Psycho Joe said:
Not to nitpick, but Geoffrion and Hull both had better shots.
You should talk to Bobby Baun about that. His view is that Howe had the heaviest shot he ever saw and Hull and Boom Boom were playing at that time.
Exhibit #1 - April 23, 1964 -Baun's broken leg during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals from a Howe slapshot. the famous overtime goal on a broken leg. I had the pleasure of spending a few days with Baun at Hockely Valley Resort two summers back and we talked a lot of hockey. he gave me chapter and verse on the broken leg (actualy today it would have been referred to as high ankle break.
Howe was in the
Top 5 in NHL scorers for 20 straight seasons - that is phenomenal. Also when the top players in the NHL were averaging 25 minutes a game, during his prime Howe would play 45 minutes a game and was usually double shifted.
Howe was among the top 10 scorers in the NHL in 1969-70, but arthritis in his left wrist finally forced him to retire after the 1970-71 season, his 25th in the league. He would have his wrist operated on a couple of years later in an experimental procedure and return to the WHA where scored 100 points in 1973-74 and was the league MVP. He would score 102 points in the 1975-76 WHA season.
Howe was selected to 21 NHL All-Star squads, 12 times to the First Team. Six times he led the NHL in scoring to capture the Art Ross Trophy and six times he won the Hart as the league's most valuable player. His Detroit teams won the Stanley Cup four times.
Plus he was a fearsome fighter who was seldom challenged after his fist few years in the league. in his first game at the Forum as a rookie he got in a shoving match with Rocket Richard - and knocked hiom out with one punch. How he rearranged the face of the NHL's self-promtoed toghest guy, Leapin Louie Fontinato of the Rangers is the stuff of legend. One of the linesmen at the game who watched it described it as sounding like Howe pounding on a side of beef.
He played in 5 decades (1940 to 1980) in the NHL and in his last season in Hartford after the NHL/WHA merger at age 51 he played all 80 games of the 1979-80 NHL season. He tallied 15 goals and 26 assists for 41 points while posting a +9 +/- rating. Oh and being Gordie he also tossed in 42 PIM's.
I take Gordie over Lemieux and it is not even close IMHO.