John LeClair Versus Rod Brind'Amour

[DitchMarner]

Just vote or the better player, taking into account peak, prime, longevity, talent, accomplishments, awards etc.


Must-win for LeClair.


Bracket A:


LeClair (2-3: defeated Nolan and Amonte; lost to Mogilny, Fleury and Tkachuk)
Brind'Amour (3-2: defeated Damphousse, Weight and Bertzzi; lost to Kovalev and Robitaille)

Naslund (3-2: defeated Bondra, Bertuzzi and Kovalev; lost to Alfredsson and Elias)
Demitra (3-2: defeated Yashin, Zhamnov and Koivu; lost to Palffy and Tkachuk)

Hejduk (2-3: defeated Amonte and Tanguay; lost to Elias, Alfredsson and Bondra)
Kovalev (3-2: defeated Damphousse, Brind'Amour and Bondra; lost to Fleury and Naslund)

Bondra (2-3: defeated Nolan and Hejduk; lost to Palffy, Naslund and Kovalev)
Whitney (3-2: defeated Smyth, Nolan and Amonte; lost to Bertuzzi and Mogilny)




Players who have advanced to the next round:

Shanahan (4-0: defeated Tkachuk, Recchi, Hossa and Mogilny)
Alfredsson (4-0: defeated Naslund, Hejduk, Elias and Marleau)
Fleury (4-0: defeated Kovalev, Marleau, Roberts and LeClair)
Robitaille (4-0: defeated Hossa, Palffy, Recchi and Brind'Amour)
Elias (4-1: defeated Hejduk, Naslund, Tkachuk and Recchi; lost to Alfredsson)
Palffy (4-1: defeated Bondra, Nolan, Demitra and Damphousse; lost to Robitaille)




Eliminated players:

Nolan (0-4: lost to LeClair, Bondra, Palffy and Whitney)
Allison (0-4: lost to Zhamnov, Tanguay, Yashin and Smyth)
Recchi (1-4: defeated Mogilny; lost to Shanahan, Robitaille, Hossa and Elias)
Amonte (1-4: defeated Gagne; lost to LeClair, Hejduk, Roberts and Whitney)
Gagne (1-4: defeated Smyth; lost to Amonte, Zhamnov, Yashin and Tanguay)
Bertuzzi (1-4: defeated Whitney; lost to Roberts, Marleau, Naslund and Brind'Amour)
Smyth (1-4: defeated Allison; lost to Roberts, Gagne, Whitney and Weight)

Click to read more...

 

[DitchMarner]

LeClair:


Four top ten points finishes (4th, 5th, 9th, 9th)
Six top ten goals finishes (3rd, 3rd, 5th, 5th, 7th, 10th)
15th in Hart voting in '96
6th in Hart voting in '97
12th in Hart voting in '97
7th in Hart voting in '98
819 points in 967 games (893 adjusted points)
89 points in 154 playoff games
Two playoff OT winners (both in the '93 SCF against LA)
Won a Stanley Cup with the Canadiens in 1993



Brind'Amour:


Eighth in goals in '98
Selke trophy winner in 2006 and 2007
Tenth in Hart voting in 2006
Five top 20 finishes in Selke voting in seasons other than 2006 and 2007
Fourth in Calder voting in '90
1184 points in 1484 games (1220 adjusted points)
111 points in 159 playoff games
12 goals and 18 points in 25 playoff games in 2006 playoffs
Won a Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes in 2006



This is basically another version of Palffy/Damphousse (a player who had a short but very high peak versus a player who had a long and productive career). Again, I'm going with the high peak player even though Brind'Amour was the better playoff performer, won more awards, had the longevity advantage and was a relevant player longer. LeClair was too much of a force during his six year peak for me to go against him here. He had many finishes in the top ten for goals and points than BrindAmour. I'd say he was more offensively talented at his best as well.

 

[thadd]

Leclaire was more of a luxery support player.
I'm going with Brind'Amour. Dude could do more on his own and make better use of his teammates.

 

[Sasso09]

Johhny pretty easily

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Leclair by a good margin

 

[DitchMarner]

Voting ends later tonight. Let's get a winner (instead of a draw).

 

[DitchMarner]

Tie. Voting period is being extended 24 hours.

 

[RodTheBawd]

Tough one for me given how much I idolized the legion of doom as a kid, but went with Rod.

 

[JackSlater]

Tough one for me given how much I idolized the legion of doom as a kid, but went with Rod.

Hmmmm. It looks like it may not have been that difficult for you to go with Brind'Amour.

Very close one, definitely two very different players. LeClair has the better peak and was the better goal scorer. Brind'Amour had much better longevity, versatility, defensive ability. LeClair is pretty interesting because he started his prime as a product of Lindros, but he evolved (while playing with Lindros) to the point where he was great even on his own when Lindros was injured. Went with Brind'Amour, mainly because I think that the offensive gap when Lindros is removed is smaller than Brind'Amour's longevity and defensive advantages over LeClair. Ask me tomorrow and I might flipflop and vote LeClair.

 

[DitchMarner]

Is tonight the night this poll is settled and a winner is determined? Find out in over an hour.

 

[DitchMarner]

LeClair wins and stays in the tournament!