]

Orr

And I was a Ranger fan back then

 

[alko]

Nr. 5 looks interesting.

 

[The Panther]

1. Wayne Gretzky enter the NHL and play his impact years for the Toronto Maple Leafs

Why on earth would anyone want this ???

 

[Thenameless]

Why on earth would anyone want this ???

LOL, you haven't seen how many Leafs fans there are on the boards?

 

[Thenameless]

2. Mario Lemieux play his entire career for the Montreal Canadiens

Easily this option. Having my second favourite player play for my favourite team for his entire career. Assuming everything else player-wise stays the same they would have drafted Lemieux and Patrick Roy in the same year. Talk about sowing the seeds for a dynasty. How would Richer have fared with Lemieux? How about Kirk Muller as your 2C for that '93 Cup team, and how about Turgeon as your 2C after that? How about two of these things happening and we get a Lemieux/Muller vs Gretzky/Gilmour Stanley Cup? Who else would have Montreal have attracted to this Super Team? As close to prime as possible for both teams, could they have beaten the Oilers if Gretzky had stayed?

 

[The Panther]

Lemieux with Montreal would indeed be awesome.

And Mario could have spoken francais throughout his career!

 

[Troubadour]

As a Canada-neutral fan, 3 to 5 seem more attractive. I would still only get so see Orr's career on paper, so what I'm left with is Big E and the Eskimos... and number five.

If Eric's skull remains just as shaky, number five looks an easy choice. Sid and Ovi would have been... nobody knows what they would have been like, which makes it all the more appealing.

EDIT: And Malkin on the Caps! (Yay! Hehe, but seriously, yeah, him too.)

 

[bobholly39]

3 or 5

3 moreso. Huge what if. 5 just a fun hypothetical.

 

[alko]

Lemieux with Montreal would indeed be awesome.

And Mario could have spoken francais throughout his career!

But he will not speak English. How he could play for Canada then?

 

[blundluntman]

As an Avs fan I'll definitely pass on 4 haha. I like 2 and 3 but as an Avs fan idk if Roy still comes to Colorado so I'll go with 3.

 

[Leonhard Euler]

It has to be 3.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Orr, easily. In that case we actually lost something as a hockey family, not just individual fanbases.

 

[JackSlater]

Definitely the Orr situation. The other options are just mild curiosities, whereas option three actually rectifies an unfortunate circumstance.

 

[Michael Farkas]

How is Orr not:
A) the 4th choice
B) the only good answer

???

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

definitely Orr.

letting him play healthy up to 37 means we see a healthy and late prime Orr in the early 80s, and see him overall up until the 1986 season. Man, the amount of points he could've racked up in the 80s...if only

there's also the butterly effect of how does that change the 70s Flyers and Canadiens success

that also means we get 7 years of a Orr-Bourque pairing.

 

[Sentinel]

6) Hasek playing his entire prime on the Red Wings (94-06). The Wings don't lose a single Cup, becoming the greatest dynasty in history (except possibly 03).

Of these choices, definitely Orr.

 

[Michael Farkas]

Meh, I don't buy the Hasek thing. He stopped a lot of volume, sure...but he let in some pretty iffy goals at pretty iffy times for me to be sold on the notion that he's going to win more Cups for Detroit than they have...they probably avoid some first round debacles with Hasek, but does he add a Cup? I'll listen, but I'm not enamored with that idea...

 

[Sentinel]

Meh, I don't buy the Hasek thing. He stopped a lot of volume, sure...but he let in some pretty iffy goals at pretty iffy times for me to be sold on the notion that he's going to win more Cups for Detroit than they have...they probably avoid some first round debacles with Hasek, but does he add a Cup? I'll listen, but I'm not enamored with that idea...

"Iffy"? In playoffs he took his team where it had no business being whatsoever. When push came to shove (Nagano, 02 WCF Games 6 and 7) he shut the door and welded it. Against Patrick Roy, no less. And you better not blame him for 99 Hull's goal. He became a liability with time and was even pulled in 08. But in his prime he was the best goalie in the world. Which was the Wings were missing. They were the only team of the Big Four without a HOF goalie.

 

[TheAngryHank]

6) Hasek playing his entire prime on the Red Wings (94-06). The Wings don't lose a single Cup, becoming the greatest dynasty in history (except possibly 03).

Of these choices, definitely Orr.

My #6 I was thinking of is Vladimir never gets in that limo.

 

[Doctor No]

When push came to shove (Nagano, 02 WCF Games 6 and 7) he shut the door and welded it. Against Patrick Roy, no less.

Man, I can still close my eyes and see Hasek's save in the Nagano shootout against Patrick Roy. What a move, but what an even better save.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Orr is the only one that appeals to me.

6) Hasek playing his entire prime on the Red Wings (94-06). The Wings don't lose a single Cup, becoming the greatest dynasty in history (except possibly 03).

Of these choices, definitely Orr.

Good catch on 2003, but are we hoping for better health through a butterfly effect scenario? What about the 1996 (4-6 week injury in Game #79), 1997 (pulled himself in Round 1), 2004 (injured), and 2006 (injured) playoffs when he doesn't play?

But yeah, there's a good shot for 7/12 in 1994, 1995, and 1998-2002.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Man, I can still close my eyes and see Hasek's save in the Nagano shootout against Patrick Roy. What a move, but what an even better save.

Didn't Belfour have a really good head-to-head record vs. Hasek? Even if the Hasek-Wings fared better by this principle of Hasek/Roy head-to-head stats, there's just as big of a shark swimming in the water.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

1. Wayne Gretzky enter the NHL and play his impact years for the Toronto Maple Leafs

gretzky + harold ballard. would there even still be an NHL?

2. Mario Lemieux play his entire career for the Montreal Canadiens

patrick roy would have physically fought him at some point, 100%

3. Bobby Orr have a healthy, full career and play until he was 37

if orr played until he was 37, that would have been up to the 1986 season. i almost would have seen him play, so can we make it an even 40 like ray bourque? i don't even care if he's just hanging on for dear life like iginla at the end, i just want to see orr live.

4. Eric Lindros play his entire career for the Quebec Nordiques / Colorado Avalanche

a scenario in which everyone is miserable and nobody wins.

5. Evgeni Malkin go #1 to Caps in 2014 and Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby spend their careers together on the Penguins

i plead the fifth​

 

[Asheville]

#3.

No point posing the other options.