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

whcanuck

Registered User
May 11, 2017
158
61
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


I'm probably the only person who'd most want Lindros to have stayed with Quebec/Colorado. I would have been really interested to see what a team with Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin, Owen Nolan and Eric Lindros could do when they all matured.
 
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Big Phil

Registered User
Nov 2, 2003
31,703
4,144
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

3 for me. That is a big "what if" that I'd like to have seen.

Mario as a Hab means he probably wins the Cup prior to 1991, but I'm a Leaf fan, how fun is that for me for Mario to be a Hab?

You'd think I'd be elated to see Gretzky in a Leafs uniform though right? I don't know. I like the legacy he left. 4 Cups, 200 point seasons, creating an expansion team from the ground up. In 1979 he enters the Leafs with a somewhat decent team. Salming is a good defenseman, Sittler was a star centreman and maybe Ballard doesn't trade McDonald if he sees some good chemistry. But either way, I like him as an Oiler.

Number 4 means Lindros wins a Cup or two, or maybe three. I'd have liked him to be healthy, that's all. The Avs legacy with Sakic and Forsberg and Roy is good enough I think.

Number 5, it sounds tempting, but I honestly think the Pens did better by getting Malkin. Ovechkin is a winger and you'd be tempted to put him on a line with Crosby, which is fine, but it is better to have a 1-2 punch down the middle if you ask me.
 

mobilus

Five and a game
Jan 6, 2009
1,146
575
high slot
#4 for me. If Lindros stayed with Quebec then they wouldn't have traded Sundin to get Clark. It'd be really interesting to watch a team with Sakic, Sundin and Lindros as the first three centres.
 

Killion

Registered User
Feb 19, 2010
36,763
3,211
1) That Conn Smythe had never fired Dick Irvin Sr & alienated Frank Selke Sr.... both packing up & moving to Montreal.
2) That Harold Ballard had never been allowed to get his hooks into the Marlies & Leafs, the Gardens & Stafford Smythe.
3) That NHL Board of Governors & Clarence Campbell had been honorable & caring in their dealings with the players.
4) That the NHL had clamped down on violence, stick swinging incidents in particular in the 50's with Lifetime Bans.
5) That the NHL had paid their talent appropriately in the 50's & 60's, possibly negating the Lindsay Revolt.
6) That had they done so, the Revolt doesnt happen, hybrid Draft/Sponsorship model continues to this day.
7) That the NHL had been a lot more fair & equitable with the 67 Expansion Draft.
8) That the NY Rangers had been respectable & won Cups in the 50's & 60's, game farther ahead in the US.
9) That Bill Masterton had been ordered off the ice far earlier than his final fatal game given the signs he was exhibiting.

... whew....

10) That Punch Imlach & Jack Adams had been prescribed "Chill Pills" or whatever, not been such Jack-A-Nape's.
11) That Stafford Smythe finally be recognized for his contributions to the game in general, Leafs, inducted into HHOF.
12) That Bassett Sr, the Chairman of MLG & Leafs Board had demanded Ballards & Smythes Resignations in 1970/71.
13) The horrors expd by dozens of kids over several decades at the hands of MLG employees never happened.
14) That more people had seen the true nature of R. Alan Eagleson earlier incldg Pulford, Doug Orr & his son, Bobby.
15) That the NHL Board of Governors had been more astute & careful with Expansions, less haste, graduated over time.
16) That the NHL with every Expansion also increased the number of RS Games never happened. 70 RS Games plenty.
17) That the NHL ever permitted the papering of the boards, ice surface, stairwells etc etc etc with sponsor ID.
18) That the NHL ever added a Ref, eliminated the Center Red Line, added the Trapezoid, eliminated the Instigator Rule.
19) That the NHL put the group headed by Carl Brewer in the Pension Suit through what they did; ditto now current, ongoing Concussion Suit.
20) That NHL increase its financial support & contributions to the HHOF, and I mean significantly....

... could go on & on.... and on.....................
 
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Mandar

The Real Maven
Sep 27, 2013
4,342
4,465
The Tarheel State
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.
Not only 7 years of Orr-Bourque.....but about 5 years of Orr-Park before that.
 

District 5

Registered User
Mar 1, 2014
296
145
My own selfish wish... The North Stars defeat the Penguins in 7 games in 1991, thus never leaving for Dallas.

#3 seems like the obvious choice to me.
 

CharlestownChiefsESC

Registered User
Sep 17, 2008
1,220
418
Laurence Harbor NJ
2 selfish wishes for me.

1.In November of 2008 the RANGERS make the deal for Stamkos by sweetening the pot and throwing Marc Staal into the package as well.
2.Then they go on and draft Tarasenko in 2010 as well.

This combo along with Lundqvist nets them 1-3 cups and they are the team of the decade so far. I have a more detailed what if write up on this if anyone cares to see.

But back to the subject, number 3 for me but that creates even more what ifs.

Not only 7 years of Orr-Bourque.....but about 5 years of Orr-Park before that.

The only reason the Bruins got Park was because Orr was deteriorating fast. If hes still close to 100% do they ever deal Espo, and as a result do they still get themselves back to the finals in the late 70s because if those trades never happen, there is no lunchpail A.C to speak of. Also do they give the isles a run in the early 80s with a blue line anchored by Orr and Bourque especially in 1983 where they played the Isles in the Wales conference finals. Do they beat the Oilers if the get to the finals and if so does that mean Bourque never asks to be traded in 2000. It could also mean that Orr retires in 83 a cup champion for the 3rd time and goes out on top instead of in a room in Chicago. So many what ifs about Orr.
 

blogofmike

Registered User
Dec 16, 2010
2,178
926
I always thought Orr left via free agency because Eagleson manipulated the situation as a favour for Wirtz. Orr has always claimed he knew nothing of the Boston offer, particularly the offer of an 18% share of team ownership. Good health or bad health I would think Orr's choice in agents is the same, as is his eventual destination. Healthy knees aren't going to give Orr a greater ability to accept an offer he wasn't shown.

Of course, it's all an imaginary story, so you can change that part too, if you like...

EDIT: Says Mike trying to ruin Bobby Orr's 70th birthday
 
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Killion

Registered User
Feb 19, 2010
36,763
3,211
I always thought Orr left via free agency because Eagleson manipulated the situation as a favour for Wirtz.

Thats my understanding, an agreement made several years earlier actually, 1972, Eagleson desperately needing NHL approval to secure player participation in the Summit Series, something ownership was luke warm to outright hostile against about, Wirtz the most powerful owner in the league demanding & receiving various under the table off the record concessions from Eagleson.... including his word that no matter what when Orr's contract expired in Boston he'd become a BlackHawk.
 

Merya

Jokerit & Finland; anti-theist
Sep 23, 2008
2,279
418
Helsinki
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

Every option is about teams except Orr option being healthy. I think this warrants a ban.
 

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